(Radio Iowa) – A new eastern Iowa business will soon start recycling wind turbine blades to prevent the massive fiberglass, wood and foam blades from taking up large amounts of landfill space. Jeff Woods, director of business development at Travero, says the blades have to be handled very carefully when they’re removed from the towers, as each blade weighs between eight and ten tons. “They’ll come down in the field as a whole blade, so up to 200 foot or longer, and from there, they’re processed into sections,” Woods says. “The sections are transported to various locations around the country or they can be shredded in the field. What we’re planning on receiving is the shredded material and taking that and breaking it down into the fibers.”

Those fibers can be used in things like mortar and concrete to reinforce sidewalks, roads and floors. The balsa wood and foam inside the blades can also find new life. “Those are recycled into materials that have applications from cement finishing to soil stabilization,” he says. Travero owns REGEN Fiber which has developed what Woods calls an eco-friendly process to convert decommissioned wind turbine blades into reusable materials. A REGEN Fiber factory is being built in the Cedar Rapids suburb of Fairfax to recycle the blades. Specially-trained crews will be dispatched to take apart wind turbines, as the blades have about a 20-year lifespan.

“Once they’re down and they’re cut into sections, they feed them through — for lack of a better description — a giant wood chipper to shred it down to material that is two foot long and smaller,” Woods says. “Traditionally though, that material has been taken to other locations and maybe refined a little bit and burned in cement kilns around the country. Some of it’s been landfilled, unfortunately.” While Iowa has built a national reputation for both manufacturing and using wind turbines, Woods hopes this new venture will build on that reputation to also recycle the blades after they’ve served their purpose. He notes the company should have plenty of business for years to come.

“Research provided from Iowa State University was there are 68,000 or more wind towers in United States, three blades on each one, so over 200,000 blades that are out there turning today,” Woods says. Once the Fairfax factory is in full swing, the goal is to recycle more than 30-thousand tons of shredded blade material every year. REGEN Fiber is already recycling blade materials at a facility in Des Moines.

Travero is owned by Alliant Energy Corporation.

(Radio Iowa) – Des Moines police say an 18-year-old is charged in the shooting deaths Monday of two teens at an alternative education program. Preston Walls of Des Moines faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder for a shooting that took place at the non-profit “Starts Right Here.” Police say two male Des Moines students, ages 16 and 18, were killed. Their names have not been released. The program’s founder – local hip-hop artist and activist Will Holmes, also known as Will Keeps — was also shot in the attack. He remains hospitalized in serious condition. Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie began last night’s (Monday) city council meeting addressing the shooting.

“This is another one of those events that seem to take place too often across too many communities in this country. A story that repeats itself. The tragic story of young lives taken far too soon by gun violence. Two teenagers tonight are dead because of this violence,” Cownie said. Cownie called for more gun control. “That is why as elected officials, law enforcement, community leaders, and residents we must do more to battle this issue. And never accept or dismiss teenage gun violence as simply a turbulent sign of the times. Too many young lives depend on it,” Cownie said. Governor Reynolds signed a bill into law In May of 2021 that made it easier to form publicly funded charter schools. She held the bill signing ceremony at the Starts Right Here building. Organization founder Will Keeps spoke at the 2021 event.

“We see that things are not working well for the kids, so what’s wrong with giving them another opportunity, another chance?” he asked. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.” The Starts Right Here board of directors released a statement saying they “are heartbroken and angry” that two students were shot and killed. It says their prayers are with founder and president Will Keeps, along with the families and friends of all those involved in this tragedy. Des Moines Police Department spokesman said Walls entered into a common area where all three victims were located and Holmes, attempted to escort Walls from the area. Walls pulled away from Holmes, pulled a nine-millimeter handgun, and began to shoot both teenage victims. Holmes was standing nearby and was also shot. Walls then fled the scene on foot and later fled from a car that was stopped by police, but was found and taken into custody without incident.

