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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – A private Catholic liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids has confirmed one of its students has died after contracting Covid. Mount Mercy University held a vigil on campus last (Monday) night in honor of 21-year-old student Ashley Hudson. University president Todd Olson sent a message to students notifying them Hudson died Monday morning from complications associated with Covid-19. Social media posts indicate Hudson had been hospitalized and fighting the disease for weeks. Mount Mercy’s president described Hudson as an aspiring kindergarten teacher. Grief counseling services for Mount Mercy students and staff are being made available free of charge.
More than 17-hundred students are enrolled at Mount Mercy according to the university’s website. The Sisters of Mercy founded the school in 1928 and it was originally a two-year college for women.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, heard from Jotham Arber,with the County Environmental Health Office, with regard to a 28-E (Cost sharing) agreement with the Iowa DNR, as it pertains to wells for drinking water, geo-thermal and other uses.
He says the 28-E agreement with the DNR doesn’t change much. It adds some new language and puts it on a five-year cycle. Arber says it provides requirements for permits if someone is putting in a well, and allows permitting fees to come straight to the County. Arber said there are 55 wells in the County that have been closed on an annual basis and another 27 opened.
The Board tabled action on approving the 28-E until they could more thoroughly review the agreement. Action is expected during the Board’s next meeting on Sept. 30th. In other business, Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken said he expected Olive Street, south of I-80, to be open later this (Tuesday) afternoon, pending completion of the guardrail installation, inspection and traffic line painting.
The Boston Road bridge however – which it was hoped would be opening this week – may not open for another two-to-three weeks because of an issue with the guardrail installation sub-contractor getting enough workers to complete the job. Wolken said they’re looking at options that could result in the Boston Road Bridge opening next week, but that’s far from certain. T
He said also, the box culvert project along the Adair-Cass line at Victoria Road is essentially complete, with grading being finished on it. And, they’re still working on the Indian Creek road box culvert project.
And, the Board approved a 28-E project agreement between Cass County and the City of Atlantic, for the repair of the W. 6th Street bridge over the Nishnabotna River. The cost of the project (approx. $410,000) will be split 50-50. The Board discussed the future of the County-owned Willow Heights building and adjacent farm land. Board Chair Steve Baier said an entity was scheduled to look at the facility Tuesday morning. Supervisor Steve Green said, with regard to the land, the County shouldn’t be in the land-lord business, it should be working toward contributing to an economic development fund.
Steve Baier said if an entity wants to purchase the facility, the County has the obligation to vett them, with regard to security, based on the present facility the entity operates, and what their financial position is. No action was taken during Tuesday’s meeting on selling the property.
(Washington, D-C) – U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona today (Tuesday) recognized 325 schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2021, including five schools in Iowa. The recognition is based on a school’s overall academic performance or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. Secretary Cardona made the announcement during his Return to School Road Trip, while visiting an awardee school in Palatine, Illinois.
The Iowa schools named as National Blue Ribbon Schools were:
Bedford – Bedford Elementary School, Bedford Community School District.
Bettendorf – Pleasant Valley High School, Pleasant Valley Community School District.
Council Bluffs – Lewis Central Senior High School, Lewis Central Community School District.
Hills – Hills Elementary School, Iowa City Community School District.
Spencer – Spencer Middle School, Spencer Community School District.
Secretary Cardona said “This year’s cohort of honorees demonstrates what is possible when committed educators and school leaders create vibrant, welcoming, and affirming school cultures where rich teaching and learning can flourish. I commend all our Blue Ribbon honorees for working to keep students healthy and safe while meeting their academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs. In the face of unprecedented circumstances, you found creative ways to engage, care for, protect, and teach our children. Blue Ribbon Schools have so much to offer and can serve as a model for other schools and communities so that we can truly build back better.”
The coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the hard work of educators, families and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging and engaging content. Now in its 39th year, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed approximately 10,000 awards to more than 9,000 schools.
The Department recognizes all schools in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates:
Exemplary High-Performing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.
Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s student groups and all students.
Up to 420 schools may be nominated each year. The Department invites National Blue Ribbon Schools nominations from the top education official in all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and the Bureau of Indian Education. Private schools are nominated by the Council for American Private Education.
Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County report a man from Guthrie Center was transported to the Guthrie County Hospital, with possible/unknown injuries, following a single-vehicle accident Sunday night. Authorities say their investigation determined 75-year old Lynn Roy Sparks was traveling on 180th Trail at around 8-p.m. Sunday, when he lost control of his 2003 Ford Taurus on the gravel. The vehicle ended-up in a ditch, causing Sparks and his wife to be unable to open their doors. The accident happened when Mr. Sparks was unable to clearly see the road, due to tall grass in the ditches on both sides of the road.
He contacted his son to pull the vehicle out of the ditch. It was located in front of The New Homestead in Guthrie Center. Damage to the car was estimated at $6,000.
(Radio Iowa) – Antique car lovers shelled out big bucks in north-central Iowa over the weekend. A two-day auction of classic cars in the Hamilton County town of Williams late last week netted 1.5 million dollars. The proceeds of the car auction from the Hemken Car Museum will benefit the auto restoration and technology program at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. Over 60 classic cars including Studebaker, Rolls-Royce, Pontiac, Playboy and more were on the auction block plus plenty of auto parts.
Daryl and Ann Hemken opened their car museum in 2000 and closed in 2018. Daryl Hemken died in 2005 while Ann Hemken died last year.
(Radio Iowa) – A Garner man is jailed in Hamilton County after a chase through three counties early Monday. Thirty-four-year-old Braden Alan Johnson was calling the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department requesting help then refused to stop when he was approached by deputies. Authorities reported the chase on Interstate 35 through Hamilton, Story and Polk counties reached speeds up to 100 mile an hour at times. Johnson was then pulled over when he made his stop in Polk County.
Johnson had a three-year-old child inside his vehicle while being pursued. Several charges including eluding and reckless driving face Johnson as a result of the incident.
(Radio Iowa) – The Mason City School Board last (Monday) night unanimously approved a policy that mandates mask usage inside a school building when the illness rate inside that building reaches seven percent or more, with the requirement being lifted once the illness rate drops below five percent. That would include all illnesses, not just COVID-19. Superintendent Dave Versteeg says nurses would report the information daily with parents being immediately notified if a building went over seven percent. Versteeg says, “We do that at the end of every day and that nurse can report to us, and we can send out a notice to those parents that evening, saying ‘Building X’ hit the threshold, so tomorrow people will wear a mask.”
Board member Jodi Draper says the compromise tries to address the best policies for staff and students while at the same time hearing from people who don’t want to see any mandate put in place. “Our job is to represent people and look at both of those views, and though can we meet them and greet them together into a middle of the road, and I think we can,” Draper says. “I think we can keep our teachers safe, our students safe, our children safe that come in and out of the buildings with special needs. How do we do that? That’s what people elected us to find out, and to research, and to do.”
Board member Alan Steckman went along with the compromise after wanting to see a full-time mask mandate in the schools, saying that masks worked well in the schools last year. “I’ve had somebody send me a post and said ‘Masks do not prevent COVID, it says so on the box.’ What the hell box was that? What the hell box?” Steckman says. “My thinking on it is that seat belts do not prevent death. You can die with a seat belt. You can die with a mask, but generally they prevent death, generally masks prevent death. So I’m voting masks.”
Currently, a school district is required to report to the county department of public health when a building reaches a 10% absentee or illness rate so that local public health officials can determine if any further action needs to be taken. The board voted to start the seven-percent policy next Monday to allow Versteeg to draw up further guidelines for students and staff to follow when a mandate is in place.
The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests took place over the past week:
(8-a.m. News) (Griswold, Iowa) – While other school districts in Iowa (predominantly the larger cities) are enacting mask mandates as a means to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Griswold School District Superintendent Dave Henrichs says that’s not the case in his District.
(There will be no mask mandate, but the school will implement its COVID Tracker again this year on the District’s website, indicating how many students and staff have tested positive. To date, he says, there have been 8 students [2 elementary &, 6 MS/HS students] that have tested positive. No teachers have tested positive. All have recovered with the exception of one HS student.)
Last year at this same time, there were 10 positive cases. With regard to District Enrollment, Mr. Henrichs said there were 79 students who open enrolled-out, and 22 who open enrolled-in. The out numbers sustained, meaning they actually gained three overall-in students. Henrichs said also, a group working on a daycare facility spoke with the Board Monday evening.
The Board Monday, approved district personnel changes/hires and resignations.
And, the Griswold School Board approved Lifetime Activity passes, with certain criteria in mind, for former Griswold educators, staff and certain volunteers.
The News at 8:05-a.m., with Ric Hanson.
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