Atlantic Fire was dispatched this (Thursday) morning, to a report of a semi on fire at the westbound 57-mile marker (Olive Street) on-ramp. The rig was hauling peanut butter. The driver of the semi evacuated safely. Reports indicated the drive wheels near the fuel tank were on fire. The call came in just before 6:15-a.m. The fire was reported out at 6:41-a.m. Fire officials said a mechanical issue caused the tires to overheat. The trailer was separated from the tractor portion of the semi and the fire extinguished. No injuries were reported, and the cab of the tractor was undamaged.

The president of the board that oversees the three state universities is promising tuition for Iowa residents will go up NO MORE than four percent in the next academic year. Board of Regents president Michael Richards acknowledges that’s less than what the presidents of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa recommended.  “Our job is to come up with what the families in the state of Iowa can live with,” Richards told reporters, Wednesday.  Richards testified at the state capitol Wednesday, asking legislators for more STATE support of the three public universities. “The exceptional quality at our institutions has taken generations to build and it is imperative that we work together to continue the progress made by those that came before us.”

The presidents of the three universities asked legislators to at least stabilize state support of the schools. Iowa State University president Wendy Wintersteen says tuition rates have been the same for seven out of the last 12 semesters, while state support of I-S-U “is trending down significantly.” “We’ve stretched the university too thin. Our faculty and staff are maxed out,” she said. “With strong enrollment and declining state support, we are tipping the balance between efficiency, education quality and accessibility.”

University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld told lawmakers his school is “under-resourced.” “What is quite clear is that if we do not establish a plan for stable resources which are necessary to improve our quality, Iowans will be forced to pay non-resident tuition at Michigan or Wisconsin or Minnesota in order to obtain the quality they demand and deserve,” Harreld said.  University of Northern Iowa president Mark Nook says each university has “very different missions.” “The State of Iowa really got the university systems right. There are only three institutions. We have not overbuilt our infrastructure,” Nook, a native of Holstein, Iowa, told legislators. “It allows us to adequately fund our universities, if we choose to do that.”

The three universities are asking legislators for 12 million dollars in new state money next year exclusively for student financial aid. House Appropriations Committee chairman Pat Grassley told the presidents legislators want more information about efficiencies at the universities before making a decision about state funding.

(Radio Iowa)

AMES, Iowa (AP) — The Ames district plans to begin including students in school shooter safety drills. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that district officials have not included students in past drills for fear the drills might be traumatizing. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida, changed the Ames officials’ minds: Their students must be ready for anything.

The school district works with the Ames Police Department to provide what’s known as A.L.I.C.E. training: alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 51-year old Sherry Louann Fisher, of Henderson, was arrested just before 3-a.m. today (Thursday), for OWI/1st offense. Fisher was taken into custody after a traffic stop at the intersection of Highway and E avenue, west of Red Oak. She was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond.  And, Red Oak Police report 28-year old Holly Irene Gross, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 7:35-p.m. Wednesday, on a Decatur County warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. Her bond was set at $300.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership launched a campaign Wednesday designed to take advantage of some of the good publicity the state has received recently in an effort to get more people to move here. The executive vice president of talent development for the Partnership, Mary Bontrager, says the campaign invites people to move to Iowa and “Live Life Without Compromise.”

“It’s a national digital marketing campaign to really tell our story across the nation — both from a talent recruitment perspective and a business attraction perspective,” Bontrager says.

A report from the U-S Census Bureau shows it is the fastest growing metro area in the Midwest, and Bontrager says the campaign will include videos, blog posts and podcasts from residents who share the reasons they live there. Bontrager says the focus goes well beyond Des Moines itself. “When I talk about Des Moines, I really talk about the greater Des Moines region, which is about an eight-county area here in the heart of the state,” Bontrager explains. “But certainly when we put a focus and a spotlight on the capitol city, that reflects back completely on the state of Iowa.”

She says the campaign follows an 18-month research project completed in 2017. That research will allow them to target the campaign at the areas in the country where they think they may have the most success  “Our fastest growing age demographic here is 25 to 35 year olds — so that’s a lot of inmigration of that age demographic. So that is certainly a demographic that we will be targeting,” according to Bontrager. “And again, looking at the research and what the data tells us in what areas have we been successful in attracting new people into our community.”

She says they will be able to track some of their efforts based on the online responses. “We want to drive folks to our website where they can look at opportunities for careers that our here. If they get to the stage where they want to learn more, we’ll track how many relocation requests we receive or information as to relocating here,” Bontrager says.

She says the campaign focuses on getting people to move to Iowa, with complementary focus on business recruitment.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A congressman from Iowa says he made an “administrative oversight” by failing to disclose his ownership of a company that uses his chief of staff in a false testimonial for its services. Republican Rep. Rod Blum says he has amended his personal financial disclosure form to list his role as director of Tin Moon Corp. and list the company as an asset. The moves comes hours after The Associated Press reported that Blum violated House ethics rules by failing to list his ties to Tin Moon on his form.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government is issuing a recall of chicken salad made by an Iowa processing company and distributed by Fareway Stores which has now sickened more than 100 people in five states and has prompted lawsuits involving residents from, Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota. The Iowa Department of Public Health says it has linked 115 cases of salmonella-related illnesses to the chicken salad sold by the Boone, Iowa-based grocery store chain.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Senate Republicans have released a plan they say would cut more than $1 billion annually in taxes. And they appear set to fast-track its passage through the chamber even though few details have been shared publicly about its full fiscal impact. The proposal released Wednesday would make a wide range of changes to Iowa’s tax system. It includes cutting corporate and individual income taxes and phasing out some tax credits.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — Residents in northwest Iowa are fighting over a petition that calls on the public library to separate material dealing with LGBTQ issues. The petition also says the library should request public input before acquiring such material. The Sioux City Journal reports that public input was taken during a meeting Tuesday over the Orange City Public Library’s inclusion of LGBTQ materials. The petition was started by a professor at a local Christian liberal arts college.