(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a bill that requires school districts to post a list of books in the school library and provide parents with an outline of how to seek removal of a book. Under the bill, teachers would have to post the titles of books and other materials they plan to use in class. Representative Phil Thompson, a Republican from Boone, says the bill creates a transparency standard that many schools already follow. “Parents deserve to know what their children are being taught,” Thompson says.

Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, says many schools will have to buy new software to meet this requirement. “This bill is targeting teachers, to the detriment of our children,” Steckman says. “I think the teachers will be spending all their time trying to enter this information and then reenter what they didn’t do or what they changed and be worried about being attacked for what they’re doing.” Representative Sue Cahill, a Democrat who’s a teacher in Marshalltown, says it will lead to more generic lesson plans. “This bill hurts students. It hurts teachers,” Cahill says. “It demoralizes a group of trusted professionals and it feels like a ‘gotcha’ to all teachers and administrators in our state.”

Republican Representative Garret Gobble teaches U.S. history to eighth graders in Ankeny. Gobble says this requirement is manageable. “I welcome a change like this that will encourage parents to engage,” Gobble says. “Transparency will strengthen trust…and rightfully turn down the temperature and rhetoric surrounding education discussions. I believe this will begin a great new period for parents and teachers to work together for the benefit of our students.”

Two Democrats in the House joined 58 Republicans in supporting the bill. One Republicans and 35 Democrats voted against it. A similar bill is on the Iowa Senate’s schedule for potential debate today (Wednesday). That bill also includes the governor’s plan to provide state money to the parents of 10-thousand kids enrolling in private schools.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Harlan Police Department reports four recent arrests. This (Wednesday) morning, 19-year-old Jaydan Halbert-Christian Fleming, of Harlan, was arrested for domestic abuse assault and simple assault. Last Sunday (March 27), Police in Harlan arrested 59-year-old William Joseph Daeges, of Harlan, on a domestic abuse assault charge.

Saturday, officers arrested 38-year-old Erika Lara-Salazar, of Council Bluffs, following a traffic stop. Lara-Salazar was charged with driving while suspended. And, on March 22nd, 42-year-old Lisa Marie Briggs, of Harlan, was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant. Briggs was transported to the Shelby County Jail.

(Audubon, Iowa) – Landus, Iowa’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, and AMVC, the ninth-largest pork producer in the United States, today announced collaborative plans to build a new feed mill at the existing Landus grain facility located in Hamlin (Iowa). Officials say through this partnership, AMVC will own and operate the feed mill. Landus will be responsible for originating grain for the project through its network of local farmer-owners.

Matt Carstens, President and CEO of Landus, says “We are proud to demonstrate the power of partnership as we introduce this collaborative model to the local feed landscape. By working together from the start, Landus and AMVC have developed an optimized approach that allows each party to focus on its strengths while better meeting the unique needs of our differing stakeholders. This improved model gives AMVC better control of their long-term biosecurity and traceability requirements, while Landus can focus on sourcing and delivering quality grain from our farmer-owners. By working together, we can both responsibly invest where it makes the most sense; for Landus that means using farmer-owner money in the most effective way possible.”

The proposed feed mill will produce up to 400,000 tons of swine feed per year. It will generate demand for roughly 8.5 million bushels of corn, and 48,000 tons of soybean meal annually. Corn demand will exceed the capacity of the existing Landus grain storage in Hamlin, allowing Landus the opportunity to leverage its nearby grain assets, including a site in Panora, Iowa, which was recently acquired through an asset swap with Heartland Co-op, to supply corn to the new mill.

Dr. Steve Schmitz, veterinarian and managing partner at AMVC, said “AMVC is excited to align with Landus, a like-minded agriculture organization committed to enhancing our rural economies. Landus will provide AMVC the expertise to source and deliver quality grain from local farmers, allowing us to better leverage our strengths of professionally raising and feeding pigs. The establishment of this feed mill will maintain and increase long-term agriculture value for crop producers and pork producer stakeholders within Audubon County. This partnership also adds to the overall economic growth of the community by creating short and long-term employment opportunities. For over 30 years, AMVC has been committed to investing in livestock production and animal wellbeing. This investment furthers our pursuit to feed the world through our local communities.”

Once fully operational, the mill will employ up to eight full-time personnel and generate demand for an additional 14 local truck drivers. AMVC currently anticipates project completion by Summer 2024. Additional updates will be provided to the public as this project progresses.

Clive, Iowa — Officials with the Iowa Lottery, today (Wednesday) announced a Mills County man left a late-night message on his parents’ answering machine telling them he’d won a $100,000 lottery prize.

That’s 33-year-old Jacob “Jake” Harper, from Glenwood, who won the 16th top prize in the game. He said his parents won $10,000 on a different scratch game, a couple of months ago. Jake bought his winning ticket at a Casey’s store in Glenwood, and scratched it at home late at night after a get-together with friends.

Jacob Harper (IA Lottery photo)

Harper said it felt like time stopped as soon as he realized he’d completed six words on his ticket to win one of the game’s top prizes.

“I counted again and again and I think I got up to like 10 times of going through and seeing six before it finally sunk in that I just won $100,000,” he said. Harper said his big win comes at a great time.

He plans to quit his current job to go full time at the computer business based out of Omaha, that he and his friends started.

The $100,000 Mega Crossword game he played and won, is a $10 scratch game that features overall odds of 1 in 3.30 and 38 top prizes of $100,000.

Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman, Wednesday, updated the County Board of Supervisors on various Roads Department projects and maintenance activities.

