(Radio Iowa) – Two disability rights groups in Iowa are hosting candidate forums focused on issues faced by Iowans with disabilities. The seven forums across the state next month will feature candidates for the Iowa legislature. Catherine Johnson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, says the first-ever forums are so Iowans with disabilities have a chance to understand how candidates running for state office think through disability issues.

“It’s been our experience that people in general don’t think about disability unless you have a disability yourself or you have a friend or a family member with a disability,” Johnson says. “So having the chance to connect early in an elected official’s career and talk about disability issues is really impactful.” Organizers say they’ve planned the forums to bring issues that are important to Iowans with disabilities front and center for current and future state lawmakers. Piper Haugan, a voting rights advocate at Disability Rights Iowa, says candidates will be asked questions about their experience with disabilities and their related policy priorities.

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“Of course, every policy that occurs in the legislature does affect people with disabilities,” Haugan says, “so we want to really be able to hear how they consider the disability community when they’re reviewing those bills.” Each forum will have American Sign Language interpretation and captioning.

The first forum is scheduled for October 1st in Council Bluffs. Others will follow: October 8th in Waverly, October 10th in Sioux City, October 16th in Ankeny, October 17th in Waukee, October 22nd in Des Moines, and October 24 in Ottumwa.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports three people were arrested on separate charges, Wednesday. At around 3:25-p.m., 26-year-old Isaac Wayne Hayes, of Creston, was arrested at his residence for Violation of No Contact/Protective Order – Contempt, Harassment – 2nd Degree, Harassment – 3rd Degree, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Hayes was taken to Union County Jail and held without bond until seen by a judge.

At around 5:50-p.m., Wednesday, Creston Police arrested 60-year-old Robbie Allen Dohrn, of Creston. Dohrn was taken into custody at Rainbow Park for Driving While Barred. He was transported to the Union County Jail and later released on bond.

And, 30-year-old Patrick Riley Iiams, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a warrant for Violation of Probation. Iiams was already being held in the Union County Jail. He is being held without bond, pending his initial court appearance.

(Radio Iowa) – The oldest living graduate of Grinnell College is the focus of events in Grinnell this weekend. Edith Renfrow Smith was born in Grinnell 110 years ago and graduated with a degree in psychology in 1937. “She knew from the time that she was a young girl that Grinnell was going to be her choice for college,” Jayn Chaney, a Grinnell College vice president, said. “She was the first black woman to graduate from the college.”

A new residence hall for Grinnell students that’s located in downtown Grinnell has been named Renfrow Hall. “We are excited to be able to honor her and have her legacy really celebrated and uplifted in this facility,” Chaney said.

The Renfrow Hall dedication ceremony is scheduled for Saturday at noon. A display in an art gallery on the Grinnell campus provides a timeline of the entire Renfrow family’s trajectory. “Grinnell College has been so honored to be the recipient of many of the treasured, beloved family photos that Mrs. Renfrow Smith’s mother and other family members assembled over time that really helps tell the story of the Renfrow family and the early African American community in Grinnell,” Chaney told Radio Iowa. About 60 Renfrow family members are expected for this weekend’s events in Grinnell. There will be a parade Saturday morning and on Saturday afternoon a temporary mural honoring the Renfrow sisters will be installed on the side of a bank in downtown Grinnell.

110 year-old Edith Renfrow Smith graduated from Grinnell College in 1937. (Grinnell College photo)

Edith Renfrow Smith moved to Chicago after graduating from Grinnell College. She retired from a teaching career in 1976 and has been recognized for her volunteer work in retirement. At the age of 108, she was declared a “super-ager” in Northwestern University research about older adults who have the memory capacity of someone much younger. Renfrow Smith turned 110 in July.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa is developing a Center for Civic Education after recently receiving approval from the Board of Regents. The head of the Cedar Falls school’s History Department, Jennifer McNabb, helped put together the proposal. “The Center will emphasize the production of educational resources. First, our pre-service teachers at U-N-I will be producing lesson plans and support material for in service teachers across the state, and we will sponsor an annual conference at U-N-I on civic education and free speech,” she says. McNabb says they will also reach out beyond the campus.

“Our public history students will work on public education in civic ed through the creation of traveling exhibits for education and for civic spaces, hoping to draw on our partnership with the Iowa community colleges,” she says. U-N-I already has civic education curriculum in place, created by a team of faculty members after they received National Endowment for the Humanities grant. The new center will build on that curriculum.

Jennifer McNabb, Scott Peters. (photo from Board of Regents meeting)

“The center’s ultimate goal is to help our community develop the civic knowledge, skills and dispositions required for understanding and application the values of free speech, civic leadership, public service and citizenship,” McNabb says. She says the Center for Civic Education is U-N-I’s response to the Board of Regents’ directive in November 2023 for the Regent schools to establish a widespread initiative that includes opportunities for education and research on free speech and civic education.

(Radio Iowa) – This is “See Track? Think Train” week. Francis Edeker, the state coordinator for the “Operation Lifesaver” program, says more than 23-hundred people are injured or killed every year at railroad crossings. “Running around the gates and lights is a big problem — 60% of the incidents with the trains happened at crossings where there are lights and gates out there,” He says. “And 25% of the incidents are people that drive into the side of trains…and 25% of them hit the 30th or 40th or 50th car of the train, which means they’re doing a distraction and not paying attention.”

Edeker says having pedestrians on and near railroad tracks has become a major concern. “Family pictures and high school senior pictures being taken on the railroad tracks — that’s a big problem here in the state of Iowa and even in the United States all over,” he says. Edeker says pedestrians and vehicles are only allowed to cross the railroad tracks at designated crossing areas.  “Any other place or walk down them or beside them on the right-of-way — your trespassing,” Edeker says. “The way the law reads is all the officer has to do is see you out there…and he can write you a ticket.”

The fine for a first trespassing violation in Iowa is 200-dollars. This past July, the state fine increased to 520-dollars for ignoring crossing gates and warning lights and illegally driving across railroad tracks in so-called “quiet zones.” Trains approaching railroad crossings in the 21 “quiet zones” in Iowa are not required to sound the horn, to reduce noise in cities.

The cities in Iowa that have quiet zones includes: Ames, Bellevue, Boone, Burlington, Creston, Denison, Fairfield, Hiawatha, Mason City, Mount Vernon, Nevada, Ogden, Ottumwa, Sergeant Bluff and Sioux City.