(Radio Iowa) – A new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds former President Donald Trump’s favorability rating in Iowa is higher now than it was while he was president. Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Des Moines this Saturday, his first trip back to the state since leaving office in January. The Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found 53 percent of those surveyed have a very favorable or mostly favorable view of the former president.

Among Republicans, Trump’s favorability rating is 91 percent. That’s 10 points better than Senator Chuck Grassley’s favorability measurement among Republicans.

(Radio Iowa) – Third district Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says there is less turmoil among Democrats working on an infrastructure package than is being portrayed in the media. “Progressives and the moderates are working together on a lot of issues…like ensuring that we can include dental and vision and hearing with Medicare,” Axne says. “We’re all pushing for that.” But Axne says she wishes Democrats had gone about this process differently.

“I’ve never seen a good organization, quite honestly, start with: ‘Here’s the dollar amount.’ You start out with what you need to get done,” Axne says. “…Then, if we have to meet a dollar amount, we start pulling back from that, but it’s based on the values that are most important for the people that we’re serving.” The Senate passed part of the package — the $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that got bipartisan support and Axne says Senate Democrats then left it to Democrats in the House to draft the rest of the so-called “Build Back Better” plan.

Axne spoke to a handful of people at a park in Norwalk over the noon-hour. She emphasized the need for broadband expansion, federal aid for the biofuels industry and help for families struggling with child care expenses — elements of the infrastructure package Axne supports. “This is not an additional massive expense for this country. It’s an investment that we will see a return on and Iowa is poised to see one of the best returns in the country,” Axne said, “and that’s why this is so important and why I will fight tooth and nail to make sure both of these bills get passed into law.”

Axne suggested failure to pass the legis;ation will be an economic set back for the country. “If we don’t make a turn around for working families at this point in our country, which is what the president wants to do, we won’t see the success that we deserve,” Axne said.

Axne told reporters a vote on raising the federal government’s borrowing limit isn’t about future expenses, it’s about paying current bills that are due. Republicans say they will vote no on raising the debt limit because Democrats control the House, Senate and White House and it’s their responsibility to act.

(Radio Iowa) – The last of five statewide Traffic Fatality Reduction Task Force special non-holiday enforcement efforts wraps up in the state today (Monday). Iowa State Patrol spokesman, Sergeant Alex Dinkla, says they used a new technique this (Monday) morning in central Iowa. “We had a trooper who was in with a semi driver and we were driving up and down I-80/35 specifically looking for motorists who were using their cellphone or electronic communication device in an inappropriate manner that was unsafe driving up and down the roads,” Dinkla says.

Dinkla says they only used the Trooper and the truck for a few hours, but were busy. “We saw a lot of violations happening. The troopers who were working on that project stayed completely busy. And when you drove up and down the interstate all you saw were troopers pulling people over,”Dinkla says. “We wrote 21 citations in the two hours this morning — and ten of those alone were for texting and driving.” He says texting was one of the top violations, but there were other unsafe things going on as well.

A trooper rode in a semi to find drivers illegally using their cellphone in central Iowa. (ISP photo)

“We had a person who was watching a movie going down the road. People have to take responsibility for their own actions — and that’s supposed to be driving — not using a cellphone while driving down the road,” he says. Dinkla says the number of drivers seen using their phones shows there’s a lot of work left to do. “You know, we preach about it, other people preach about the dangers, you hear about the dangers, but the natural reality is that we still have people doing it all the time and the temptation is still there, Dinkla says. “Until people understand that temptation and can alleviate that temptation — we are going to continue seeing motorists use those cellphones every time they hear that chime for a text message, or they want to go and check their social media.”

The five special enforcement dates were set based on past history of traffic fatalities on the roadways outside of the holiday driving periods. Dinkla says the Fatality Reduction Task Force will be looking at their success.  He says they are going to reevaluate each of the projects and things they may change or add, with the ultimate goal to drive down the fatality rate. “But we cannot do that alone,” he says. One of the first goals is to have the yearly deaths on Iowa roadways drop below 300.

Driver pulled over during special operation. (ISP photo)

“We’re close and approaching that 300 fatalities for the year, but we still have two-and-a-half months left in the year. If we are going to achieve that first goal of 300 or under — we are going to need the public’s help, we need everybody’s help,” Dinkla says. State roadway deaths were at 256 as of today (Monday).

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, Monday, reported the arrest Saturday evening, of 39-year-old Michael Gail Steward, from Fontanelle. Steward was taken into custody at his rural residence after an altercation with his parents at the Avondale Church, and an alleged previous incident with his father at residence.

