(Radio Iowa) The song says this is “most wonderful time of the year,” but for many, the holidays only mean longer hours of work, heaps of bills and higher blood pressure. Steve Courtright, a professor of management and entrepreneurship at the University of Iowa, studies stress at work. He says research finds the typical person’s stress levels bound 30 to 40-percent during this final month of the year. “They also report more positive emotions during this time of year, feelings such as love and connection,” Courtright says. “So these are happening hand-in-hand with one another, which actually tells us a little bit about stress. Stress can occur simultaneous with also positive emotions that we feel, so it’s not all doom and gloom during the holidays.”

It takes a little work, but we can recognize if we’re getting grouchy at our desk and we may need a short walk outside to focus. Courtright says some people are feeling the double-whammy of an extra workload at our jobs and we come home to added responsibilities there, too. “We have budgets to finish up and we have all these quarterly reports to send and things like that, but also it can be that I’m also trying to buy presents for my family, we’re preparing for family gatherings, we’re trying to decorate the house,” Courtright says. “Any time we face those demands, we tend to appraise those demands as either threats or opportunities, and really, how we appraise those demands makes all the difference in terms of how cranky we’ll be as a result.” We need to adjust our thinking, he says, to zero in on the things that make us happy during the holidays, and reframe the things that might otherwise stress us out.

“So for example, I’m stressed because we have a family gathering. Well, focus on the joy of the family gathering as much as possible rather than all the different preparation with it,” Courtright says. “Or, I don’t have enough money for presents this year. Maybe reframe that as we can have a more simplified Christmas this year and for some, that might mean we’re gonna do more fun family activities, and for others that might mean we’re focusing on religious aspects.” If you’re feeling stressed, Courtright says, know that you’re far from alone. You can embrace the stress, he says, if you harness those positive emotions and think about things that bring you joy.

(Radio Iowa) – Former northeast Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer is now working in the Biden Administration. Finkenauer’s title is Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues. A news release indicates she will be the State Department’s principal public representative on youth-related programs and issues. Finkenauer worked on Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign and, as a member of congress, publicly endorsed Biden before the 2020 Iowa Caucuses.

Finkenauer served four years in the state legislature before being elected to one term in the U.S. House in 2018. She lost a 2020 campaign for a second term and unsuccessfully sought the Iowa Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nomination this spring.

December 2, 2022 (DES MOINES) – At yesterday’s (Thursday’s) meeting of the Enhance Iowa Board in Des Moines, the Board awarded a Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grant totaling $219,840 to a community park in Davenport. The project is expected to cost nearly $1.1-million dollars.

The proposed MLK Park is being designed as an outdoor venue for residents and tourists to learn and engage in the region’s rich artistic, creative, cultural and ethnic history. This park project will display 16 educational panels about the history of Davenport as it relates to persons of color.

The Enhance Iowa Program provides financial incentives to communities for the construction of recreational, cultural, educational or entertainment facilities that enhance the quality of life in Iowa. To date, 104 CAT grants have been awarded by the board, totaling $33,503,023. The next Enhance Iowa Board meeting is scheduled for January 5, 2023.

(Creston, Iowa) – Authorities in Union County say two separate, non-injury accidents happened Thursday night. At around 9:34-p.m., a 2018 Chevy Cruze driven by 18-year-old Lucas M. Lynch, of Creston, was traveling south on Cedar Street near Carpenter Street, in Creston, when the vehicle swerved into the other lane, and struck a legally parked and unoccupied 2013 KIA Optima, registered to a woman from Lenox. Lynch told authorities the accident happened when he thought he saw a car parked on the road in front of him, and took evasive action to avoid hitting it. During the collision, the airbags on Cruz’ vehicle deployed, and the vehicle became disabled. The parked car sustained heavy front end damage. Both vehicles were towed away. The dollar amount of damage from the accident amounted to $15,000. Lynch was issued a citation for Reckless Driving.

The second accident occurred at around 7:18-p.m., in Creston, when a 2012 Chevy Cruze driven by 19-year-old Audrey Isabella Simone Harris, of Creston, was backing out of a driveway, in an attempt to re-enter N. Oak Street, southbound. Her car struck an unoccupied 2011 Mitsubishi Galant. Harris was cited for Failure to have Insurance. Damage from the collision amounted to an estimated $4,000 altogether.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two women were arrested on separate charges, Thursday, in Creston. According to Creston Police, 32-year-old Brooke Marie Carter, of Creston, was arrested Thursday morning and charged with Driving While Barred. She was taken to Union County Jail, and later posted bond.

And, Thursday afternoon, Creston Police arrested 51-year-old Robin Elizabeth Provot, of Creston, on a charge of Disorderly Conduct. She was taken to Adams Co Jail, and was being held on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has voted to block a strike by railroad workers and impose the labor agreement negotiated at the White House in September, but Ernst says she would have preferred to keep congress out of it. Ernst, a Republican, says President Biden could and should have done more to ensure a fair deal for employees, including her brother, who works for a railroad. Eight unions approved the contract offer, but four unions representing tens of thousands of rail workers rejected it.

