Governor Terry Branstad is expressing support for students and parents, but not yet embracing a tuition freeze for Iowa residents attending the three state universities in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City. The board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I has endorsed keeping next year’s tuition rates at this year’s levels, but warns they’ll have to raise tuition if the governor and legislators don’t provide at least 16 million more to the universities next year. “I’m certainly empathetic with the students and their parents who have seen significant increases in the two previous administrations,” Branstad says.

That’s a reference to the 12-year period when Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver served as governor. During Branstad’s first, 16-year run as governor, tuition increases ranged from three-point-two percent up to nearly 13 percent. “I want to make sure that we try to keep higher education affordable for Iowa families,” Branstad says.

But Branstad says he needs to wait for a report on state tax revenue and a few other items before he puts together his own state budget plan — and makes a recommendation on state taxpayer support of the three universities. By law, Branstad must present legislators with a state budget proposal by the end of January, but he has often released it earlier.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Ric Hanson

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The City Council in Audubon, is expected to act this evening on approving the plans and specifications for the water tower repair and improvement project. A resolution approving the plans and specs will come before the Council after they hear from a representative with J-E-O Consulting about the matter. The Council is also expected to act on authorizing JEO to submit plans to the Iowa DNR for the project, which includes painting the tower. On a related note, the Audubon City Council will act on authorizing JEO to proceed with the bid letting process for the project.

In other business, the Council will discuss repairs to the Police Department office, act on a resolution appointing Tella Knueven, Jen Stetzel and Brandon Toft to the Park and Rec Board, with their terms expiring Dec. 31st, 2014. And, they will act on a resolution  approving a report on Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

The Audubon City Council meeting begins at 7-p.m., in their chambers at City Hall.

A reminder to those interested in the future of education in Iowa, that Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds will be in Atlantic and Council Bluffs tomorrow (Tuesday, December 11th), to hold a community conversations on STEM (Science,  Technology, Engineering and Math), and economic development. The meeting is part of a series of community conversations on the STEM initiative, prior to the start of the 2013 legislative session.

Locally, a Cass County Community Conversation on STEM will be take place 11-a.m., at the Rock Island Depot at 102 Chestnut Street, and in Council Bluffs at 2:30-p.m., in the auditorium of Looft Hall, at Iowa Western Community College.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Some Iowa hospitals and clinics have begun using a state computer system to quickly share patient records.   Most hospitals and clinics have begun using electronic medical records, but many of their systems are so different they can’t share information. The Iowa Health Information Network aims to solve that problem.

The network also lets hospitals search for records of patients seen at other Iowa hospitals or clinics that also are on the network.  Kim Norby, of the Iowa Department of Public Health, told The Des Moines Register that the system is mostly financed by more than $8 million the federal government granted Iowa under the 2009 economic stimulus.

A standard patient confidentiality form will, with patient consent, give a hospital authority to share information via the new system.

The Iowa Department of Public Health is reporting flu activity in the state has started early this season and is increasing rapidly. Doctor Patricia Quinlisk is the agency’s medical director. “Over the last week or so, our numbers of people being hospitalized, the number of people with confirmed flu and the number of schools having outbreaks – have all gone up significantly,” Quinlisk said. “We want people to be aware of that and if they’ve put off getting their flu shot, to go in and get it really quickly.” Of the 21 hospitals that report such information to state health officials, there have been 49 hospitalizations due to the flu so far this year. That compares to only eight last year at this time. There have been 378 confirmed cases of influenza, compared to only 10 last year.

“Actually, Iowa’s (flu activity) is not increasing as fast as some other states. There are some southern states, especially, that have really sort of exploded with the flu,” Quinlisk said. “In Iowa, we are increasing pretty fast, but not quite what (southern states) are doing.” So far this school year, 23 Iowa schools have reported more than 10-percent of their student body out sick on the same day – compared to only eight last year at this time. Quinlisk is encouraging anyone with flu symptoms to stay away from school or work because the virus spreads so easily.