Deputies arrested Michael Steward on an Adair County warrant charging him with two counts of violating a No Contact/Protective Order, Assault, and Contempt of Court for Violation of a No Contact Order. His total cash-only bond was set at $6,000.

Steward was released from custody Monday morning.

(Atlantic, Iowa October 4, 2021) – After skipping a year due to pandemic restrictions, Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) held its annual meeting and awards luncheon covering both 2020 and 2021 on September 23rd at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. A morning tour group visited the Atlas Atlantic Cinema as well as downtown façade rehab and other projects in Atlantic that had received assistance from SWIPCO over the past two years.

Following lunch the annual report was presented. Across the past two years Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA) provided 683,479 public transit rides and drove 3,421,392 miles. This is the equivalent of transporting the combined populations of Omaha and Des Moines to the moon and back 7 times. SWIPCO’s community development department likewise reported outstanding outcomes. The housing team rehabbed 128 housing units, demolished 11 dilapidated buildings, and assisted 50 homebuyers with down payment assistance. 576 rental and building inspections were also completed.

The planning team’s accomplishments included a huge variety of planning projects and grants, especially for flood and pandemic recovery, including the first ever levee project funded with Economic Development Administration funds to protect Hamburg, Iowa. In total the planning team secured 48 separate grants during the two-year period, totaling $53,346,182.68 in grant funds brought into the region.

Officials say partnerships were key to this success and several entities were recognized with partnership awards. These included:

City of Hamburg: (Left to Right) John Cox, Cox Contracting, Sheryl Owen, Hamburg City Clerk, Alexsis Fleener, SWIPCO, Cathy Crain, Hamburg Mayor, John McCurdy, SWIPCO

Fremont County: (Left to Right) Alexsis Fleener, SWIPCO, Chris Clark, Fremont County Supervisor, Terry Graham, former Fremont County Supervisor, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Mills County: (Left to Right) Alexsis Fleener, SWIPCO, Tim Jacobsen, ATC, Richard Crouch, Mills County Supervisor, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Fusselman Construction: (Left to Right) Matthew Lee, SWIPCO, Sandy Hansen, SWIPCO, Dustin Fusselman, Fusselman Construction, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Cass County Public Health: (Left to Right) Nancy Gibson, CCPH, Victoria Means, CCPH, Beth Olsen, CCPH, Linda Edelman, CCPH, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Iowa National Guard, Task Force Vigilant: (Left to Right) Mark Lander, SWITA, SSGT Grant Hurley, SGT Nick Padgett, MAJ Gabe Tramp, John McCurdy, SWIPCO

For flood recovery efforts:

• City of Hamburg
• Fremont County
• Mills County

For outstanding housing work

• Fusselman Construction, Atlantic

For Covid assistance

• Cass County Public Health
  Iowa National Guard, Joint Task Force Vigilant

Of the awards, SWIPCO executive director John McCurdy said, “During the past two years we’ve experienced a huge amount of activity related to both recovery from the Floods of 2019, fighting the pandemic and our normal high tempo of work. We were in no way alone in this fight. The City of Hamburg and Mills and Fremont Counties partnered incredibly closely with us on flood recovery, including the buyouts of dozens of flooded properties. Fusselman Construction of Atlantic has been an exemplary partner over the years without which our housing rehab program would not be what it is today.

“Cass County Public Health goes out of their way to help us navigate the difficult situations that Covid has brought up for our drivers and clients. They recognized early on the importance of our transportation service to the most vulnerable and did anything they could help keep our drivers and riders safe. The Iowa National Guard, Joint Task Force Vigilant utilized our Council Bluffs bus facility to safely conduct Test Iowa drive through Covid testing and in total their program administered over 40,000 tests. We are extremely grateful for these partnerships and the others too numerous to individually thank.”

SWIPCO is a council of governments formed in 1975 to serve the cities and counties in Harrison, Shelby, Pottawattamie, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, and Page Counties. It includes Southwest Iowa Transit Agency and administers the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund. Its headquarters is in Atlantic and has a satellite transit facility in Council Bluffs. It employs approximately 100 people including on average 70 transit drivers. (All photos courtesy Dee Holtz, Administrative Assistant, Southwest Iowa Planning Council)

It’s Homecoming week for the Atlantic Trojans. A week full of activities will take place leading up to the Atlantic vs. Knoxville football game on Friday.

Dress up days for the week are as follows.

Monday: (A)Merica Monday
Tuesday: Tacky Tourist
Wednesday: Western Wednesday
Thursday: Travel Day – PJ’s
Friday: Coming Home – Spirit Day

Dodgeball will be played Tuesday and Thursday and each class will make a float and judging will be held Wednesday evening.

