(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg visited the Life Serve Blood Center in Sioux City Tuesday. Gregg says he wants to highlight the need for donations. “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted blood supply all across the state and all across the country, because blood drives have had to be canceled or reduced at major businesses, at high schools, colleges…so it’s especially important right now to make a donation,” Gregg says.

The Lieutenant Governor says he has been a blood donor for years and continued during the pandemic. “It’s a great way to take a few minutes of your time that might save a life,” according to Gregg. “Donated blood goes to help cancer patients, it helps trauma victims, it helps burn victims.”

Gregg says convalescent plasma from blood donations played a key role in helping people recover from COVID-19. Anyone wishing to donate blood can make an appointment at lifeservebloodcenter.org. Or you can call: 800-287-4903.

(Radio Iowa) – A district court judge has dismissed the grocery industry’s challenge of how state officials interpret Bottle Bill requirements for redeeming the nickel deposits on empty beverage containers. Meanwhile, at the state Capitol, a plan that would set the conditions by which grocers could opt out of processing the empties in their stores is eligible for debate in a state senate committee. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says the bill could breathe new life into the effort to make changes.

“Iowans do like the Bottle Bill, but we have to be sympathetic to the infrastructure out there,” Dawson says. “Just because we like something doesn’t mean we can pass an unfunded mandate onto all these industries and turn around and say: ‘Make it happen,’ when we know the current system is not sustainable and is collapsing.”

Brad Epperly, a lobbyist for the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, says the solution beverage distributors and grocers came up with after daily meetings this year has no chance of winning HOUSE approval.  “We were told by the House it was a non-starter,” Epperly says. David Edelman, a lobbyist for the Iowa Wholesale Beer Distributors Association, says the groups will continue to negotiate, in hopes of finding acceptable adjustments in the Bottle Bill.  “After 40 years, I think we can all acknowledge that tweaks in the system need to be made,” Edelman says.

Jess Mazour of the Sierra Club of Iowa says consumers want convenience and the ability to take their empties back to the stores where they bought the beverages in the first place.  “We keep hearing about the grocers and the bottlers all saying they’ve come to an agreement, but we know that citizens overwhelmingly love the bottle deposit law that we have,” Mazour says.

The Grocery Industry’s lobbyist says redemption rates in Iowa are falling and the latest state report suggested 64 percent of bottles and cans are recycled. Mick Barry, president of MidAmerica Recycling in Des Moines, says only 32 percent of beverage containers are recycled nationally, so Iowa’s redemption rate for bottles and cans is about double that. “Cold turkey taking it out of the stores is probably going to take us backwards,” Barry says.

Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, says she’s concerned because in 2017, Iowa failed to claim 35 million in their deposits for bottles and cans.  “I’m hoping this time all the interested parties really are seriously talking to one another to find a solution,” Jochum says, “because the system is eroding.”

The grocery industry’s lawsuit that was tossed yesterday argued the Iowa Department of Natural Resources did not have the authority to enforce Bottle Bill rules. The judge ruled the agency’s actions weren’t irrational and it did not abuse its discretion.

(Iowa City) – A judge in eastern Iowa, Wednesday, ordered a Colorado man detained, following statements the man made when he attempted to purchase a weapon.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Jackson noted that 40-year-old Adam Vannoy attempted to buy guns in Iowa after he was released on bond from a jail in Nebraska, where troopers had seized several firearms and marijuana from his vehicle during a March 14 traffic stop. T

Vannoy raised eyebrows last week when he said he was surprised people didn’t suspect he was the Boulder mass shooter. The judge says Vannoy’s continued attempt to obtain weapons and odd behavior justifies the government’s request to jail him pending trial.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education held a very brief meeting Wednesday evening, to hold a public hearing on the 2021-22 Certified Budget. Superintendent Steve Barber confirmed there were no comments or objections raised by the public prior to the meeting.

After the hearing was closed, the Board entered their regular session, and passed a Resolution that Barber says in essence, they District will “Prepay some of [its] General Obligation Bonds in the amount of $855,000.”

