y/Iowa Capital Dispatch)(Radio Iowa) – Drake University officials say a $28-million donation will cover the remaining cost of building a new student center on the Des Moines campus. It’s the largest single-donor gift in school history. The gift comes from Greg Johansen, who graduated from Drake in 1973 and founded Medicap, a company that operates nearly two dozen pharmacies in central Iowa. Johansen says the center will give student organizations a new home on campus.

“It’s been sort of catch as catch can for their meeting spaces and documents and the things that each organization needs to function,” Johansen says. “This is going to give that space and so hopefully that will help the organizations flourish.” The student center is under construction in a former residence hall. Drake President Marty Martin says the donation will allow Drake to complete the center debt-free, so it won’t affect the general budget.

Martin says the project includes space for student groups and an intercultural center. “It invigorates the life of our students, creates that central location that we’ve never really had where they can gather and do the things that really make a valuable contribution to their formation as Drake alumni,” Martin says.

Greg & Cie Johansen with the Drake women’s basketball team (Drake University photo)

Johansen’s gift will also support the Drake women’s basketball team and the installation of solar panels on a university building.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Several Iowa pharmacies have been cited by the state recently for dispensing incorrect medications, including one instance in which a patient might have died. The Hy-Vee Pharmacy located at 1501 First Ave. East in Newton, was recently charged by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy with dispensing the incorrect prescription to a customer.

The board alleges that on Jan. 14, 2024, the pharmacy mistakenly dispensed 30 milliliters of morphine concentrate to a patient with incorrect directions on the label, which the board says resulted “in a substantial overdose and possibly early death.” No other information on the case has been made public by the board. The board has imposed a $5,000 civil penalty against the pharmacy and ordered that the entire professional staff at the pharmacy undergo training on medication errors and patient safety.

The Hy-Vee Pharmacy located at 1501 First Ave. East in Newton was recently sanctioned by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy. (Photo via Google Earth)

Other cases recently addressed by the board include:

— A Hy-Vee Pharmacy at 2827 Hamilton Boulevard in Sioux City, which was charged with dispensing an  incorrect prescription to a customer. The board imposed a $2,000 civil penalty, and the entire professional staff was ordered to undergo training on medication errors and patient safety.

— A Hy-Vee Pharmacy at 351 NE Gateway Drive in Grimes, which was charged by the board with dispensing the incorrect prescription to a patient on May 29, 2023. The board imposed a $2,500 civil penalty and the entire professional staff was ordered to undergo training on medication errors and patient safety.

— A CVS Pharmacy at 14201 Hickman Road in Urbandale, which was charged by the board with dispensing the incorrect prescription to a customer. The board imposed a $5,000 civil penalty on the store.

— Monroe Community Pharmacy, located at 112 E Washington St. in Monroe, which was charged by the board with failing to reconcile its actual inventory of narcotics with its documented supply, failing to maintain complete and accurate pharmacy records, failing to have adequate policies in place with regard to narcotics, and failing to train pharmacy technicians at a telepharmacy site.

The board fined Monroe Community Pharmacy $3,500 and placed the pharmacy’s license on probation for three years. In addition, the board ordered that the pharmacy staff complete educational training on narcotic theft.

In a separate but related case, Douglas Niedermann, who was the Iowa-licensed pharmacist in charge at the Monroe pharmacy, was charged by the board with failing to audit and reconcile the inventory, and with failing to maintain complete and accurate pharmacy records. The board imposed a $500 civil penalty on Niedermann for the violations and ordered him to complete complete-education courses on controlled substances and theft of narcotics.

— A CVS Pharmacy at 3414 8^th St. SW in Altoona, which was charged by the board with failing to complete Drug Enforcement Agency records as to the loss of controlled substances, committing an act that would render its Controlled Substances Act registration “inconsistent with the public interest,” and with failing to submit a form to the DEA within 14 days of the theft or loss of controlled substances. The board imposed a civil penalty of $5,000 and placed the business’ pharmacy license and its Controlled Substances Act registration on probation for two years.

— DCA Pharmacy of Franklin, Tennessee, which was charged by the board with sending prescriptions into Iowa for two full years without an active Iowa license. Between January 2022 and January 2024, DCA PhIn addition, DCA was also accused of shipping compounded progesterone capsules into Iowa, despite its inability to show any of the required evidence of a clinically significant difference between the compounded medication and that which was available otherwise. The board imposed a $5,000 penalty against the company.

(Additional information can be found HERE)

(Radio Iowa) – All the recent rain has helped keep pollen counts down in Iowa, but soon enough, the state’s allergy sufferers will be red-eyed, sneezing and sniffling. Dr. Ravi Johar, at UnitedHealthcare, says while the chilly winter weather may be gone, that pesky pollen will force some Iowans with seasonal allergies to remain indoors.

