(Radio Iowa) – Family and friends who spoke at the service honoring the Fairfield High School teacher who was murdered last week used words like sparkle and joy to describe Nohema Graber. Her oldest son, Christian, read a note his mother wrote to herself before this school year started. “I didn’t know what I was going to say in this moment,” he began, “but then I found this notebook in my mother’s study room and I thought I’d share a few words with you guys: ‘My plan is very simple and I think very powerful. My plan is to smile all the time. The reason is that I think a smile is contagious.'”

Graber, who was 66, wrote that by putting her intentions on paper, she would be aware of how others reacted to her smile. It took her son just over two minutes to read his mother’s words aloud. “When I come back to work and I have difficult students, I will try to see them as they are: just young children. I will be aware that this is only just a temporary thing,” Graber’s son read. “…We, the teachers, must be a positive role model for our students and even if the students forget about my Spanish classes, I hope they remember how and why to smile to life and to be honest.” A niece spoke next.

“She was a wonderful aunt by how she made life sparkle,” Sabrina said. “From her eyes literally sparkling when she’d give one of her full throated, full bodied laughs to way she would sparkle her words with such joyous inflection.” Others in the crowd stepped forward to pay tribute, including former students like Lorena Hucke. “Everything that I remember about Spanish and about Senora Graber is just surrounded in positivity and happiness,” Hucke said, “and this pure joy that she shared.” Mathew Johnson and Graber attended the same church in Fairfield.

“She was a wonderful soul that brought many different cultures together,” Johnson said, “and I am just absolutely blessed and honored to have known her.” Father Nick Adam of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fairfield led the service and concluded by expressing the community’s sympathy to Graber’s family.

“Nohema was deeply loved,” he said, “and she’s going to be deeply missed.” Last (Tuesday) night’s event was held at Fairfield High School, where Graber had been a teacher since 2012. She was reported missing a week ago. Her body was found in the park in Fairfield where she often went for walks. Two 16 year old Fairfield high school students have both been charged in adult court with first degree murder.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – For more than two decades, artist, Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II, has been painting giant boulders across Iowa. After painting the original rock in 1999 in rural Iowa, Sorensen and his family went on the Iowa County Freedom Rock® Tour, showcasing this impactful art all over the state.

A $20,000 bid was accepted and the winning bidder, along with the 100th Freedom Rock® location will be announced on Veteran’s Day. The Sorensen’s plan to make the announcement on the Freedom Rock® Facebook page. The 100th Freedom Rock® is slated for completion in the winning community on or around July 4, 2022.

The Sorensen family stand beside the 99th Freedom Rock in Linn County.

The auction was a way for communities to demonstrate support and gratitude for our nation’s service members and fund the needs of Veterans with a portion of the proceeds going to The Puppy Jake Foundation and T.A.P.S Foundation. It was also a unique opportunity for cities who didn’t yet have a Freedom Rock® to bid and join 99 of their peers across the state.

Sorensen and his family will now focus on a Freedom Rock® in every state, adding to Freedom Rocks® already placed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Washington and Nebraska and others scheduled for Ohio, Illinois and Oklahoma.

(Radio Iowa) – As the strike at a dozen John Deere plants in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas enters its fourth week, a Deere and Company executive says some production may shift to plants outside of the country to meet customer demand. The president of Deere’s Worldwide Agriculture and Turf Division told The Des Moines Register the company still aims to reach an agreement with striking union workers, but Deere’s international factories employ thousands that can make parts and components that are in demand.

During an appearance today in Pella, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds told reporters she’s confident both sides will reach a settlement to end the strike and she has no plans to try to intervene. “We’re letting the process work out and it is working out,” Reynolds says. “They’ll continue to come to the table, they’ll continue to work on the negotiations and, hopefully, they’ll reach that settlement sooner rather than later.”

A spokesperson for Deere said last week that the company will not resume negotiations with the United Auto Workers and the company’s second contract offer was it’s best and final offer. Union workers rejected the agreement on a 55 to 45 percent vote.

The Harlan Police Department is reporting two recent arrests and a citation. On Sunday, 28-year-old Ashlen Marie Rutherford, of Harlan, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault and False Imprisonment. On Saturday, 26-year-old Alexander Archer Foster Gorka, of Manilla, was cited for Driving While Suspended.

And, on Nov. 2nd, 56-year-old Michael Mario Morelli, of Harlan, was arrested for Assault.

Officers with the Red Oak Police Department, Tuesday, arrested a Pottawattamie County man for Interference with Official Acts. Authorities say 47-year-old Robert Michael Lynn Petersen, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 10:30-a.m. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Representatives of the Cass County Library Association, comprised of the head librarians from each of the libraries in the County, provided an annual report to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning, and made their traditional, annual request for funding. Sara Young, Head Librarian at the Anita Public Library, thanked the board for its continued support for the libraries.

