(Radio Iowa) – Officials say St. Ambrose University in Davenport will become the non-profit owner of the Mount Mercy University campus in Cedar Rapids within the next two years. The presidents of the two Catholic universities held a news conference to discuss the merger and sign the agreement. Federal officials and the commission that reviews U-S college and university academic standards have to review the merger plan and approve it.

After the merger, the Cedar Rapids school will become the Mount Mercy Campus of St. Ambrose University and classes will be held on both campuses. Mount Mercy’s president says it’s a very challenging time for higher education in the U-S, especially for small private institutions like his. Since 2011, student enrollment in U-S colleges and universities has dropped each year. Fifteen non-profit colleges in the U-S closed last year, including Iowa Wesleyan in Mount Pleasant.

Saint Ambrose president Amy Novak and Mount Mercy president Todd Olson sign merger agreement in Cedar Rapids. (St. Ambrose University photo)

Last spring over 27-hundred students were enrolled at St. Ambrose and about 14-hundred students were enrolled at Mount Mercy. Three months ago, the presidents of the two institutions announced students could enroll in a range of in-person or online classes at either school for the fall semester. The Davenport Catholic Diocese founded St. Ambrose in 1882. The Sisters of Mercy founed Mount Mercy in Cedar Rapids in 1928.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with Myers Industries, Inc., today announced the consolidation of their rotational molding facility in Atlantic with company facilities in Indiana, as part of an effort to reduce costs. Myers Industries said they expect the closures to be completed in 2025 and deliver approximately $5 million in cost savings in 2025.

According to a statement released by the company, production at the site will end in 2024 and the Atlantic plant will officially close December 31, 2025. Approximately 60 full-time employees are based in Atlantic, which was acquired by Myers with its purchase of Elkhart Plastics in 2020. Nearly all the positions will be eliminated by the end of this year. Employees will be given the opportunity to apply for opportunities with other Myers facilities. Current Atlantic customers will be serviced from Myers plants located in Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, or Washington.

Myers Industries President and CEO Mike McGaugh said in a press release:

“Our second-quarter results reflect the Company’s first full quarter with Signature Systems. This business is benefiting from worldwide investments in Infrastructure and helped drive both sequential and year-over-year revenue growth and margin expansion. Signature’s performance outpaced the demand headwinds in the Recreational Vehicle (RV), Marine, and Automotive Aftermarket end markets.

“We continue to focus on growing our Storage, Handling & Protection portfolio, most notably our four power brands: Akro-Mils, Buckhorn, Scepter, and Signature Systems. We believe our increased participation in the Military and Infrastructure end markets will provide meaningful growth for our Company over the next several years.

“At the same time, we are taking actions to reduce costs and increase productivity in the Engineered Solutions and Automotive Aftermarket portfolios. These actions include the consolidation of three distribution centers in our Myers Tire Supply business, as well as today’s announcement of the consolidation of our Atlantic, Iowa, rotational molding facility (Elkhart plastics) into our other rotational molding plants in Indiana. We are able to reduce our footprint and reduce our cost structure, due to the productivity gains we’ve achieved. We expect these closures to be completed in 2025 and deliver approximately $5 million in cost savings in 2025 as well.”

Elkhart Plastics/Myers Industries – Atlantic, Iowa

McGaugh concluded, “As a result of continued trough-like demand conditions in these end markets, we believe it is prudent to lower our full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $1.05 to $1.20.”

(Radio Iowa) – A dairy specialist with I-S-U Extension says the number of dairy entries at county fairs has been down in areas of northwest Iowa due to bird flu outbreaks. Fred Hall says entries in Sioux County, for example, fell 30 percent.  “Absolutely, it’s a concern. Probably the biggest reason is it can go from a bird to a cow to a human. Now, fortunately, cows get sick, and they go off production, but they don’t die. You don’t have to euthanize them,” he says. Every competitor must show proof of a negative test to allow their cow in.  “If they’re coming from a premise where there are lactating cows, has to have a bulk tank test and has to then have a sick pin test, and they all have to be negative,” he says.

Hall also stresses that pasteurized milk is safe to drink. “The high-path virus is not very durable. So, once it’s been exposed to the traditional pasteurization temperatures, it’s dead,” Hall says. “You may find particles and pieces, but there’s no virus that can cause the contamination to spread.”

The Iowa State Fair is one week away and Hall says officials with the Fair also expect fewer dairy cow competitors due to the bird flu.

(By Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – The leader of the union that represents state prison employees says higher pay for new prison workers is a good start, but the state should offer incentives to keep veteran prison staff from leaving. Todd Copley is president of AFSCME Council 61. “As the union, we’re all for getting people paid what they should be, but there are employees that have worked here for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years that should be getting paid more than what they are getting paid right now also,” Copley says. “…Corrections officers are grossly underpaid.” Copley says the starting pay for new workers should be the new base wage or salary for employees who work in similar positions.

“You have employees that have worked at these penitentiaries for four years that are now making a shade over what a new employee has got,” Copley says. His other concern is the signing bonuses for new employees in the Department of Corrections. Copley isn’t calling for ending those bonuses, but he says there should be a requirement that the employee stay on the job for some period of time.

