DES MOINES – October’s above-normal precipitation broke a streak of drier-than-normal months that began in March, according to the latest Water Summary Update.

October’s statewide average precipitation was 3.12 inches, or 0.43 inches above normal. The heavy rainfall in northwest Iowa led to an improvement to “normal” conditions according to the Iowa Drought Plan.

“The wetter-than-normal October was certainly very welcome in Iowa,” said Tim Hall, the DNR’s Hydrology Resources Coordinator. “Despite the above-normal rainfall in October, the state is still more than 7 inches short of moisture for this year, which is concerning as we wind down the fall and head into the winter months. We continue to need normal to above normal rainfall across nearly all of the state to get us into better shape headed into next spring.”

October rains resulted in some improvement in drought conditions for most of the state. However, southwest Iowa moved into the “drought warning” category due to a combination of precipitation deficits and streamflow, along with the current U.S. Drought Monitor designation of moderate to severe drought.

A small area of eastern Jackson, Clinton and Scott counties is the only part of Iowa currently not designated with any classification of dryness or drought.

For a thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends, visit www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate.

The report is prepared by technical staff from Iowa DNR, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering, and the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department.

November 9, 2023 (DES MOINES) — The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) today awarded $925,000 in Main Street Iowa Challenge Grants to 10 communities around the state. The grants help redevelop or rehabilitate underused buildings as a way to stimulate economic growth and further investment in Iowa’s historic main streets.

Among the cities receiving grants, is Coon Rapids, which is receiving $100,000 to expand Chuck’s Bar & Grill into the adjacent 514 Main Street building, enabling them to offer a quality family dining experience. The local match is $141,000, for a total project cost of $241,000. And, in Woodbine, the Bothwell Building Project is receiving a $100,000 grant toward the total cost of $234,379, to address urgent structural needs to save the 145-year-old building, which is in a National Register Brick Street Historic District. The project requires a local match of $134,379.

Other Projects include:

• Removing a metal slipcover from a historic building in downtown Spencer to unmask its original façade and reveal historic window openings, which allows for future upper-floor development.
• Giving new life to a vacant, derecho-damaged building in uptown Marion to accommodate a growing business and upper-floor housing.
• Transforming a vacant historic building in downtown Burlington into an old-fashioned ice cream shop.

“The Main Street Iowa Challenge grants help us revitalize and reinvest in our traditional commercial districts, which is good business,” said IEDA and Iowa Finance Authority Director Debi Durham. “It’s good for our economy and good for our state. These projects will bring new businesses and new residents to our downtown districts.”

The grants are administered through IEDA’s Iowa Downtown Resource Center and Main Street Iowa programs. The funding will be distributed in the form of matching grants to the selected Main Street programs. The estimated total cost of these 10 projects is over $3.5 million.

“Each of these projects represents growing momentum for downtown and community revitalization,” said Michael Wagler, state coordinator for the Main Street Iowa program. “This investment in catalytic projects across Iowa will have a significant economic impact and help strengthen local creative placemaking efforts.”

Since the first Challenge Grants were awarded in 2002, about $14.6 million in funds have leveraged more than $68.3 million in further investment.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Department of Corrections director Beth Skinner says the recidivism rate among individuals who’ve been released from prison has dropped for a third straight year — meaning there’s a decline in the number of people violating the terms of their parole or commuting a crime that sends them back to prison.

“We are moving and trending in the right direction in terms of our recidivism reduction efforts,” Skinner says. Skinner says there are several reasons the rate is declining, like focusing on getting substance abuse or mental health treatment for those who are at highest risk and improving the skills of those who’ve been sentenced to prison.

“Our apprenticeship program, we actually did a research study on that, and we found out among those who completed the apprenticeship program the recidivism rate was 16.3% compared to non-completers, which was 32.7%,” Skinner says, “so we want to really double down on our apprenticeship program and our post-secondary education.” There are 30 different registered apprenticeship programs in the Department of Corrections, including training to be plumbers, welders and electricians.

“What’s great about these apprenticeships programs is it’s really preparing people for when they get out, because we know 90% of people are going to be leaving prison,” Skinner says. “They have to show up to work, they get evaluated, they get paid — all of those things. We look at it as a way for preparing them for when they come out.” Sometimes up to half the people who ENTER Iowa’s prison system each year do not have a high school diploma. Skinner says among those who are released, 60 percent have completed high school.

