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) — A group of Iowa legislators who are under the age of 40 have formed an “Iowa Future Caucus” to show bipartisan cooperation is possible. Twenty-nine-year-old State Senator Zach Wahls — a Democrat from Coralville — is one of the group’s co-chairs.  “I think we’ve brought together a good group of lawmakers who are really committed to trying to figure out what are the issues…that aren’t yet partisan and how do we make progress on those issues,” Wahls says. Their initial effort is to focus on ways to grow Iowa’s population and stop the so-called “brain drains.” Thirty-nine-year-old State Senator Zach Nunn — a Republican from Bondurant — is another co-chair of the group.

“What this team is bringing forward is the opportunity for collaborative work and we have a good foundation for this,” Nunn said. “Last year the legislature passed over 88 percent of all legislation on a bipartisan fashion. We’re not treading new group, but we’re really trying to grow where there is already fertile soil.” Thirty-eight-year-old Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, and 21-year-old Joe Mitchell — a Republican from Wayland — are the Iowa HOUSE members who are co-chairs of this group. Iowa is the 28th state to join the “Future Caucus” network. The Millennial Action Project has been promoting the effort since 2013. Steven Olikara, the group’s founder, says bipartisan “bridge building” is rooted in the tradition of America’s founding fathers. “The founding fathers, virtually all of them — Madison, Jefferson, Washington — all warned us of the dangers of extreme partisanship,” Wahls said. “In fact, that was one of the main themes of Washington’s farewell address.”

The Iowa Youth Caucus members met for dinner Tuesday night at the Des Moines Social Club and began brainstorming about issues they’d like to tackle. The group held a news conference Tuesday morning at the capitol. Six members of the Iowa Senate and at least a dozen members of the Iowa House are under the age of 40.

AMES, Iowa ― Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will host a MarketReady workshop for area producers in Atlantic next Tuesday, February 26. The training is designed to provide local food producers with the skills and knowledge needed to make sound decisions about diversifying operations into wholesale, retail, and institutional market outlets. The workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cass County Community Center, 805 West 10th St., Atlantic. Pre-registration is required for this event, and the registration deadline is this Friday, Feb. 22. Registration can be done by stopping in the Cass County Extension Office, visiting the website (below) or calling (712) 243-1132.

This training will focus on best marketing practices when dealing with these market outlets, including communications and relationship building, regulations, packaging and labeling, grading, pricing, logistics, and more. The workshop will wrap up with a buyer panel from 2-3 PM. The intent of this part of the program is for buyers to meet farmers and producers, and for both sides of the sales transaction to understand what the other needs in order to supply and buy local food.

Cost for the workshop is $20 per person or $35 per couple (or two employees from the same farm). The fee includes training materials, lunch, and refreshments. Pre-registration is required by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22. To register, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/cass, stop by the Cass County Extension Office, or call (712) 243-1132 by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22. For more information about the workshop, contact Emily Coll, program assistant with ISU Extension and Outreach Local Foods and Value Added Agriculture Programs, at ecoll@iastate.edu or (515) 296-0586.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nationwide Insurance has more than doubled the number of Des Moines job cuts it announced last fall. Nationwide said in November that about 80 workers in Des Moines would lose their jobs as part of a company effort to eliminate about 1,100 positions across the country — around 3.6 percent of its workforce. The company issued 191 layoff notices this month, however.

Nationwide spokesman Joe Case told The Des Moines Register that, “as we’ve continued to implement our business plans, we are realizing a larger impact in Des Moines than what we originally shared in November.” Nationwide has said it is taking advantage of new technologies as it positions the organization for long-term success and growth.

(Radio Iowa) — Two Republican senators are advancing a bill that would require every Iowa business — even businesses with just one employee — to use the federal E-verify system to check the citizenship status of prospective workers. Businesses caught “knowingly” employing an “unauthorized alien” would lose any license or permit to operate in the state. Republican Senator Julian Garrett of Indianola patterned the proposal after an Arizona law.  “It’s really a pretty simple approach, I thought,” Garrett says. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says it’s time for states to act because the federal government isn’t. “Unfortunately regardless of who controls what, it seems they are inept, they are incoherent and they are irrelevant with our daily lives,” Schultz said. “I’m kind of down with the federal government, so I think it’s down with the states to protect ourselves.”

