A study by an environmental group is analyzing the vulnerability to climate change of more than 500 species of birds across the Midwest. The Environmental Defense Fund is working with teams of biologists in Nebraska, Illinois and Iowa. Alicia Hardin, an administrator with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, says some birds are becoming more scarce across the region. The report is finding between one-fifth and one-third of the bird species across the three states are vulnerable to climate change and some of them are beginning to thin in numbers. Farmers and ranchers can take pro-active steps to keep species off the endangered list, or to keep them from sliding further into decline. Hardin says many ag producers are already taking those important steps. Officials with the Environmental Defense Fund say strong, positive incentives are needed for farmers and ranchers to manage and restore habitat in ways that can help offset the ecological and agricultural impact of drought and floods. It can include restoring wetlands, floodplains and grasslands, the use of cover crops, no-till agriculture, and buffers to provide shade and improve water quality. In other parts of the country, the I-D-F is developing “habitat exchanges” to help farmers earn revenue for growing wildlife habitat alongside crops and improving drought conditions.

Radio Iowa

Four Jimmy John’s stores in Iowa were impacted by a recent security breach.
According to a news release from the Illinois-based restaurant chain, customers’ credit card data was stolen from 216 Jimmy John’s stores in 37 states between June and early September. That includes four sandwich shops in Iowa located at 2801 Grand Avenue North in Ames, 2016 College Street in Cedar Falls, 202 South Ankeny Boulevard in Ankeny, and 4926 Southeast 14th Street in Des Moines. Investigators believe someone stole log-in credentials and remotely installed malware on machines used to swipe credit cards. The new release states Jimmy John’s has taken steps to restore its security.

Radio Iowa

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Election Day is 40 days away yet many Iowans are already casting their ballots as early voting begins today. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who’s not up for re-election this year, typically votes absentee himself but says he’s not a fan of how the election process is evolving. While 30-percent of Iowans voted absentee in 2010, that number jumped to 43-percent in 2012. This year, 130-thousand Iowans requested absentee ballots, more than twice the number from the last midterm election. Grassley says people who are casting their ballots today might find themselves with a case of voter’s remorse if any sort of scandal errupts during the next 40 days before November 4th. Beginning this morning, Iowans can vote in person at their county auditor’s office, via absentee ballot through the mail, or at temporary “satellite” sites. If you’re annoyed by telephone calls from pollsters, one campaign official says if you vote early, you’ll be taken off all of the calling lists.

Radio Iowa

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Voting for the 2014 General Election in Iowa starts today. Matt Schultz, the state’s commissioner of elections, says over 130-thousand Iowans requested an absentee ballot before the “early voting” period even started. The number of absentee ballot requests is more than double what it was during the last midterm election in 2010. Schultz predicts early voting will increase again in 2014. Iowa Democrats have scheduled 13 different “kickoff” events around the state today to mark the start of early voting. Five Republican candidates running for statewide office this year will be together today, making stops at G-O-P events in five cities. There are a few ways to vote early in Iowa. You can go to your county auditor’s office and vote in person there. You can request an absentee ballot through the mail and, once you’ve marked up that ballot, you can either mail it back or deliver it in person to the county auditor’s office. Finally, many county auditors are setting up temporary “satellite” sites where voters can cast ballots.

Radio Iowa

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w/ Mark Saylor

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Chicago law firm is suing Templeton Rye, alleging that the Iowa company broke consumer protection laws and misled drinkers with stories of its whiskey’s origins.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois on behalf of “all individuals in the United States who’ve purchased a bottle of Templeton Rye.” It comes after news in August that the whiskey is made using the stock recipe in an Indiana distillery, according to the Des Moines Register.

Since the company released its first bottles of whiskey in 2006, its marketing materials have said the founders were inspired by the Prohibition-era recipe of Alphonse Kerkhoff, handed down through his family on a scrap of paper. But in an interview last month with the Register, company chairman Vern Underwood said federal regulations prevent the company from making the whiskey using the Kerkhoff recipe.

The company also announced plans to begin printing on its labels that the whiskey is distilled in Indiana. According to the lawsuit, Templeton Rye worked to deceive drinkers into believing “the good stuff” was a craft whiskey made in Iowa. The complaint includes pictures of the company’s marketing tools, including a T-shirt that reads, “Templeton Rye: Made in Iowa.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is launching a statewide effort to recruit mentors to encourage young women to consider careers in science and technology, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Wednesday. The effort is part of a national campaign called Million Women Mentors. The Iowa program seeks to enlist 5,000 mentors for young women in the state over the next four years to encourage women to pursue science, technology, engineering and math, often called STEM, education. Officials said 1,500 have already signed up. Reynolds said STEM education “continues to grow momentum across the state.” She stressed that there are good job prospects in related fields and said women should seek out those opportunities.

The program will be geared at girls aged 12 and older, and mentors will be expected to offer at least 20 hours a year in service. Some companies and universities have already pledged to participate, including Hy-Vee, Vermeer Manufacturing, the Principal Corporation, Drake University and all three of the state’s public universities.

For those interested in participating, the program is online at www.mwmia.org .

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Early voting by absentee ballot will begin in Iowa on Thursday, and the secretary of state is encouraging all eligible voters to participate. Iowa allows absentee voting by mail and offers early in-person voting at the offices of county auditors beginning the 40th day before Election Day.

Residents have increasingly opted for voting by absentee ballot in recent elections for the convenience and in response to increasing pressure from political parties striving to get as many votes as possible cast by Election Day.

Secretary of State Matt Schultz announced earlier this week that the number of absentee ballots requested by Iowa voters this year is nearly double the number sought 43 days before the 2010 election.

Democrats have in recent election cycles excelled at the strategy but the numbers released Monday show Republican absentee ballot requests are up nearly 145 percent from 2010 to just over 31,000. Democratic requests have climbed nearly 67 percent to nearly 58,000.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Turning the Creighton University Medical Center into a veterans hospital has surfaced as a new option for replacing Omaha’s aging federal facility. Rep. Lee Terry, an Omaha Republican, says the option was one of three discussed Tuesday during a meeting between the Nebraska delegation and the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Robert McDonald.

Local financing to build the replacement and lease it back to the federal government also was discussed. Officials say renovating the Creighton hospital would cost about $250 million, compared with the $560 million estimated for a new, replacement facility. Federal funding for the replacement facility remains mired on a list of VA construction projects.

The Omaha hospital serves more than 160,000 veterans in the VA’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System.

The Exira-EHK School board is set to meet on Friday, September 26th at 7:30am at the Superintendent’s Office in Elk Horn.  The short agenda includes discussion and action on approving a resolution to set a public hearing for the sale of Exira Elementary School land.