Governor Terry Branstad leaves today (Wednesday) for a two-day trip to Atlanta. It’s another business prospecting venture for the governor. “The companies we call on, on these trips, are confidential,” Branstad says. Branstad is revealing “most” of the Atlanta-based companies he’ll visit already have operations in Iowa, so he’ll be talking with “decision-makers” about expanding in Iowa.

“I think these calls are important,” Branstad says, “and I’ve done this throughout my tenure as governor and they’ve led to some good things happening.” About five million people live in the Atlanta metro. The typical commute for the average Atlanta worker is 13 miles — the longest in the country. A recent Texas A-and-M study found Atlanta drivers spend 52 HOURS every year, stuck in rush hour traffic.

“One of the benefits we do have in Iowa is a very short commute time and we don’t have the congestion and the cost of living that are true in a lot of other places in the country,” Branstad says. According to the U.S. Census Burea, the longest commute times in Iowa are in rural areas.

The average Guthrie County worker spends 27 minutes on the drive to work. Workers in Iowa’s largest county — Polk County — have an average commute time of 19 minutes. Forty-seven of Iowa’s 99 counties have a longer commute time than Polk County.

(Radio Iowa)

The dream of buying a home in rural Iowa is getting cheaper. Home mortgage rates from the U-S-D-A’s Rural Development Agency have dropped to just below 2.875%. Krista Mettscher, a rural housing specialist with the agency, says there are income and other limits with the low rate, but even those with credit issues could qualify.

“Generally speaking, if you have a credit score of about 640, you can get in with some reduced documentation,” Metscher says. “We can do some loans with credit scores under the 640, it just may take a little additional documentation.” Mettscher says some people could find even lower rates. “You can qualify for a subsidized interest rate based on your household size and income,” she says. “You might even qualify for anything from the 2.875 down to a 1% interest rate on a 33-year loan.”

The program is available in most rural communities across the region. http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police, Tuesday, arrested 43-year old Robert Allen Childs, of Red Oak, on a Page County warrant for Interference with Official Acts. Childs was taken into custody at around 5:50-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held on $300 bond.

Police in Red Oak investigating a reported hit-and-run property damage accident, located the suspect vehicle and cited a woman for Failure to Obey a Stop Sign. Authorities were called to Highway 34 and Ironwood Road at around 7:30-p.m., Tuesday. When they arrived, they spoke with 17-year old Justin Bernard, of Red Oak, who told them the accident had taken place at Eastern and Summit Streets, when the driver of a Pontiac Grand Am ran the stop sign and his 2000 Chevy pickup hit the right rear corner of the car.

The other driver left the scene after briefly pulling over. Bernard followed the car to the area where officers initially responded, and was able to obtain information from a witness who was able to provide the license plate number of the vehicle.

Officers located 19-year old Savanna Abraham, of Red Oak, and issued her a citation. Damage from the collision amounted to $1,300.

Walmart has agreed to eliminate the statement on its Spring Valley dietary supplements that “independent verification” is done on the products and pay refunds to Iowans who may’ve bought them. Attorney General Tom Miller says the nationwide agreement answers questions raised about the statement. “Walmart for a period of time had a representation on their supplements that said ‘verified by an independent, certified laboratory.’ And we, and I think reasonably in the industry and consumer protection, interpret that to mean that they tested their ingredients to make sure that they had the full amount that was represented of that ingredient and that there weren’t any significant safety concerns,” Miller explains.

But he says the that isn’t what the statement meant. “Their interpretation was that the independent verifier would just verify that some amount — say if it was a garlic supplement — some amount of garlic was in it,” Miller says. “We said that was deceptive based on how people view these things.” Miller says Walmart was very cooperative in the discussions, which led to the agreement to get rid of the statement.

“It’s going to be completely off. They won’t do this sort of representation in the future. They will provide reimbursement for customers who request reimbursement and also they will provide the state of Iowa 100-thousand dollars for additional Iowa consumers (reimbursement), and also for our consumer fund,” Miller says. Miller says if you bought supplements that included the statement on the label, you can get a refund.

“First of all if possible they should ask for a refund from Walmart. If that is not possible, then they should ask for a refund from our consumer protection division,” according to Miller. He says the Walmart issue came up in a general review of product labels. “Separate testing, independent testing is very important in this whole area of supplements and drugs,” Miller explains. “If there is a claim that has been independently tested, we think that that means independent and a means a full test in what is common in the industry. And we want that to continue to be the case.”

The verification statement appeared on about 60 Spring Valley supplements, including some offerings of echinacea, garlic, ginseng, gingko biloba, St. John’s wort, and saw palmetto. For more information go to the Attorney General’s website at www.IowaAttorneyGeneral.gov.

(Radio Iowa)