The Iowa Chamber Alliance, representing the 16 largest chambers of commerce and economic development groups in Iowa, opposes the bill. John Stineman, the group’s executive director, says the E-Verify system is “wildly inaccurate.”  “We have audits that have been done in 2015/2016 that have showed the error instance can be as high as 54 percent in the E-Verify system,” Stineman said.  Senator Garrett responded: “I find that just astounding, quite frankly,” Garrett said. “…The research I’ve done, the error rate is minuscule.”  Dave Stitz, a vice president at the McAninch Corporation, says his construction firm has used the E-Verify system voluntarily for 12 years for all prospective employees. “It’s very simple to use,” Stitz says. “It takes us probably a minute-and-a-half to use the process online.”

Stitz told lawmakers he’d gladly hire “non-U-S citizens. We look for non-Iowa people harder than what we do Iowans because the work ethic seems to be better…Obviously, they should be taxpaying citizens like all of us, so let’s just get them in the mix and make them legal. That’s my personal opinion.”  The Iowa Association of Business and Industry raised concerns the bill might prompt a statewide hiring freeze if businesses can’t check the E-Verify system because of another federal government shutdown.

(Radio Iowa) — House Republicans have scaled back their plan to change the commission that nominates judges for district courts, the Iowa Court of Appeals and the Iowa Supreme Court. Drew Klein, a lobbyist for American for Prosperity, says the amendment making those changes is still a good step toward making the commission more accountable to Iowans. “I don’t think the amendment would have arrived to the committee if it were not necessary to secure votes,” Klein said.

Late yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, all but one Republican on a House committee voted to let lawyers continue electing fellow lawyers to the Judicial Nominating Commissions for DISTRICT COURTS, but legislative leaders from both political parties would start choosing half the members of the commission that selects nominees for the Iowa Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says the bill may get more tweaks as it advances to House debate.  “Iowa has a great judicial system, but that does not mean that improvements cannot be made,” Holt said.

Representative Andy McKean, a retired attorney from Anamosa, was the only Republican to vote against the changes. “There’s an old saying: ‘Be careful what you pray for,'” McKean said. “In my opinion, this bill adds a new political dimension to the way we nominate judges in the state of Iowa and I think it may very well come back to bite the proponents of this bill.” Republican Governor Kim Reynolds yesterday (Wednesday) revealed her second pick for an opening on the Iowa Supreme Court. James Carney, a lobbyist for the Iowa State Bar Association, says that shows the current system for choosing Iowa judges works well. “With Chris McDonald going on, he’ll be a great addition to the court. With that, there’ll be five Republicans on the Supreme Court and the two Democrats will be leaving in the next four years, we know for sure.”

The retirement age for Iowa Supreme Court Justices is 70. Democrats in the legislature are opposed to changing the system for nominating judges, but Republicans hold a majority of seats in the Iowa House and Senate.

Officers with the Red Oak Police Department arrested a man from Texas on a Public Intoxication charge early this (Thursday) morning. 23-year old Jose’ Jesus Carrillo, of Corpus Christi, TX, was arrested at around 12:04-a.m., in the 2400 block of N. Broadway Street, in Red Oak. Carrillo was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa commission has rejected a proposal from two environmental groups to adopt stricter standards for the state’s nearly 160 recreational lakes, saying the effort would be too expensive. The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission rejected the proposal Tuesday because of the $205 million estimated cost. The Environmental Law & Policy Center and Iowa Environmental Council filed the proposal in November.

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — The state auditor found more than $250,000 in questionable travel-related expenses at a northeast Iowa hospital that prompted the CEO to resign two years ago. State Auditor Rob Sand issued a report Wednesday about its investigation into spending at the Regional Medical Center in Manchester, Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa Court of Appeals judge has been named by Gov. Kim Reynolds as the newest justice on the Iowa Supreme Court. Judge Christopher McDonald said Wednesday he will move to the state’s highest court in the next few weeks. Born in Thailand to a Vietnamese mother and a Scottish/Irish father, McDonald says he embraces the expectations placed on him as the court’s first minority.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 15-year-old boy died after the “unintentional discharge of a weapon” in Davenport. The shooting occurred around 1 a.m. Sunday. The boy’s name and other details about the incident have not been released.

(Radio Iowa) — A Madrid woman is accused of stealing thousands of dollars of lottery tickets from the convenience store where she worked. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has charged Taylor Wiese with four counts of theft of a lottery ticket and one count of second-degree theft. The D-C-I says a routine audit found more than 35-hundred dollars in pull-tab tickets were missing from the machine at the Git-N-Go store in Madrid. The D-C-I identified Wiese as a suspect and during an interview she admitted to stealing the tickets when she had worked at the store.