Johar recommends allergy sufferers try using air purifiers indoors, limit their time outdoors, and to run their air conditioners in their homes and cars to keep the pollen out. Johar also says to avoid leaving clothes out to dry on a clothesline as they can collect pollen from triggers like trees, weeds and grass.

A wide variety of allergy medications are available without a prescription.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – At the Iowa Environmental Protection Committee’s next meeting (May 22nd), the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will present a litigation report in which they ask the Attorney General to seek penalties relating to March 11th, 2024 fertilizer spill in Montgomery County. The Iowa DNR announced approximately two weeks later that the spill resulted in nearly all the fish being killed in a 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna River to the Missouri border.

New Cooperative notified the Iowa Department of Natural Resources following the spill that approximately 1,500 tons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer (32% solution) had discharged into a drainage ditch. Officials say the release occurred due to a valve left open on an aboveground storage tank overnight. The fertilizer then traveled from the drainage ditch into the East Nishnabotna River.

According to the Iowa DNR’s litigation report, Iowa Code states that those liable for polluting water of the state are in violation of state law and should be liable to pay restitution for injury caused to a wild animal due to the pollution.

You can read the full litigation report HERE.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Neb. [KETV] — Sheriff’s Officials in Douglas County, Nebraska report a body was found floating in the Missouri River, Tuesday. Authorities were notified when a person called 911 about possible human remains floating in the river just north of the Douglas/Washington County line.

Multiple agencies worked together to pull the body of an adult male from the river along North River Drive a little farther south of County Road P51.

Anyone with information concerning this incident is being asked to call the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office at 402-444-6000.

(Radio Iowa) – Legislation which Governor Kim Reynolds recently signed into law expands the definition of “pedestrian” in Iowa, which safety experts say is an enormous win for everyone who uses a crosswalk. Cara Hamann, director of training and education at the Injury Prevention Research Center, based at the University of Iowa, says broadening the legal description of pedestrian is an important move. “The law says that a pedestrian is a person on foot, and the new law expands that to pedestrian or pedestrian conveyance,” Hamann says, “and pedestrian conveyance includes things like people in wheelchairs, babies in strollers, people on rollerblades or skateboards, or people on bicycles.”

Hamann is an injury epidemiologist, meaning, she studies crash prevention and outcomes. While the law change won’t necessarily prevent accidents, she says the new distinction of what defines “pedestrian” is key. “People in vehicles are protected by the big metal surrounding that they’re in, whereas all these other users — or what we call vulnerable road users — don’t have that protection,” she says. “So ultimately, I think it makes sense that drivers should yield to users crossing the road legally in a crosswalk.” The new law doesn’t take effect for a few months, and while it won’t instantly make crosswalks any safer on July 1st, it -will- make drivers legally liable for anyone they may strike.

“Before this change, really only people on foot were written into the law, so that means if a driver hit a bicyclist in a crosswalk, they could walk away with no consequences,” Hamann says, “because there’s no law to uphold that says they should have yielded to that bicyclist.” Hamann, an associate professor in the U-I’s College of Public Health, says she’s very encouraged by the expanded legal definition of pedestrian: “This is a really positive change in the law that moves us toward a better traffic safety culture overall in the state, recognizing that all road users are important and we should take care of each other on the road.”

This is National Bike to Work Week.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is among a group of states suing the State of California and the Biden Administration over rules that critics say will force the trucking industry to convert to electric semis before the power grid can support the transition. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says it’s the worst nightmare for the supply chain. “Electric trucks are a lot more expensive than the diesel trucks and they barely exist, mostly as prototypes,” Bird says. “Biden and California’s radical ‘green dream’ is unrealistic and it’s out of touch, a fantasy.”

Two dozen states, including Iowa, are going to court to try to block E-P-A rules about emissions from semi tractors’ tailpipes. A separate legal action involving Iowa and 17 other states is challenging California’s plan to require zero carbon emissions from semis operating in California that come from trucking companies with over 50 trucks. That rule would go into effect in 2036.