The Board also approved the 2021-22 Certified Budget, levying a tax of $13.95 per thousand dollars of valuation, which is lower than the previous year of $14.22/$1,000 per one thousand dollars of valuation. And, they set Paraprofessional Day as April 7^th, 2021.

A paraprofessional is non-certified support person who serves as an instructional assistant, educational assistant, teacher’s aide or classroom assistant, and is generally responsible for specialized or concentrated assistance for students in elementary and secondary schools.

Barber said they typically buy some pastries and grapes to offer as a treat in celebration of para’s.

(Radio Iowa) – Democrat Rita Hart has ended her challenge of the outcome of her race against Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks. State-certified results showed Hart finishing six votes behind Miller-Meeks, out of more than 400-thousand cast in Iowa’s second congressional district. Hart filed a petition with the U.S. House Committee on Administration. She argued at least 22 legally cast ballots had not been included in the district-wide recount in November.

Rita Hart (File photo)

Hart says after many conversations with people she trusts, she made the decision to end the contest. Hart says there’s been a toxic drumbeat of political disinformation about the review process and Hart’s calling for reform of the recount process in close races like hers to ensure lawfully cast votes aren’t excluded in the future. Hart, in a written statement, said having the race be in limbo has been difficult for all involved and she wished Miller-Meeks all the best as she continues to serve Iowans.

Miller-Meeks issued a statement, thanking Hart for her decision. Miller-Meeks, who lost three previous races for congress, says she knows how extremely difficult it is to lose an election. Miller-Meeks says Hart’s gracious concession boosts faith and confidence in the election system and Iowa laws.

(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of Iowans who contracted COVID-19 many months ago are still battling debilitating symptoms, baffling doctors, and earning them the name “long-haulers.” Keegan Parrott, of Ames, got sick with COVID nine months ago and still deals with persistent headaches, chest pain and fatigue. He doesn’t have health insurance and hasn’t seen a doctor to determine if he’s suffered permanent organ damage, as other long-haulers have.

“I’ve had a headache for over six months,” Parrot says. “Is that gonna have any issues going forward? Like, am I going to be at higher risk for Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s or things like that? We don’t know.” There is much health care providers don’t know about long-term COVID and the impacts are staggering. While some patients experience mild symptoms, others remain largely bedridden, barely able to walk up a flight of stairs, let alone return to work.

Ben Sponsler, of Ankeny, first got COVID in October and suffered what providers call brain fog, but Sponsler says it’s akin to dementia. “There for a while, I had a hard time completing a sentence,” Sponsler says. “I constantly was asking people like, ‘You know, the…the thing…that does the…the what?’ and everybody’s like, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Sponsler said he’d be at home and find himself wondering, ‘Is this my house?’ and he struggled with basic tasks, even forgetting to eat. That’s on top of his extremely elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and at times debilitating anxiety.

About one-third of the patients at the University of Iowa’s post-COVID clinic suffer from brain fog. The majority struggle with persistent shortness of breath and disabling fatigue. Dr. Alejandro Pezzulo is one of a team of physicians running the clinic. “We always take them very, very seriously and we understand that they’re disabling to the patients,” Pezzulo says, “but it’s just so hard to come up with how to treat them if we don’t know what caused them in the first place.” State

Representative Amy Nielsen, a Democrat from North Liberty, tested positive in January and has spent most of the time since in bed. Nielsen believes she was exposed at the statehouse, where the Republican majority refused to implement a mask mandate. She’s angry with GOP leaders for the overall handling of the virus, which has left Iowa with one of the highest infection rates in the country.  “We’re going to see more people need unemployment benefits, or any kind of food benefits, rent help,” Nielson says. “So many people are acting like it’s over or normal is just around the corner. We’re never going to go back to what we were in January of 2020. It’s just never going to be that way again.”

Some long-haulers in Iowa are leaving the workforce and applying for disability benefits, unable to carry on and unsure if they’ll ever recover. Nielsen says the state could be seeing the effects for decades.
(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)