(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen, from Harlan, says there’s a critical shortage of Iowa attorneys who’ll represent indigent defendants and it’s leading to trial delays. “This is a crisis in nearly every rural and urban county in the state of Iowa,” Christensen said. “…Delayed justice for the defendants, the victims and the community.”

According to Christensen, there are only four contract attorneys in Shelby County where she lives and, across the state, there are only 600 lawyers willing to represent indigent defendants. .”That’s just not enough attorneys to provide the constitutional responsibility of providing legal counsel to indigent criminal defendants,” Christensen said. “How can it be when the five year average for criminal filings in Shelby County alone is 225 a year?”

Christensen, who discussed the issue during her annual “Condition of the Judiciary” address today (Wednesday), said attorneys tell her the shortage is even worse in juvenile court. “Maybe it’s time for the kiddo to go home. It’ll have to wait. Maybe it’s time to remove a child from a dangerous situation? That, too, may very well have to wait,” Christensen said. “Either way, this crisis has a profound impact on Iowa’s youth and families when we cannot hold timely hearings due to the unavailability of lawyers.”

Chief Justice Susan Christensen. (IPBS photo)

Christensen is calling on legislators to increase the hourly pay for attorneys appointed to represent indigent defendants — and for paying them for mileage as many represent clients in several counties, sometimes on the same day. Christensen has issued an order giving judges discretion to hold hearings online rather than in-person to deal with some of the mileage challenges contract attorneys face, particularly in rural Iowa.

Christensen told legislators only 12% of Iowa attorneys are willing to represent indigent defendants. Christensen also told lawmakers she’s appointed a task force to examine how to address the shortage of court reporters. The chief justice said an accurate transcript of hearings and trial is critical to delivering justice, but there’s a growing number of retirements and fewer people entering the profession.

Des Moines, Iowa – Yesterday (Tuesday), Governor Kim Reynolds announced during her Condition of the State address a new $15 million round of funding targeted at growing Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs across high-demand fields in health care. The expanded Health Careers Registered Apprenticeship Program will support more programs that help Iowa meet the demand of its health care workforce.

First introduced last year, Iowa’s Health Careers pilot supported RA programs that help students pursue nursing pathways. This year’s program greatly expands opportunities for health care apprenticeships to include EMTs, RN’s, Direct Support Professionals, Behavioral Health & Substance Abuse Specialists, and other critical areas.  To receive funding, the RA programs must provide an industry-recognized credential that can also be stackable and used to advance a career in health care. Funding priority and preference will be given to partnerships that involve private or public accredited Iowa high schools.

“This new grant opportunity builds on the success we initiated last year and expands the number of available pathways Iowans can take to gain critical experience in one of the most important sectors of our economy,” said Governor Reynolds. “Apprenticeships are working in Iowa and opening important doors. We want to do everything we can to get Iowans engaged in the workforce and set up for meaningful careers.”

Applications for this year’s Health Careers Registered Apprenticeship Grant Program will be accepted on IowaGrants.gov beginning today, January 11. The deadline for applications will be March 9, 2023 at noon.

A total of $15 million is being made available for this funding opportunity. Visit this link for grant documents and information on how to apply.
A grants webinar will also take place on January 27 at 11:00 AM to highlight the application process and answer questions. Interested participants are encouraged to join. (RSVP Link)
“Iowa is always looking to open more doorways to new careers, and registered apprenticeships are proving that this is possible even in the highest-demand fields,” said Beth Townsend, Director of Iowa Workforce Development. “Research shows that most apprentices will pursue careers in the same fields as their apprenticeships, so we welcome any applicants who are ready to help us expand the number of health care career options in Iowa.”

The health care and social assistance industry continues to have the highest number of job openings on IowaWorks.gov (approx. 12,000) and had four out of the top ten job postings in Iowa as of January 11, 2023. The grant program is designed to support the development or expansion of health care RA programs that are sponsored by Iowa-based Nursing Facilities, Residential Care Facilities, Assisted Living Facilities, Hospitals, Home Health Agencies, and Public/Private accredited Iowa High Schools, Community Colleges, and Universities.

