(Radio Iowa) – Iowa school districts are about to resume classes without having the funding to provide free lunches for all students. Two years of pandemic aid ended in June, leaving districts scrambling to get qualified families to re-submit applications for free or reduced-price lunch. Shenandoah Schools superintendent Kerri Nelson says the district is keeping lunches free through the Community Eligibility Provision. Nelson says the program will be a cost to the district, but it’s needed.  “To help provide a little bit of a buffer and a transition for our families,” Nelson says, “and we’ve let families know that this is a temporary intervention, we’ll do it as long as we’re able to.”

She says their cash reserves will get them through at least one semester. Des Moines will be providing free lunch to all students through the same program. Dan Barkel, superintendent at Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn-Remsen-Union, says he’s disappointed the federal aid wasn’t extended. “For some families, this might be a bit of a stretch just because obviously, they’ve gotten used to not having to pay,” Barkel says, “and of course, with inflation hitting the pocketbooks of a lot of folks, I have a feeling that it’ll be a bit of a shock.”

Barkel says he thinks the last two years have broken down some of the stigma to being on free or reduced-price lunch. He just hopes the schools don’t see an increase in negative balances, as the costs return to parents.

(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – The state director of A-A-R-P says the F-D-A’s approval of new rules allowing the sale of over-the-counter hearing aids will have a big impact on Iowans. Brad Anderson says this is something A-A-R-P has pushed for the last five years. “It is a game changer for roughly 40 million older adults currently experiencing hearing loss. And we anticipate the new rule and the new devices that are in the pipeline, will quickly transform the market,” Anderson says. The rules announced Tuesday are for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Anderson says the devices can help prevent bigger issues brought on by hearing loss. “It can lead to risk of isolation, depression, and even dementia,” Anderson says. “The current market however, because hearing aids cost thousands of dollars, and they require a prescription and a fitting, many Americans experiencing mild or moderate hearing loss, simply let it ride and they don’t do anything about it,” he says.

Anderson says they expect the market to bring hearing aid costs down.  “They cost around 23-hundred to as much as six-thousand dollars. What we’re experts believe that these new over the counter hearing aids will cost between 250 and one thousand dollars per pair,” according to Anderson. He says they are still expensive –but that is a big cut in the expense. Anderson says A-A-R-P fought for the change through a bipartisan law, written by Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Democrat Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. He says part of the lengthy process was the time it took for the F-D-A figure out all the rules for the over-the-counter devices. “Everything from…what will be allowed in the hearing devices, …what will be allowed within the marketplace, where the new devices will be sold. How do people return the devices if they don’t work? So there are a lot of things that go into these rules,” he says.

Medicare will NOT cover the cost of the new hearing aids — but Anderson hopes that comes in the future. “A-A-R-P has long supported Medicare coverage of hearing aids, but one step at a time. So they will still be required to be paid for out of pocket,” Anderson says, “but, again, the cost savings, the F-D-A estimates that the average consumer will save around 28-hundred dollars per pair, given the new rule.”

People with severe to profound hearing loss are still advised to get prescription devices which can be more accurately tuned to the individual’s needs by a professional.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Republican party held a special nominating convention, Monday (Aug. 15), to nominate the Republican candidate on the November ballot for the position of Cass County Auditor, as required by the State of Iowa. Kathy Somers, of Atlantic, was elected as the party’s candidate to be placed on the ballot for the November election.

Somers has local government experience, having served on the Atlantic City Council for 12 years.  She has served on the Atlantic Personnel & Finance Committee, the Landfill Board, and the Cass County Public Safety Commission. She has experience with human resources, labor laws, payroll, employee benefits, and insurance.  She has been an active volunteer in the community and the Republican party.

Somers has been employed as the HR & EEO Officer/Safety Coordinator at A.M. Cohron & Son, Inc. for 13 years. In April, 2022, the Cass County Board of Supervisors appointed Sara Harris to the post, following the resignation of long-time Auditor Dale Sunderman.

Harris’ term expires at the end of the year.

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Department of Education says 900 Iowans with remaining federal student loans from the defunct I-T-T Technical Institute will get the balances deleted. Iowa borrowers owed almost 16-million dollars to the chain of schools, which closed in 2016. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller joined his counterparts across the country in seeking to get the loans forgiven. He says I-T-T was involved in significant fraud, including job placement.

“And then there were claims about the quality of education that just didn’t bear out. One of the real problems was that ITT’s quality of education was just not very good- they represented it as much better than that,” he says. Miller says students should consider a community college instead of for profit schools – – which he says can be less expensive and provide a higher quality of education.

(reporting By Tony Sarabia, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES, IA – A man from Des Moines was sentenced Tuesday (Today) to 12 1/2-years in prison for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says in addition to his sentence, 56-year-old David Alan Callison must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

In April 2019, Callison was the sole back seat passenger of a car stopped by law enforcement. In a bag next to Callison, law enforcement found over 600 grams of methamphetamine, more than $13,000, and a digital scale. The investigation revealed that Callison repeatedly obtained large quantities of methamphetamine for redistribution. Callison was on parole for a state of Iowa drug conviction when he committed this offense.

Last year, Callison’s co-defendants were sentenced. Angel Luis Toledo Castillo, age 37 of Des Moines, received a 162-month sentence, after he was found guilty by a jury in November 2019 of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Demetrio Cortes Montano, age 46 of Des Moines, received a 139-month sentence for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Gustavo Martinez, age 30 of Des Moines, received a 120-month sentence for conspiracy distribute methamphetamine.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Des Moines Police Department investigated the case, assisted by the Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.