DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Car and truck dealers are planning to fight a possible fee increase suggested by the Iowa Department of Transportation.  The Des Moines Register reports that the department has suggested increasing the fee to 6 percent for vehicle registrations. The current 5 percent fee is applied every time a customer buys a new or used car or truck.

The DOT says the higher fee would keep pace with the state’s current 6 percent sales tax. It would generate an estimated $60 million more each year for road construction projects. Iowa does not impose a sales tax on car and truck purchases.

The Iowa Automobile Dealer Association’s 13-member board has voted unanimously to lobby lawmakers against the increase. The associated represents about 400 Iowa dealers.

A survey of college students in Iowa and four other states finds them more distracted in class than in years past due to smart phones and tablets. Barney McCoy, a journalism professor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, says the poll found the typical college student plays with their digital device 11 times a day and of those times, they’re checking text messages 86-percent of the time. “Websurfing was 38%,” McCoy says, while 67-percent were emailing and 66-percent were doing social networking.

Eight-percent admitted to playing games on their phones in class. The survey found 80-percent of students surveyed admitted their use of smart phones, tablets and laptops interferes with their learning. McCoy says he was surprised by one response as to how digital devices were being used while lectures were underway. “This is a generational issue, checking the time, 79%,” McCoy says. “I didn’t think about that until I realized a lot of my students don’t wear watches. They look at their smart phones to check the time.”

Ninety-percent of students surveyed admitted they weren’t paying attention in class because of texting or emailing. The study found students who were distracted often missed instructions and more than one-fourth said they lost grade points because of their digital habits. Still, McCoy says, students refuse to part with their gadgets.  “They expect to be connected at all times, including in the classroom,” he says. “They want to be able to use these devices to check their email or to do a text message if they feel like what’s taking place in the classroom might be boring them.”

In recent years, McCoy noticed more students were looking at their cell phones than their text books, so he undertook the multi-state study. With more than eight in ten students texting, he says, that’s clearly the biggest trouble spot. “We’re talking about conversations that are coming from beyond the walls of these classrooms now and they demand that you reply,” McCoy says. “They’re really conversations that are taking place, instead of just the distraction of being bored and maybe reading the newspaper instead of listening to what the instructor is talking about.”

Because they’re conversations, he says digital devices prove to be a bigger distraction than anything else. Nearly 800 students were surveyed at: Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa; the University of Nebraska at Lincoln; the University of Nebraska at Omaha; the University of North Carolina; the University of Kansas and the University of Mississippi.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A monthly economic report says business conditions in nine Midwestern states improved slightly in November.  The Mid-America Business Conditions Index rose to a tepid 51.2 on a growth scale of 0 to 100. The index was growth-neutral in October at 50.0, the lowest level since 2012.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the region’s heavy manufacturers reported solid increases in new export orders in November. The region’s employment gauge also jumped to 51.2 in November, from 48.2 the previous month. Goss attributes the October downturn to the federal government’s partial shutdown.

States included in the survey are Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Adair-Casey United Methodist Church Pastor Melodee Carstens reports the Adair-Casey Food Pantry gave out Thanksgiving dinners to 32 households on Sat., Nov. 23^rd. That’s in addition to their usual offering of bi-weekly items. Each holiday dinner included ham, fresh potatoes and homemade pumpkin pies.

Volunteers with the Adair-Casey Food Pantry.

The A-C Food Pantry, housed in the Casey United Methodist Church, was established in May of this year by the Adair and Casey United Methodist Churches as well as other interested individuals, organizations, and businesses. Since mid-June of this year, the A-C Food Pantry has served 47 families with a total of 123 individuals.

Last week the A-C Food Pantry received word from the Food Bank of Iowa that it has been approved to be a partnering agency with them. This partnership will allow the A-C Food Pantry to purchase food from the Food Bank of Iowa at a discounted price enabling them to serve more people with a greater variety of items.

The pantry was also notified last week that it has been awarded $1,500.00 from the Southwest District of the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church 2014 Matthew 25 Grant. These monies will be used to help purchase needed supplies and food for the pantry. Anyone who lives within the Adair-Casey School District is eligible to receive items from the pantry.

The Pantry is open the second Wednesday and fourth Saturday of each month from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. If you would like more information as to how you might become a donor or a recipient of the A-C Food Pantry, you may contact Peg Snyder at 641-746-3319.

Police in Red Oak arrested 20-year-old Jesse Patrick Beaman, of Red Oak, early Monday morning. Beaman was taken into custody on warrants for 3rd degree criminal mischief, failure to appear for 1st degree arson, conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, and two counts of forgery.

Beaman was arrested in the 200 block of East Nuckols Street just before 1:30-a.m. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.