(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development says the unemployment rate dropped to two-point-six percent in June — down one-tenth of a percent from May. I-W-D director Beth Townsend says that number is another milestone. “Two-six is where we were in February of 2020, before the pandemic impacted the rate at all,” Townsend says. She says the leisure and hospitality industries saw the largest job gains.

“Not surprising given, that we’re into the summer months, people are traveling and eating out doing things like that, that in those industries gained two-thousand jobs in May in June. We’re seeing increases in manufacturing for seven straight months. They gained 700 jobs in June…..that’s always a good sign,” Townsend says. Townsend says there are still 43-thousand Iowans who are looking for work. Townsend says one of the big issues facing employers is workers taking a job and then quitting after a short time.

“The quit rate has been up for a period of time, and so people are willing to job shop and move jobs, you know, much more than we’ve seen prior to the pandemic,” Townsend says. “So I think, part of it just is, you know, trying to keep them engaged and interested and motivated to stay for more than just a few weeks.” Townsend says businesses already had been making adjustments to deal with the pandemic — and are continuing to do so to try to hold onto workers.

“And so you have seen a lot of improvements in benefits and increase in wages, flexibility when it comes to teleworking opportunities — trying to create shifts that work around someone’s schedule,” she says. “You know, we’ve seen we know from past experience that a lot of moms want to work mom hours during the school year. So I think you see more employers willing to accommodate that which is good.”

Townsend says that’s created a lot of situations where someone can start a job at one place and if they don’t like it — there are a lot of other options available at other places and they quit and go somewhere else. Townsend says there’s still a lot of work to do — but the trend has been in a good direction. “We are definitely seeing consisting sustained improvement and that’s a good sign. We clearly have a ways to go to get back to the labor force participation rate that we were at pre-pandemic,” according to Townsend.

“So now that our (unemployment) rate is back, what we really need to be focused on is how do we get the participation rate back to 70 percent, which is about what it was at its peak.” Iowa’s Labor Force Participation Rate increased to 67-point-eight percent from 67-point-six percent last month.

(Griswold, Iowa) – Members of the Griswold School Board held their regular monthly meeting Monday evening. Superintendent Dave Henrichs says the Board approved the hiring of Bonnie Orfield as a night custodian beginning August 1st. The Board approved the Girl’s Wrestling Sharing Agreement between Griswold, CAM, Nodaway Valley, and Atlantic.

The Griswold School Board also approved the District’s Return-to-Learn plan, which is unchanged from last year.

In other business, some familiar faces will remain in-place, with regard to the Business Manager/Treasurer (Dan Rold), and Board Secretary (Hannah Bierbaum). Both were reappointed Monday night. The Board elected to secure Matt Hanson with Wilson, Hanson and Associates P.C., from Lenox, as the District’s Attorney. As far as the various bids are concerned, since they only had one bidder, the supplies of bakery goods, trash removal services, dairy, snow removal and warewash, are unchanged from last year.

Superintendent Henrichs said he shared in his report to the Board, they’re still looking for a Middle School English Teacher, a MS Volleyball and MS Football Coach. And he said the District is still waiting to hear back from the Department of Education, with regard to a “Safety Grant.”

(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines Register’s “Iowa Poll” finds a majority of Iowa Republicans want Donald Trump to run for president in 2024, while just 37% of Iowa Democrats say President Biden should seek a second term.

The survey of likely voters found 57% of Iowa Republicans want Trump to seek a return to the White House, while about a third of Republicans in Iowa do not want Trump to run again.

Among the Iowa Democrats surveyed, 71% said they approve of how Joe Biden is handling the presidency, but 52% of Democrats said they hope Biden doesn’t run for reelection in 2024. The job approval rating for President Biden from all those surveyed was 27%. That’s the second lowest Iowa Poll rating for any president.

(Radio Iowa) – Two restored military aircraft are in Sioux City through this Sunday, July 24th to mark the 80th anniversary of the Sioux Gateway Airport. Dan Ragan is part of the crew for the B-17 “Flying Fortress.” He flew on the plane as he was stationed in Hawaii during the Korean War. “Our mission was first generation of AWACS and I was assigned as a radio operator on that aircraft right there,” he says. “…I flew on it back in 1953.”

AWACS stands for Airborne Warning and Control System. The B-17 in Sioux City is one of just three that are actively flying in the U.S. today. People can tour the aircraft, which has been restored with period-specific equipment. Ragan says the bomber didn’t fly over Korea, but had a special task. “Our mission was we flew about 200 miles away from the (air craft) carriers and we looked with surface radar 200 miles towards the bad guys,” Ragan says. “And we gave the carriers 400 miles heads up: ‘You have incoming.'”

Texas Raiders B17 via their Facebook page

Ragan spent over two-thousand hours flying these missions. “When I got out of the Navy, I went back to school and finished as (an electrical engineer) and I went to work for Collins Radio Co., the Cadillac of the industry. I spent about eight years as a design engineer in Dallas and got into product management and they transported me to Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” he says, “and I found out real fast my winter wear in Dallas made great summer wear in Cedar Rapids.”

A single engine aircraft used to train thousands of pilots and airmen for combat is also at Sioux City’s airport this week. Cockpit tours and flights on the planes are available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Sunday. Persons wanting to experience a B-17 flight can call 855-359-2217 (877-FLY-A-B17), or reserve your place online at B17TexasRaiders.org.  On Facebook at B17TexasRaiders.