(Radio Iowa) – A Republican in the Iowa legislature says she’ll continue to push for an idea to boost state payments to Iowa child care centers. Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids says the state could continue to make child care assistance payments for days when kids are out sick. She got the idea from the director of her own kids’ daycare who was filling out the required paperwork. “Here was this director sitting before me telling me that paperwork and red tape is what was the most stressful part of her day, when she really just wanted to go work with kids,” Jones says. Jones introduced a bill in the 2023 legislative session that’s still eligible for debate in 2024. It would have the state pay for each day a child is enrolled in a daycare, even if they’re out for part of a day or a full day. Jones made her comments during a child care summit hosted by the Iowa Women’s Foundation.

Lawmakers recently expanded eligibility for child care assistance for low-income families and boosted payments to providers. Representative Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny, say those are positive changes, but Iowa still has a child care crisis to solve. “The vast majority of families in this state — and in this country for that matter, right? — their families are not necessarily on child care assistance, but it is fundamentally unaffordable for almost all families,” Matson says. Matson says the state needs to focus on stabilizing the child care workforce with higher wages and benefits.

Republican Senator Jeff Edler of State Center says gradual approach G-O-P lawmakers are taking on child care issues gives Iowa taxpayers the best bang for their buck.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Officials with the Glenwood Police Department report the arrest on Wednesday, of 44-year-old Melinda Johnson. The Glenwood woman was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. She posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond and was released.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are remembering legendary T-V and movie producer Norman Lear, who died this week at age 101. Back in 1969, Lear took over the town of Greenfield, Iowa, for filming “Cold Turkey,” which featured a list of stars, including Dick Van Dyke and Jean Stapleton. Lear returned to Iowa in 2014, and in a Radio Iowa interview, recalled how “Cold Turkey” came out the same year his show, “All in the Family” premiered on C-B-S. The ground-breaking sitcom dealt with controversial issues previously ignored in comedies.

Lear wrote, directed and produced some of the most popular television shows of the 1970s, including “Maude,” “Good Times” and “The Jeffersons.” Lear said his experiences in Iowa stuck with him and influenced his daily life — which he credits in his many successes.

“Cold Turkey” was filmed primarily in Greenfield, but also used locations in Winterset, Orient and Des Moines. The movie tells the story of a small town — fictional Eagle Rock, Iowa — that takes up the challenge for all its residents to quit smoking for one month to win a $25 million prize. Lear, recalling the summer of ’69, remembers how Iowans adopted Van Dyke and how everyone in the cast enjoyed meeting the locals.

Lear had a photo from that summer in Iowa that he keeps framed in his home.

The native of Connecticut has a home in Vermont, but Lear was named an “Honorary Iowan” in 1999 when he returned to Greenfield with Van Dyke and others to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Cold Turkey.” Lear was in Iowa in 2014 as a special guest at the “Celebrate Iowa Gala” at the State Historical Museum in Des Moines.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Customers of Atlantic Municipal Utilities (AMU) shouldn’t expect to see any rate increases next year for their electricity and water service. AMU General Manager Steve Tjepkes reported the good news to the Atlantic City Council during their meeting Wednesday evening.

Tjepkes said the last increase in the water rate was 5-percent in 2023. AMU’s Capital Budget for 2024 is $1.9-million. In the past, a good chunk of their budget (50%)was spent on power purchased from the Council Bluffs coal plant and Purchase Power contracts (50%). Last year, the wholesale market price of power decreased 45-percent. Electricity market prices, he said, are driven by the price of natural gas.

AMU GM Steve Tjepkes speaks to the Atlantic City Council (12/6/23)

Tjekpes noted both the Electric and Water Departments are debt-free. The Electric Dept. paid-off the remaining $2.525-million of outstanding debt in 2022. He said also, AMU received a “National Excellence in Reliability Award” from the American Public Power Association (APPA).

