(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are being urged to check their homes this month for an invisible threat. Shelby Kroona (KROO-nuh), director of the Hamilton County Public Health Department, says anyone in the state could be living in a hazardous environment and not realize it.

January is Radon Awareness Month and she says that’s because this is typically one of the coldest months of the year and
people are often cooped up indoors.

She encourages everyone to buy a radon test kit though your local health department or at home improvement or hardware stores. They usually cost around 15-dollars.

If your test kit registers a two, you’ll just need to keep watch, but with a four or above, you’ll need to install a radon mitigation system in your home. Learn more at radon.org

(Radio Iowa) – As business groups and the governor tout a new state economic development program for “Major Economic Growth Attraction or “MEGA” sites, House Speaker Pat Grassley has an idea for pairing a MEGA site program with something he’s calling “Freedom Sites.”

Grassley says it would help the state be more aggressive in recruiting businesses in high-tax states like Minnesota and Illinois.

The Iowa Senate voted 45-to-two last year to let foreign businesses buy more than 320 acres of farmland — the current legal limit — if they’re planning to spend at least a billion dollars building a manufacturing plant or facility focused on research or bioscience. The bill stalled in the House in the closing days of the 2023 legislative session, but Grassley expects it will be discussed again this year. The 2024 legislative session begins Monday.

(Atlantic, Iowa) — The next “Healthy U” session at Cass Health in Atlantic, features Dr. Emily Chang, who will speak at the Healthy U lunch-and-learn series about “Lifestyle and Brain Function.” The session will be held 12-p.m. Thursday, January 18th, in Cass Health (Cass County Memorial Hospital) Conference Room 2.

Although primarily known as an OB/GYN, Dr. Chang is also board certified in Lifestyle Medicine. Her presentation on Lifestyle & Brain Function is for men and women of all ages.

Dr. Emily Chang

Dr. Chang received her BA degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in Mathematics and Natural Sciences and a Bachelor of Medical Sciences from Midwestern University in Illinois.  She graduated from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2003.  She completed her residency at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Chicago. She is board certified through the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a Diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Space is limited! A free boxed lunch is provided for all attendees, so reservations are required. Call 712-243-7479 to reserve your seat. For more information about Healthy U, visit casshealth.org/healthyu.

(Des Moines, Iowa) — U.S. Representative Zach Nunn from Iowa’s Third District, has announced January mobile office hours across the District, to assist constituents who may not be able to travel to one of the Third District Congressional offices in Creston, Des Moines, and Ottumwa. At these mobile office hours, Iowans will be able to get help from their Congressional office with Social Security, Medicare, passports, visas, veterans’ benefits, military records, tax returns, and other issues with federal government agencies.

Representative Nunn says “Mobile offices hours have been a great way for us to provide additional opportunities for Iowans to have in person meetings to get help. In 2023, we hosted more than 40 of these opportunities for Iowans to get support. We look forward to continuing to meet Iowans in their hometowns to provide the excellent support and services Iowans deserve this year.”

(File photo) Third district Congressman Zach Nunn (R-Bondurant) speaks Oct. 27, 2023, at a Des Moines, IA news conference. (RI photo)

The schedule in this area, for January Mobile Office Hours, includes:

Guthrie County 
Bagley Public Library
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
1:00pm to 5:00pm

Montgomery County
Villisca Public Library
Friday, January 19, 2024
12:00pm to 4:00pm

Madison County 
Earlham Public Library
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
1:00pm to 4:00pm

Additional dates and locations will be announced in the future.  For more information, please visit nunn.house.gov/officehours.

(Radio Iowa) – Two Iowa business groups are asking state legislators to let foreign businesses buy vast tracts of Iowa farmland for massive facilities focused on manufacturing, biosciences or research. The bill would lift the 320 acre limit on foreign purchases of Iowa land — and create new tax breaks for these so called Major Economic Growth Attraction or MEGA sites. The MEGA program is a priority for the Iowa Business Council, which represents 21 of Iowa’s largest companies. Joe Murphy is the group’s president.

Dustin Miller is executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, which represents the state’s 15 largest chambers of commerce.

Miller and Murphy made their comments during the a budget hearing hosted online by Governor Reynolds and she made a quick reference to the MEGA proposal.

The Iowa Senate approved a bill creating this new economic development incentive last year, on a 45-to-two vote, but it stalled in the House in the closing days of the 2023 legislative session.

(Radio Iowa) – American teenagers are heavy users of social media, which is often associated with a decline in their mental health, but a report on social media’s impact says the connection is more complicated. Douglas Gentile, a psychologist at Iowa State University, contributed to the report from the National Academy of Sciences. Gentile says social media use is often linked with depression among teens, but it may not be the cause. One thing Gentile says social media does directly impact is sleep.

Gentile believes media literacy should be part of K-12 education so students understand how companies target content toward users and how things like online harassment can harm others.

Gentile says social media’s effects on teens are not all bad, saying sites like Instagram or TikTok can help adolescents in marginalized groups form positive relationships online. Gentile says parents can help protect their kids from the potential harms of social media. He recommends keeping phones and screens out of bedrooms, and putting limits on both the apps they use and the amount of time they spend online.

The Atlantic Trojans Girls Basketball coaching staff have asked fans attending tonight’s game at Kuemper Catholic to wear blue to show support for the Perry Community. KJAN joins many others with condolences and prayers for the Perry Community. We will bring you the coverage of tonight’s doubleheader with our pregame show starting at 5:50 p.m. on KJAN.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has announced that post-election audits have been successfully completed in all 99 counties. Once again, the post-election audits matched the machine count 100% in all counties. On the Wednesday following Election Day, the post-election audits process was initiated in each of Iowa’s 99 counties to ensure the integrity of the vote. One randomly chosen precinct in each county conducted a hand count of ballots. Totals are then compared to the machine count to verify its accuracy.

