(Radio Iowa) – Legislators have settled on providing 100 million dollars worth of state grants to companies that expand broadband service in Iowa. Democrats, led by Representative Chris Hall of Sioux City, suggested using federal pandemic relief money rather than state tax dollars for those grants. “We know that the use of those funds toward broadband expansion is accepted,” Hall says, “and that it is one of the best ways we can keep our General Fund dollars also flexible.”

But Representative John Landon of Ankeny says the Republican majorities in the House and Senate have decided state money will be used.  “With that federal money comes a lot of federal regulations and those regulations have not been issued yet, ” Landon says. “…It’s just not smart budgeting at this time.”

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds asked lawmakers to appropriate 150 million dollars in each of the next three years to expand access to high speed internet across the state. The House has taken an initial vote on 100 million, in the next state budgeting year only. The legislature approved a separate bill with the rules for the grant program. It would ensure most of the money goes toward establishing internet service with download and upload speeds of at least 100 megabits per second.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council met Wednesday evening with Councilmen Behrens and Casady absent, and Councilperson Grace Garrett joining in over the phone. During their session, Mayor Dave Jones signed an Arbor Day Proclamation (see the full text below), in honor of the City being designated as a Tree City USA. Local Tree City Volunteer Dolly Bergmann said this is the 25th year for the notable designation. Every year, with the exception of 2020, she has presented the City with the award.

Atlantic is one of more than 3,500 communities from across the country to have been awarded a “Tree City USA” designation. There are four requirements to receiving the title, each of which the City has passed for more than two decades. In other business, the Atlantic City Council held public hearings on several matters, and approved all of the related Resolutions or Ordinances, including:

• Adopting the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Budget.
• A Resolution agreeing to apply for financial assistance from USDA Rural Development, to finance the purchase of equipment and improvements necessary for the Atlantic Animal Shelter.
• The 2nd reading of an Ordinance ordering snow removal from sidewalks. The reading passed by a vote of 4-to 1, with Councilman Pat McCurdy voting no. McCurdy has several rental properties, and doesn’t feel a 24-time frame for the removal of snow is reasonable. He would prefer 48-hours. As it stands now, the City allows 72-hours from the time the snow ceases to fall, before sidewalks must be cleared.
• A vote on the 2nd reading of an Ordinance requiring vehicles to be moved from the streets within 24-hours of a snowfall, passed by a vote of 4-to-1, with McCurdy again in opposition for the reason given above.
• And, the Council passed by a vote of 5-0 a Resolution setting the Council’s meeting on May 5th at 5:30-p.m., as the date for a Public Hearing on the sale of real estate in the City of Atlantic. The City has agreed to sell the lot at 211 W. 6th Street for One-dollar, to Jeff Pross, who intends to build a home on the site. As part of the agreement the City offers prospective property buyers an incentive plan. Part of that plan includes:

1. If a home worth at least $100,000, the lot can be acquired for $1;
2. If a house is built on the lot, the homeowner will receive a $5,000 grant to purchase a variety of locally acquired items for the house (such as an HVAC system, kitchen appliances, etc.)
3. A veteran can receive $10,000 down payment assistance.
4. There is also a three-year tax abatement,  if the house is located north of 14th Street, is 100%. The stipulation is that the property buyer must live in Atlantic, and not sub-lease or rent the house.

The Harlan Police Department Wednesday (today) reported three arrests.

• On April 20th, 30-year old April Ellen Stinn, of El Dorado, KS, was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant.
• On April 16th, 47-year-old Bryan Leon Brummer, of Soldier, IA was arrested on an active Crawford County warrant.
• And, 22-year old Justin Michael Couch, of Bennington, NE, was arrested April 15th in Harlan, following a traffic stop. Couch was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with driving while revoked and no proof of insurance.

In other news, on April 19th, 38-year old Malcolm Shane McDonald, of Harlan, was cited for driving while suspended and failure to display license plates following a traffic stop.

(Radio Iowa) – Mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics are again underway at Iowa’s three public universities after being disrupted last week when health officials paused the use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Erin Baldwin, associate vice president for Student Health and Wellness at Iowa State University, says they’re now getting more doses of the Pfizer vaccine and the university will administer around three-thousand doses this week.

“We really are encouraging all of our students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated as soon as they possibly can,” Baldwin says, “as that helps us mitigate the severity and the spread of COVID-19.” Even with the J-and-J doses being taken off the shelves temporarily, Baldwin says I-S-U was still able to administer more than a thousand Pfizer doses last week.

“Our goal overall is to administer several thousand doses a week,” she says, “and that will, of course, depend on availability, but we’ve been able to get started over the last several weeks.” Officials with the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa say they’ve also switched to using the Pfizer vaccine, for now.

(Radio Iowa) – The fourth and last finalist in the search for the next president of the University of Iowa is a familiar name on campus. Daniel Clay is the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Iowa and will meet with faculty, staff, students, and other members of the campus community on Thursday.

Daniel Clay

Clay will hold a public forum at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday that will be live-streamed, and then hold more meetings on Friday. Clay is the only man among the four finalists. The presidential search committee will start discussing the finalists on April 29th and is expected to announce its choice on the 30th.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is appealing to the hundreds of thousands of Iowans who still haven’t been vaccinated for COVID-19. The governor thanked the 900-thousand Iowans who are fully vaccinated. That’s about 37-percent of the state’s population, ranking Iowa 15th in the country. Reynolds says getting vaccinated is the best defense against the virus and it’s the only way to downgrade coronavirus from pandemic status. “If you’re opting to wait and see, what are you waiting for?” Reynolds asks. “If you’ve been a hard no from the start, what’s your reason? If you can’t answer those questions, maybe we hope you take the time to reconsider.”

Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg will be going to Sioux City on Friday to get a COVID vaccine while on live T-V. Gregg is a native of the northwest Iowa community of Hawarden and his appearance in the largest city in the area is part of a state effort to encourage hesitant Iowans to get vaccinated.

The head of the Iowa National Guard joined Governor Kim Reynolds today (Wednesday) to urge Iowans hesitant to get the Covid vaccine to schedule a shot. Adjutant General Ben Corell got Covid in November and wound up being hospitalized for a full week. “I’ve always been a healthy individual. I hadn’t missed a day of work because I was sick. I had not been a patient in a hospital since the day I was born.”

Corell still has Covid symptoms, including fatigue and reduced lung capacity. He’s gotten both doses of the vaccine and, to those who are hesitant about Covid shots, the major general says: do it.

(Updated) The Adair County Board of Supervisors are moving closer to holding a public hearing on the construction of Solar Energy Farms. During Wednesday’s meeting the board approved various tweaks and/or additions to the current draft version of an ordinance drawn-up by Adair County Attorney Melissa Larson. They will meet again 8:15-a.m. Friday, to discuss a Utility Scale Solar Energy System Ordinance, and, set the date for a Public Hearing and approval of Publication, with regard to the proposed Ordinance. Some of the clauses added to the Ordinance include those pertaining to Eminent Domain, Permit fees, and an option to appeal. (Dial-in to the meeting at 605-313-6157, and when prompted enter code 526272#)

County Engineer Nick Kauffman presented for the Board’s approval, contract for the awarding of a bridge project (N34 Richland Bridge) to Herberger Construction, Co. Inc., in Indianola. Their bid of $544,977.75 was well below the engineer’s cost estimate of $570,000. Kauffman said there were four bidders for the project. He recommended, and the Board approved an awarding of the contract to Herberger Construction.

They also approved the renewal of a five-year agreement with Pitney-Bowes for a postage meter rental.

(Des Moines) – The Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 691 new positive COVID-19 tests and seven additional deaths. At 10 a.m., the health department reported 390,594 total positive tests, 342,409 total recoveries and 5,893 total deaths since the start of the pandemic. Twenty-four hours earlier, the health department reported 389,903 total positive tests and 5,886 total deaths. One Iowa care facility reports a COVID-19 outbreak. There are 18 positive cases and six recoveries among residents and staff within that facility. Iowa reports 2,304 long-term care facility deaths.

There have been 2,084,341 vaccine doses administered in Iowa, with 895,872 individuals completing the vaccine series. Iowa’s 7-day positivity rate remains at 4.4%, while the 14-day average declined from 4.5% to 4.4%. There have been 4,701,760 COVID-19 tests administered in Iowa. The number of Iowans hospitalized increased from 215 to 219 in the last 24 hours. There are 54 patients in ICU and 20 patients on ventilators.

RMCC Region 4 hospitals (those in western/southwest Iowa) show: There are 22 hospitalized with COVID; 10 COVID patients are in an ICU; one person was admitted with symptoms of COVID, and there remain four COVID patients on a ventilator.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:

Cass, 1,431 cases; {+2}; 54 deaths
Adair, 968; {+0}; 32
Adams, 342 {+1}; 4
Audubon, 513 {+0}; 9
Guthrie, 1,266 {+5}; 29
Harrison County, 1,896; {+0}; 73
Madison County, 1,686; {+4; 19
Mills County, 1,755; {+2}; 20
Montgomery, 1,092 {+8}; 37
Pottawattamie County, 11,865; {+20}; 162
Shelby County, 1,350 {+2}; 37
Union County, 1,314; {+0}; 32

(Radio Iowa) – State officials say 43 of Iowa’s counties have declined new doses of COVID-19 vaccine this week, due to a lack of demand. A spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Health told the Associated Press the 43 county public health departments are doing the right thing. State officials say it’s important to use as many doses, as soon as possible, and counties that cannot ensure an expanded supply of Covid vaccine will be used should decline it, so the doses can be used elsewhere. The agency has not revealed if all 43 counties declined an entire weekly allotment or just part of it.

Among the list of 43 counties that declined doses this week are (Locally): Adams, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Crawford, Des Moines, Fremont, Sac, Taylor, and Union. Among the counties that also declined additional doses last week, was: Adair, Cass, Sac and Union.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say one of the major climate drivers for Iowa and much of North America should fade as summer approaches. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says it appears the “La Nina” pattern is already starting to shift away. “Sea surface temperatures right now are right at the category of being La Nina and could be working their way down,” Todey says. “It looks like we will officially be getting out of La Nina status, and as we get into the summertime, we will definitely get into neutral, very high likelihood, up to 80% chance in May, June, July.” A La Nina occurs when Pacific Ocean surface temperatures cool and it has an impact on weather across much of the continent.

Todey says forecast models indicate the weather pattern may make a reappearance later this year. “La Nina does appear to resurge, possibly,” Todey says. “It is the more likely condition as we get out into October, November, December, January. We’ll have to keep an eye on that. Not a major issue as we’re going along.” Forecasters are predicting Iowa will experience a summer that’s both warmer-than-normal and drier-than-normal, though Todey says some of the pattern’s effects may linger.

“There could be little hints of La Nina hanging around that would impact the summer,” Todey says, “but officially, we are unlikely to be in La Nina conditions as we go along.” The latest report from the U-S Drought Monitor shows parts of northwestern Iowa ranging from moderate to severe drought. Todey says he expects the long-term trend to favor warmer, drier conditions across the region this spring and through summer.