(Radio Iowa) – Fall enrollment is down at the three state universities The University of Northern Iowa has been trying to get its numbers back up for several years. Vice President for enrollment, Kristin Woods, says they do have more new students coming in. “Our new freshman class for fall 2021 is one-thousand554 students. And that is an increase over last year by about five percent,” she says. “Overall, our enrollment is nine-thousand- 231, and that is down about 291 students from last year.” In-person classes are back after going online for a time during the pandemic. Woods says they aren’t sure how the pandemic impacted enrollment. “That’s something we are still learning about and continuing to dig into. We do know that it had an impact on our international enrollment,” Woods says.

She says things haven’t gotten back to normal for international students. “Students continued to have challenges to obtaining visas and that was tied to student’s often inability to get visa appointments with embassy closures and so on. So, that certainly has had a continued impact on international enrollment.” While the overall enrollment is down slightly, she says there are positives. She says they are excited about the increase in the size of the freshman class and the record graduation rates — with one-in-14 students graduating in three years.

Iowa State’s fall enrollment is 30-thousand-708 — which is down by 11-hundred-17 students. The university saw a six percent increase in new first-year students The University of Iowa’s total enrollment is 31-thousand-206, down 394 from fall 2020. Iowa has four-thousand-521 first-year students, up 11 from fall 2020.

(Radio Iowa) – Events were held throughout Iowa to mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. While many have vivid memories of that day, it’s all history to students in elementary and high school school who weren’t born yet. Jordan Pollack, a teacher at West Delaware High School in Manchester, shares his own recollections to engage with seniors in government class. “I was actually in 8th grade when it happened, so I was a student,” he says. “So I kind of talk to my students about (being) on the bus and I heard something and then we got to school and then we basically watched footage of it the rest of the day.”

Pollack also talks about the junior high football game that Tuesday night 20 years ago. “I remember feeling kind of weird, like something huge happened,” he says, “but we’re still doing this really normal thing, like going to a middle school football game.”

Corey Coates, who’s also a social studies teacher at West Delaware High School, says he has a distinct memory about football practice for the high school team that afternoon, as they all realized there were no planes or contrails in the sky. Coates says he starts a class conversation about 9/11 by showing some short videos of the attacks. “Many students have never actually just watched any footage from the day,” he says. “So many of them are just so surprised to actually see a plane hitting the building and so then we debrief about those things and that’s usually then when I go into my conversation about my experience.”

On September 11th, 2001, Coates had just started his 6th year of teaching and was gathering with students in the school annex as classes were about to start on that Tuesday. “I just remember some of my students coming in and saying: ‘Mr. Coates, what on earth is going on?’ and I just grabbed a yellow (legal) pad…and I just started to write,” he says. “…I just tried to process with the kids as the whole day went on.”

Coates and Pollack say students understand something monumental happened and some compare 9/11 to Pearl Harbor, but both teachers say it’s hard for students who weren’t alive in 2001 to fully comprehend the magnitude and scope of the attacks.

(Radio Iowa) – A Des Moines businessman and philanthropist who has been chairman of the Des Moines-based World Food Prize Foundation has died at the age of 78 after a long illness. For more than two decades, John Ruan the third led the family-owned Ruan Transportation Management Systems, Bankers Trust. The trucking company his father started in 1932 now employs 56-hundred people. The Ruans have been the main benefactors of the World Food Prize and John Ruan the third has been the World Food Prize Foundation’s chairman.

A news release from the Ruan companies says Ruan’s son — John Ruan the fourth — assumed the role of chairman of the Ruan companies in August, as part of the family’s succession plan. The 36-story Ruan Center is a familiar landmark in downtown Des Moines. The president and C-E-O of Bankers Trust describes John Ruan the third as a forward-thinking leader who did not seek the limelight, but who had a significant impact on central Iowa.

Davenport – The Iowa Department of Corrections, Sunday, reported Jesus Manuel Diaz, convicted of  Domestic Abuse Assault-3rd or Subsequent Offense in Scott County, failed to report to the Davenport facility as required Sunday morning.

Diaz is a 40-year-old Hispanic male, height 5′ 5″, and weighs 185 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on 7/21/21.

Persons with information on Diaz’s whereabouts should contact local police.

Jesus Manuel Diaz

The CAM School District’s Board of Education is set to meet 6:30-p.m. Monday, Sept. 13th. During their session to be held in the CAM High School Superintendent’s Office, the Board will discuss and act on several matters, including:

• A Resolution Ordering an Election on the Issuance of $30,500,00 ($30.5-million) worth of General School Bonds.
• Approval of:
  • Anita Daycare food service agreement
  • Homecoming Highway Relay
  • Calendar and out of state trips for FFA
  • Sale of Excess property by sealed bid.
  • 501.10-502.4 Board Policies
  • ActivePure Technology.

A man from Knoxville (Iowa) died as the result of a motorcycle accident at around 1-a.m. Sunday, near Knoxville. The Iowa State Patrol reports 22-year-old Colton Gunsolley, of Knoxville, was riding a 2008 Harley Davidson motorcycle eastbound on Marion County Road G-40, when the cycle left the road before it reached Hoover Street.

The motorcycle entered a ditch and rolled several times, throwing Gunsolley off. He suffered from internal injuries and died at the scene. The accident was not discovered until several hours later.

A collision Friday afternoon between a 2017 Chevy passenger car and a 2016 Honda moped, resulted in an unidentified 14-year old male from Jefferson being transported by LifeFlight to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. The accident happened in Greene County on N. Grimmell Road, at around 5-p.m. The Iowa State Patrol reports the 14-year-old was operating the moped south of the Greene County High School, when he swerved across the center line of the road, into the path of the northbound car, striking the vehicle.

The driver of the car, 48-year-old Nancy Kaufman, of Grand Junction, was not injured.

ATLANTIC, Iowa – Sept. 12, 2021 – At 7 a.m. Monday, Sept. 13, westbound Interstate 80 traffic will be detoured in Pottawattamie County near the I-80/I-880 interchange while repairs are made to the pavement. The repairs are expected to be completed within 36 hours, weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s District 4 Office.

Local travelers can expect a detour of up to one mile while regional travelers can expect a ten-mile detour.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.