“The flu travels through the air, so all you really need to have is somebody within about three to six feet from you coughing and you can catch it,” Quinlisk said. “So, you can imagine a kid at a school or a coworker who never covers their mouth when they cough or sneeze…you can spread it to a lot of people during the day.” Quinlisk notes all three strains of the seasonal flu have been confirmed in Iowa this season, and all are covered by the vaccine. She encourages all people over six months of age to get a flu shot each year.

(More on the web at http://www.idph.state.ia.us/Default.aspx)

(Radio Iowa)

A popular state park in western Iowa will reopen later this week, 20 months after record flooding forced its closure. Chris Anunson, park ranger at Wilson Island State Recreation Area, says the park was abandoned in April 2011 as the Missouri River spilled out its banks. “We were forced to move everything out of the park – all of our office equipment, everything we could,” Anunson said. “When the water was at its peak, it covered 99-percent of the park.

Wilson Island State Rec Area flooding July 2011; photo of shelter roof on riverfront picnic area – water depth about 9 feet deep. (Radio Iowa)

As a result, we were forced to demolish some of the buildings in the park.” Standing water remained in the park for three months. A massive layer of sand and sediment was left behind.

“We had anywhere between three inches to eight feet of sediment deposit,” Anunson said. Anunson, his wife and three children moved to a rented in home in nearby Missouri Valley for a year as their residence in the park was fixed. The home’s basement took in seven feet of floodwater. Although the Wilson Island State Recreation Area will reopen to visitors this Friday (December 14), the campground will remain closed until sometime in 2014. Prior to the flood, the Wilson Island campground was the sixth highest revenue producer among Iowa’s state park campgrounds. Anunson said frequent visitors to the park will definitely notice some changes.

“We’ve removed, as of this Fall, about 105 large cottonwood trees that were damaged by the flood. We are slated to remove another 70 trees this Winter and that doesn’t include all the small saplings that were under eight inches in size,” Anunson said. The State of Iowa provided two-million dollars ($2 million) and FEMA nearly one-million ($1 million) toward the food cleanup effort. The 544-acre state park, named for former Iowa Governor George Wilson, is located about 25 miles north of Omaha/Council Bluffs. Anunson estimates more than half of the park’s users come from Nebraska.

(Radio Iowa)

Even after this long year of drought, many residents in southwest Iowa are still recovering from last year’s record flooding of the Missouri River. A meeting this (Monday) afternoon in Fremont County aims to update residents on the rebuilding process. Lori McDaniel, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says they’ll cover a lot of topics. “Just about flood plain management in general, how the Corps of Engineers and I-DNR can help and provide technical assistance in terms of flood plain management and projects that need to be done in the flood plain,” McDaniel says. “We plan to bring our engineers so we can provide some one-on-one assistance.” She says the goal is to keep the public in the region informed about the progress.

McDaniel says, “We just want to be available to answer any questions that may come up so we can all make good decisions moving into the future.” The prolonged flooding in 2011 wiped out dozens of homes and businesses and hundreds of acres of farmland in the Missouri River corridor. McDaniel says the many southwest Iowa residents still have questions about how to proceed. “Mostly about how we do our approval processes and the tools we can use to help people know where to build and how to make informed decisions of what’s going on in that area,” McDaniel says. “Also, sand and silt deposition has been a big question, can I push my sand and silt and fill in an eroded river bank, questions like that.” Today’s meeting is scheduled to run from 1:30 to 3:30 at the Waubonsie  State Park lodge near Hamburg.

(Radio Iowa)

Two men from northwest Iowa were injured during a collision between a semi and a pickup Sunday evening, in Crawford County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the drivers of the vehicles, 65-year old Gary Beckman, of Lake View, and 17-year old Adrian Ramirez, of Kiron, were transported to the Crawford County Hospital following the crash, which occurred at around 6:30-p.m., in Schleswig.

Officials say a 2000 Chevy Silverado pickup driven by Ramirez was traveling west on Crawford County Road E-16, when he failed to yield to the  semi being driven by Beckman, as he was  traveling north on Highway 59.  The pickup was hit on its left rear side. Following the collision, the pickup slid into the ditch, while the semi came to rest on the shoulder of Highway 59. The Patrol says there were some light flurries at the time, but the roadway was dry. Both men were wearing their seat belts.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press