Iowa Motor Truck Association chairman Scott Szymanek is president of Stutsman, Incorporated, a trucking company based in the small town of Hills, near Iowa City. He says ithe trucking industry cannot convert to electric semis as quickly as the regulations require.  “Battery electric vehicles are a viable option for some trucking operations, such as urban delivery and even school buses, but you cannot move the entire U.S. economy a battery vehicle alone,” he says. “It is simply unrealistic.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird speaks during news conference at Housby Co. in Ankeny. She was joined by Dale Decker of Decker Truck Line, on left, and Iowa Motor Truck Association chair Scott Szymanek on right. (RI photo)

Szymanek says renewable diesel fuel has a lower carbon footprint over its life cycle when compared to battery-operated trucks. Dale Decker, the C-E-O of Decker Truck Line, says his company has been testing electric trucks at their facility in Fort Dodge, but Decker says sending battery powered semis out on the highways is unrealistic.  “It’s just not possible with the cost and charge times, the distance, weather factors. Cold, hot changes the distance on where the truck can go, the capability of that truck,” Decker says. “Sure, we’d all like to get there, but pushing this down our throat like this is just not a way to go.”

The U-S Supreme Court recently ruled California can enforce animal welfare rules related to pork that’s produced elsewhere, but sold in California. Bird says she’s disappointed in that ruling, but the attorneys general will argue, as they did in the pork-related case, that California’s rule is a violation of the U-S Constitution’s interstate commerce clause. “California does not have the power to tell another state what to do, particularly when it comes to trucking,” Bird says. “What California is doing is extreme.”

Bird says there are other legal precedents directly related to cases involving the trucking industry that support the effort to block California’s ‘clean fleet’ trucking rules. California officials have said while only six percent of the vehicles on California roads are trucks, those trucks account for a quarter of the state’s transportation-generated greenhouse gas emissions.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird attended Donald Trump’s trial in New York on Monday at the invitation of the Republican Attorneys General Association. She briefly answered a question about the trip during a news conference today (Tuesday) in Ankeny. “I went to New York to show my support for President Trump and to witness what was going on there in that courtroom in Manhattan,” Bird said.

Bird told Iowa reporters no tax dollars were used for the trip. A spokesperson for her campaign later identified the group that paid for it. Bird spoke with New York reporters Monday and said Trump’s trial was a travesty and the charges against the former president were a scam, but during her news conference in Ankeny she spoke about the trial for about 12 seconds. Bird was at a trucking company with Iowa Motor Truck Association representatives to announce legal action against E-V rules for semis.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Board of Directors of the Atlantic Community School District will meet at 5:30pm Wednesday, May 15, 2024 in the Atlantic High School Media Center. The meeting will be open to the public as required in Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code.

AGENDA
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Approve Agenda
4. Action Item(s)
a. Approve 2024-2025 Certified Agreement between the Atlantic Education Association and the Atlantic School District
5. Discussion
a. The Atlantic Classified Union will present its initial contract proposal for the 2024-2025 school year between the
Classified Union and the District’s Negotiation Committee.
b. The District’s Negotiation Committee will present its opening proposal to the Atlantic Classified Union and its
representatives.
6. Adjournment
7. Exempt Session
a. The District’s Negotiation Committee will go into an exempt session to review proposals. Meeting closed to the public.

(Radio Iowa) – A ceremony on the state capitol grounds today (Tuesday) marked an anniversary for the state’s Vietnam Memorial.  “The Vietnam War Memorial was dedicated 40 years ago on Memorial Day May 28 of 1984 by then Iowa Governor Terry Branstad,” according to Dan Gannon, Commander of the Des Moines Chapter 20 of Vietnam Combat Disabled Veterans.

Gannon says the Iowa Memorial came two years after the National Vietnam Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D-C. Gannon, who served in the Marines in Vietnam says many other Iowans served our country as well. “During the Vietnam War years 115-thouand Iowans served in Vietnam in all branches of the military,” he says. “Their average age was 19. They were still teenagers barely out of high school and some not yet old enough yet to vote for the president’s who sent him there.” Gannon says nearly 900 Iowans gave the ultimate sacrifice.

“Eight hundred and 68 Iowans became casualties of that Vietnam War their names are etched as you can see in the black granite to my to my back,” Gannon says. “There are over 58-thousand-281 names on the Vietnam Wall in D-C.” He says it wasn’t very far into the war before the first Iowan died. “Iowa’s first casualty of the Vietnam War was Navy hospital corpsman second class Gerald Owen Norton. He served with the first Marine airwing and was killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam on October the second of 1962, Gannon says.

He says Norton, who was from Moulton, was the first corpsman killed in the war. Gannon says the last Iowan killed in combat tragically came just before the war ended. “Nineteen-year-old United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Darwin Judge from Marshalltown, Iowa. He died on the 29th of April 1975. The last day of the war during a rocket attack. His death occurred just prior to the final evacuation of the Embassy in Saigon.” Gannon says He says five Iowans received the Medal of Honor for their conduct in the Vietnam War.

It is the 17th year there has been a state ceremony for Iowa Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day. All of the names of the Veterans on the Iowa wall were read for the first time in another ceremony that followed the anniversary recognition.