Visit this link for grant documents and information on how to apply.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic High School Principle Heather McKay reports a professional publishing organization has recognized the Atlantic High School Publication, based on its engaging, concise and relevant content. Here is the full press release on the AHSneedle:

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday (Today), reported three arrests occurred Tuesday. Authorities say 35-year-old Jessie Bruce Fitzwater, of Villisca, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, for Possession of a Controlled Substance, Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving Under Suspension ($5,600 bond). And, 26-year-old Summer Brooke French, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Sheriff’s Office. She was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Tuesday night, 27-year-old Dakota John Allen, of Hastings (IA) was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault and Child Endangerment (No Bond).

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Reynolds has issued a moratorium on new rule-making by state government agencies. After the governor signs laws passed by the legislature, state administrators draft rules to implement those laws. “Over time, Iowa’s Administrative Code has ballooned to over 20,000 pages and over 190,000 restrictive terms,” Reynolds says. “Many of these rules are unnecessary. Some are actually counterproductive, short-circuiting legitimate economic activity and making our state less competitive.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds (1/11/23)

Reynolds has directed state agencies to review every rule and regulation they have on the books today, make a cost-benefit analysis and repeal those that have an undue economic burden. “When it’s all said and done, Iowa will have a smaller, clearer and more growth friendly regulatory system,” Reynolds said. Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids will become chair of the legislative panel that reviews proposed state government rules and regulations in February.

“I’m excited to review that executive order and see how we’re going to implement this,” Jones says. “For years, now, I have been trying to reduce the burden or regulations on our businesses and Iowans and just the volume of that code because the Administrative Code is burdensome and a lot of people tend to forget that those are laws, too.” Jones, who is an attorney, has been on the legislative committee that can approve or reject proposed state government rules since 2013. Jones says during that first year, the far reach of state government rule-making became clear.  “We were regulating the amount of dog poop that someone could have in their yard,” Jones says. “It was a certain circumstance. These people were having a state license and things like that, but it was like: ‘Wow, this is really getting into the weeds here.'”

Governor Reynolds says this initiative to freeze development of state government rules is paired with her plan to consolidate state agencies. She says these two proposals will minimize the burden of state government regulation.

(Radio Iowa) – It’s a chaotic day for Iowans who planned to fly home, to fly somewhere else, or to pick up a loved one at the airport. All flights nationwide were grounded this (Wednesday) morning for a few hours. Kayla Kovarna, spokeswoman for the Des Moines International Airport, says the Federal Aviation Administration shut down all air traffic after a key computer system called Notice to Air Missions or NOTAM failed. “It’s the FAA’s tool to communicate and ensure safety among all airline operators,” Kovarna says. “This morning, there was an outage of the entire system. They worked swiftly to try to get that up, and out of an abundance of caution, they wanted to do system checks before they opened back up the sky.”

While flights started resuming around 8 A-M Central, many thousands of connecting flights nationwide were delayed, causing cascading backups and many hundreds of cancellations. “Any passenger who has a flight today, I would strongly suggest that you check the flight status before you even head to the airport,” Kovarna says, “as there may be ripple effects and impacts in delayed flights or even maybe some potential cancellations throughout the day.”

Only one commercial flight was able to depart from Des Moines at 6 A-M, while starting at 6:04, all other flights were delayed until after 9 A-M. Now, airlines are scrambling to resume flights and get passengers — and their luggage — to their destinations. “A significant number of passengers were impacted this morning with the delays,” Kovarna says, “however, passengers are able to check their flight status via their airline’s mobile app or via FlyDSM.com to check the status of their flight to make sure that the new scheduled departure is on time.”

Federal officials say there was -no- evidence a cyber attack caused the vital computer system to fail, but an investigation is underway.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a special session Tuesday morning, in Harlan. During their session, the Board held a public hearing on a proposed Shelby County Stream Mitigation ordinance. Auditor Mark Maxwell noted in his minutes of the meeting that no public comment made in-person, or had previously been received by the Auditors office. Maxwell explained the intention of the ordinance is to make it allowable for Shelby County to sell flood mitigation credits and recognition of that practice possibly being in competition with private entities. The Ordinance was unanimously approved as written.

