(Radio Iowa) – A so-called “MEGA” package of state tax incentives — to try to lure a major business development to Iowa — stalled in the House on the final day of the 2023 legislative session. The “Major Economic Growth Attraction” or MEGA program would have been for a project that covers at least 250 acres and involves at least a BILLION dollar investment from a business engaged in research, bioscience or advanced manufacturing. The plan cleared the Senate on a 45-to-two vote Wednesday, but House Speaker Pat Grassley says there were too many unanswered questions.

“I’m not convinced the proper legwork went into selling the program to the House members,” Grassley says, “obviously not even enough that on the last day of session they were comfortable to bring it up.” Under the proposed MEGA program, a business based in a foreign country that’s an ally of the U.S. would be allowed to buy farmland for the project. House Republicans were wary of granting foreign ownership of farmland — and Grassley suggests the size of the tax rebate — nearly 93 million dollars over the next seven years — was a concern.

Grassley says lawmakers might reconsider the package next year. “I think it was a lot of factors at play,” Grassley says, “and if it were to move forward, I think we got some pretty good guidance from the membership what they would want to see as part of it.” Grassley made his comments during taping of this week’s episode of “Iowa Press” which airs on Iowa P-B-S. Lawmakers who led debate of the package in the Senate said it would help Iowa be competitive with other states are offering bigger incentives for large projects.

The MEGA program would have been limited to two projects over the next two years.

(Radio Iowa) – Two fallen officers were recognized today (Friday) at the annual ceremony at the Peace Officers Memorial east of the Iowa State Capitol. Department of Public Safety Commissioner, Stephen (Steven) Bayens says it is important to take time to honor those who protect us.

He says law officers also want to send a message.

Bayens also thanks the families of officers for their support of their loved ones and for allowing them to protect others. Bayens recognized the two officers who died in the line of duty in the past year.

Deputy Austin “Melvin” Richardson

Fremont County Sheriff Deputy Austin “Melvin” Richardson died June 14th, 2022 after his patrol car hit a combine on the highway.

Coralville Police Department Sergeant John Karl Williams died on July 3rd of 2022.

Coralville Police Sergeant John Karl Williams

He went into cardiac arrest after returning from investigating the shooting of a child.

Deputy Richardson and Sergeant Williams’ names will be added to the memorial. Bayens says their efforts as peace officers will live on with their departments and communities.

(Radio Iowa) – Some of the governor’s health care related proposals cleared the 2023 legislature before it adjourned this week, but others — like expanded access to birth control — stalled. Governor Kim Reynolds has introduced a bill to make birth control available behind the counter at a pharmacy for the past five years.

Reynolds wanted to triple state funding for privately-run crisis pregnancy resource centers and add programming for prospective fathers in at-risk households. The facilities haven’t spent all the 500-thousand dollars in state spending approved last year.

The legislature also failed to approve the governor’s call to provide paid parental leave to state employees. A bill did get approved that creates four, state-funded scholarships for training in obstetrics — if the doctor agrees to practice family medicine in Iowa for at least five years. Democrats unsuccessfully lobbied for changes in the state’s Medicaid program which provides insurance to low income Iowans. Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says women who deliver a baby or have a miscarriage should have a year’s worth of follow-up visits to the doctor covered.

Medicaid covers nearly half of all births and pregnancy care in the United States. Missouri’s Medicaid program, like Iowa’s, has covered pregnancy-related doctor’s visits for 60 days after the pregnancy ends, but the Missouri legislature is moving to extend coverage to a full year. Heart problems and other conditions that are heightened by a pregnancy often lead to serious complications in the months after delivery.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa woman was recently chosen to represent the United States in an international program with Japan. Maddie McGarry was named the U-S Cherry Blossom Queen at the National Conference of State Cherry Blossom Societies in Washington, D-C. “And it’s really a program that helps to kind of celebrate that ongoing friendship that’s endured and kind of stood the test of time,” she says. Women from 19 to 24 years old are selected by their based on their academic achievement, leadership qualities, and general interest in world affairs. “And so we get to undergo a lot of leadership and professional development activities throughout the week. And we also have a lot of hands on experience with learning more about Japanese culture,” McGarry says. “And we also learned about the culture and other countries that have kind of been part of this program for decades now, including Taiwan and Lithuania.”