Ernst says workers have valid concerns regarding quality of life and attendance policies that are not addressed in the contract and negotiations should have restarted. However, Ernst says a strike would have been catastrophic for the economy, so she voted to block the strike.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley also voted to intervene in the labor dispute and prevent a strike. Both Grassley and Ernst voted against a proposal to force the railroads to provide seven days of sixk leave to employees — it got just 43 “yes” votes in the Senate.

(Radio Iowa) – The economy usually perks up with year-end holiday shopping, but there are few signs of optimism heading into December in the latest survey of business leaders in Iowa and eight other Midwestern states. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says for the first time in recent years, the region’s overall index — or business barometer — plummeted below growth neutral, and it’s now fallen six of the past eight months.

“The Mid-American economy, at least according to the November survey, is not good at all,” Goss says. “It dropped to 48.0 which is the lowest reading we’ve recorded since the early days of the pandemic. That would be in May of 2020, right after the pandemic began, so this was not a good reading.” The individual business barometer for Iowa fell even farther during November. On the zero to 100 scale, where 50 is growth neutral, Iowa dropped two full points, from 49.8 in October to 47.8 in November. In the Creighton survey, supply managers in Iowa and the eight other states were asked about the biggest threats they see looming for the rest of 2022 and into 2023.

“Number one, by far, was higher input prices, so inflation is still rearing its ugly head out there, according to supply managers,” Goss says., “Number two was recession, that’s first time we’ve recorded that in some time. Supply chain disruptions came in number three, and then labor shortages, which is a big issue in this part of the country, and then higher interest rates.” While labor shortages ranked fourth out of five on that list, the survey finds employers across the region are still having significant trouble finding qualified workers to fill vacancies.

“Sixty-five percent of the supply managers are reporting shortage of applicants out there, so they have job openings and not many are coming in to fill those positions,” Goss says. “Regional employment is still down from pre-pandemic levels, that was being February of 2020. We’re off 32,000 workers across the nine states.” There were a few bright spots. Goss says the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows in the past 12 months, private wages of all workers in Iowa expanded by a little over five-percent, while manufacturing wages climbed by almost eight-percent.

(Radio Iowa) – President Biden is asking national Democratic Party leaders to make changes for the 2024 campaign — bumping Iowa’s Caucuses out of the lead-off spot and putting South Carolina’s Presidential Primary first. Biden finished fourth in the 2020 Iowa Caucuses, but won the South Carolina Primary a few weeks later. Biden’s list for state contests in 2024 starts with South Carolina on February 5th, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later, then Georgia on the 19th and Michigan on the 26th of February.

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn says Democrats cannot forget about entire groups of voters in the heart of the Midwest without doing significant damage to the party for a generation. He also emphasizes that Iowa law requires that both major political parties hold Caucuses before any other state votes. New Hampshire also has a state law that requires its primary to be held before a similar election in another state and New Hampshire’s Democratic Party chairman says his state’s primary will be held first in 2024. The Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee is meeting in Washington, D.C. to recommend which states will hold the early voting contests in 2024.

The full Democratic National Committee will meet early next year to vote on its calendar for state primaries and caucuses. In the past, states that did not follow the party’s schedule were penalized with a reduced number of delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

(Clarke County, Iowa) – A car traveling in the wrong direction on Interstate 35 in Iowa, collided head-on with a semi tractor-trailer, Thursday, killing the driver of the car. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2008 Chevy Impala driven by 82-year-old Larry Wayne Ross, of Osceola (IA) was traveling south in the northbound lanes at around 6:27-p.m., near mile marker 33, when the car struck a 2015 Peterbilt semi. The driver of the semi – 50-year-old Alsson F. Battin, of Rock Island, IL, tried, but was unable to avoid striking the vehicle.

Larry Ross was transported from the scene by Clarke County Ambulance to the hospital in Osceola, where he died from his injuries. He was not wearing a seat belt. The truck driver was transported to the hospital to be checked-out. The Patrol says he was wearing his seat belt.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – A Council Bluffs woman was injured and her husband was arrested, following a stabbing Thursday afternoon, in Council Bluffs. Authorities were notified a little after 4-p.m. about the incident, which occurred in the area of 600 5^th Avenue. Officers responding were informed that the female – 30-year-old Aleen Kau – was stabbed in the neck, allegedly by 31-year-old Angers Kau.

Officers located the man close to the area and placed him under arrest. Aleen Kau was taken by private vehicle to Jennie Edmundson Hospital where she sought treatment for a significant stab wound to her upper back near the base of the neck. She was eventually referred to UNMC, due to the severity of the wound, at this time the injury is said to be non-life threatening.

Angers Kau (CB PD photo)

During the investigation it was learned that the couple are married, and that their children were present during the assault. The children were not injured during the incident. Angers Kau was transported to Pottawattamie County Corrections and booked in on charges of Attempted Murder, Felony Domestic Abuse, Child Endangerment, Disobedience to Police and Public Intoxication.

Anyone who may have witnessed this incident is encouraged to contact Council Bluffs Police at 712-328-4728 or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 712-328-7867.