The group charged with finding ways to expand the use of computer science in schools has turned its recommendations over to the Iowa Department of Education. Department director, Ryan Wise, says the legislature passed a bill creating the group last year and then Governor Terry Branstad signed it into law. “They set a vision that by July first 2019 every elementary student in Iowa would have access to exploratory computer science coursework. Every middle school student would have a unit in computer science technology, and every high school student would have access to a high-quality computer science course,” Wise says.

Today’s students have been exposed to the use of computers from birth, and Wise says the idea is to expand on that general knowledge and teach them to go beyond. “It’s even more than just coding or programming, it’s really about understanding how computer technology works. And then being able to apply that to the creation of new technology,” according to Wise.”So, this takes our digital natives — our students of today — and really helps them understand computer technology in more detail and then apply it to their lives.”  Wise says many of today’s professions and jobs require a more advanced knowledge of computer science. The legislation also included a fund to boost the training for those who will teach computer science. He says it would create more opportunities for teachers to go back to school to take computer science coursework or to have professional development to enhance their skills.

One of the recommendations from the group is to allow students to use computer science to meet math credit requirements after they’ve taken courses covering required math standards. “They were looking for ways to build upon the existing math standards and to not compromise those,” Wise says. “So, what they’ve recommended is that districts be allowed to innovate and create plans locally that allows for the expansion of both math and computer science.” Now that the Computer Science Education Work Group has submitted its recommendations, Wise says there are a couple of tasks ahead do to implement them.
“The first is convening a group of folks to write computer science standards — laying out what students should be able to know and do when they take computer science courses,” Wise says.

He says the second task is to ensure there is enough funding to train enough computer science teachers to teach all the classes. The legislature already set aside 250-thousand dollars for the training. “I’m hoping that that will actually be funded at 500-thousand dollars. Once those funds are in place, the department will be able to develop a competitive application process that will allow districts to put together a plan for how they intend to expand computer science offerings in their school,” Wise says.

(Radio Iowa)

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — A trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 21 for a dog handler accused of leaving four animals in a hot vehicle outside an Iowa dog show, killing three. Police say two were found dead July 8 outside the American Kennel Club All Breeds Dog Show in Ottumwa. A third died at a veterinary clinic.

Court records say Craig Eugene told police his vehicle was running when he put the dogs inside but wasn’t running when he returned. The National Weather Service says the Ottumwa temperature peaked at 89 degrees (32 Celsius) that day. The records say Eugene, who lives in Marengo, Illinois, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of animal cruelty.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A plan to build a park in eastern Iowa has raised concerns because the proposed site is across the street from a correctional center that houses sex offenders and people convicted of other crimes. The Telegraph Herald reports that the First Judicial District Department of Correctional Services’ Dubuque facility houses people on probation or state work release. The state Department of Corrections says the facility can house up to 62 men and 18 women.

Facility Manager Wendy Lyons says having a park near the facility could be problematic because state law prohibits sex offenders whose victims were minors from being within 300 feet of a park, school or child care facility. City officials say they’re still getting public input about how to redevelop the land.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Fewer than one in five polling places were fully accessible to voters with disabilities during the 2016 general election. That’s according to a government study released Thursday that has prompted federal officials to recommend the Justice Department adopt stricter compliance measures. The report from the Government Accountability Office shows just 17 percent of polling places posed no impediments to voters. The report was based on a nationwide sample of 178 voting stations across the country examined in the days leading up to and including Election Day 2016.

The report’s findings come a year before the 2018 congressional midterm elections and underscore an increase in early voting that has occurred in many states since protections for disabled voters have been enacted over the past 30 years.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer says at around 9:30-p.m. Wednesday, Page County Sheriff’s Deputies executed a search warrant at 817 Depot Street in Coin, with regard to an in-house Marijuana Grow Operation. Three people were arrested during the investigation: 49-year old Michael John Blank and 52-year old Yvonne Clione Blank, both of Coin, and 63-year old Edith Eileen Kirkpatrick, of Westboro, MO., were arrested.

Michael John Blank

Yvonne Clione Blank

Edith Eileen Kirkpatrick

All three face felony charges that include: Manufacturing of a controlled substance/marijuana; Tax payment required for Possession/marijuana; and Conspiracy. They also were charged with Gathering where controlled substances unlawfully used (a Serious Misdemeanor). Their bonds were set at $16,000 each.

Numerous items and illegal substances were seized as a result of the search warrant.

A call to Red Oak Police early Wednesday morning about an aggressive driver, resulted in the arrest of a man and woman from Nebraska. Authorities say 19-year old Emily Kay Darrow, of Omaha, and 31-year old Michael Daniel McFadden, of Springfield, NE., were taken into custody on felony charges of Possession of Stolen Property in the 1st Degree, for the alleged theft of a vehicle valued at over $10,000. Both were being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $10,000 bond, each.

Officials say the Red Oak Police Department was notified at around 7:45-a.m. Wednesday about a motorist who was swerving in an aggressive fashion at other vehicles on Highway 34 eastbound, toward Red Oak. Officers stopped the vehicle, a 2010 Buick Enclave, at the intersection of Highway 34 and N. 4th Street, and soon discovered the license plates did not match the vehicle, and had been stolen out of Nebraska. A check of the SUV’s VIN determined that it had been stolen out of Omaha.

Red Oak Police were assisted Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies in conducting the arrests and investigation.

Iowa’s hospitals rank in the bottom half of the national pack on a new report card based on medical errors and other problems. Leah Binder, president and C-E-O of The Leapfrog Group, says the 2017 Hospital Safety Grade Report surveyed more than 26-hundred hospitals nationwide, including 33 facilities in Iowa. The grades were given based on medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.  “The bad things that you never want to see happen in a hospital, but they do happen,” Binder says. “About 500 people a day die from these preventable errors. It’s a very serious issue and we believe every American deserves information before they’re admitted to a hospital on how well that hospital is doing.”

Iowa has fallen ten places in the survey over the past several years. “Iowa is ranked 33rd in the country,” Binder says. “They have about 27% of their hospitals earning an A. That’s not so great. Nationally, the average is about a third of hospitals get an A so they are still not there.” Binder says Iowa’s drop in the rankings is a concern. “Unfortunately, they’ve gotten worse,” Binder says. “They used to be, back when we started doing this five years ago, they were ranked 23rd in the country. They’re kind of slipping unfortunately.”

Of the 33 hospitals graded in Iowa, nine received an A, ten got B’s, including St. Anthony Regional Hospital, in Carroll. 13 were given C’s, including CHI Health Mercy, in Council Bluffs, and there was one D for UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center of Sioux City. The nine A’s were given to hospitals in: Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Council Bluffs (Methodist Jennie Edmundsun), Des Moines, Dubuque, Newton, Spencer, Spirit Lake and Waterloo. See the full report at: http://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org/

(Radio Iowa)