(Radio Iowa) – If you fancy yourself a road trip this weekend, consider the 82nd annual Orange City Tulip Festival. This year’s Tulip Festival is currently under way. The event Queen is Amanda Hulstein, a senior at MOC/Floyd Valley High School. She says the excitement of being named Tulip Queen has been building since she was crowned last November. “Just through the day I was very excited and it just brought me memories from other tulip festivals that I’ve been involved in. And when we went back out on stage to find out who the Queen was, I was a little nervous but I was always so smiley. And then when Mayor de Haan read my name, I was almost in shock because I didn’t know that it would actually be me,” she says.

Hulstein rode the queen’s float Thursday afternoon as things got underway and says she learned something about the event as it took off. “One thing that I realized that many people don’t notice is all of the people that work behind the scenes and work year round to make these three days in may happen it’s just crazy how many people are involved and how much they do for our town,” Hulstein says.

The Orange City Tulip Court: Nevaeh Sampson, Kinzie Van Kekerix, Queen Amanda Hulstein, Elizabeth King, and Katelyn Huizenga. (OCTF photo)

Hulstein offers advice for people attending the Orange City Tulip Festival. “Get outside, get involved with anything that you can,” she says. “When the Dutch dancers asked for you to be pulled out into the crowd, definitely go out there. Make sure you get to all the different events like the Dutch dozen. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which is the night show this year. See all the tulips take lots of pictures and enjoy.”

Hulstein plans to attend Iowa State University when after graduation. The Orange City Tulip Festival runs through Saturday. Go to octulipfestival.com to see the full schedule of events.

(Radio Iowa) – Studies find ten-percent of us feel like we have -no- friends at work, while 70-percent say workplace friendships are crucial to their overall happiness. University of Iowa researchers are studying the importance of our work relationships and how to improve them, especially post-pandemic. Beth Livingston, a U-I professor of management and entrepreneurship, says we all feel the need to connect with others, particularly if we’re spending eight, ten or 12-hours a day at work. “When we don’t feel like we can connect with other people in our workplace, it leaves us with a kind of gaping hole in terms of our connection with other people,” Livingston says, “and that is especially true for people who may not have those extended connections outside of work, and so connecting with other people at work becomes increasingly important.”

These connections were key before COVID-19, but it’s even more vital now as so many people who began working from home during the pandemic have made the change permanent. “I have not run across a company yet who is not concerned about the wellbeing of their employees and the burnout that so many employees are talking about now,” Livingston says. “The social affiliation and connection can really fill your cup. It can make you feel more energized. It can provide you a sense of connection and meaning in the workplace.”

Workers who feel friendless and isolated may be more likely to quit, she says, further contributing to the continued plague of turnover. Livingston says Iowans can make it a goal to seek out new friendships at work. “You don’t have to wait and be passive recipients of connections. You can go out and say, ‘I’m going to ask people about their lives,'” Livingston says. “‘I’m going to take notes and remember things about them. I’m going to try to strike up conversations that demonstrate that I have an interest in who they are and what they’re doing.’ And you can practice those things. They are skills that you can do.”

Studies find people with plenty of friendly social connections at work tend to be more engaged, they’ll produce higher quality work, and they’re less likely to quit. Employers are taking note, she says, as the company can save money by not having to hire and train new people.  “A lot of times I think people feel like, ‘Well, I’m just not a good people person, I’m not someone who is naturally able to connect,’ and the good news is, those are absolutely things that you can practice and plan to do better.”

Livingston calls loneliness a “critical social issue,” as loneliness is linked to an increased likelihood of depression, it impacts mortality rates, and it can erode physical and mental well-being.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a bill into law that’s expected to offer child care assistance to more Iowans. It raises the income limit for families to qualify and increases government payments to facilities that care for the kids from those families. Reynolds says it’s been about 15 years since the state raised the income limit for state child care assistance. Parents have had to work at least 28 hours a week to qualify, but the new law raises that to 32 hours a week.

