(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa legislature have voted to prevent city and county building codes that restrict what kind of siding can be used on the outside of homes. Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says it’s a bill that benefits the vinyl siding industry.

“I don’t understand why we are voting on a bill that supports one particular industry,” Weiner says. “…This takes away local control to regular local design standards. Vinyl also happens to be very flammable.” Senator Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf who works in construction, responded.

“It’s not about vinyl siding because a city could easily tell you you can’t put brick in particular areas, you couldn’t use aluminum siding in particular areas, you’ve got to paint your house a certain color in certain areas,” Webster said. “This is telling cities and counties that the ultimate local control is the home buyer and the home owner.”

If the governor signs the bill into law, there could be exceptions for cities that have building code requirements for the outside of homes that are in historic districts or homes in special purpose zones.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Legislature has unanimously voted to require that insurance plans cover diagnostic tests like M-R-Is and ultrasounds that are used to detect breast cancer. Senator Cherilynn Westrich, of Ottumwa, says a mammogram alone may not be appropriate for patients who’ve had cancer or have a history of breast cancer in their family.

“An MRI is one of the most effective tools around for finding these breast tumors,” she says, “even those in dense breast tissue which is notoriously hard to image.” According to the National Science Institute, about 10 percent of women have dense breast tissue. Westrich says she’s heard about many women who had standard mammograms regularly, but but the mammograms did not detect their tumors in the early stages of the disease.

“If it had been caught in early stages it would not have been a an issue or a smaller issue for them, but now many of them are facing consequences — and many of them are facing death,” Westrich said.

Under current federal law, insurers are only required to cover the costs of an annual mammogram. In 2017, legislators in Iowa passed a law requiring mammogram notification letters to let patients know if the test shows they have dense breast tissue and other testing might be needed.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two men were arrested on separate charges last Friday. 41-year-old Richard Steven Kraft, of Omaha, NE., was arrested on two counts Possession of Controlled Substance and possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His arrest followed a traffic stop on I-29 at around 5:45-a.m.  Bond was set at $2,300.

And, at around 10-p.m., Friday, Mills County Deputies arrested 50-year-old Dustin Clark Anglen, of Malvern, for Domestic Abuse Assault. Anglen was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – A report from State Auditor Rob Sand shows the State of Iowa spent nearly 12 BILLION dollars in FEDERAL funds the last fiscal year.

About six percent of that federal money was related to pandemic era spending. Some of it came from the CARES Act President Trump signed in 2020 and some from the American Rescue Plan Act that President Biden signed in 2021. The report covers the period from July 1st of 2022 through June 30th of 2023. It shows the State of Iowa received 46-MILLION dollars worth of vaccines during that 12 month period.

While the state gets money from 345 federal programs — about half of all federal funds sent to the State of Iowa in the last fiscal year were spent on Medicaid and food assistance programs which are administered by states.

(Radio Iowa) – A popular summer concert series in central Iowa is changing its venue. Andy TeBockhorst, the interim executive director of the Des Moines Music Coalition, says the 80/35 Music Festival has been held the past 14 years in the Western Gateway area of the capitol city’s downtown, but it will move to Water Works Park this July 12th and 13th.

“We’ve already seen Water Works Park be established as a premier concert venue for central Iowa, and moving the festival there does a number of things for us,” TeBockhorst says. “It opens up opportunities for additional activities, additional stages. We’re going to have stuff going on all over the park.”

The 1,500-acre Water Works Park is enormous, almost twice the size of New York’s Central Park. Another change in 80/35 this summer will be the addition of overnight camping, mirroring the Hinterland Music Festival, which is scheduled for August in Saint Charles.

“We’re learning from them and we’re partnered with them and we think it’ll be a big thing,” TeBockhorst says. “It’s just an opportunity for people to get really, fully immersed in the experience.”

The festival will feature a main stage in the paid area, and free stages for anyone to attend. In past years, 80/35 has drawn crowds of 25- to 30,000 for the music, art and culture, and he’s hoping the new venue will allow it to grow even larger.

“We’re just hoping that this is an all-new experience. This is a premier event for central Iowa and it’s one of the largest nonprofit festivals in the country,” TeBockhorst says. “It’s the only nonprofit one in Iowa and we just think it’s a really important thing for central Iowa and we can’t wait to have people come back.”

The lineup will be announced on April 12th and TeBockhorst says it will include local, regional and national bands and artists across several genres, including multi-Grammy-winning headliners each night. The theme for this year’s 80/35 is, “Some Call It Sorcery, We Call It Music.”