“We want to help them get jobs when they get out, maybe a higher earning base,” Skinner says, “so we here at the Department of Corrections really emphasize the importance of education and apprenticeship programs and work skills.” Due to the government reorganization plan the governor signed into law this spring, Iowa’s community-based corrections system is now part of the Iowa Department of Corrections. Skinner says that may have prevent people released from one of the state’s nine prisons from re-offending.

“We want to improve release plans. We want more of a seamless comprehensive hand-off, continuity of services — so there’s a lot of communication going on now between the counselors and the work release facilities or parole officers,” Skinner says. “Not only are the parole officer and the counselor working together in the prison, they’re working with this individual that’s coming out, so this alignment’s going to have a lot of positive impact on our public safety outcomes.”

The rate at which released offenders were being sent back to prison had been climbing — to as high as 40 percent four years go — but Skinner says she’s confident the recidivism rate in Iowa’s correctional system will continue to decline because of the buy-in from prison employees. “If you don’t have the qualified staff who are committed to public safety outcomes who are committed to this work, it would not be possible,” Skinner says.

Skinner has been the director of the Iowa Department of Corrections since June of 2019. There are nearly 41-thousand people in Iowa’s correctional system today — only a fifth of whom are in a state prison. The rest are under direct supervision in a community setting, like a work release program or halfway house.

(Radio Iowa) -In advance of Veterans Day on Saturday, the University of Iowa will hold a ceremony on Friday afternoon to dedicate a new area of campus to remember those who served our country in uniform. Bill Nelson, executive director of the Iowa Memorial Union, says the 2 P-M service to officially open the new Veterans Plaza will include comments by several dignitaries, including U-I President Barbara Wilson and the head of the U-I’s new student-veteran support program.

“We’ll be presenting and raising the flag for the first time,” Nelson says. “That will be presented and raised by our students with the University of Iowa Veterans Association. There’ll be a playing of the National Anthem. The flag will fly and wave in perpetuity and it will be managed by our UIVA program and it will be illuminated, again, in perpetuity.” The plaza is located near the banks of the Iowa River and is flanked by trees and a green space.

Veterans Plaza (UI photo)

“The plaza is directly north of the Iowa Memorial Union. There are seven granite monuments, one monument for each branch of the armed services and then the seventh monument is a descriptor of the plaza,” Nelson says, “and there are four benches that create a backdrop.” Those six branches are: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Space Force. Nelson says this new plaza will be used for decades to come to remember and honor veterans among the U-I’s faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

“It certainly will be featured during our Memorial Day program, some of our Veterans Day activities,” Nelson says. “We have a well-established Hawkeye Distinguished Veterans Awards program which is, frankly, this evening and we will tie that program in.” The location for the new plaza was special and deliberate.

“The Iowa Memorial Union was built in 1924, built for and dedicated at that time to our World War One veterans,” Nelson says, “and so it’s completely fitting that this space be adjacent to our building.” An unnamed donor is making the project possible with a final price tag between 80- and 90-thousand dollars.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, today (Thursday), arrested a man wanted on a warrant for Motor Vehicle Theft, a Class-C Felony. Authorities say 33-year-old Kiley Brian Caron, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10-a.m. in the 300 block of E. Valley Street. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Special Education Instructor Jill Miller, Wednesday, updated the School Board on the status of the Therapeutic Classroom. She mentioned she currently has 10 students with significantly varied special needs.

She said all-in-all, “It is a lot to manage and keep track of.” Miller said she spoke with the other SPED (Special Education) Teachers in grades K-through 4, to see what their needs were, especially for Level 2 students in particular. Those students, she said, need a Level 2 Program that would better meet their needs and their ability level.

Miller said while they can shuffle some of the Level 1 and Level 2 teachers to serve Level 2 students, they are currently short to Para-educators, and another teacher committed to Level 2, “Would be beneficial.”

Following her report, the School Board received an update on the Atlantic School District’s Special Education Program (SPED) teachers Melanie Fell, Mary McBride and Oran Perkins.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says he remains hopeful Congress will act on a new Farm Bill before the end of the year. Feenstra and some colleagues sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, urging action on the measure, what could end up being the first trillion-dollar Farm Bill. Feenstra also spoke with Pennsylvania Congressman G-T Thompson, chair of the House Ag Committee, regarding the need to act. Feenstra says the bill’s critical components are hanging in the balance.”We’ve got to open new export markets,” Feenstra says. “We’ve got to strengthen crop insurance, we’ve got to fight against animal disease. These are some big things. Ban China from buying our farmland. This farm bill’s critical. We’ve got to get it passed. So, we’re trying to figure out any way that we can try to get it done in late December yet, but it sounds like it may dip into January. So, we might have to do a two-month C.R. on this.”

