(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa House are proposing a change in a state law passed just two weeks ago. Under that new law, private school students whose parents get state-funded savings accounts are required to take all required state and federal tests. The bill would keep the requirement for the annual Iowa Statewide Assessment of Students Progress, but it would be up to a private school parent to decide if their child takes other tests to track their literacy skills. Eric Goranson, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Christian Schools, says the proposed change in the new law is a pleasant surprise.

“Many parents come to our schools because they like the way we assess,” Goranson says, “because they like the way we instruct.” Opponents of the proposal say the literacy tests gauge a student’s progress in reading and comprehension and will give policymakers a chance to compare how public and private school students getting state support are progressing. Representative Molly Buck, a Democrat from Ankeny, says the testing is about making sure schools are being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

“I think that this accountability measure that’s in the original bill is a way for us to make sure that the money that we are giving is doing what it’s intended to do,” Buck says, “and that kids are keeping up with the standards that we’ve set.” Republican Representative Taylor Collins of Mediapolis voted for the change as it was considered in a House subcommittee.

“I’ve said once and I’ll say it again — accountability is best left to parents,” Collins said. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfst says the testing requirements led some reluctant Republicans to vote for the new law. “We’re also going to say: ‘I told you so…that private schools were not going to be held accountable,” Konfrst says.

Later today (Friday), Governor Reynolds is scheduled to be at the American Enterprise Institution in Washington, D.C. to discuss her “Students First” program. When fully implemented, it will let any family apply for state funds to cover private school expenses.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has joined a lawsuit that challenges a Biden Administration rule requiring registration of gun accessories known as pistol braces. Pistol braces were first marketed in 2012 as a way to help people with a disability stabilize a pistol by attaching it to their forearm, but people also use the device to brace a gun against their shoulder.

The Biden Administration has classified that configuration as a short-barreled rifle. It means pistol brace owners have to register the device and pay a 200 dollar registration fee. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says since pistol braces have been legal for a decade, millions of Americans who bought one legally will become a felon if they don’t know about the new rule and fail to register the device by May 31st.

Iowa is joining two dozen other Republican-led states and the National Rifle Association in suing to try to block the Biden Administration policy on pistol braces. The rule is part of executive actions President Biden announced in early 2021 in response to mass shootings. The gunman who killed 10 people in a Colorado grocery store in 2019 used a pistol brace. The device was also used by a man who killed nine and wounded 17 others at a bar in Ohio in 2019.

The Council Bluffs Police Department and the family of a missing man are requesting your help in locating 33-year-old Nicholas James Erisman, of Council Bluffs. Erisman was last seen around noon on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. He was wearing a red, white and black ice fishing jacket. Nicholas was also wearing a red and white helmet, brown overalls and boots.

Nicholas left his residence riding his red ATV. He was believed to be heading to the area of Lake Manawa.

Nicholas Erisman

Anyone who may have seen Nicholas Erisman after Noon on Thursday, or who may know his where, should call the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4761 or Pottawattamie County Disptach at 712-328-5737.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office reports 46-year-old Cindy Anne Ortiz, of Omaha, was sentenced in Council Bluffs U-S District Court on February 1, 2023, to serve 156 months (13-years) in prison. In September 2022, a jury rendered a guilty verdict convicting Ortiz of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Upon her release from prison, Ortiz was ordered to serve five years of supervised release.

On November 21, 2021, law enforcement officers were called to the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Council Bluffs regarding an unresponsive male in one of the hotel rooms. Ortiz rented the hotel room and reported the unresponsive male (an acquaintance) in her room to the front desk. The male was pronounced dead. Law enforcement searched the hotel room and bags Ortiz was seen carrying into the room on surveillance footage. Ortiz’s bag contained 643 grams of methamphetamine, empty baggies, a scale, and other paraphernalia.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Council Bluffs Police Department and Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force investigated the case.

