Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says she’s just started reviewing the proposal passed in the U-S House to replace Obamacare and isn’t ready to say yet if she’ll support the legislation. “What I am looking for is that I want to ensure that Iowans will have access to affordable coverage that meets their individual and their family needs,” Ernst says.

Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says “So many of the families and individuals I talk with have come forward and they’ve stated ‘sure now we’re covered by Obamacare, but it’s still too expensive, I can’t go to the hospital because of the out-of-pocket costs and high deductibles.’ So, we’ve heard many times about the premiums that have increased significantly and the frustrations families have.”

Ernst says one of the things she has seen that she likes is allowing people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance. “As it has been put in the package right now, those pre-existing conditions will be covered. There is also a provision in the current package that allows for children to be covered on their parent’s policies through age 26,” according to Ernst. “Those are two of the biggest things that we hear about, so those should really please a lot of people that we took that into consideration.”

Ernst was asked if getting the replacement for Obamacare promised by Republicans is proving to be more difficult than they thought. “I think that we have known that it was going to be complicated, but we have to have the fortitude to work through this to make sure that if families are covered that they actually can go to the doctor,” Ernst says.

Ernst made her comments during her weekly conference call with reporters.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Senate has approved a bill that would make so-called “project labor agreements” illegal on construction that’s financed by state or local governments. Republicans say non-union contractors do not bid on government-financed projects because of these agreements. Senator Dennis Guth, a Republican from Klemme, steered the bill through the senate. “Taxpayers deserve the best construction that they can get at the very best price that they can get,” Guth says. “This bill will make that happen by encouraging more contractors to bid on a project.”

Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids say “project-labor agreements” help unmask “shysters” trying to land work on a publicly-funded project.
“We want to look at the experience of bidders…at their track record,” Hogg said. “…We want to look to make sure they’re treating their employees above board and not underground.”

The president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Iowa says if the bill becomes law, more in-state contractors will start competing for government projects. In other action Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would allow prosecutors to argue a motorist was reckless because they were using a hand-held device at the time of an accident and should be charged with vehicular homicide.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Education released a policy paper Thursday, which shows the statewide effort by Iowa schools to catch and correct reading problems in students early on is showing progress. The paper says nearly nine-thousand students in kindergarten through third grade who had fallen short of benchmarks in reading in the fall of 2015 met or surpassed benchmarks by the spring of 2016, an increase of four-point-two (4.2) percentage points. The Ed Department’s Amy Williamson oversees the Bureau of School Improvement. She says the early warning system implemented in 2014 is a key part of helping kids improve their reading.

“What we are doing is measuring something that teachers can use on a three-times-a-year basis, or even progress monitor on a weekly basis with universal screening assessments,” Williamson says. “That has to be something that can be done quickly and detect very fine increments of progress.” Williamson says it gives a much better picture of what’s happening with students than the annual assessments.

She says the annual assessments are like a weight loss plan where you don’t weigh yourself every day and see changes by the ounce. But she says they have to see fine increments on a weekly basis to change the reading instruction.

The 398 public and non-public schools using the early warning system saw a nearly 61 percent increase in the percentage of students in kindergarten through third grade that were at or above the state benchmark for reading. Waterloo saw the biggest increase among urban districts at 14-point-six percent from the fall of 2015 to the spring of 2016. Jane Lindaman, the district’s superintendent, says it has been a group effort.

“There is not doubt that the district, the implementation, the buy-in from the teachers, the leadership matters. And so when people believe in the system, when they believe in kids and they are tracking it all along the way — I think it is truly about the work ongoing,” Lindaman says. She says getting kids to become better readers goes beyond trying to meet some state requirement.

“For us it is not just something that we do for compliance,” Lindaman says,”we don’t just do it and then turn in the scores and have then have the state look at them. For us in Waterloo it doesn’t have much to do with the state at all. It has everything to do with our Waterloo kids.” Lindaman says parents are also coming along.

“I would say that right now our parents probably have more questions that answers, but they are asking the questions, which is part of the process,” Lindaman says. “So they are starting to say ‘how does this work?’ And so we are along the journey, we are down the road a little bit on our working with parents and letting them know. They fit in because they can support the work at home, but right now we need them to understand where they students are and what the school is doing to help them improve.”

Centerville third-grade teacher, Tynne Sulser, says the last three years of implementing the program have been a learning experience for her as a teacher. “I thought that I was doing the best that I could. And it turns out I needed to look at what I needed to do in the classroom and I did need to make changes in my core instruction,” Sulser says. “And by doing that — I cannot tell you, it brings tears to my eyes the first time my kids — they were so excited, they were self-confident. These are kids who struggle in reading every single day.”

She says she’s seen improvement even in the kids who struggle the most. “They may be a lot lower than proficiency and so when they are gaining 40 correct words per minute in two months, three months, and they are still not proficient — you can’t ask any more for that child,” Sulser says. Sulser says the kids gain confidence in the progress they have made and it will continue. “You just keep on going and you keep on going and that confidence is going to get them there,” Sulser says. “It might not be in third grade, but it’s going to be in fourth grade.”

Increases in the highest-growth school districts ranged from 19 to 32 percentage points. Iowa’s early literacy law passed by the Legislature in 2012, focuses on making sure all students are proficient readers by the end of third grade.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A utility that supplies drinking water to Des Moines has spent millions of dollars to rid its water supply of pollutants that run off farm fields. Exasperated officials at Des Moines Water Works filed a lawsuit to force the agricultural counties to clamp down on the runoff. But Iowa’s Republican controlled Legislature, strongly influenced by the farm lobby, is now working on a bill to dissolve the utility, which would effectively kill the lawsuit.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Republican-controlled House approved a contested voter identification bill along party lines Thursday after forcing debate to end. The legislation would require people to show approved identification to vote. People without a state driver’s license are expected to receive a free state-issued card in the mail. The bill would also create a system for distributing money for purchasing or updating electronic elections software.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa House has approved a Republican-backed bill that would ban local governments from raising the minimum hourly wage, effectively revoking some wage increases for low-income workers. The chamber approved the bill Thursday night, will all the votes in support coming from the GOP majority. The bill now moves to the Senate, where the Republican majority also supports the proposal.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a teen has been killed after being hit by a road grader as he crossed a Des Moines street. Police say in a news release that 16-year-old Antonio Sanchez, of Des Moines, was hit Thursday afternoon as he crossed SW 9th Street. Police and medics were called around 2:40 p.m. and found Sanchez on the street. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man has died in an overnight house fire in central Iowa, and a woman was critically injured in the fire. Iowa Department of Public Safety officials say the fire was reported around 10:45 p.m. Wednesday in Webster City. Officials say a search of the home led firefighters to discover the couple inside. Both were taken to a hospital, where the man died.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Wednesday, of 37-year old Matthew Corey Baker, of Wiota. Baker was taken into custody on a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear. He was taken to the Cass County Jail and later released on $300 bond. And on Tuesday, Deputies in Cass County arrested 55-year old Todd Russell Schrader, of Atlantic, on a felony charge of OWI 3rd Offense, and for Driving while Revoked. Schrader was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $6,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Office said also, no injuries were reported following an accident that took place at around 4:17-p.m. Wednesday on Highway 6, just southwest of Memphis Road. Authorities say a 2005 Suzuki driven by 70-year old Leonard Lee Kinney, of Atlantic, was eastbound on Highway 6 when Kinney lost control of the vehicle before it left the roadway and hit a tree. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $5,000.