He said also he’s helped out Adams County in some matters, as per the agreement between the Counties. In other business, the Adair County Supervisors passed a resolution naming Depositories. They held a Public Hearing on the issuance of General Obligation Bonds, Series 2022, in the amount of $5.5-million. There were no comments received, therefore the Board acted to approve Resolutions to institute proceedings to take additional action, and to direct Auditor to advertise the bonds for sale, and approve electronic bidding procedures, along with an official statement.

Separately, they passed a Resolution approving a 28-E agreement for the ISAC Group Benefits Program, an Actuarial Services Agreement with Silverstone Group, LLC, and a Resolution Naming Depositories. Jocelyn Blazek, Decat/CPPC Coordinator, in Creston, appeared before the Board to request they sign a proclamation.

The proclamation was duly signed by Board Chair Matt Wedemeyer. DECAT, the Child Welfare Decategorization Project, is an effort to significantly change the child welfare system to one that is needs based, family focused, easily accessible, more intensive, less restrictive, and cost effective by “Decategorizing” services from a state level to a local level.

Decategorization projects are organized by county or clusters of counties.  Today there are 40 decategorization projects across the state of Iowa, covering all 99 counties.  The Creston Decat Cluster includes Adair, Adams, & Union Counties and the Leon Decat Cluster includes Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, Ringgold, & Wayne Counties.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Civil Deputy Spencer Walton, today (Wednesday), said deputies made five arrests over the past week. There were two arrests in Cass County on Tuesday (March 29th):

• 24-year-old Austin Malloy, of Walnut, was arrested for Providing False Identification to Law Enforcement.  Malloy was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his initial appearance. And, 31-year-old Noel Dominguez, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.  Dominguez was transported to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and held pending her initial appearance.

On Monday, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 21-year-old Noah Meinders, of Atlantic, on a warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance.  Meinders was taken to the Cass County Jail and released a few hours later, on his own recognizance. Sunday, Deputies arrested 30-year-old Zachary Jones, of Council Bluffs, on the charge of OWI 1^st Offense.  Jones was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance.

And, last Saturday, 31-year-old Jeffrey Rowland, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on a warrant for Probation Violation.  Rowland was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and remains held.

(Radio Iowa) – A Kwik Star convenience store in Iowa Falls has been shut down after customers and employees became ill. Three people were taken to the hospital for treatment. In October of 2019, 14 employees from the same store were taken to the hospital over a two day period and investigators determined sewer gas was venting through the store.

It’s unclear if a similar issue caused the illnesses in the store on Tuesday.

(Creston, Iowa) – A man from Creston was arrested Tuesday evening at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, in Creston. Authorities say 43-year-old Thomas Lee Zelasko II, was taken into custody for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, along with two Missouri Warrants for dangerous drugs and Probation Violation. Zelasko was being held in the Union County Jail, pending extradition to Missouri.

(Radio Iowa) – A concert is planned for next month at the Roof Garden Ballroom in Arnolds Park that will be a benefit for the people of Ukraine. Clay Norris, executive director of the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Music Association, says the “Rock for Ukraine” show on April 11th will feature three well-known Iowa bands. “The three are The Senders, that are an Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Music Association Hall of Fame group,” Norris says. “There’s also a group called The Itty Bitty Boji Band that plays very frequently in the area, and then Lake Patrol, another real popular group in northwest Iowa.”

The acts will feature a wide range of popular music over the decades. Norris says, “It’ll be a very nice evening of music with probably songs ranging from the late ’50s all the way into the ’90s when I think about those three bands and what they’re capable of performing.” A non-profit agency that’s already established itself in bringing relief supplies to Ukraine will be the beneficiary of the concert. “The money will be going to a group out of Sioux Falls called Arise Ukraine,” Norris says. “It’s a Christian missionary organization that we’re familiar with and we know the people involved and they’ve already given truckloads of food.”

There’s a $10 suggested donation and doors to the Roof Garden will open at 5 p.m. Learn more at: www.iowarocknroll.com.

(Radio Iowa) – Executives from 22 of the state’s largest businesses continue to be positive in a survey on their expectations for the first quarter of 2022. Iowa Business Council Executive Director Joe Murphy. says their index measures expectations for sales, capital spending and employment for the next six months.  “Our overall metric score is over 65 points, which is solidly in that positive territory. For context — anything that scores over 50 represents positive economic sentiment — so we are very well within that area,” Murphy says.

While positive — Murphy says the numbers are down a bit as unemployment shortages and supply chain issues continue. He says attaining, attracting and developing a quality workforce remains the number one concern, followed closely by the unfavorable business climate. “Which definitely includes supply chain issues, infrastructure issues, regulations, things like that,” he says. Murphy says the slight drop came after things were looking very positive coming out of the final quarter of 2021. “We were relatively optimistic that conditions would get better with respect to the supply chain,” Murphy says. “But as we have gone through the first quarter of 2022 that optimism has receded a bit as we think about the future in the next six months. That does continue to give us a little bit of concern and if those supply chain and logistics issues can’t be cleared up, costs continue to increase — and that has an impact on the workforce, and around we go.”

Inflation is another issue causing concern. “Inflation continues to eat into a businesses’ ability to plan to forecast, to allocate capitol. And then as you’re thinking of our manufacturing members that are trying to ship their goods –the fuel cost that it requires are increasing, seemingly every single day,” Murphy says. Murphy says if there are good changes in some of those issues, then the positive numbers will get even better. “The takeaway here is that we still remain positive, and that represents seven consecutive quarters of overall positive economic sentiment,” Murphy says.

You can see the full I-B-C Economic Outlook Survey at iowabusinesscouncil.org.