(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are being urged to check their homes this month for an invisible threat. Shelby Kroona (KROO-nuh), director of the Hamilton County Public Health Department, says anyone in the state could be living in a hazardous environment and not realize it.

January is Radon Awareness Month and she says that’s because this is typically one of the coldest months of the year and
people are often cooped up indoors.

She encourages everyone to buy a radon test kit though your local health department or at home improvement or hardware stores. They usually cost around 15-dollars.

If your test kit registers a two, you’ll just need to keep watch, but with a four or above, you’ll need to install a radon mitigation system in your home. Learn more at radon.org

(Radio Iowa) – As business groups and the governor tout a new state economic development program for “Major Economic Growth Attraction or “MEGA” sites, House Speaker Pat Grassley has an idea for pairing a MEGA site program with something he’s calling “Freedom Sites.”

Grassley says it would help the state be more aggressive in recruiting businesses in high-tax states like Minnesota and Illinois.

The Iowa Senate voted 45-to-two last year to let foreign businesses buy more than 320 acres of farmland — the current legal limit — if they’re planning to spend at least a billion dollars building a manufacturing plant or facility focused on research or bioscience. The bill stalled in the House in the closing days of the 2023 legislative session, but Grassley expects it will be discussed again this year. The 2024 legislative session begins Monday.

(Atlantic, Iowa) — The next “Healthy U” session at Cass Health in Atlantic, features Dr. Emily Chang, who will speak at the Healthy U lunch-and-learn series about “Lifestyle and Brain Function.” The session will be held 12-p.m. Thursday, January 18th, in Cass Health (Cass County Memorial Hospital) Conference Room 2.

Although primarily known as an OB/GYN, Dr. Chang is also board certified in Lifestyle Medicine. Her presentation on Lifestyle & Brain Function is for men and women of all ages.

Dr. Emily Chang

Dr. Chang received her BA degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in Mathematics and Natural Sciences and a Bachelor of Medical Sciences from Midwestern University in Illinois.  She graduated from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2003.  She completed her residency at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Chicago. She is board certified through the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a Diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Space is limited! A free boxed lunch is provided for all attendees, so reservations are required. Call 712-243-7479 to reserve your seat. For more information about Healthy U, visit casshealth.org/healthyu.

(Des Moines, Iowa) — U.S. Representative Zach Nunn from Iowa’s Third District, has announced January mobile office hours across the District, to assist constituents who may not be able to travel to one of the Third District Congressional offices in Creston, Des Moines, and Ottumwa. At these mobile office hours, Iowans will be able to get help from their Congressional office with Social Security, Medicare, passports, visas, veterans’ benefits, military records, tax returns, and other issues with federal government agencies.

Representative Nunn says “Mobile offices hours have been a great way for us to provide additional opportunities for Iowans to have in person meetings to get help. In 2023, we hosted more than 40 of these opportunities for Iowans to get support. We look forward to continuing to meet Iowans in their hometowns to provide the excellent support and services Iowans deserve this year.”

(File photo) Third district Congressman Zach Nunn (R-Bondurant) speaks Oct. 27, 2023, at a Des Moines, IA news conference. (RI photo)

The schedule in this area, for January Mobile Office Hours, includes:

Guthrie County 
Bagley Public Library
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
1:00pm to 5:00pm

Montgomery County
Villisca Public Library
Friday, January 19, 2024
12:00pm to 4:00pm

Madison County 
Earlham Public Library
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
1:00pm to 4:00pm

Additional dates and locations will be announced in the future.  For more information, please visit nunn.house.gov/officehours.

(Radio Iowa) – Two Iowa business groups are asking state legislators to let foreign businesses buy vast tracts of Iowa farmland for massive facilities focused on manufacturing, biosciences or research. The bill would lift the 320 acre limit on foreign purchases of Iowa land — and create new tax breaks for these so called Major Economic Growth Attraction or MEGA sites. The MEGA program is a priority for the Iowa Business Council, which represents 21 of Iowa’s largest companies. Joe Murphy is the group’s president.

Dustin Miller is executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, which represents the state’s 15 largest chambers of commerce.

Miller and Murphy made their comments during the a budget hearing hosted online by Governor Reynolds and she made a quick reference to the MEGA proposal.

The Iowa Senate approved a bill creating this new economic development incentive last year, on a 45-to-two vote, but it stalled in the House in the closing days of the 2023 legislative session.

(Radio Iowa) – American teenagers are heavy users of social media, which is often associated with a decline in their mental health, but a report on social media’s impact says the connection is more complicated. Douglas Gentile, a psychologist at Iowa State University, contributed to the report from the National Academy of Sciences. Gentile says social media use is often linked with depression among teens, but it may not be the cause. One thing Gentile says social media does directly impact is sleep.

Gentile believes media literacy should be part of K-12 education so students understand how companies target content toward users and how things like online harassment can harm others.

Gentile says social media’s effects on teens are not all bad, saying sites like Instagram or TikTok can help adolescents in marginalized groups form positive relationships online. Gentile says parents can help protect their kids from the potential harms of social media. He recommends keeping phones and screens out of bedrooms, and putting limits on both the apps they use and the amount of time they spend online.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has announced that post-election audits have been successfully completed in all 99 counties. Once again, the post-election audits matched the machine count 100% in all counties. On the Wednesday following Election Day, the post-election audits process was initiated in each of Iowa’s 99 counties to ensure the integrity of the vote. One randomly chosen precinct in each county conducted a hand count of ballots. Totals are then compared to the machine count to verify its accuracy.

Machines in each county also undergo public pre-election testing. Prior to each election, pre-testing of election equipment is open to the public, and representatives of each political party are also invited to attend. Iowa integrates multiple layers of election security: paper ballots, local poll workers and election officials, pre-testing of voting machines, cybersecure voting machines and protective measures, and, of course, post-election audits.