(Radio Iowa) – Democrats in the Iowa House are calling for cancelling the contract for an attorney hired to represent a House committee as it investigates a district court judge. Judge Kurt Stoebe of Humboldt has been accused of improperly trying to influence a commission choosing nominees to be a district court judge. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say they were not consulted when Republican Representative Steven Holt, the committee’s chairman, hired attorney Alan Ostergren to work on the investigation of the judge.

Ostergren represented the Republican Party in an election-related lawsuit two years ago. Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, says Ostergren’s hiring raises the concern that outside groups are pushing to investigate the judge, as a way to interfere in the courts. Holt says as the committee’s chairman he and the speaker of the House had the authority to hire Ostergren.

Holt describes Ostergren as the only attorney they could find who had the intestinal fortitude to take on the court system to find out what the judge did.

(Audubon County, Iowa) – A head-on crash Tuesday claimed the life of a Cass County woman. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 56-year old Lee Ann Hansen, of Atlantic, died in the crash that occurred west of Brayton at around 12:35-p.m. on 320^th Street, west of Goldfinch Place. Hansen died at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt. The other driver, 30-year old Gregory Keith Gregerson, of Harlan, suffered minor injuries. The Patrol said he was wearing his seat belt.

According to the report, an eastbound 2017 Chevy Equinox driven by Hansen and a westbound 2017 Ford F-250 driven by Gregerson, collided at the crest of the hill on 320th Street. Both vehicles ended up in the north ditch. The accident remains under investigation.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, Brayton Fire and Rescue, Exira Fire and Rescue, Audubon County Emergency Management, and Life Flight assisted the Iowa State Patrol at the scene.

Lee Ann Hansen is the co-owner, along with her husband Bruce, of Hansen Interstate Repair and Hansen Valley Oil, near Highway 71 and I-80.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Education reports four-year graduations rates for the class of 2021 dropped slightly in the wake of the pandemic. The Department’s Information Bureau Chief, Jeff Pennington, says two factors impacted the numbers. “We saw a higher number of students who dropped out — so they are no longer in school. We also see a larger percentage of kids who are going to take a fifth year,” According to Pennington. He says both factors are related to the pandemic.

He says there were more kids who might not have been engaged with the uncertainty of the school year and more kids likely fell through the cracks — as well as fewer kids who were not ready to complete high school on time due to the pandemic. The data show 90-point-two percent of students in 2021 graduated within four years, down from 91-point-eight percent in 2020. The drop is small and Pennington says it goes against what has been a 10-year trend of increases.

“We see about a two percentage point increase statewide (in 10 years)in overall rates, even with the downturn in this more recent (year). So, there’s been a nice upward trend in terms of percent of kids completing high school within a four-year window,” Pennington says. He expects things to rebound as schools are now back to normal schedules following the height of the pandemic.

“We do expect that this is a one-year blip. Again, when we look long-term we’ve seen that steady increase and even over the last couple of years it keeps ticking up in terms of the percent of students who are graduating,” he says. Pennington says that the four-year graduation rate trend was up in nearly every student demographic subgroup. For example, graduation rates for students from low-socioeconomic status households have increased by four-point-two percentage points between 2011 and 2021.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has approved a bill that would require testing for radon gas in Iowa schools. The legislation is named in honor of Gail Orcutt, a retired teacher who worked in Waterloo, Norwalk and Des Moines schools. Representative Ray Sorenson paid tribute to Orcutt during debate of the bill. “She tirelessly advocated for this bill here at the Capitol, getting to know many of you,” Sorenson said. “Gail lost her battle with radon-induced lung cancer in 2020.” Orcutt was not a smoker.

Maria Steele, a nurse practitioner at the Iowa Digestive Disease Clinic in Clive, has become a leading advocate for the bill after being diagnosed with lung cancer. “As much as I enjoy visiting with Maria…my hope is that we don’t get to know her as well as Gail,” Sorenson says, “as my hope is that this passes and we can save the lives of teachers and students of the future and that she can rest easy, knowing she’s carried on and accomplished Gail’s mission.” Gail Orcutt began lobbying legislators a decade ago after discovering her home had dangerous levels of radon gas. Radon is an odorless gas that seeps into homes and buildings through cracks in the foundation.

Sorenson notes every Iowa county is considered to have high levels of radon in the soil. “An estimated 400 Iowans will die this year alone due to radon-induced lung cancer,” Sorenson says. Orcutt had lobbied for radon testing and mitigation to be required in schools, which is what the bill that bears her name would do. It also calls for radon control systems in any new school construction. Previous attempts to accomplish those goals had been met with concerns about the cost.

Orcutt had urged legislators to require that radon control systems be installed in all new construction in Iowa, including homes, but that is not included in the bill that passed the House. The bill has to pass the Senate, too, before it would land on the governor’s desk.

LENEXA, KAN. (MARCH 8, 2022) – At an event Monday with Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of two school bus rebate opportunities: 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) Electric School Bus Rebates, and 2021 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) School Bus Rebates. The $7 million in ARP funding is directed toward school districts in underserved communities to replace old diesel buses with new, zero-emission electric models; and the $10 million in DERA rebates will assist with 444 school bus replacements across the country. Among the districts (shown below) receiving funds is the Riverside Community School District, in Carson.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said “This round of school bus grants from the American Rescue Plan is just the beginning. The unprecedented $5 billion investment that’s on the way for clean and zero-emission school buses from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will transform how millions of children get to school and help build a better America for a new generation.”

As part of the announcement, six Iowa school districts will be receiving a total of $185,000 in school bus rebate opportunities to replace nine buses through the 2021 DERA School Bus Rebates. In addition to the $17 million announced today, in the coming weeks, EPA plans to announce a new Clean School Bus rebate program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides an unprecedented $5 billion over five years to replace existing school buses with low- or zero-emission school buses.

The rebate awards are EPA’s latest round of funding for longstanding DERA School Bus Rebates. This year’s program awards approximately $10 million to fund the replacement of old diesel school buses with new electric, diesel, gasoline, propane, or compressed natural gas (CNG) school buses meeting current emission standards.

The two rebate awards total approximately $17 million in combined funding for schools and bus fleet owners to replace older, highly polluting diesel school buses. Replacing these buses will improve air quality in and around schools and communities, reduce greenhouse gas pollution, and better protect children’s health overall. Since 2012, EPA’s school bus rebates have awarded, or are in the process of awarding, over $73 million to replace more than 3,000 old diesel school buses.

This program will also prioritize projects that help achieve the goals of President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to ensure that federal agencies deliver at least 40% of benefits from certain investments to underserved communities.

Atlantic, Iowa – Cass Health CEO Brett Altman was recently recognized as one of nation’s “67 Rural Hospital CEOs to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review. According to the Becker’s article, “The executives featured on this list have put their heart and soul into ensuring their communities have access to the best healthcare services possible. While rural hospitals across the country have faced closure in recent years, these leaders have developed a model for not only surviving but thriving.”

Cass Health CEO Brett Altman

Altman said he was grateful to be recognized. “This is a great honor for Cass Health,” Altman said. “While I’m honored to be a part of this list, I must give credit to the entire team at Cass Health that delivers nationally recognized, award-winning health care every day of the year. They have been pushed to their limits – working through a pandemic and a major construction project – and yet we’ve seen them continually rise to the occasion and go above and beyond to exceed patient expectations and our goals.”