(Radio Iowa) – Teenagers would be allowed to work longer hours and in a wider array of jobs under a bill that’s cleared an Iowa Senate subcommittee. Brad Epperly, a lobbyist for the Iowa Grocer Industry Association, said key parts of the bill would let 14 and 15 year olds with a driver’s permit drive to and from a job and all kids of high school age could work later at night. “Everybody has a worker need right now,” Epperly said during a senate subcommittee hearing today. “I think the latest statistics are young people from 16-24, the job participation rate is like 56%. It’s awful low.”

Seventeen year olds, with some exceptions, could work at any time if the bill becomes law. The work hour limitations for other teens would be adjusted, too. Jessica Dunker is president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association and the Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association. She told lawmakers current law discriminates against kids who want to drive themselves to work.

“Privileged children who can afford to be in show choir and can be on the football team and can go to the prom and can go to the games they get to drive there as long as they’re on a path directly to and from the school and yet kids who want to work at Culver’s or anywhere else are not afforded the same privilege,” Dunker said. “And that is an equity issue that I hope, no matter what, you will take care of.”

Expanding work hours for teenagers is also a priority for the hospitality industry. Dunker said South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota have already extended the hours students can work. “Nine o’clock for a 15 year old sophomore in high school, you know, I’m sure they’re doing something already and probably it’s a school opportunity,” she siad, “but if it isn’t, having kids get the opportunity to work is important.”

Connie Ryan, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said children shouldn’t be asked to solve the state’s workforce shortage. “Do you remember the images of children in manufacturing and other dangerous work situations from the early 1900s?” Ryan asked lawmakers. “There is a reason our society said that it is not appropriate for children to work in those conditions.”

The bill would let teenagers do light assembly work in manufacturing plants and give state officials authority to issue waivers so teens could work in other industries. Ryan suggested it will be children from minority and immigrant households who wind up getting hurt. “It will impact the ability of children to do well in school by the impact of longer days and nights outside of school,” Ryan said.

Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, said kids should not work in manufacturing. “Iowa’s law for children at work exists for a reason,” Dotzler said. “I’m OK with updating parts of the law so its fits with today’s world, but we’ve got to be careful about what we’re doing for children.”

Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, said some restrictions on teen workers do not make sense. “As an employer, I can tell you for many, many years how many times I’ve had youth coming in and wanting to apply for jobs and some of the restrictions and tne hours makes it very difficult,” Dickey said.

Dickey and another Republican senator have forwarded the bill to the Senate Workforce Committee for consideration.

(Villisca, Iowa) — One firefighter was treated for minor injuries at the hospital in Red Oak this (Thursday) morning, after they were hurt while working to contain a residential structure fire in Villisca. The blaze in the 300 block of E. 5th Street was called in at around 6:50-a.m. Arriving firefighters observed heavy smoke upon arrival.

The call immediately went out for mutual aid from the Grant, Stanton and Red Oak Fire Departments. Those crews made an initial knockdown and were working their way through the structure, when a firefighter fell through floor/ceiling on the building’s second floor. That person was able to get out of the building and was transported by Villisca Ambulance Service and Red Oak Rescue to Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and then released.

The flames apparently originated in an area near a wood burning stove. Firefighters brought the fire under control at around 9 a.m.  The structure sustained significant water, smoke and flame damage, but an estimate of the dollar amount was not immediately available.

Montgomery County Emergency Management, Montgomery County Communications, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Villisca Power and Public Works and the American Red Cross also assisted at the scene.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests. At around 1-a.m. Thursday (Today), 44-year-old Bobby Lee Mitchell, Jr., of Grand Island, NE., was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Bond was set at $1,000. And, (As previously reported) at around 8:05-a.m. Tuesday, 24-year-old Donovan Edward Belt, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Eluding, Driving w/a denied or revoked license, and Theft in the 1st Degree. Bond was set at $16,000.