The program itself started in 1930 and this is the 75th anniversary of the first queen selection. “There hasn’t actually been an Iowa delegate that was selected as the queen since 1964. So it’s really awesome to kind of get my home state of Iowa into the spotlight through this unique and really sacred program,” McGary says. McGary is a DeWitt native who graduated from Ames High School and now lives in Jewell. She says Iowa’s lack of Cherry Blossom Queens has simply been a matter of bad luck — as the winner is chosen randomly by the spin of a big wheel that has all the names of states on it. “They really don’t want it to be a competition because they want everyone involved to be focused more on the substance of the program, and less on you know, trying to elevate themselves or increase their odds of winning. It’s supposed to be more of a leadership program,” McGary says. She says that really distinguishes it from pageants.

“I really valued that it was not a competition, I think it made it a lot more enjoyable, and I know, one of the biggest things I walked away from with this experience was just the number of friendships that I cultivated throughout my time,” according to McGary. “It was a very short amount of time and me and it was only a week and our days were pretty long and filled with a lot of activities. But all of us have been very grateful to be able to walk away from this with lifelong friendships and new connections.” While the its not a pageant — becoming the Cherry Blossom Queen does have some of the same trappings — including a massive crown. The crown was made by the by the Mikimoto Pearl company in Japan. “So it’s made of two pounds of 14 karat gold. And there’s about 15-hundred pearls that adorn the crown that were actually hand selected by Mr. Mikimoto himself. So it’s a really unique history and awesome that they’ve been able to preserve it for this long,” she says.

Coronation-MIKIMOTO-Crown-(MCGary)

McGary got to wear the crown for a picture at the coronation after she was chosen, but says it is so valuable that she will likely not get to wear it again. “The crown actually had its own security detail when we were at the gala. So it had to be guarded all night. I wasn’t actually allowed to move when I was standing there because it can actually fall off your head, it’s so heavy. So that was crazy,” McGary says. She was given a smaller crown to wear to events that is made of gold, but is lighter and also has Mikimoto pearls on it. It’s tradition for the new queen to travel to Japan, so she will leave in early June for a two week trip. She’ll get to meet with the Prime Minister of Japan, the mayor of Tokyo and a few other government officials in Japan.

MacGary studied agricultural communications and international agriculture at Iowa State University where she says she learned about the importance of trade with Japan. She later got a masters degree from Oklahoma State and worked for Senator Ernst as her Deputy Press Secretary. McGary currently works for Barn Tools in Des Moines that creates barn monitoring technology that’s wireless for swine and poultry growers.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, stopped at three cities along the Mississippi River this week to assess the impact of flooding. Hinson says she asked questions about the the pump and flood mitigation systems.

She says if the power goes out the pumps don’t work and that is a concern. Hinson says there also could be some economic impact with the timing of this flood.

Hinson says long term protection from the river will continue to be a priority.

She visited with city officials in Marquette, McGregor and Guttenberg.

(Radio Iowa) – A Hollywood actress with Iowa ties is back in the Hawkeye State this weekend to make a guest appearance at the annual sci-fi, fantasy and gaming convention called Starbase DemiCon. Marjean Holden is best known for her TV roles on “Babylon 5” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” as well as movies in the “Mortal Kombat” and “Jurassic Park” sagas. Holden grew up in Minneapolis and her mother’s family is from the Hampton area in north-central Iowa. “We would come down to grandma and grandpa’s farm all the time,” Holden says. “The big thing was, I get to go to grandma and grandpa’s for like a month in the summer, by myself, without my siblings. It was so much fun. The first thing you learn how to drive is a tractor and a truck, so it’s like yeah, I ten and I’m driving a tractor!”

While she may not make it to the family’s Franklin County farm on this trip, the 58-year-old Holden says she’ll be taking her 17-year-old daughter with her to Pella for the big Tulip Festival. “She’s like, ‘Well, okay, I guess,’ but for me, I’m really excited because I have been to the Netherlands, and I have gone to the Keukenhof there,” she says, “and it was absolutely one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever been to in the world.” While she says her mother’s side of the family was all farmers, Holden says her father’s side was mostly entertainers, especially musicians, and acting came naturally for her, starting at age nine. She now has more than 50 TV shows and films on her resume, and wears many hats in L.A., including actress, stuntwoman, martial artist, author and director.