“It’s just minimal and I think we’re just really doing whatever we can to really help families, but to encourage them,” Reynolds says. “We have such a workforce shortage in the state of Iowa.” Tammy McNeil is the owner and director of Childcare Discovery Center in Fort Dodge, where Reynolds signed the bill into law. She says the higher payments to providers will help her center a lot, as the parents of nearly half the kids are getting government-funded child care assistance.

“I have been in child care for almost 40 years and to watch it slowly crumble has been heartbreaking,” she said. “Thank you for recognizing the importance of child care and working directly with us to address our concerns and take action.” Reynolds was surrounded by children enrolled in McNeil’s center as she signed the bill into law.

The Legislative Services Agency estimates nearly 27-hundred more children will be enrolled in the state’s child care assistance program due to the hike in income eligibility for parents.

(Reporting by Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – A southeast Iowa city has hired an independent law firm to investigate its fire department. Ottumwa’s City Council unanimously approved the hiring of Des Moines-based Dentons Davis Brown PC in a closed session. The session was held to review possible personnel concerns within the Ottumwa Fire Department.

City officials did not discuss any reasons why the fire department has fallen under scrutiny, however, Ottumwa Mayor Rick Johnson did mention two firefighters are on paid administrative leave and will remain so for the duration of the investigation.

Des Moines, Iowa – An approaching cold front is pulling smoke from Canadian wildfires down to ground level, and areas of unhealthy, very unhealthy, and hazardous air quality are being measured across much of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota. This smoke is expected to impact Iowa today and tomorrow.

The air quality in Northwest Iowa was impacted first this morning, with a band of heavy smoke working its way through the state from Northwest to Southeast. The smoke is expected to impact central Iowa this evening. Through the overnight hours, northwest winds will move the smoke out in the same pattern, with clearing beginning in far Northwest Iowa by tomorrow morning. Cleaner air statewide is forecast by Friday afternoon. However, intermittent and patchy smoke episodes are possible even throughout the weekend.

Unhealthy levels are anticipated across Iowa as the smoke passes through. Twenty-four-hour averages may reach unhealthy levels for sensitive groups, and levels considered unhealthy for everyone may be measured. Sensitive groups include older adults, those with respiratory or heart disease, and children. The health impacts of the smoke can be reduced by limiting prolonged outdoor exertion until air quality conditions improve.

Real-time air quality maps and information about the air quality index can be found on EPA’s airnow.gov site.  A graphic approximation of the extent and trajectory of the smoke plume can be seen on the map at fire.airnow.gov

(Radio Iowa) – A woman pulled from a burning garage in Cedar Rapids early this (Thursday) morning has died. According to the Cedar Rapids Fire Department, the garage was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, but due the intensity of the fire and a high level of debris in the garage, it took several minutes for firefighters to get inside and find the trapped woman. She was treated at the scene, then transferred to a hospital, but did not survive. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

A woman died in this Cedar Rapids garage fire. (CRFD photo)

(Radio Iowa) – State officials say more than three-thousand Iowans are on track to lose their Medicaid coverage by June 1st. During the pandemic, the state was forbidden from dis-enrolling anyone from Medicaid except in limited circumstances. That rule ended last month, which is when Iowa Health and Human Services officials started mailing out Medicaid eligibility re-determination forms. State Medicaid Director Elizabeth Matney says the state is trying multiple approaches to reach people.

“We’re following up via phone, phone call, text message,” Matney says, “and in some circumstances, especially for more vulnerable populations we are going out and knocking door to door.” About half of the forms have not yet been returned. Matney says that may be because the state is first targeting members who are most likely to no longer qualify.

“When we did a look at the 150,000-ish that we had flagged for maintaining eligibility due to the public health emergency, over 100,000 of those have other health insurance,” she says. State officials expect this Medicaid unwinding process to take about a year.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped down to two-point-seven percent in April, compared to two-point-eight percent in March. Iowa Workforce Development spokesperson, Jesse Dougherty, says the labor force participation rate moved up slightly. “Our labor force added 43-hundred new workers. So, I think what’s notable about that is that’s not only encouraging news, you know, for the job seekers that are that are finding jobs, but also encouraging for the employers in Iowa to know that pool of available workers is growing,” he says. Dougherty says the participation rate and getting more people back looking for work is important.”It continues to climb up. And, you know, that’s, that’s something that we continue to watch that shows us, you know, the labor pool is active, the workforce is in a healthier spot than it certainly was a couple of years ago. So that’s very encouraging sign for us,” he says.