Authorities say Belt was fleeing from law enforcement on 284th Street at around 2:12-a.m., Tuesday, at speeds of more than 100 mph. When the 2016 Chevy he was driving approached the intersection with 284th Street and Highway 34, it was traveling too fast and went through the T intersection. The vehicle struck an embankment on the south side of the road, causing the vehicle to go airborne. The vehicle came to rest on its wheels, about 30-yards into a farm field. Belt was treated for minor injuries at Jennie Edmundson Hospital. The vehicle was a total loss.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Members of the Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, acted on approving four resignations and seven contract recommendations. Those who have tendered their resignations include:

• Shauna Casey, WA Elementary Paraeducator
• Chris Kennedy, Route Driver/Bus Monitor
• Paul Ruhr,WA Elem. Custodian
• Laurie Fell, Kindergarten Teacher

Superintendent Steve Barber’s recommendations for contract approval included:

• Hillary Thompson, Bus Driver
• Alan Sorensen, Bus Route Driver
• Tori Wood, Achievement Center Paraeducator
• Traci Luke, PM Car/Suburban Driver
• Terry Hinzmann, Summer School Supervisor (Credit Recovery)
• Joe Brummer, MS Boys Track Coach
• Paul Iekel, MS Girls Track Coach.

The Board also approved February 22nd as “Bus Driver Appreciation Day,” a day to recognize the District’s Transportation Staff for their commitment to the students. Board President Laura McLean urged parents and teachers alike to take note of the day.

The Atlantic School Board agreed to sell, to the highest bidder, two vehicles recommended for disposal by District Transportation Director Mark Weis. The vehicles are not being used anymore, and are simply taking up space. The vehicles are, a 2005 International School Bus (#2) with a diesel engine, which is no longer needed as a spare, and a 2003 Ford Van (#8), which has rusted out panels that are too costly to repair and render the vehicle unsafe to transport students.

Superintendent Steve Barber there’s also a vehicle that’s been scavenged for parts and is only good now, for salvage.

And, in his report to the Board, Mr. Barber highlighted certain aspects of Academic Excellence, Team Culture and District Operations.

Barber said also they are working closely with local legislators to provide advocacy for public education, and trying to determine how bills passed this session will affect the Atlantic CSD.

(Radio Iowa) – The chairman of a key Senate committee is working on a bill inspired by the case of an Iowa teenager convicted of murdering a man she says raped her repeatedly. The judge who handled the Pieper Lewis case did not sentence her to prison and gave her a deferred judgement, but by law was required to order her to pay 150-thousand dollars to the family of the man she killed. Brad Zaun of Urbandale, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says requiring a rape victim to pay the family of her rapist seems like an injustice. “I had a lot of constituents reach out who were pretty upset about that,” Zaun says.

Zaun has introduced a bill that would give judges the ability to consider the actions of the victim of a crime when deciding whether the victim’s family is owed restitution. Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says the group recommends that bill be more narrowly focused.  “So that we’re really addressing the extreme cases,” Campbell says. Marion County Attorney Ed Bull says providing discretion to judges is a good thing in general, but the bill needs to clearly define what sort of cases would be covered. “At the time we get to sentencing, then are we going to have in essence a mini trial where the defense counsel is now going to try to prove their client is the victim of an offense?” Bull asks. “…What is the evidentiary standard for the court to determine if that person is truly a victim?”

Lisa Davis Cook, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Justice, says the trial lawyers group agrees. “While we absolutely believe in the concept and understand the case where this came about, we do agree that it needs to be tightened up a little bit to make sure there aren’t any unintended consequences that we’re not thinking about,” Davis Cook said.

The Lewis case drew national attention and a GoFundMe account raised the funds to cover the restitution she was ordered to pay. Lewis, who is now 18, walked away from a residential corrections center in November and was taken back into custody a few days later. A hearing scheduled in March will determine if she’ll be sent to prison for violating her probation.