The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) The Department of Natural Resources is preparing to release the results of a study of the fees charged for using state parks next month. The Chief of the State Parks, Forests and Preserves Bureau, Todd Coffelt, says they did the study at the direction of lawmakers. “The direction was for us to compare prices with other public utilities that provide camping services similar to what we do in state parks,” according to Coffelt. “And we have gone through that and compared each location to a 60-mile radius. We have identified the amenities that a visitor will be able to experience and utilize And we’ve kind of identified some of our lower use areas in order to focus and promote the amenities that visitors can use.”

Coffelt says this comes after a period when parks were shut down by the pandemic and there were concerns about the future. “There were a lot of questions if we are not making money then how are we going to survive. And as we regained our composure and brought it back — people really engaged with the idea of getting out and doing more with their families in the new found time that they had,” Coffelt says.

Coffelt says the comeback included 16-and-a-half million visitors to the state parks. “Camping revenue is higher than it was last year even though we were closed for a month — just to put that into perspective,” Coffelt says, “our revenue for cabins and overnight accommodations has increased.” He says the pandemic has helped them focus on how to best operate the system. “We continue to look at what we can do differently, we continue to experience challenges similar to the states around us of what do we expect in 2021,” Coffelt says. “We are ready for what the future has to offer because we’ve learned a lot of what we can do — we’ve learned a lot of what needs to be done — but those are the things we are working on.”

Coffelt made his comments during the Natural Resources Committee meeting last week.

(Radio Iowa) There are new guidelines for participation in Iowa Senate subcommittee hearings after a brief pornographic incident on Monday. The hearings are being held online this year, so members of the public don’t have to trek to the statehouse during the pandemic to testify for or against bills. Internet trolls tried to disrupt a virtual meeting Senator Amy Sinclair moderated yesterday (Monday). “What is happening is disgusting,” Sinclair said, “and if that’s what you think is a good idea to have included on a subcommittee on educational topics, then you honestly don’t deserve to be part of that conversation.”

The new guidelines require participants to provide some sort of on-screen identification before they’ll be allowed into the virtual forum. Monday’s subcommittee hearing had nearly 300 participants. Sinclair ordered the removal of the few who were laughing and making inappropriate gestures. “I will not tolerate pornography or hidden insults,” Sinclair said.

So called “Zoombombers” began disrupting government meetings and even online classes as use of the platform soared during the pandemic. Zoom recommends against sharing details of meetings on social media and notes there is a way to disable cameras and mute the audio of participants.

(Radio Iowa) – Seventeen Republicans in the Iowa Senate are co-sponsoring a bill that would force every Iowa business to use the federal E-verify system to ensure every person they hire is a citizen or legal U.S. resident. Senator Julian Garrett, a Republican from Indianola, has tried since 2012 to get this bill passed in the Iowa legislature. “We ought to be I would think more concerned about the welfare of our citizens than people who are not citizens and who are not here legally,” Garrett says.

Garrett says the immigration plan President Biden has proposed makes this kind of state-level action more important. “If we do nothing, we’re probably very likely going to see an influx of new people coming in who are not here legally,” Garrett says, “and you know we can be overwhelmed — our institutions, our medical care and education and our welfare system.” Brad Hartkopf, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, says identity fraud is an issue in the E-Verify system, so it isn’t a fool proof way for businesses to discover if a potential employee is in the country illegally. “The penalties are very concerning to us, the second being a revocation of all business licenses,” Hartkoff says. “…We believe that’s pretty draconian.”

Dustin Miller, a lobbyist for auto dealers and other business interests, is raising concerns about a portion of the bill calling for state investigation of all citizen complaints that a business has hired an undocumented worker.  “That can really be used as a sword against competitors,” Miller says. Erica Johnson of the American Friends Service Committee says her group just helped a woman who was inaccurately flagged by the E-Verify system as an undocumented immigrant. “Rather than actually working to push federal leaders to reform our immigration system in a way that benefits our economy and treats immigrants and refugee workers with the dignity and respect that they deserve, ” she said, “it’s a divisive, anti-immigrant proposal that will end up harming minority communities in Iowa.”

Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says the bill levels the playing field for businesses doing the right thing. “We have folks who are flouting the law and getting away with a competitive advantage they should not have,” Schultz says.  The bill is eligible for debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Members of the Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will hold an electronic work session 6-p.m. Wed., Jan. 27th, via livestream on You Tube. During their meeting, the Board will discuss:

• A Board interface with District Leadership Teams
• Upcoming Dates, including:
  • IASB Webinars: COVID-19 Remediation for Student Achievement – Feb. 2nd, 2021
  • Mental Health – February 9th, 2021
  • IASB Virtual Lobby Days: (Same topics as above, with dates set for Feb. 4th and 11th respectively)
  • The Board’s Regular Meeting – Feb. 10th, 2021 at 6-p.m.

(Radio Iowa) – Even with today’s (Monday) heavy snow across a wide portion of Iowa, the soil is frozen and when this snow melts, it’ll likely run off and not be absorbed into the soil. Weather experts are predicting continued drought conditions for the region, with the troubles spreading across Iowa’s western third. Illinois state climatologist Trent Ford moderated the North-Central Region Climate update for the National Weather Service.