Steve Tjepkes said also, with regard to Capital Projects, is the replacement of customers’ water meters.

The utility is in the process of engineering and planning for the replacement of an underground water storage tank with an above ground tank. Tjepkes says the current estimated project cost is $1.8-million. AMU will be applying for a grant to offset a portion of the cost.

At the conclusion of his presentation to the Council, Wednesday night, the Council passed a Resolution approving the Calendar Year 2024 AMU Budget, which the AMU Board approved Monday night, following a public hearing. The Resolution will be filed by the City Clerk and forwarded to the Cass County Auditor’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – A report on national farmland values shows prices are holding their own despite several down economic issues. Peoples Company president Steve Bruere says 2023 has been a transitional year for farmland after seeing so many transactions in 2022. “As the interest rates have started to move up in 2023, there’s a lot of folks I think, anticipated that farmland values would soften a little bit in the higher interest rate environment. And what’s happened as farmland is performed really well over the last year,” Brewer says.

He says their report is not a survey, but reviews all types of sales information and other factors. Iowa’s cropland has held its own along with the rest of the country. “Iowa values were relatively flat to stable and 2023. But I’ll tell you the last two or three weeks, there’s been over one-thousand acres that have sold in Iowa that have brought over 20-thousand (dollars) an acre,” he says. “So there’s plenty of ammunition out there and there’s still some really big numbers floating around.” The report shows Iowa cropland values overall up eight percent this year. Bruere says the value of cropland can’t just be viewed based on the return you get from farming the ground.

“I think that’s one of the misnomers on farmland is a lot of times people look at farm in Iowa and say, well, that’s a two or three percent return. Well, the last 20 years Iowa farmland has averaged about seven percent appreciation. And so what this report does is aggregate those two returns,” he says. Bruere says the ups and downs of corn and bean prices are only a part of figuring the value of farmland. “It’s much more than just interest rates and commodity prices. I think that’s what shocked people about this year, if you were looking solely at commodity prices and solid interest rates, you might think that land values are softened a little bit,” he says. “But when you when you start to understand what’s happening in the renewable space with wind and solar and carbon, and what you’re seeing with advances and yields and whatnot, that long term vision for farmland is pretty bullish.”

And there’s a limited number of acres to buy as he says only about one percent of all farmland in the country hits the open market on an annual basis. “There’s very little of it for sale, it’s a generational asset. So when it comes time to buy, something, you are really buying the future revenue stream,” he says.

You can find out more about their land value report at the Peoples Company website.

(Radio Iowa) – The forecast calls for unseasonable warmth today (Thursday) in the 50s and possible low 60s, so many Iowans will get outside to polish off their holiday decorating duties. While adorning our homes with blinking L-E-Ds is a tradition for many, decking the halls isn’t without its risks. Andrea Vaspis, public education director for the National Fire Protection Association, says those colorful lights can be a beautiful accent to your house, but they can also pose a serious fire hazard. “When you’re going to be decorating outside, make sure the lights that you use are approved by a testing laboratory and that they’re rated for outdoor use,” Vaspis says. “That is really critical.”

Putting lights outside that are supposed to be only for indoor use could quickly lead to an electrical short — and a fire. If you’re trying to obtain a Clark Griswold-level of outdoor decoration perfection, she warns, it can be easy to overdo it. “A general rule of thumb is to not plug in more than three strands at a time, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the box,” Vaspis says. “If you’re opening your tub of old lights and trying to pull them out and see what you have and if anything is frayed or old, it’s time to get rid of it.” The newer L-E-Ds draw much less power and sometimes a few dozen strands can be linked and plugged into one outlet, but she cautions, read the directions carefully.

For many Iowans, it’s simply not the holidays if the fragrance of fresh pine isn’t wafting throughout the house. If you have a “real” tree, she says it’s important that your electric lights are safe. “For the indoor lighting, make sure that what you’re using is not overloaded in a circuit with a number of other items,” Vaspis says. “Make sure that if you’re putting those lights on a Christmas tree, that the Christmas tree is in good shape, that it’s watered so that the lighting doesn’t cause a fire.”