“There is no ‘you have to work here for five years,'” Copley says. “…There’s no stipulation to that whatsoever, so theoretically the state is stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. It makes no sense.” And Copley says retention bonuses should be considered for correctional officers with years of experience, so they don’t leave for a better paying job or choose to retire early. Copley worked in Polk County government for nearly 32 years. He was elected president of AFSCME Council 61 last July.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Today (Thursday), the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announces the new Behavioral Health Service District Map which defines seven geographic service and planning areas effective July 1, 2025. The district map was created using a data-driven approach to ensure that resources are allocated effectively to support the full array of behavioral health needs in Iowa.

Iowa HHS worked with stakeholders to gather feedback on these district maps to be overseen by the Behavioral Health Administrative Service Organizations (BH-ASOs). The stakeholder engagement efforts had a turnout of over 1,000 attendees across all sessions. In addition to stakeholder feedback, identification of areas of high need, access to care, and city and county boundaries were used to designate the districts.

These new districts consider equitable resource distribution, minimizing service disruption, enhancing access to quality care, and addressing the specific needs of specific populations. The district map is a first step in building a new geographic foundation for an integrated and efficient behavioral health system that serves all Iowans.

To learn more about the process, please see the District Map Overview.

Learn more about the Behavioral Health Service System Alignment here.

Iowa HHS will be hosting a Virtual Behavioral Health Service System District Launch on Tuesday August 6 from 12:00-1:00pm. You can join the Virtual Launch with the information below:

Behavioral Health Service System District Virtual Launch

Tuesday, August 6 – 12:00-1:00pm

Join Zoom webinar here.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says a Crawford County man escaped injury during a rollover accident early Sunday morning. In their report issued today (Thursday), the Sheriff’s Office says 29-year-old Jose Angel Reyes-Mendoza, of Denison, was driving a 2006 Honda Accord southbound on Chestnut Road at around 5:40-a.m., when he swerved to miss a deer on the road. The car went out of control and ended-up in the west ditch, where it rolled over and came to rest on its wheels.

The vehicle sustained an estimated $3,000 damage. No citations were issued.

WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa (KCRG) – Kinze Manufacturing, Inc. has notified 193 workers that they are being laid off from the company’s operation in Williamsburg, according to Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN notification list. According to the WARN listing, affected employees were notified Wednesday with the layoff date listed for Thursday. Kinze is a global manufacturer of planters, grain carts, and high-speed tillage equipment.

The layoffs at Kinze come during a difficult period for farm equipment manufacturers that economists say is being driven by a slower demand for farm equipment, including tractors. John Deere has laid off hundreds of workers in eastern Iowa and the Quad Cities in recent weeks and months.

(Radio Iowa) – The presidents of the three state universities held a general discussion their budgets for the next fiscal year Wednesday during a meeting with the State Board of Regents. University of Northern Iowa president Mark Nook says the new nursing program is one area they are trying to help the state. “The nursing program officially launches this fall we have 30 students admitted to that program, the first cohort the initial cohort of nursing students,” he says, “and in the spring we will admit another 48 students into a cohort.” He says they have other areas where they are also focusing on the need for workers in the state.

“We’ll also be making investments in the material science engineering and material science engineering technology programs. Both of these are essential for Iowa’s manufacturing workforce needs,” Nook says. U-N-I has a general operating budget of around 174 million dollars, which is a four percent increase from the previous year. Iowa State University president Wendy Wintersteen talked about the two-point-eight million dollars in additional funding the school received to develop a future ready workforce.”It’s allowed us to invest in 26 faculty and staff who are supporting six initiatives to grow high demand STEM programs that meet the state’s workforce needs and produce innovative solutions for business and industry,” Wintersteen says. She  highlighted one area where they will prepare students to use new technology:

“New Faculty in computer science are equipping students to leverage the benefits of A-I in areas such as automated driving systems, robotics, cybersecurity, data visualization, and machine learning,” she says. I-S-U’s general fund budget increase two-point-five percent from the previous fiscal year to nearly 726 million dollars. University of Iowa president Barbara Wilson talked about the school’s efforts to be efficient. “We spend 11 cents of every dollar on administration and 89 cents of every dollar on instruction,” Wilson says. “And just to give you a sense of what that looks like among our Big Ten peers that’s eight cents lower than the Big Ten average on administrative spending.” Wilson says that allows the university to put more into educating students. Wilson also talked about the retention rate for new students.

“We started the strategic plan at 88 percent in F-Y 2020, and when the plan started, we we were inching our way up and we’re now at 89-point-three percent. Our five year goal was 90 percent, and I suspect we’re going to get there before the five years, and so we’re challenging each other to think about what our new metric should be,” Wilson says. The University of Iowa’s general operating budget also increased by two-point-five percent to nearly 823 million dollars.

The Regents requested a state funding increase of 14-point-eight million dollars, but the Iowa Legislature approved only a 12-point-three million dollar increase, and the Board raised tuition at the U-I and I-S-U by three percent. U-N-I’s tuition was increased by two percent.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says a man from Red Oak was arrested today (Thursday) at around 12:40-a.m., following a traffic stop at 4th St. and Commerce Drive, in Red Oak. 23-year-old Dyllan Hunter Hansen was arrested for Possession of Methamphetamine/1st offense. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.