“Most areas from the Central Plains westward are still dealing with drought issues,” Ford says. “Forty-five percent of this entire area is in moderate drought or worse. Some places in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and parts of northwestern Iowa are still dealing with severe to extreme or exceptional drought.” Ford says the dry conditions started early last fall and they’ll continue well into the spring planting season.

“Because of that dry 2020 and the carryover to 2021, we’re still dealing with drought conditions,” Ford says. “Given the mild temperatures for winter so far and the fact that nobody is pushing the record books for precipitation, we really haven’t seen much improvement.” Ford says the outlooks don’t offer much relief and many Iowa farmers could be facing critical problems in just a few months.

“This big block of brown here that we’re showing from western Iowa all the way through California, that is the area where the highest likelihood is drought persistence,” Ford says. “Drought is currently present there, at least moderate drought if not worse, and the prediction is the highest probability of drought persistence, at least through the end of April.” Soil moisture is also depleted across much of the region after several years of above-normal precipitation and record or near-record flooding.

(Radio Iowa) The governor’s plan to provide five-thousand dollar state scholarships to cover private school or home schooling expenses is being debated in the Iowa Senate this week. The plan would also stop administrators in five school districts with voluntary diversity plans from denying open enrollment transfers out of those districts. Logan Shine is one of Governor Kim Reynolds’ policy advisors. “We’re empowering parents with the ability to choose what’s best for their children,” Shine says.

Trish Wilger is executive director of Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education. “This is about giving parents the ability to choose what they feel works best for their child,” she says, “…putting parents in the driver’s seat, giving parent options.” The new state scholarships would be available for students living in the 34 Iowa public school districts with the lowest student test scores and high school graduation rates. Chuck Hurley of The Family Leader says the proposal is targeted at schools that aren’t doing well.

“What we really need to do with education policy, in our opinion, is be first and foremost concerned with the students’ outcomes,” Hurley says. “We should fund children and not particular systems and any public school that’s concerned about this bill, that doing a good job with the children should not have anything to fear.” Opponents far outnumbered supporters during an online public hearing this (Monday) morning. Betty Andrews, the president of the Iowa-Nebraska N-Double-A-C-P, says the governor’s plan will hurt public schools.

“This bill will potentially finance a cycle that could lead to segregation of Iowa schools,” she said, “…allowing wealthier families to flee public schools for less diverse charter or private schools and reducing funds for poor and minority students.” Jesse Howard, a member of the New London School Board, is a southeast Iowa district director for the Iowa Association of School Boards. He calls the scholarships “vouchers.”

“Vouchers represent a rural to urban shift of resources,” he says. “The survival of rural schools depends on adequate state funding…As one parent told me this weekend, this bill is going to create the wild west of public education and be the death of what we look at for quality public education.” Anderson Sainci (SAN-see), a member of the Dubuque Community School Board, says shifting state dollars to private schools will have a negative impact on poor, middle class and racial minorities.

“I hope our legislators will truly live by our goals and missions to do what’s best for all Iowans, not some,” he said. A Senate committee will start debating this plan late this (Monday) afternoon. The expectation is the full Senate will vote on it as soon as Thursday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A major winter storm is threatening to blanket parts of the middle of the country with more than a foot of snow, promising to disrupt travel and even closing some coronavirus testing sites. The snow that began in some parts of the Midwest Monday morning was forecast to stretch from central Kansas northeast to Chicago and southern Michigan throughout the day. Some of the heaviest snow was expected in southeast Nebraska and western Iowa.

Officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads. Several coronavirus testing sites in Nebraska and Iowa closed early on Monday because of the storm. Elsewhere, a major highway in California was closed as a storm moving across the Southwest dumped snow in the Tejon Pass between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports three arrests took place last week. Friday night, 31-year old Vincent Edward Long, of Stuart, was arrested on Adair County felony warrants for Child Endangerment with serious injury, and assault with injury. Long was released the following day on a $5,000 cash or surety bond. Also arrested Friday night, was 30-year old Andrew Virgil Martin, of Fontanelle. He was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense, following a traffic stop that occurred after an Adair County Deputy saw Martin’s vehicle cross the fog line on the shoulder of the road. After the deputy turned around and attempted to catch up with the suspect vehicle, he clocked its speed at 66 in a 55 zone. Further investigation determined Martin was over the legal alcohol limit to drive, at .112%. Martin was cited and later released with a summons to appear in court.

And, at around 2:11-a.m. Thursday, 35-year old John Lyle Vanscoy, of Afton, was arrested on Union County warrants for a Controlled Substance Violation (a Class-B Felony), driving while barred, and eluding. He was held in the Adair County Jail until released to Union County Deputies.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says a resident of the County has reported an attempted “Grandparent scam.”  That’s when someone calls and pretends to the potential victims’ grandchild, who is supposedly in legal trouble, or injured, and needs money immediately. Another scam asks for money to be sent so the scammer can come to America and live with the victim. And, the Sheriff’s Office reports a scam against an elderly person from a person, a stranger to the victim,  who claims she is from another part of Iowa and needs money sent to her to escape an abusive relationship and move back here to live with the elderly person.

Never give those individuals access to your funds or identification information without confirming the validity of their claims. Make sure an elderly family member is aware of these types of scams.  If in doubt about the validity of such calls, check with the grandchild’s parents, and/or the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. They can contact the agency responsible for detaining the person (if it is real), and verify the charges or situation is accurate.

For more information on grandparent/elderly scams, go to: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/grandparent.html