Manufacturing saw an increase of 14-hundred jobs. “That was really driven by a couple of factors within durable goods, factories, as well as some other production facilities,” Dougherty says. “We also saw growth and healthcare and retail and you know, retail has gone through some ebbs and flows the last two or three years. So that was encouraging sign to see another month, as well as healthcare. So we saw a couple of industries that really have gone through a lot. And you know, in the early days of the pandemic that have appeared to be have a little bit more steady of climb.” He says there was a negative in the overall employment number.

“We did see some slight losses over in overall non-farm employment. That was driven by some areas that, you know are receiving some general, we see that some general tightening in the economy, certainly with interest rates, and some other concerns that are there,” he says. “You know, we see some of that.” That drop was 300 jobs in total non-farm employment from March to April, the first loss since November 2022. Dougherty says it’s not a concern for the overall economy.  “Over the past 12 months we still have a net gain of over 26-thousand jobs. So that’s something we continue to look at when we’re looking at things long term,” he says.

I-W-D says the lowest Iowa unemployment rate was two-point-three percent in April 2022. That number came after the U-S Labor Department made its annual revisions for the year.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Recorder Mary Ward, today (Thursday), wants residents in the area to be aware of a scam “County Deed Records” letter some residents are receiving. Ward says “On Monday, May 1, a County Recorder’s Office assisted a resident with questions about a confusing letter they received, which was quickly identified as a scam and reported to local law enforcement.

The letter claimed to be from”County Deed Records.” It contained false information about the recipients’ home warranty expiration date. Mary Ward says “The letter also contained a ‘renewal fee voucher‘ for $199, which resembles a check, and requests immediate action to call or be left vulnerable to repair costs.” Ward warns “The Iowa County Recorders Association, in partnership with Iowa Land Records, confirm that this information is NOT legitimate. Similar illegitimate letters have been found across the county.”

“Thankfully,” Ward says, “The resident came into their local County Recorder’s Office with questions, before taking any action. If you are someone you know has received a letter claiming to be from County Deed Records, please DO NOT RESPOND to the letter in any way.”

• Do not pay
• Do not call
• Do not go to the website
• and Do not return any mail requests.

For more information, contact the Cass County Recorders Office at 712-243-1692.

Scam Voucher check

(Des Moines, Iowa) — It’s not the “garden spot” of the U-S, but Iowa does have two cities listed on a report from U.S. News and World report, for the country’s best places to live. In its annual list of Best Places to Live in the U.S., released May 15, U.S. News ranked Des Moines 19th and the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Moline and Rock Island in Illinois) 54th.

The publication ranks the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. based on an analysis of quality of life, housing affordability and the job market, among other factors.

It’s a slight drop for Des Moines, which ranked 14th last year and 13th in 2021. At its highest on the list, Iowa’s capital city was fourth in 2018. The Quad Cities dropped one spot from 2022.

Downtown Des Moines, IA

Quad Cities Sky Bridge

U.S. News & World Report’s Top 20 Best Places to Live in the U.S., 2023-24

1. Green Bay, Wisconsin

2. Huntsville, Alabama

3. Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina

4. Boulder, Colorado

5. Sarasota, Florida

6. Naples, Florida

7. Portland, Maine

8. Charlotte, North Carolina

9. Colorado Springs, Colorado

10. Fayetteville, Arkansas

11. Madison, Wisconsin

12. Boise, Idaho

13. San Jose, California

14. Ann Arbor, Michigan

15. Melbourne, Florida

16. Jacksonville, Florida

17. Albany, New York

18. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

19. Des Moines, Iowa

20. Grand Rapids, Michigan