An association study finds electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in more than two of every five (44%) home Christmas tree fires.

(Radio Iowa) – An extra in the movie Norman Lear filmed in Iowa 54 years ago says it was a surreal experience. Lear — who wrote, directed and produced the movie “Cold Turkey” — died this week at the age of 101. Dan Dickinson was a teenager when Lear picked Greenfield to be the fictitious “Eagle Rock, Iowa.”

“The story is that Norman came to our town and he really liked our square,” Dickinson says. “It’s a quaint little square. It’s on the National Historic Register and it’s a Lancaster Square, which means it has openings in the middle of the block as well as the corners, so it’s pretty rare.” Some of the stars of “Cold Turkey” went on to have roles in Lear’s T-V sitcoms. Jean Stapleton, who starred as Edith Bunker in “All in the Family,” played a woman in the movie who ate pickles rather than smoke. “It was kind of a surreal experience because you might be walking around the square and you might be walking into a shot,” Dickinson says.

Norman Lear

While “Cold Turkey” was filmed in 1969, it was released in 1971 — the same year Lear’s “All in the Family” premiered on T-V. Dickinson was in the Greenfield high school band and the band was featured in “Cold Turkey.” The plan was to be done shooting by the time school started. “And that did not happen. Our scenes were night scenes and we would go to work at seven and get off at seven in the morning,” Dickinson says. “…Finally they allowed kids that were in the movie to come to school at noon.”

Dickinson, who was 14 at the time, earned 15 dollars for each of the 11 nights when his band was being filmed. “Big money back in 1969 for a kid (in his) freshman year in high school,” Dickinson says. Lear spent eight weeks in the summer of 1969 filming Cold Turkey in Iowa. He was named an honorary Iowan 30 years later.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report two men were arrested on separate charges, Wednesday afternoon. 25-year-old Dawson Allen Squires, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 4:17-p.m.,  on a valid Page County warrant for Willful Contempt of Court. His cash-only bond was set at $1,500, pending transfer to Page County. And, at around 3-p.m., Wednesday, Red Oak Police arrested 25-year-old Logan Thomas Wright, of Red Oak, for Domestic Abuse/Simple Assault. Wright was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending a court appearance.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Splash Park Project in Atlantic is much closer to having fundraising to make the project possible, thanks to a boost from the Atlantic City Council.  The Council, Wednesday evening agreed to have Snyder and Associates Engineers proceed with the design and bidding process for the project, and, the Council agreed to transfer a $45,000 surplus from the Atlantic Parks Inclusive Playground fund, to the Splash Park project.

Jeremy Butler, Splash Park Fundraising Committee Chairman, said prior to the City’s latest contribution, the project’s fundraising team had raised $352,903.85 toward the estimated $600,000 cost of the SplashPad/Park. The City’s transfer of the $45,000 from the Inclusive Playground Fund, brings the total amount raised $2,100 shy of $400,000.

He said as an example of how individuals, businesses and organizations have come together in support of the SplashPad Project, “The kids as Washington Elementary got one of those spiral funnels you drop your change in (where people drop in their pocket change).” He said “I saw in a Facebook post they were a couple of hundreds of dollars away from their goal of $1,000.” He made some phone calls and received matching funds so they could donate $2,000.

“Well then, a local neighborhood group (that he held off on identifying until they make a check presentation), is also going to match it, so these K-through Third-graders made a $3,000 impact on this project bringing pocket change.” He said it’s been an amazing effort from so many people “from the day we kicked-off the fundraising until now.” Butler commended the community, the fundraising committee, and the City Council for what they have contributed to this project thus far since efforts began in April, 2023. The current proposed project has a surface area of a little more than 4,000 square feet. It will feature somewhere between 25 and 30 features.