The Shelby County Supervisors also held a Public Hearing with regard to a proposed Resolution declaring Emergency Medical Services (EMS) an essential service in Shelby County. The Resolution allows for voter approval of a Local Option Income Surtax and an “Ad Valorem property tax not to exceed 75-cents per $1,000 of assessed value on all taxable property within the county,” to be imposed after an election, during which 60-percent of those voting on the question of imposing the tax or combination of taxes, vote in favor of the question. The Resolution specifies the establishment of an EMS System Advisory Council comprised of several members from law enforcement, the Mayor and/or Council, and others.

Auditor Maxwell says several people spoke during the hearing. Among them was:

• Alex Londo, Shelby County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator, spoke of the need of funded EMS in Shelby County. Londo noted that the Iowa legislature has created legislation to guide Counties through this process.
• Jordan Sanders, Shelby County Assistant EMA Coordinator noted that Volunteerism is down nationwide and cities in Shelby County with volunteer ambulance service have issues with staffing and having volunteers available at all times. Sanders told the Supervisors that when the private company that now serves Shelby County, and stops service, there will be a need for county officials to fill this need.
• Barry Jacobsen, Shelby County Myrtue Memorial Hospital Administrator, recommended that EMS be declared an essential service and that the current ambulance commission is seeing a shortage of EMTs and rising costs are not generating the revenue needed by these services.
• Roger Bissen, Chief of the Harlan Fire Department, mentioned that fire departments have a funding stream and have had for years. EMS needs a revenue stream soon and that Shelby County should stay on top of this and declare EMS as an essential service to County residents.
• Tim Plumb, veteran EMT from the City of Irwin, spoke and said he has been an EMT for 25 years, the City of Irwin once had 18 volunteers and is now down to 4.
• Gene Gettys, Harlan City Administrator, supported all previous comments, and added that the emergency medical services field has changed in the last few years in Shelby County. Also placing this issue on an election ballot and successfully getting the ballot measure passed will require educating voters on the issue at hand.
• Jenny Lefeber Shelby County Myrtue Memorial Hospital Emergency Room coordinator shared concerns that the ability to transport patients will be lost in Shelby County, if the current private ambulance service shuts down and no Countywide ambulance service has been created.
• Janice Gaul echoed the common theme of Countywide EMS service being needed as the ambulance in Earling is all volunteer.
• Neil Gross, Shelby County Sheriff, also spoke and made a point that a centralized ambulance staffing and service is needed.

A motion to adopt the Resolution was passed as presented. Discussion and explanation of a waiver to be considered was then heard. The waiver allows attorneys from the same law firm to work, if necessary, on a law enforcement agreement between Shelby County Iowa, and the City of Harlan. The waiver is needed in the event Attorneys from this firm are needed to complete any discussion or agreements in the future between these two parties in this exploratory matter. A motion to allow the Chairperson to sign the waiver was seconded and passed unanimously.

Auditor Maxwell says the proposed pipeline interests of Shelby County were presented, dates are closer to being set for litigation. Some schedule Iowa Utility Board rulings are expected soon. Kossuth County has joined the joint representation agreement with other counties expected to join. He said also that Chairman Kenkel notified the public that Shelby Counties Zoning Ordinance has been in effect since November 11th and that anyone entering into agreement with a hazardous pipeline company in Shelby County must get a conditional use permit from the Shelby County Zoning Commissioner, Tony Buman.

Kenkel also brought up that in 2002 the County had the Public Measure to go to a 5 member Board of Supervisors, the measure failed with it receiving only 26% of the vote in favor.

Landowners/tenants with land registered with the Iowa DNR in one of the 21 counties open to the January antlerless season are eligible to participate on the farm unit in the open county. The January antlerless season is Jan. 11- 22. Licenses will be available beginning Jan. 11, from license vendors in the open counties.