Machines in each county also undergo public pre-election testing. Prior to each election, pre-testing of election equipment is open to the public, and representatives of each political party are also invited to attend. Iowa integrates multiple layers of election security: paper ballots, local poll workers and election officials, pre-testing of voting machines, cybersecure voting machines and protective measures, and, of course, post-election audits.

(Atlantic, Iowa; article submitted) – Officials with the Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA), based in Atlantic, says while the national narrative on public transit has been a little bleak lately, and despite some urban trends, rural transit ridership is on the rise.

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred record investment in transit systems, but also caused a major disruption in lifestyles and transit ridership numbers. The rise in remote work and more abnormal work schedules has caused ridership to dip in some major metropolitan areas. Fluctuation in fare money and other funding has caused budgeting problems. All these things aren’t necessarily true in a rural setting.

SWITA Transit Director Mark Lander says the organization, which serves eight Southwest Iowa counties, has in fact seen record ridership post-pandemic, while maintaining a very cost-efficient system. Lander said the agency’s success can be attributed to several factors. “We are structured differently as a rural system. Urban areas rely on a lot of fixed routes and funding from fares and local taxes. We offer more flexible options and much of the funding comes from the federal and state level. We can operate much more like a private sector transportation firm, offering what people want and need as best we can.” Lander said another thing that helped SWITA weather the pandemic was the fact that they never shut down. “People still needed to get places like work or the grocery store, and we kept serving them,” he said.

SWITA driver Larry Anderson, (Photo provided)

SWITA had a record 526,300 riders in fiscal year 2023 and has seen record numbers year over year the past three years. Lander credits his staff and drivers for helping achieve those numbers, “We’ve been willing to do what some others don’t want to. We’ve continued to increase workforce rides, taxi offerings, and student transportation.” One problem some of the major metro areas have run into is their systems were designed to get a lot of people downtown and back out at peak commute times. Many work schedules have changed to a different number of office days, or different times of day so they are trying to adapt to those changes. The workforce routes SWITA supports are set schedules so it’s much more predictable.

This past September, SWITA received an award from the Federal Transit Administration Region 7 for highest rural transit ridership in Iowa for fiscal year 2022. SWITA topped that list in fiscal year 2023 as well. After receiving that award SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy said, “Awards because of big numbers are nice, but what is really important is what those numbers represent. SWITA is getting people in Southwest Iowa where they need to go—including to work, school, and medical appointments. The SWITA staff bend over backwards to meet the needs of our clients because they know every trip is important to that client.”

Officials say not only has SWITA continued to see ridership grow, but those rides are being provided at the lowest cost per ride of any rural transit system in the state. In the past fiscal year SWITA achieved a cost average of $9.12 per ride, which is nearly $3 more efficient than the next closest region. The statewide average cost per ride was $20.87.

SWITA transportation is accessible to everyone in the region, including the disabled population and elderly, but you don’t have to be elderly or disabled or meet income guidelines to ride. SWITA vehicles are equipped with wheelchair accessibility and one personal care attendant rides free. SWITA transportation is affordable: taxi rides are $2.50 per trip or $2.00 per trip for elderly clients (60 years and older) with collaboration from Connections Area Agency on Aging; medical trips are $30 per hour; Summer Fun Bus rides are $1 per trip or $40 for the full summer; other special trips are $40 per hour.

For questions or to request a ride, contact SWITA at 712-243-2518 or 1-800-842-8065.

UPDATE 1/8/24: Due to the impending winter storm, the City of Atlantic’s Board of Adjustment meeting scheduled for this evening (1/8/24) has been postponed. KJAN will let you know when a reschedule date is established.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic’s Board of Adjustment will meet 5:30-p.m. Monday, January 8th, in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall, in Atlantic. The Board will take nominations for their Vice-Chair, and act on an Order to approved the proposed nominee.

In other business, the Board will conduct a Public Hearing to Consider a Conditional Use Permit Application by Massena Telephone Company. Zoning Commissioner John Lund says the company – which is expanding its fiber-optic network to serve residents and businesses in Atlantic – wants to install and operate a communications shelter (structure) to house its fiber-optic line terminals and associated electronics.

The company has an agreement to purchase the property currently identified as 703 East 14th Street (The old YMCA), from Compass Properties. The agreement is contingent upon Massena Telephone’s ability to get a conditional use permit and building permits for the proposed structure.  The proposed site is in a R-2 Low Density Single Family Residential District, and according to the Zoning Ordinances of the City of Atlantic, falls within the purview of a Conditional Use Permit Transferring to a New Lot  that “Shall be Identified as 1400 South Olive Street,” in Atlantic.

Discussion and a vote on the Conditional Use Permit Application by Massena Telephone Company will follow the public hearing. The Board of Adjustment will follow action on the permit by discussion on future meeting dates and times. The City of Atlantic’s Planning and Zoning will meet at 5:30-p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9th, to review and vote on the site plan for the project, IF the Board of Adjustment approves the Conditional Use Permit during their meeting, Monday, and pending regulatory approval.

City Administrator John Lund will also provide the Committee an update on the City’s Comprehensive Plan and changes needed to the Zoning Ordinance.

View the BOA’s meeting packet here: Board of Adjustment E-packet 01-08-2024-min