The Iowa Department of Education has released the draft of the revised standards for teaching social studies to kids across state. The Department’s Stefanie Wager says a state writing team put together the new standards after several months of study. Wager says they looked at what other states are doing, looked at national standards, reviewed the old standards and then wrote up the new proposed standards. Wager says the move to update the standards was driven by a couple of things.

“A lot of general complaints over the years about our standards not being rigorous, not being specific enough, that kind of thing,” Wager says. She says the governor’s executive order requiring education standards be reviewed also was part of it as the social studies standards have been in place since 2008. The writing team now hands off its proposal to a review team which will make any final modifications after getting input from Iowans.

“We do a public survey, we will do public forums, we will do focus groups, those kinds of things,” Wager says. “And their job is to look at all of that data and feedback collectively and say ‘the writing team had a misstep here and we need to fix this portion of the standards,’ and that kind of thing.” She says it will be kind of a final polish on the plan.

“Their job isn’t to make sweeping changes unless there is strong evidence from the data and from the feedback that supports those changes,” according to Wager. This is a continuation of the process that has already seen the state’s standards for teaching math and science to K-through-12th graders get an upgrade. Wager says some states get very specific about which historical events should be included in social studies curriculum and that causes the review to get controversial. She doesn’t expect that here.

“These standards are nearly that specific — and so I doubt that you would see nearly as much controversy as you might see in other states where they are really specifically defining that you have to cover this person and this battle and that sort of thing. But certainly it’s much less black and white than perhaps math or science,” Wager says.

The Social Studies Standards Review Team will meet for the first time November 8th to being the public review of the draft social studies standards. The team’s first meeting will be held from 9 a-m until 3:30 p-m in Room B-100 of the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines. The meeting is open to the public.

(Radio Iowa)

A Storm Lake man has been charged with felony sexual abuse for allegedly abusing his girlfriend’s daughter. Storm Lake Police were told by a juvenile female victim that she had allegedly been sexually assaulted repeatedly over a ten year period by her mother’s boyfriend. The victim along with three younger siblings were removed from their home where the suspect resided and placed into protective foster care by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Following an investigation, police Wednesday afternoon charged 33-year-old Miguel Saldana-Ortiz, of Storm Lake. Police allege many more incidents of abuse occurred than what is reflected in the current charges. Saldana-Ortiz was jailed on a 25-thousand dollar bond. The investigation is ongoing.

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities found the car that belongs to a missing northwest Iowa man in Las Vegas, but 27-year-old Daniel Wetherell, of Cherokee HASN’T been found. Tina Lincoln of Cherokee is Wetherell’s girlfriend. The two talked by phone at about 1 p.m. on October 4th. Wetherell told her he was in Sioux City, donating plasma. “He said he loved me and he’d be back Tuesday night and I never heard from him again,” Lincoln says. Police say Wetherell’s car was found in a parking lot in Las Vegas.

“Inside his car, they found a bunch of garbage,” Lincoln says. “…His wallet and his cell phone were not discovered in his car, so they’re assuming he still has them on him. Really nothing of importance was in the car.” Wetherall worked at a Dairy Queen in Cherokee. On the morning he left, Wetherall had an interview for another job in Cherokee.

“He’s a friendly, fun-loving type of guy. Not really sure why he left,” Lincoln says. “He’ll do anything for anyone…At this point we just want to find him, so we can understand what’s going on.” Wetherell is a blue-eyed red head who’s about five-foot-eight-inches tall. He weighs about 155 pounds. Wetherell’s cell phone was last used in Sioux City on October 4th, the last day he and his girlfriend talked.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State budget experts on Thursday lowered Iowa’s revenue projections for the current fiscal year, citing a slowdown in agricultural income and economic uncertainty from a divisive presidential race, interest rates and international trade. The Revenue Estimating Conference predicts that the state will collect about $49.3 million less than it had anticipated last March.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge says the winner of a Hot Lotto jackpot can continue a lawsuit that contends he would have won millions of dollars more if the prior drawing had not been rigged by a lottery vendor. A state judge in Iowa on Wednesday rejected requests to dismiss the case, which is the first filed against the Multi-State Lottery Association over a jackpot-rigging scandal inside the organization.

HOUSTON (AP) — Blue Bell is facing another round of recalled products, but believes a “robust” testing program implemented following last year’s listeria contamination is creating safe products. The current recall involves an Iowa supplier’s chocolate chip cookie dough that was potentially contaminated with listeria. Texas inspection records show testing increased at Blue Bell’s flagship Brenham creamery after last year’s recall.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say Iowa student scores have dropped in statewide reading and math tests. The Des Moines Register reports that the percentage of Iowa fourth-graders on grade level in reading fell to 74.8 percent last spring from 75.7 percent during the 2014-15 school year. In math, fourth-grade proficiency fell to 79 percent this year from 80.3 percent in 2014-15. Officials say the reasons for the declines are unclear.

The Nishna Valley Family YMCA in Atlantic and the City of Avoca are just two of 21 non-profit organizations and government entities in southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska, which have received a portion of nearly $5-million in grant and initiative funding from the Iowa West Foundation. The IWF Board of Directors recently approved the funds from the private foundation. The Nishna Valley Family YMCA received $32,500 from the IWF for Wellness Equipment. The City of Avoca’s Police Department received $2,500 for communications equipment, and the Avoca Public Library received $4,950 to make the main entrance ADA compliant.

Education was a major theme for the final grant cycle of 2016, with $1.5 million awarded to the Council Bluffs Community School District (CBCSD) for two major initiatives: summer school and Middle School International Baccalaureate (IB) education. The Iowa Western Community College Foundation received $30,000 for 2016-17 season programming.

Another major recipient of initiative funding was the newly formed arts organization: Pottawattamie Arts, Culture & Entertainment (PACE), which received $2,325,369. The nonprofit’s mission is to strengthen, develop and promote art, cultural, and historical institutions, organizations, and activities in Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County. Fundraising is currently underway to renovate the Harvester II building on S. Main Street in Council Bluffs into a permanent home for the organization and its partners.

The Iowa West Foundation has distributed more than $400 million to nonprofits and governmental agencies through southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska since the inception of its grant program. Funding for the grants comes from investment earnings and the Iowa West Racing Association, which receives contractual fees from casino operators, Ameristar and Harrah’s. IWRA is the license sponsor for Ameristar and Harrah’s and the license holder for Horseshoe-Bluffs Run.

The Letter of Inquiry period for Cycle 1 of 2017 is currently open and will close on Oct. 17th. Applications are due Nov. 15th. Effective this year, grant application and initiative decisions will now be made in February (Cycle 1), June (Cycle 2) and October (Cycle 3). This is a change from the previous January/May/September decision-making schedule. Please see the Grantmaking section of the website www.iowawestfoundation.org., for more information.