Additional evidence indicates that Walls cut off a court-ordered G-P-S ankle monitor, a supervised pre-trial release condition following a weapons charge, approximately 16 minutes before the shooting. Walls and both the victims who died are known gang members, belonging to opposing gangs, and evidence indicates that the shooting was committed as a result of an ongoing gang dispute. Police have two more people in custody as the investigation continues.

(Natalie Krebs of Iowa Public Radio contributed to this story)

(Note police originally called the organization a charter school, but the Des Moines School District says it is not)

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School Board will meet in a Work Session, beginning at 5:30-p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25th. Their session takes place in the High School Media Center.

Discussion items include: Social/Emotional Learning Support, and, a Transportation from Mark Weis. The Board will also discuss their upcoming meeting dates, including their next Regular session (Feb. 8th at 6:30-p.m.), and a Work Session/Public Hearing on the ISL (Instructional Support Levy) on Feb. 22nd at 5:30-p.m..

(Radio Iowa) – Most Republicans in the Iowa legislature have voted for Governor Kim Reynolds’ top 2023 priority — a bill that will provide state-funded accounts for the parents of private school students. (See the list of those who voted against the bill at the end of this story).

Reynolds plans to sign it into law later this (Tuesday) morning. Republican Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake opened yesterday’s (Monday’s) House debate by saying the bill is about freedom. “The parents and the child are the customers in this scenario. They deserve a choice on where their child goes,” Wills said. “…If the current public school isn’t working for a child and those parents want to have a choice, that’s what this bill’s all about.”

Democrats like Representative Sue Cahill of Marshalltown say the choice is up to private school administrators since nothing requires private schools to accept all students. “Private schools can select the students they want to attend and use what I consider discriminatory practices to do so,” Cahill said. After five and a half hours of debate, the bill cleared the House on a 55 to 45 vote. Senators debated in earnest for about three hours, passing the bill just before 12:30 this (Tuesday) morning on a 31-to-18 vote.

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says state funds will now follow a child to the school that best fits their needs. “If we are to improve education, it is past time to fund our students, not the education establishment,” Holt said. “We can support public education and public teachers, while also embracing positive change.” Representative Thomas Moore of Griswold opposes the governor’s two, less expansive “school choice” proposals and he is one of nine House Republicans who voted against this year’s proposal.

“It came down very simply to my constituents — I’m in a very conservative Republican district — and they were telling me, ‘No,'” Moore said. Three Republican Senators opposed the plan. Representative Skyler Wheeler, a Republican from Hull who backed the bill, says public school parents got frustrated during the pandemic and asked for this alternative.  “This is about students, it’s not about systems,” Wheeler said, reciting a theme from the “school choice” movement. “And tonight, in historic fashion, the state of Iowa is going to uphold and uplift every family in this state.” Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, disagreed.

“This bill will not uplift every single family,” Steckman said, “only a chosen few.” In the first year, low income parents who enroll a child in a private school could apply for nearly 76-hundred dollars in state funding to cover tuition, computers, textbooks and tutoring. In 2026, all private school parents could apply for the state money. Representative Austin Baeth, a Democrat from Des Moines, says an estimated 79 percent of the money will be spent on kids already enrolled in private schools.

“What this really is is a government handout to people who don’t need it,” Baeth said. Wills says if Iowans didn’t want school choice, they wouldn’t have expanded the Republican majorities in the legislature — and would not have reelected Governor Reynolds by a 19-point margin. “Her stance was she’s going to campaign on school choice all across the state of Iowa,” Wills says. “She never stopped talking about it.” All Democrats in the legislature voted against the bill. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls says the governor’s plan is Robin Hood in reverse.

“Iowa Republicans are giving up on Iowa’s public schools,” Wahls said. “They are quitting and throwing in the towel.” Reynolds held a private ceremony in her formal office Monday to mark the start of “School Choice Week” and plans to sign her bill into law at 11 a.m. today (Tuesday).

