(Near St. Charles, Iowa) –  Two central Iowa sheriff’s deputies narrowly escaped injury after their patrol vehicles were struck by a semi. Officials with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post Thursday, “Early this [Thursday] morning, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office , alongside Martensdale, St. Mary’s, and New Virginia Fire & EMS, State Patrol, Iowa D.O.T, and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, responded to a vehicle accident on Interstate 35 in Warren County.

“While attending to business, Sgt. Wilbur and Deputy Good’s Patrol Cruisers were struck by a semi at or near regular Interstate speed.” Officials said “Sgt. Wilbur and Deputy Good, thankfully, saw the semi coming and were able to flee to safety in time to avoid the unthinkable.” They added, “We are beyond blessed neither Deputy, nor any other First Responder on scene was injured or worse.” The Iowa State Patrol says the semi-truck driver who hit the squad cars was issued three citations, including failure to move over for an emergency vehicle.

The Sheriff’s Office offered this piece of advice to motorists: “Slow down, Move Over, Pay Attention… PLEASE! Our lives depend on it!” As we reported earlier, the initial crash on I-35 happened t around 2:30-a.m. Thursday, when a semi tractor trailer traveling northbound on I-35 near St. Charles, ran into the back of another semi tractor-trailer. The first semi-truck caught fire after the collision, which blocked the interstate, according to the Iowa State Patrol. The driver of the first semi-truck was injured and taken to a Des Moines hospital. The crash resulted in a part of the Interstate being closed for hours.

Warren County S/O Facebook photos

(Radio Iowa) – The three presidents of the state universities discussed some of their state funding requests during Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting. Iowa State University president Wendy Winterstein says they are seeking a four-and-a-half million dollar increase in general support. “These funds….will help Iowa State to remain competitive, to ensure the success of our students and allow us to continue to drive economic impact across the state,” she says. Winterstein says the funding will allow them to address several areas. “Competitive student financial aid, Student Educational Support Services, competitive compensation for our employees, expanding innovation and entrepreneurship,” she says. ” And I have to stop for a minute and just mention that we did win entrepreneurial university of the year for the Americas that was a great award to be recognized. To support online programs, and to address financial challenges that we experienced from inflation that was so high last year.”

I-S-U is also requesting an additional ten million dollars from the Legislature to continue their STEM programs. University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook says everyone needs to look at what the funding is doing. “It’s easy to talk about dollars to universities, and think of that in a very impersonal way that these are dollars to a university to a large organization, and lose the faces in this. Those dollars help heat our buildings, they keep the lights on, they help us hire faculty that are really committed and staff that are committed to these students to making sure they get the education they need to be able to drive the workforce needs of our state, ” Nook says. He says if you want to see the impact of our of the dollars that the state spends on the universities — look at your neighbors.

“We’re producing the accountants, we’re producing the teachers. We’re producing the superintendents, the engineers, the doctors, the lawyers, the dentists of the state,” Nook says. “Without the investment in the regent institutions, that doesn’t happen in this state, the state doesn’t grow, we don’t have the next generation of leaders.” University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson talked about their request for more rural health funding. She says they are requesting 10 million dollars to start. “We’d like to have a five year commitment from the state so that we can establish what we are calling right now a rural health care partnership with the state,” Wilson says. “The goal really is to grow the healthcare workforce, to expand delivery of health care across the state, and to bump up the ability to do screenings and telehealth.” She says there are some key issues they want to address.

“The biggest chunk of the ten million is in the mental health area. And it makes sense. Forty-two-percent of adults in Iowa have reported symptoms of anxiety and depression in the recent surveys, 42 percent,” she says. “And suicide is the number one cause of death in Iowa for adults aged 25 to 39. ”

If that request is approved, the U-I would have a total recurring appropriation of 50 million dollars in five years.

(Radio Iowa) – A new hands-on learning facility in northwest Iowa is designed to help fill high-demand jobs. The Sioux City Community School District’s Career Academy has opened a construction trades building for students, including 17-year-old Nathaniel Hamann who attends East High School. “I’m hoping to learn electrical and plumbing and how to do all the foundation work and just a little bit of everything that goes into building a house,” Hamann says, “and I can just apply that to everything else in my life, and that would be good information to know.” Students at the facility study skills that are valued by potential employers, like Skip Perley, the C-E-O of Thomson Solutions Group, an electrical contractor and technology integrator. He’s also board president of the Sioux City Public Schools Foundation.

“There’s no lack of opportunity,” Perley says. “We need workers, and we need them at a faster pace than we’ve ever had before.” Perley says he started his career as an electrician right out of high school. He says his company is struggling to find trained, qualified workers. “These kids will come out of this program and either go directly into the workforce or maybe into an apprenticeship of some kind,” Perley says, “and they’ll help us build America, and we have a lot to build.”

The program now has 44 students learning about plumbing, H-VAC, electrical, and even building new houses, including Habitat for Humanity homes.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans of all ages and abilities need to be prepared for severe weather, but people with mobility issues — either due to a disability or age — need to be especially conscious of where they would seek shelter in case of emergency. Emily Holley, regional communications manager for the Nebraska-Iowa chapter of the American Red Cross, has issues with severe chronic pain and she walks with a cane. “For my family, we have a spot under the basement stairs that we get to,” Holley says, “however, if there was a time where I was unable to get down those stairs, we have a windowless room, the laundry room, where I would go.”

Holley says she has a “go bag” that contains an array of emergency supplies, like fresh water, non-perishable food, and a flashlight, along with other essentials, like a battery power pack to charge a phone. “Folks using various mobility devices, especially those that depend on electricity, you want to make sure that you have at least three days worth of power supply,” Holley says. “You want to make sure that you are able to utilize those devices that are helping you function.” Consider that safe spot in your house an emergency shelter and outfit it with whatever you might need, including snacks and medications.  “We always recommend folks have a battery-powered or crank radio so that you can hear what’s going on,” Holley says. “You also want to make sure that you have the ability to protect your head. I like to recommend that folks keep a bicycle helmet for each of the family members in that tornado shelter.”

The Red Cross has an Emergency App that’s free and Holley says it will come in very handy when you need it. “It gives lots of preparedness tips for people in different circumstances and different locations,” Holley says. “You can also set up warnings throughout the country. For example, my sister lives in Massachusetts, and I have her location set up, so in the event that some severe weather is hitting her location, I get an alert.” It’s important to plan what you’d do in an emergency and Holley suggests holding a drill with the entire family twice a year.

Find more tips at: www.redcross.org

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Pottawattamie County was arrested Thursday afternoon in Red Oak. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 49-year-old Alan DeSantiago, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 4:30-p.m. in the 100 block of Coolbaugh Street. He was wanted on an active Montgomery County warrant for Probation Violation. DeSantiago was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.