The Elk Horn Public Library reports Pastor Keith Menter’s train is up and running again and bigger and better than prior years.  The Library’s Alissa LaCanne says Pastor Menter’s collection, which grows each year, will be on display in the library’s programming room thru December 31st. You can see a video and pictures on the Elk Horn Library’s Facebook page

Pastor Menter
shows the train to a school group last year (Photos submitted)

(Updated/Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Education annual report showed the first drop in school enrollment in ten years. Department spokesman, Jay Pennington, says the biggest drop came among the youngest students.  “The largest losses in terms of grade level enrollment are really happening in post-kindergarten or kindergarten. So those who are involved in statewide pre-school programs as well as those enrolling in kindergarten,” Pennington says.

He says there was some drop after the early programs. “We do a see a decline overall in elementary — so sort of through six grade — which is into the middle school years. At the same time, high school saw an increase,” he says. Pennington doesn’t see this as a long-term trend. “We’ll certainly after a nice steady ten years of increase it’s unfortunate that we are having a decline. Certainly enrollment this fall is an anomaly and we would expect to get back to continued increases,” according to Pennington.

Pennington says they don’t know exactly what caused the decrease — though it appears parents of some of the kids in the pre-k and kindergarten programs decided not to enroll them this year. He says pandemic could play a role and it is not certain how soon things would turn back to an increase in enrollment. “It is going to take one year or two years — it’s really difficult to say — I think depending on the health and safety situation that we see in the fall of ’21 will certainly dictate what people decide to do in terms of seeing the increases in those pre-k and kindergarten programs that saw deep declines in 2020,” Pennington says.

Pennington says while overall enrollment declined, there was an increase in diversity. “We’re continuing to show a higher percentage of student who are students of color and a decrease in white student population. So, even though there was a decline in population overall — the diversity of our student population — that trend continues,” he says. Certified enrollment decreased at 215 school districts representing 66 percent of all public school districts in the state. Des Moines Public Schools had the largest decrease followed by Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Iowa City, Council Bluffs, Waterloo, Sioux City, Dubuque, Burlington and West Des Moines.

The Montgomery County Auditor’s Office reports Red Oak Businesswoman Charla Schmid has won a special election to fill a vacancy on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors. Unofficial results from the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office show Schmid defeating Steven Berendes 88 votes to 57 votes.

Schmid fills the District 1 seat left vacant following the death in September, of Rudy Kinard. The Supervisors had originally appointed Schmid to fill the seat in October, but a petition from residents forced a special election.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration is using $10 million in federal pandemic relief funds to pay the salaries of state police officers, who have largely not been directly involved in Iowa’s virus response. The expense is listed in a state report as going toward “State Government COVID staffing” at the Iowa Department of Public Safety. The report claims the money will support payroll expenses for employees “whose services were diverted to a substantially different use as a result of COVID-19.” Department spokeswoman Debra McClung noted that the spending is allowable under revised Treasury Department guidance that stipulates that payroll expenses for public safety employees are presumed to qualify as pandemic-related. However, she didn’t provide examples of how any duties had changed.

STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) — The family of a 65-year-old Iowa man is suing Tyson after he died of COVID-19 while working at the company’s pork plant in Storm Lake. Michael Everhard, of Fonda, died June 18, three weeks after he contracted the virus. His family contends in a lawsuit that Tyson didn’t implement proper safety precautions to protect Everhard and other employees from the virus. Several Tyson executives at the plant are also named in the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Everhard’s three children. A Tyson spokeswoman said the company has implemented several safety measures that meet or exceed federal guidelines designed to slow the spread of the virus.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa reported another 67 COVID-19 related deaths on Tuesday, a day after posting 60 more deaths. The state changed its method of calculating deaths last week and officials said death records could take a week to be filed, so it’s difficult to know when the new deaths occurred, but the increasing number of lives lost to the virus mirrors national trends. Iowa’s total death toll increased to 3,340, and more than 300,000 people across the country now have died from the virus. Iowa has seen a slowing of the virus spread but is still averaging more than 1,700 new cases a day. While the pressure on hospitals hasn’t surged after Thanksgiving as some health care professionals expected, 798 people remained hospitalized with 166 in intensive care.

DOWS, Iowa (AP) — A person was found dead in a home near the small northern Iowa community of Dows. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that a 911 caller on Monday afternoon reported a male person had been shot at a home in rural Dows. Deputies responded and found a person who was dead. An autopsy is planned at the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny. The identity of the person killed will be released after relatives are notified.