(All Democrats and the following Republicans voted against the bill: Representatives Michael Bergen of Dorchester; Brian Best of Glidden; Jane Bloomingdale of Northwood; Chad Ingels of Randalia; Brian Lohse of Bondurant; Gary Mohr of Bettendorf; Thomas Moore of Griswold; David Sieck of Glenwood; Brent Siegrist of Council Bluffs and Senators Lynn Davis of Cherokee, Charlie McClintock of Alburnett and Tom Shipley of Nodaway.)

(Radio Iowa) Two students the “Starts Right Here” charter school in downtown Des Moines were shot and killed this (Monday) afternoon. Des Moines Police Spokesman Paul Parizek says the shooting happened just before 1 o’clock.

Sergeant Parizek says that person was going into surgery. Parizek says a vehicle that fled the scene was stopped two miles away and three suspects are in custody.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Guthrie County Extension & Outreach will be offering an intake site for VITA this year. The Volunteer Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free tax help to families and individuals with incomes of $60,000 or less, persons with disabilities, limited English speakers, and older adults.

How VITA works: Clients will meet via phone or zoom with an Intake Specialist to fill out paperwork and review information. You will then schedule a time to come in person to our office to submit all required paperwork. Your tax information will be scanned and sent to volunteer tax preparers off site who will prepare your return remotely within two weeks. You will be alerted when your tax return is complete and ready to review the results of the return. You will sign the returns and then we will electronically file your state and federal tax returns for free.

Taxpayers must bring:

• Picture ID for taxpayer & spouse’s if filing jointly
• Income tax documents for all jobs (W-2s, 1099s, 1098s etc.) for all years tax returns to be done
• Copy of last year’s federal and state tax returns
• Social security cards or Individual Taxpayer ID Numbers (ITIN) for each family member named on the return

VITA is being offered by appointment only, you can schedule an appointment by calling the office at 641-747-2276 anytime Monday-Thursday. All appointments will be held via phone/zoom or at our office at 212 State Street, Guthrie Center, IA 50115.

For more information, please visit our website at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/guthrie/. If you have any questions about the program please feel free to reach out to Krista Downing at the Guthrie County ISU Extension office at 641-747-2276.

(Radio Iowa) –  It may be the dead of winter, but Iowans are looking ahead to spring when they can do some pedal-powered two wheeling. This weekend is the Iowa Bike Expo where all things cycling will be on display and for sale through dozens of exhibitors at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says the Saturday event has become a wintertime beacon for bike riders, a glimmer of hope for the warm weather to come.

“It’s bikes, gear, destinations and events,” Wyatt says, “so if you’re shopping for some recreational activities, this is the place that you want to be this weekend.” For Iowans who are in the market for a new bike, Wyatt says this is a great place to test ride some new options without having to worry about the weather. “We have a large demo area where you can take a bike over from one of the retailers and give it a go,” Wyatt says. “A lot of people like the recumbent trikes or the electric bikes or just trying out what that new bike feels like inside and kind of a temperature-controlled area.”

This is the 10th year for the expo in Des Moines, which Wyatt says has continued to gain momentum each year. “We’ve grown from just to kind of a hallway expo up to filling up Hy-Vee Hall A,” Wyatt says. “Usually, we see somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000 people that come to this event so it’s really popular. We’ve kind of gone over the hump for winter and people are starting to look for spring and summer in planning their recreational activities.” The expo runs Saturday from 10 AM to 4:30 PM. It coincides with the route announcement party for RAGBRAI that night, also at the Iowa Events Center.

https://www.iowabikeexpo.com/

(Radio Iowa) – Backers of a bill that would require drivers to keep their hands off of their smart phones are hoping this is the year the bill becomes law. Iowa State Patrol Captain Todd Bailey says one out of five traffic deaths in the past five years can be linked to a distracted driver.