Voting for king and queen will take place on Wednesday, 10/6, after the Royalty Introductions during seminar. Queen candidates: Ava Bruckner, Chaylei Carey, Addison DeArment, Reagan Leonard, Aspen Niklasen, Addison Schmitt, Malena Woodward. King candidates: Lee Houser, Garrett McLaren, Tyler Molina, Gannon O’Hara, Ethan Sturm, Kadin Stutzman, Julian Tribolet.

Coronation/Pep Assembly will start at 12:13 pm on Friday, 10/8 with the parade to follow at 2:30. AHS encourages businesses and individuals to join the parade! Contact the office at
243-5358 if you have any questions or you can find a Parade Entry form on the school’s
website: atlanticiaschools.org

Awarding of the Spirit Stick will take place at half-time of the football game and the dance will be on Saturday, 10/9.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board is asking…”When do you think the first Trumpeter Swan will arrive at the Schildberg Quarry?” Call in your prediction (by November 11th) to the Conservation Board at 712-769-2372, leave a message and return phone number if their staff are not in. Duplicate dates will not be allowed. For example, if a caller predicts November 25th, no one else will be allowed to predict that arrival date. So, call anytime until November 11th to make your prediction! One prediction per family, please.

The sponsors of this contest will determine the official arrival of more than 6 trumpeter swans to Lake 4. The winner will receive a Trumpeter Swan 8×10 print from the Cass County Conservation Board. Sorry, this contest is only for residents of Cass County.

Officials say Trumpeter Swans have visited the Schildberg Quarry for, at least, Twenty-two out of the last twenty-three winters. Arrival and departure dates of the swans have been as follows:

1997/1998 December 18 – January 2

1998/1999 Nothing on record

1999/2000 December 25 – February 15

2000/2001 November 23 – March 6

2001/2002 December 25 – February 24

2002/2003 November 23 – March 15

2003/2004 November 26 – March 21

2004/2005 November 25 – March 18

2005/2006 November 17 – March 5

2006/2007 October 30 – March 9

2007/2008 November 22- February 14

2008/2009 November 18- March 12

2009-2010 November 19 – January 5

2010-2011 November 5 – February 10

2011/2012 November 17 – February 21

2012/2013 November 24– March 4

2013/2014 November 12- April 7

2014/2015 November 11- April 6

2015/2016 November 22- March 24

2016/2017 November 19- March 9

2017/2018 November 9- March 20

2018/2019 November 11- January 23

2019/2020 November 8- March 3

2020/2021 November 30- February 13.

(Radio Iowa) – Supply chain experts are encouraging you to start your holiday shopping now as the hurdles brought on by the pandemic will be similar to last year, with some new challenges. The chair of Iowa State University’s department of supply chain management, Scott Grawe, says there will likely be some by some products not available in stores or online because of slow shipping times combined with a labor shortage. “The supply chain is still trying to get itself back into balance. And it’s not yet balanced, which means for a lot of different products, you’re going to find either empty shelves or shelves that are not replenished quite as you might like, which is certainly going to create some issues when it comes to holiday shopping,” Grawe says.

He says you should consider all the shopping alternatives. “While you may not get the exact thing that you’re looking for, there may be a perfectly good substitute out there as well,” Grawe says. You just need to be more flexible in your shopping. “So as you’re thinking about your holiday shopping plans, you may want to have a plan B and plan C available as well,” he says.

Grawe predicts the old standby of gift certificates may be a popular, and more reliable, present choice this year.

(By Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES, Iowa/KCCI — The Iowa Department of Public Health on Monday released new COVID-19 data that shows positive tests are on the rise after a steady decline since mid-September. IDPH reports 9,841 positive tests, up from 9,628 at last report on Friday. That brings the total number of positive tests to 495,810 since the start of the pandemic. IDPH also reports an increase in the statewide positivity rate, up from 9.5% to 9.6%. State data shows those under 18 are responsible for 24% of all positive tests in the state. However, that age group makes up only 3% of those hospitalized.

There are 629 Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19, down from 634 reported on Friday. There are 140 patients in intensive care units, down from 149 on Friday. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 76.4% are not fully vaccinated and 87.9% of those in ICU are not fully vaccinated. IDPH reports one additional long-term care facility reporting a virus outbreak, bringing the total to 29.

Iowa reports 3,474,752 vaccine doses administered in the state, with 66.2% of all Iowans 18 and older fully vaccinated. The Iowa Department of Public Health releases new COVID-19 data each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on this website.