Marjean Holden. (photo supplied)

“I teach personal development as well, so I lead seminars and workshops and transformational trainings,” Holden says, “and I work part time at a gun range, and I do a lot of different things, so it just kind of depends on the day.”

The six-foot-tall Holden says her number-one job now is being a mom, and she will often bring her teen daughter along on the ComiCon convention circuit. At DemiCon in Des Moines, Holden will be taking part in several panel discussions, Q-and-A sessions and signing autographs. She says people will recognize her for different roles at different types of conventions.

“This particular one, because it’s based around space, most questions I will probably get will be around ‘Crusade,’ which was the ‘Babylon 5’ spin-off where I played Dr. Sara Chambers,” she says, laughing. “Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, you played the doctor,’ and it’s like, ‘Yes, I just played doctor on television. I’m just smart on TV.’”

Holden says her next project is directing a film that focuses on a group of veteran police officers who are thrown into being an undercover ’80s rock band in order to ferret out a drug ring kingpin.

DemiCon runs through Sunday at the Holiday Inn in Urbandale.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Des Moines Police Department posted on social media this (Friday) morning, that in a span of about “5 short hours,” overnight, their officers recovered two firearms from dangerous offenders, and made arrests in cases that directly impact the safety of families in our community.

The Department said “Shortly after 9pm (Thursday), 3rd Watch officers responded to a shooting incident in the 3300 block of S.W. 7th. The 32-yr-old victim remains hospitalized after being shot several times. Within moments of the incident, officers located the suspect, John Streeter, near the scene and took him into custody without incident.

Streeter

Streeter was found to be in possession of a handgun when he was arrested.” He faces charges that include Attempted Murder, Willful Injury, and Intimidation with a dangerous weapon.

Authorities said also, “A few hours later, just after 2am (Friday), an officer attempted a traffic stop for a registration violation near E. 12th & Boyd. The driver of the vehicle being stopped, Dylan Pettyjohn, sped away, beginning a short pursuit that ended two blocks away when he crashed into a stop sign and disabled his vehicle. As he ran on foot, he attempted to throw a handgun onto a building roof. Pettyjohn resisted being arrested, and attempted to disarm the officer of his firearm. He was successfully taken into custody. He was determined to be a felon, prohibited from possessing a firearm, and in possession of marijuana, fentanyl pills, and a large quantity of meth.”

Pettyjohn faces charges that include: Felon in Possession of a Firearm; Possession of Marijuana, Fentanyl pills, and Methamphetamine; Eluding; and Attempt to Disarm a Police Officer.

Pettyjohn

(Radio Iowa) – Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids is naming Kristie Fisher as its new president, the sixth president in the school’s history. Fisher has served as president of Iowa Valley Community College in Marshalltown since 2019. Fisher says there are multiple challenges facing Iowa’s community colleges.

“Regardless which community college is the fact we have so many students who suffered a learning loss because of the pandemic,” Fisher says, “and just all the immense workforce needs, and trying to figure out the best way to meet those needs both of employers and the students who are coming through our doors.”

Kristie Fisher (Kirkwood Community College photo)

Fisher, who graduated from Kirkwood herself, will replace Lori Sundberg, who is retiring in the fall. Sundberg was named Kirkwood’s first woman president in the fall of 2018.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report the arrest on Thursday, of a man from Nebraska. 33-year-old Dontavious Easley, of La Vista, NE, was arrested for Driving while revoked. He posted a $1,000 bond, and was released.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Ornithologists’ Union is celebrating its 100th anniversary at its spring meeting which opens today (Friday). There are nearly 400 members in the group, which promotes interests in the identification, study and protection of birds in the state. Union president Dennis Thompson says one of the things the group is most proud of in its century of history is putting out the quarterly magazine called Iowa Bird Life.  “That talks about sightings that have occurred during a season, spring, summer, fall and winter,” Thompson says. “We also have articles about birds in Iowa, and so that’s kind of our scientific purpose, if you will, to publish that journal.”

Thompson says there will be speakers at this weekend’s events along with several field trips for bird watching.

“One’s going down into Madison County,” Thompson says. “We have one going to Walnut Woods and Browns Woods, another’s going into Chautauqua area in northeast Polk County, and I’m leading one to Easter Lake and Yellow Banks Park.” He says birders of all levels are welcome to attend. The spring meeting is taking place in West Des Moines.

(by Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)