(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s economy bucked the regional trend and improved slightly during March, but the monthly Creighton University survey of supply managers in Iowa and eight other Midwestern states finds the region’s manufacturing sector slipped into recession — and has been there for a while. Creighton economist Ernie Goss says the overall Business Conditions Index fell below growth neutral for the third time in four months. “When it’s all said and done, that would be when the federal government revises their numbers later on this year, I think we’re going to be able to say that the manufacturing economy in the region was in a recession for all of 2023,” Goss says. “Now not a deep recession, just a dipping into negative territory for the year of 2023 and now beginning 2024.”

The index is measured on a zero-to-100 scale where 50 is considered growth neutral. Iowa’s Business Conditions Index for March improved to 51-point-8 from 49-point-3 in February. Goss says the employment situation for the region is bleak as the Midwest’s manufacturing sector lost jobs for a third straight month.  “Twenty-seven-point-three percent of supply managers reported job losses for the month and job openings were down for all nine states over the past 12 months,” Goss says. “So the job market’s definitely weakening, but overall remains okay. Now, the manufacturing numbers are not good and that’s what we’re reporting on here.”

Wholesale prices climbed to the highest level in more than a year, and the report shows March’s inflation reading is the highest since February of 2023. Goss says last week’s deadly bridge collapse that blocked the port of Baltimore, Maryland is having ripple effects well into the Midwest. “That’s going to mean supply chain disruptions,” Goss says. “There will be more supply chain disruptions moving forward than we’ve seen in the past. Most of the survey was conducted before the disaster in Baltimore, so I expect the numbers to worsen in terms of supply chain disruptions in the weeks and months ahead.”

According to the latest month’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there were two job openings for every unemployed worker in Iowa, which is the same ratio recorded 12 months ago.

(Radio Iowa) – The wife of a Woodbury County Supervisor has been sentenced to prison after being convicted late last year on 52 counts of voter fraud. Kim Taylor must serve four months in federal prison and four additional months on home confinement. Taylor is the wife of Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor.

In November, a federal jury convicted her on 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, 23 counts of fraudulent voting, plus three counts of fraudulent registration. Taylor was born in Vietnam and witnesses testified she manipulated local residents of Vietnamese descent to illegally cast ballots for family members during elections in 2020 when her husband ran for congress, then won a seat on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors.

The federal judge who sentenced Taylor on Monday afternoon has ordered her to pay a special assessment of 52-hundred dollars. She must also serve two years of supervised release. Kim and Jeremy Taylor are the parents of six children. Jeremy Taylor has resisted calls for him to resign from the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. He recently announced he will not seek reelection.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa legislature have voted to prevent city and county building codes that restrict what kind of siding can be used on the outside of homes. Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says it’s a bill that benefits the vinyl siding industry.

“I don’t understand why we are voting on a bill that supports one particular industry,” Weiner says. “…This takes away local control to regular local design standards. Vinyl also happens to be very flammable.” Senator Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf who works in construction, responded.

“It’s not about vinyl siding because a city could easily tell you you can’t put brick in particular areas, you couldn’t use aluminum siding in particular areas, you’ve got to paint your house a certain color in certain areas,” Webster said. “This is telling cities and counties that the ultimate local control is the home buyer and the home owner.”

If the governor signs the bill into law, there could be exceptions for cities that have building code requirements for the outside of homes that are in historic districts or homes in special purpose zones.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Legislature has unanimously voted to require that insurance plans cover diagnostic tests like M-R-Is and ultrasounds that are used to detect breast cancer. Senator Cherilynn Westrich, of Ottumwa, says a mammogram alone may not be appropriate for patients who’ve had cancer or have a history of breast cancer in their family.

“An MRI is one of the most effective tools around for finding these breast tumors,” she says, “even those in dense breast tissue which is notoriously hard to image.” According to the National Science Institute, about 10 percent of women have dense breast tissue. Westrich says she’s heard about many women who had standard mammograms regularly, but but the mammograms did not detect their tumors in the early stages of the disease.

“If it had been caught in early stages it would not have been a an issue or a smaller issue for them, but now many of them are facing consequences — and many of them are facing death,” Westrich said.

Under current federal law, insurers are only required to cover the costs of an annual mammogram. In 2017, legislators in Iowa passed a law requiring mammogram notification letters to let patients know if the test shows they have dense breast tissue and other testing might be needed.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two men were arrested on separate charges last Friday. 41-year-old Richard Steven Kraft, of Omaha, NE., was arrested on two counts Possession of Controlled Substance and possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His arrest followed a traffic stop on I-29 at around 5:45-a.m.  Bond was set at $2,300.

And, at around 10-p.m., Friday, Mills County Deputies arrested 50-year-old Dustin Clark Anglen, of Malvern, for Domestic Abuse Assault. Anglen was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.