As part of their early childhood literacy efforts, the library directors came up with a plan to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to all Cass County residents.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library partners with local affiliates to provide high quality, age appropriate books to children across the United States and beyond. Cass County is now one of 22 counties in Iowa that offers the program. Any child under 4 1/2-years old who lives in Cass County can register to receive a free book a month until their 5th birthday. Young said there are currently 178 children enrolled in the program.

With regard to funding, the directors requested: A $5,000 increase from the County for the Atlantic and Cumberland Public Libraries; $2,500 for the Anita and Griswold Public Libraries; a $1,000 increase for the Lewis and Massena Public Libraries. The request was taken under advisement and will be acted on when the Board meets in early 2022 to determine where county funds will be spent.

(Radio Iowa) – Tens of thousands of Iowans checked the box when they renewed their drivers licenses to become organ donors, but should they happen to die of COVID-19, will their organs still be used? That depends, according to Heather Butterfield, spokeswoman for the Iowa Donor Network. Butterfield says, “Based on studies that have been conducted and with the approval of our medical directors, our current policy is that as long as the patient isn’t actively infectious with COVID-19, so typically that means they would be at least 21 days out from a diagnosis or symptoms, then they can be considered for organ donation.”

Nationwide, more than 100-thousand people are waiting for organ transplants, while Iowa’s organ waiting list is nearly 600 names long. Organs are an exceptionally rare and valuable commodity and Butterfield says it would be a shame not to make use of those hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys that are healthy. “Our number-one priority is always the safety of the recipients and we want to make sure that the organs we recover are safe to transplant,” Butterfield says, “which is why we have the policy in place that we do.”

As yet, Iowa has not seen a dramatic upturn in the demand for organ donation during the pandemic, but there are fears about the situation worsening. “We are wondering, we have seen stories of people who have had COVID and have had long-term effects that are now needing a lung transplant,” Butterfield says. “We don’t know yet what the long-term implication of that will be. Will that mean the transplant waiting list will go up specifically for those in need of lung transplants? That is certainly a possibility.”

During the first year of the pandemic, Butterfield says the Iowa Donor Network set a new record for organ donations. “We had 103 organ donors give 300 organs for transplant despite the fact that, yes, we had a lot of people pass away from COVID but people who have COVID at the time of their passing cannot be organ donors,” she says, “so even despite the increase in deaths due to COVID, we still had a record year for organ donation in 2020.”

With less than two months remaining in 2021, Butterfield says this year is on track to break last year’s record, which would be the fourth straight year for new organ donation records in Iowa.
www.iowadonornetwork.org

(Radio Iowa) – A body was pulled from the Wapsipinicon River near Quasqueton this (Tuesday) morning. The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office says it received a 911 call shortly before 8:30 a.m. from fishermen in the area, who reported a body in the river just north of the bridge in Quasqueton. Deputies, firefighters and EMS personnel responded to the scene. The sheriff’s office says a man’s body was found and recovered from the river.

The body has been transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for an autopsy to identify the cause of death. The Sheriff’s Office says at this point, there is no reason to believe foul play is involved.

A body was pulled from the Wapsipinicon River near Quasqueton. ( photo from Buchanan County Sheriff.)

(Radio Iowa) – One thing for certain has returned to the way it was before the pandemic. Iowa D-O-T spokesman, Stuart Anderson, briefed the Transportation Commission today (Tuesday) on the traffic levels for October. “this month is the first month I believe that our overall traffic in the state of Iowa is above pre-pandemic levels on a monthly comparison basis,” Anderson says.  He says travel returned from a big drop during the height of the pandemic — and has been at a steady level until last month.  “Our October 2021 vehicle miles traveled in Iowa was one-point-five percent higher than October of 2019. We’ve been very steady around that zero percent level,” he says.

Anderson says the traffic levels have varied a little bit based on which system you are looking at. “The county system had a nice bump in October — certainly the harvest season has impacted that,” according to Anderson. “Most importantly, overall traffic in the state is positive now.” He says rail volumes have increased some as well, but are still being held back by the supply chain issues. And air travel continues to rebound.

(Radio Iowa) – Third district Congresswoman Cindy Axne says the bipartisan infrastructure package that cleared the House late last week will provide five BILLION dollars to Iowa for roads, bridges and water infrastructure as well as the repair of locks and dams. Axne says at least 100 million of that will be spent on broadband projects. “Providing support for those in all parts of our state, urban included, who can’t afford it,” she says, “because access to the internet is about availability and about cost.”

Axne, a Democrat from Des Moines, was the only member of Iowa’s U.S. House delegation to vote for the bill. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley voted for it when it cleared the U.S. Senate in August. Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says she voted against it because it’s tied in negotiations to the so-called Build Back Better plan. That plan is expected to put hundreds of billions toward climate change and childcare costs. Axne says it aims to fix problems the infrastructure plan doesn’t.  “Not once have I heard: ‘Gosh darn it, I can’t get to work because a bridge is down,’ ’cause we’ll fix the bridge,” Axne says. “Over and over I hear: “I can’t find childcare and so I can’t get a job.'”

Axne says Democrats’ social spending package could come to a vote as soon as next week.