(Radio Iowa) – The winners of the 2023 Iowa Character Awards are being named. The annual awards salute Iowans who adhere to the six pillars of character: Caring, Citizenship, Fairness, Respect, Responsibility and Trustworthiness. A total of eleven people and organizations will be honored at an awards banquet later this month, according to program coordinator Hilary Ortman.

“We’ll be recognizing the Iowa women’s basketball program with our Jim Hallihan Pursuing Victory with Honor Award,” Ortman says. “They really stood in a national spotlight last year and demonstrated great character in both athletics and off the court as well, so we’re really excited to honor Lisa Bluder and her team.” The awards event will be held July 28th at the Prairie Meadows Conference Center at Altoona. Ortman says one of this year’s top awards is posthumous, honoring a Des Moines woman who died in June of brain cancer.

“We’ll be recognizing the late Lisa Brinkmeyer with the Robert D. and Billie Ray Pillar of Character Award,” Ortman says. “She obviously is a very familiar name across Iowa and an incredible, incredible woman with high character, integrity and kindness.” While at Hubbard-Radcliffe High School, Brinkmeyer was named Miss Iowa Basketball in 1993. She won accolades at Drake University as both a basketball player and an assistant coach, and went on to become an assistant director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Launched in 2005, the Iowa Character program has since recognized more than 150 Iowans — individuals, groups, businesses and organizations.

The rest of this year’s recipients are:

Doug Alberhasky, Iowa City – Citizen of Character
Salvador Montes-Clausen, Mason City – Citizen of Character
Grace McCunn, Ames – Aaron Eilerts Community Service Award
Thomas Braverman, Iowa City – Educator of Character
Jay Byers, Des Moines – Character Champion
Nevada FFA, Nevada – Student Organization of Character
Walter Solar and Roofing, Clive – Business of Character
Louisa-Muscatine Community School District, Muscatine (School of Character)
Covenant Construction Services, Des Moines – Partner of the Year

(Oakland, Iowa) – The Western Iowa Labor Federation (WILF AFL – CIO) and Concerned Citizens of Pottawattamie County, will host a Community Conversation at Destination Coffee, this weekend, in Oakland. Organizers say the event, which begins at 10-a.m., Saturday, is intended to discuss the August 1st Supervisor districting election in Pottawattamie County.

In the Special Election, county residents will have the chance – for the first time – to decide how they want to elect members to the County Board of Supervisors. Organizers say “Now that the groups have collected nearly 4,000 signatures from across the county to trigger this election, their focus for the final weeks before the ballots are cast, will be to inform citizens of early voting and absentee ballots and to answer questions regarding redistricting and their advocacy for Plan 3.” (Sample ballot for the Special Election)

In a press release, Jen Pellant, President of WILF AFL-CIO, says “Our current Board has been irresponsible with taxpayer dollars and unresponsive to taxpayers’ concerns. So we want to talk to people about why we think Plan 3 is a way to get a more accountable Board.” 

Concerned Citizens of Pottawattamie County member Geri Frederiksen says “We want to answer any clarifying questions concerning the election and let people in the rural part of Pottawattamie County know why Plan 3 is the best for everyone.”

And, Shawna Anderson, a resident and business owner in Oakland, says “The best, greatest ideas usually come from people sitting down and having conversations…..having a conversation about supervisor districts,” she says, “Is the best way to understand the facts rather than lies, misinformation and disinformation.”

(Radio Iowa) – Former Vice President Mike Pence, campaigning in western Iowa this week, says he looks forward to debating former President Donald Trump next month. The first debate among the candidates seeking the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination will be held in Milwaukee on August 23rd.

“There are people, including my former running mate, that are signalling a desire to walk away from American leadership in the world and I’m someone that believes we are the leader for the free world, so we are going to have a good debate,” Pence said in Sioux Center, “and it’s going to be about the future of the party, the future of the country, but I really look forward to it.” Pence says there are also key domestic issues that separate the candidates.

“I see not only the former president, but others that are running for president that are walking away from the right to life at precisely the time that we’ve been given a new era for life,” Pence says. Trump has said he may not participate in the debate because he has a massive lead in the polls and because it will be broadcast on Fox, a network Trump says has been hostile toward him.

Pence campaigned in Holstein earlier today (Thursday) and he’s scheduled to be in Neola early this (Thursday) evening to meet with Pottawattamie County Republicans. Pence has said his goal is to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties before the Iowa Caucuses.

(Radio Iowa) [Updated] – Iowa parents applied for 29,025 of the new state-funded Education Savings Accounts that will cover a child’s private school expenses.

The application deadline for a state-funded Education Savings Account was June 30. As of today, the private company handling those applications has confirmed income data for more than 17,481 students. The parents or guardians who filed the other requests for a child will need to provide more documents confirming their income level. State funding this year is limited to students who live in a household with an annual income at or below 300% of the federal poverty line.