The January antlerless season is open in Adair, Adams, Allamakee, Appanoose, Clarke, Clayton, Dallas, Davis, Decatur, Fayette, Jefferson, Lee, Lucas, Madison, Monroe, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Wayne and Winneshiek counties. Landowner/tenant licenses are not subject to county quotas.

Due to the compressed timeline, these licenses will not be available online. Only antlerless deer may be taken during this season. Only centerfire rifles .223 caliber to .500 caliber with a published or calculated muzzle energy of 500-foot pounds or higher are allowed in the excess tag January antlerless season. The excess tag January antlerless season was approved by the Iowa Legislature during the 2022 session.

The Iowa State Patrol reports two people died in separate crashes on opposite sides of the State, Tuesday. The first happened in eastern Iowa’s Johnson County at around 11:25-a.m. The Patrol says traffic on Interstate 380 northbound had slowed and started to back up, while a towing operation was underway at mile marker nine. A 2002 Volvo driven by *37-year-old Eric Taylor, of Cedar Rapids, rear-ended a trailer pulled by a 2018 Peterbilt semi at mile marker seven. Taylor died at the scene. He was wearing a seat belt. The driver of the semi, 46-year-old Mark Fensterman, of Dubuque, was not injured.

The second fatal crash occurred at around 6:04-p.m. in northwest Iowa’s Sioux County. The Patrol reports a 2008 Chevy Impala driven by 18-year-old Emma Nibbelink, of Luverne, MN, was traveling south on Highway 75, went the car drove onto the west shoulder, which was covered in snow and ice. Nibbelink over-corrected, causing the vehicle to cross the center line of the road, before her car was struck broadside in the center lane, by a northbound 2018 Chevy pickup.

Following the impact, both vehicles entered the east ditch and came to rest. Authorities say Emma Nibbelink died at the scene. She was wearing a seat belt. The driver of the pickup, 25-year-old Dylan Taylor, of LeMars, was not injured. Hull Fire and Rescue assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa) – The American Farm Bureau has reached an agreement with John Deere that will allow farmers to repair their own equipment, or take it to independent repair shops. The director of the Drake University Agricultural Law Center, Jennifer Zwagerman, says it is a good solution for both sides. Zwagerman says Deere needs to protect the investment it has made in developing high tech systems to run tractors and other equipment. “If you can limit who can repair your products, you maintain not just the market, but you also ensure more privacy and more secrecy,” She says. “What we’re really I think seeing companies most concerned about are trade secrets.”

She says the computerized systems, programming or technology that’s used in the equipment is more important than the equipment itself. “From a legal standpoint, the more you allow people to have access to information, you’re starting to limit your ability to protect those trade secrets,” Zwagerman says. “And so I think that’s something that is very valid, that they wanted to maintain access and control over, but at the same time, was not fully recognizing or meeting the needs of their customers.” The agreement voluntarily makes available manuals or parts to vehicles or equipment.

“And that’s something that’s important to remember as well that they have voluntarily agreed to do it. And so there’s a big question about what this is actually going to look like, moving forward? Who’s going to enforce it? What sort of limitations will they put on it,?” she says. Farmers had been able to do their own repairs or have them done without concern before tractors and other equipment started to involve much more technology. “And so that’s definitely something that farmers are really pushing for — and have been very, very loudly. I think it says a lot that Deere listened,” Zwagerman says.

Zwagerman says John Deere has a long history in agriculture and working with farmers and the company wants to maintain that relationship into the future. Zwagerman says there are still some outside factors that could impact the agreement. “Either party can withdraw from this agreement at any time, particularly if any state or federal legislation tied to this is either introduced or enacted. And so it really in some ways is an effort to try and keep it voluntary like this,” she says.

Zwagerman says there have been a lot of states and the federal government looking at this type of right to repair legislation — and this agreement would keep it out of the government’s hands and out of that type of regulation. She says the Deere agreement will extend beyond that company’s products — as the memorandum of agreement says the Farm Bureau is looking to enter into these types of agreements with other companies as well.