(Radio Iowa) – The Department of Natural resources has been holding meetings on discuss possible changes or improvements to the process of disposing of used wind turbine blades. The D-N-R’s Aime Davidson says there are regulations in place already for disposing of the blades — but she says there are still challenges. “They’re really large and really strong, so they’re hard to manage at the landfills in those large pieces. And I think there is also desire to recycle them, obviously as they’re a green energy,” she says. “And so kind of similar situation figuring out exactly how you do that has been difficult.” She says there have been some solutions worked out.

“Landfilling — I think they’ve gotten to a point where if they’re cut down into small enough pieces, they’re able to manage them just like any other waste. So that’s good,” Davidson says. “As far as recycling, I do know that there are a few places where they grind them up and are potentially using them as a substitute for aggregate and concrete mixes.” She says those concrete mixes are used for parking areas and planters. Davidson there’s continued work on figuring out new formulations for blades going out to make them easier to recycle. Another aspect of the blades is making sure they don’t get backed up into big piles. Davidson says there are regulations that require recyclers to show they are indeed recycling the blades.

“Whatever amount of material coming in a certain percentage has to go off site. So…it doesn’t focus so much on how much you can have on site, it’s more focused on is the material moving through. So, that shows that you have a legitimate end use,” she says. Davidson says they don’t want to necessarily stifle the recycling industry to keep it from having the quantity it needs. She says there has been one case of a pile of blades that has been forwarded to the Attorney General’s office, but the other piles have all been taken care of. The D-N-R’s ongoing meetings include the utility companies, industry representatives, and solid waste agencies, to develop recommendations.

“These strategies would be looking at is there something different or more that we would want to do an Iowa to manage these materials,” she says. Davidson says they are starting to put together some recommendations from those discussions. I’m not 100 percent sure, at this point, if it would be to the extent of any law changes, or if it would be more along the lines of incentives or some assistance to have more recycling — kind of what direction should this go,” according to Davidson. Davidson says disposing of wind blades has become a topic of discussion in a lot of places. “It’s been a struggle across the whole country, even in Europe. This is not unique to Iowa by any means,” she says.

Davidson says the use of solar panels is not as far along as wind turbines, but finding ways to dispose of the solar panels is something that looms as well.

(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa researcher has created a free online training program that companies can use to help employees identify warning signs of intimate partner violence, or what’s also been called domestic abuse. Beth Livingston, a U-I professor management and entrepreneurship, says the Abuse is Not Love program provides strategies employers can use to help at-risk employees before the situation becomes explosive. “We have built an evidence-based training to help make people aware of what intimate partner violence actually is,” Livingston says, “because this sort of awareness of the warning signs of violence — before it gets to a point where we’re worried about people’s physical well being — can allow us to intervene in ways that keeps people safe.”

Livingston says the COVID era has demonstrated that companies have an interest in the overall wellbeing of their employees and the ways in which the things that happen at home affect work. “This is an acknowledgment that our employees do not cease being our employees when they go home and the things that happen at home can absolutely affect them at work,” Livingston says. “I think companies have, if not an interest, a responsibility to think about how to keep their employees safe.” Intimate partner violence is one of the most common forms of violence against women. It includes physical, sexual, financial, and emotional abuse, as well as controlling behaviors by an intimate partner.

Statistics show a woman is killed every three days as a result of intimate partner violence. “Warning signs like jealousy that’s meant to control, controlling the sorts of things that people wear and the places they go,” Livingston says. “Getting passwords for your computer, for your email, to intrude upon your personal life, and isolating you from friends and family, all the way down to humiliating you in public, trying to make you feel small.” The workplace is especially critical for intimate partner violence as Livingston’s research shows work is one of few places where victims can find respite from abuse, and the income they earn can bring independence from their abuser.

“When employees are dealing with stress and pain and consternation at home, it absolutely spills over into their satisfaction at work and their productivity and their distraction at work,” Livingston says. “We know with so many employees working at home, that they might be working in the same space that their abuser is holding court over them.” A CDC report finds intimate partner violence costs about one-billion dollars in lost time and productivity every year in the U-S, and a recent European study found more than 20-percent of intimate partner violence victims report increased absenteeism from work, and 50-percent say it affects the quality of their work.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two recent arrests. At around 12:16-a.m. today (Sept. 12th), Ashley Perez, of Bellevue, NE., was arrested at the Sheriff’s Office in Red Oak, on an active Montgomery County warrant for unauthorized use of a credit card. Perez was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.  And, at around 6:30-p.m. Sunday, Deputies arrested 23-year-old Athea Hamilton, of Red Oak, for Theft in the 5th Degree. She was taken into custody in the 300 block of E. Elm Street, following a brief investigation into an incident that had occurred on August 26th, in the 2400 block of North Broadway Street, in Red Oak. Hamilton was being held on a $300 bond.

And Police in Red Oak report the arrest at around 6:30-p.m., Sunday, of 65-year-old Michael Loren Kelly, from Red Oak, on a Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. Kelly was issued a summons to appear in court at the later date, and released back to the Red Oak Health Care Community.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says the November election won’t turn on any single issue, but voters will be motivated by values like free enterprise and individual liberty. “When you have over 60% of people who feel the country is on the wrong track, they don’t have faith and they don’t have confidence and they don’t have hope,” Miller-Meeks says, “we need to turn this country around.”

Miller-Meeks held a campaign fundraiser in Coralville Saturday. Two other Iowa Republicans running for re-election spoke to the crowd. Governor Kim Reynolds says Democrats over-complicate things, while Republicans offer common sense.  “The Iowa team is pushing back, we are in a good place,” Reynolds says. “We are showing not only Iowans, but the country what conservative leadership looks like.”

Senator Chuck Grassley says Iowa voters are concerned about inflation and President Biden’s energy policies, particularly when it comes to gasoline production. “The fact it’s $3.69 in Cedar Falls doesn’t make any difference. He can’t take credit for that,” Grassley said. “It’s because people are driving 10% less ’cause they can’t afford the price he got it up to in the first place.”

Florida Senator Rick Scott was the keynote speaker at the Miller-Meeks event. Scott is in charge of fundraising for Republican candidates for the U.S. SENATE, but Scott says he was in Iowa to help a HOUSE candidate because increasing turn-out for Miller-Meeks in Iowa’s first district will benefit Grassley. “I mean, this state will matter, will decide whether we…get a majority in the senate or not. Senator Grassley has to win,” Scott said. “By the way the senate works, if you’re not in the majority, your vote doesn’t matter.”

Christina Bohannan, the Democrat running against Miller-Meeks, says by having Scott speak at the event, Miller-Meeks has aligned herself with Scott’s extreme views. Bohannan points to Scott’s plan to terminate Social Security and Medicare every five years and require congress to vote to reauthorize the programs.