Step two in this process will be to determine if there is a spot in a private school for each of these students. According to the governor’s office, there are only 9000 open spots in accredited Iowa private schools for the upcoming school year and it’s possible some of the ESAs won’t be activated because there was no private school option for the student. Sixty percent of the 17,481 applications that have been approved are for students already enrolled in a private school. The other 40% are for public school students planning to transfer to a private school.

Starting July 15, parents will be able to indicate if they have found a private school for their child. The company handling the program will confirm enrollment and that’s when the state
money will be available to cover private school tuition or other eligible expenses. According to the governor’s office, the total amount that’s spent on these new Education Savings Accounts won’t be available until October when public and private school enrollment is confirmed.

Data released by the governor’s office today indicates 60% of the ESA applications are for students already enrolled in a private school and 40% are for students who’ll be moving from a public school to a private school.

Trish Wilger, executive director of the Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education, said there is a limit to the number of students private schools will accept. “There’s some schools that are really full in certain parts of the state,” she said. “Some schools might have a situation where they had a lot of space in certain grades, but not others.”

When Governor Reynolds approved the program six months ago, officials estimated about 14,000 students would be approved. Twice that number of applications were submitted.

“Programs have been passed in other states and that was a big hurdle was informing parents that this option was out there for them, so I think in Iowa we’ve done a good job of getting the word out,” Wilger said.

Lawmakers budgeted $107 million for Education Savings Accounts in this first year. However, there is no limit on what the state will spend on the program and the final cost will depend upon how many students are approved. Iowa State Education Association president Mike Beranek said the governor and Republican lawmakers “have decided unlimited budgets are reserved for just a select few Iowans.” Beranek, who issued a written statement his afternoon, said 90% of Iowa families continue to choose the public schools in their neighborhood and “that’s where precious resources should be directed.”

(Radio Iowa) – Fort Dodge police are now releasing the name of the boy who was shot and killed Tuesday night. The victim is identified as 15-year-old Jameel C. Redding Pettrigrew, of Fort Dodge. Pettigrew died of his wounds after being shot in the area of South 15th Street and Fourth Avenue South.

Fort Dodge Police issued an arrest warrant on Wednesday for 18-year-old Jamarrion James Davis also known as J-J from Ankeny. Davis is wanted on a charge of murder in the first degree as a result of the Tuesday night shooting.

The Webster County Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of $500 if anyone has information on the whereabouts of Davis. The incident remains under investigation by Fort Dodge authorities.

(Casey, Iowa) – Emergency personnel from Anita were called to the scene of an accident just west of the I-80 eastbound rest area, near mile marker 80, in Adair County. The call about a semi that went into a cornfield went out at around 11:41-a.m. There was no immediate word on injuries. Cass EMS was also responding. Additional details are currently not available.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – A collision with a deer Wednesday night in Guthrie County, resulted in the arrest of a man from Greene County. The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports 38-year-old Andrew Ross Reisner, of Jefferson, was traveling north on Highway 4 at around 9:34-p.m., when the 2010 Ford van he was driving, struck a deer on the road. Reisner was subsequently arrested for OWI/2nd Offense. He was transported to the Guthrie County Jail.

Damage to the van was estimated at $10,000. Reisner was not injured in the collision.

(Radio Iowa) – An insurance company in central Iowa is the subject of a high-dollar sale. West Des Moines-based American Equity Investment Life Holding Company is being purchased by Brookfield Reinsurance of Bermuda in a deal that’s reportedly worth four-point-three billion dollars. Brookfield says it will maintain an Iowa presence, but didn’t specify how many of the current staff will be kept on.

American Equity is one of the country’s biggest retirement insurance providers, and reported a total workforce of 840 last year. That includes the headquarters in West Des Moines and offices in Miami, New York, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

DES MOINES – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Wednesday, issued a disaster proclamation for Appanoose, Davis, Lucas, and Monroe counties in response to severe weather that occurred on June 29. The governor’s proclamation activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and the Disaster Case Advocacy Program.

The proclamation opens up certain state resources for disaster recovery, as well as relief grants of up to $5,000 for households earning up to 200% of the poverty level. More information on applying for disaster relief grants can be found on the state’s website. Victims of the storms have 45 days to apply.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University researchers are trying out a machine which could greatly improve capacities for future epidemic-related testing surges. I-S-U’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory received nearly one-million dollars from the U-S Department of Agriculture to study what’s known as Smart Chip q-P-C-R technology. I-S-U researcher Rahul Nelli says it could significantly increase the number of tests the lab could run for things like COVID-19. “Before, we were doing only 1,000 samples per day,” he says. “Now, we can do 9,000 samples per day. That’s the type of volume we are talking about.” The machine can hold thousands of samples on a single, small testing plate.

Nelli says it would better prepare the lab for future disease outbreaks, for both animals and humans.”What if there’s a new influenza outbreak? What if there is a SARS-COVID 2, a mutant SARS-COVID 2, which can again cause a pandemic?” Nelli says. “So, for that reason, I feel like we shouldn’t be complacent and we should be prepared.” He says it’s important to invest in this kind of improved technology now to prepare for future pathogen outbreaks. The tech could be available to use in the I-S-U lab as early as 2025.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)