“It’s extremely scary when you consider the speed issues that we’re dealing with, the following too close and you take all those factors into consideration, we have a reduction in response time by that driver in that vehicle and any type of added distraction or divided attention that you put in that car is basically going to create a recipe for disaster,” Bailey says.

A senate subcommittee has advanced a bill that would require any smart phone use inside a vehicle to be in hands-free or voice activated mode. It’s currently illegal to text while driving in Iowa, but there’s no ban on downloading music, watching videos or playing games. Senator Mark Lofgren of Muscatine said as a runner, he’s dealt with distracted drivers for years.

“Twenty years ago it wasn’t so bad. It’s got worse all the time,” Lofgren said. “Any cyclist or pedestrian or anybody that’s know that (drivers) just aren’t paying attention, so that’s why I support the bill.”

Larry Loss of Clive told lawmakers he was criticalky injured while bicycling last May.

“A young man looking down at his phone cut me off from the bike lane, forced me to hit the curb, propelled me into a concrete barrier,” Loss said during the subcommittee hearing. “I spent 17 days in the hospital, had two surgeries, was off work for two months. By the way, the driver never stopped. I’m in support of this bill.”

According to an insurance industry lobbyists, states that ban motorists from using electronic devices while driving have experienced a 15% reduction in traffic fatalities.

(Radio Iowa) – An Arizona murder suspect is being held in a northern Iowa jail after his arrest following a brief standoff in Charles City. Police in Tucson, Arizona issued a warrant last year for
24-year-old Trevontea Tyron Howard-Brown, a suspect in a fatal shooting near the University of Arizona campus. A 23-year-old man was killed and another man critically injured in the shooting on April 22nd.

According to a news release from Tucson Police, the U.S. Marshals Service tracked the suspect to a home in Charles City and Howard-Brown briefly barricaded himself inside the house Friday morning before being taken into custody.

Howard-Brown is being held as a fugitive in the Floyd County Jail and will be transferred to Tucson to face charges of first degree murder and attempted murder. His bond has been set at $1 million.

(Radio Iowa) – What’s billed as a global anti-human trafficking symposium will be held in eastern Iowa tomorrow (Tuesday). The event is being organized by Teresa Davidson, co-founder and CEO of Chains Interrupted, an Iowa-based non-profit that fights human trafficking. Davidson says the conference will be carried live on Zoom and in-person at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids.

“The title is, Barriers Faced By Sex Trafficking Survivors,” Davidson says, “and there will be multiple people there that have experienced human trafficking, speaking about the barriers that they faced in getting out of the life of trafficking, as well as barriers that they continue to face once they’re trying to seek restoration out of the life.”

Davidson calls human trafficking an “underground crime” that’s widely underreported. “Many times people that are victimized by human trafficking don’t even realize that they’re being victimized by it because traffickers use fraudulent relationships to groom them in and keep them in,” Davidson says. “So, someone pretending to be a boyfriend, acting like the mother that someone never had, the father they longed for, the best friend, and people don’t realize that they’re being manipulated.”

Davidson is the anti-human trafficking coordinator at Mercy, the first Iowa hospital to create a hospital-based position to address human trafficking. Advocates say there are indications Iowa is an attractive state for traffickers, given the wide open spaces and the intersection of major interstates.

“It’s hard to know how many people are being victimized,” she says, “but since the inception of Mercy’s anti-human trafficking program in 2018, we’ve helped over 300 survivors.” Davidson encourages Iowans to look within their circle for people who may be vulnerable to this crime.

“My message to people would be to reach out to them, to be the people that support them, that encourage them, that provide resources for them, because the traffickers are looking for those people and they’re going to reach out first if we don’t,” Davidson says. “We have an opportunity to prevent this from happening to people in our own circle if we only just do it.” The Tuesday event is free and runs from 9 a.m. to noon. It’s being co-hosted by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. It’s open to the public but registration is encouraged.

The Zoom call will be capped at 1,000 participants.