A C-R is a continuing resolution, or a stopgap measure that extends the deadline. Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says the flap over the House Speaker’s position delayed work on the Farm Bill and other important issues. “All of a sudden, we did no work for three weeks,” Feenstra says. “We didn’t pass any budget bills. So, that’s taken the forefront right now, is doing all the budget appropriation bills, to try and create a budget that was due September 30th that we haven’t got to yet. That’s all the floor time, that’s all we’re doing is debating right now–which is unfortunate.”

Feenstra says a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill — which expired in late September — would be harmful to Iowa farmers and to certain programs. “Our farmers need certainty,” he says. “They need certainty in the programs. These programs have all lapsed since September 30th. I’m just fearful if we go another year with some of the old programs, that’s going to be a problem. I really think about what’s happening with fighting against an animal disease. We cannot have African swine fever get into your hog production.”

Last week, Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn expressed confidence the House would avoid a one-year extension of the old farm bill.

(Radio Iowa) – The head of Iowa’s law enforcement training academy says its facilities, processes and training are “unacceptable” and a group of state lawmakers plans to recommend more funding. Brady Carney became director of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in March. On Wednesday, Carney told a statehouse committee there’s a crisis in the recruitment of law enforcement officers, and the state’s training resources have been inadequate.  “Ultimately, when it comes down to brass tacks,” Carney says, “about what is your training product, what is ILEA doing for new hires, and what is it creating and supplying for training content across the state of Iowa — unacceptable.”

Carney says the academy lacks proper training facilities. State Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, co-chairs the study committee. Holt says he went through law enforcement training in another state, and he was shocked to hear about some of the problems with Iowa’s police academy.  Holt says, “It is very clear that we are not properly funding the ILEA and the things that they need to do to train, to have the most professional training possible and to do it as efficiently as possible.”

Carney says the curriculum is being updated, as it was up to two decades old in some cases. He says the academy council worked through a major decertification backlog that meant some police officers continued to work when they should’ve been suspended.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Community School District Food Service Director Natalie Ritter provided the School Board with an annual update, Wednesday evening. In her report, Ritter said they are still participating in the Local Food for School (LFS) grant.

Ritter said produce for the food program is from FarmTable Procurement and Delivery, in Harlan. There is about $3,000 in grant funds left to use for produce.

Natalie said they ordered and installed new equipment in the kitchen, which she said makes life “easier for [her] staff.”

Ritter reminded the School Board that the District’s Thanksgiving Feast is over the noon hour on Thursday, November 16^th. They expect to serve 12-to 13-hundred students that day and around 200 guests. She says it takes the Food Service staff about 5-to 6-days to prepare for the meal. Anyone is welcome to come and help serve the traditional Thanksgiving meal.

She reminded the Board and parents about the Free and Reduced lunch applications and the negative lunch account balances.

Ritter says she “Totally understand the hardship that it takes to pay for lunch accounts and how to make ends meet, so I try to make payment plans that work for everybody. I do not want to add more stress or worries to any families than what we have to,” but she said “We are a business, and just like a business, we can’t operate [ on a negative balance].”

She says all she asks for, “really, is an effort” to make payments per month that are affordable, and they will work with you to make it as painless as possible.

(Radio Iowa) – A former Iowa National Guardsman from Des Moines is seeking next year’s Democratic nomination in Iowa’s third congressional district, for the chance to challenge Republican Congressman Zach Nunn of Bondurant. Democrat Lanon Baccam was born and raised in Mount Pleasant. His parents came to Iowa from Laos. Baccam got his parent’s permission to join the Iowa National Guard at the age of 17 and, in 2004, he did a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Baccam worked for former Governor Tom Vilsack at the U-S-D-A. Vilsack, a former mayor of Mount Pleasant, and his wife, Christie, who is a native of Mount Pleasant, endorsed Baccam this (Thursday) morning. Baccam says our politics is more divided than ever and Baccam says Congressman Nunn is part of the problem. Nunn will be seeking a second term in the U-S House next November.

Nunn defeated Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne last year by less than one percent.