Sgt. Brent Maher

The name of a western Iowa National Guardsman killed this past Spring in Afghanistan will be unveiled on a memorial granite wall in Council Bluffs on July 4^th. Sgt. Brent Maher, of Council Bluffs died April 11^th while on a patrol mission in Afghanistan. City and county officials will join Maher’s family for the ceremony, slated to begin at 9-a.m. in the Veterans Plaza at Bayliss Park.

A minister who performed the service for Maher at his funeral on April 22^nd, will provide the invocation. Keynote speaker for the unveiling of his name on the wall will be conducted by Major Bill Backus, Commander of the 168^th Regiment of the Iowa National Guard.

Maher’s name joins the names of more than 500 service members dating back to the Civil War, who are inscribed on the Veterans Plaza wall on the east side of Bayliss Park, in downtown Council Bluffs.

No. 844 nose view

Old No. 844 Steam Engine

Officials with the Union-Pacific Railroad have announced their legendary steam locomotive No. 844 will be traveling from Council Bluffs to North Platte, Nebraska, Thursday. On the way, the train will pass through Missouri Valley and Blair, NE. The engine’s final destination is Cheyenne, WY.

The U-P’s Mark Davis says the train is on a tour celebrating local history, railroad heritage, and the Little Rock Express, as part of the U-P’s “Great Excursion Adventure – You Route the Steam Contest.” A Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitter was installed on one of the railcars that travels with the train, and that’s been integrated into the Union-Pacific website at www.up.com.

Entering ”Steam” in the search box will enable web users to view a map of the train’s route, along with other information. The data will be updated every 5-minutes.

A national nonprofit group is claiming Iowa could lose more than 13,000 jobs as a result of proposed Medicaid cuts in the House Republican budget. Families USA executive director Ron Pollack says his organization’s economic impact study also shows as much as $1.3 billion in state business activity would be placed at risk.

“Cutting Medicaid funds not only hurts seniors, people with disabilities and children – who count on Medicaid as their lifeline, but it also results in fewer jobs and stunts the economic recovery,” Pollack said. The budget proposal passed by the U.S. House calls for cutting federal funding to state

Medicaid programs by five-percent in the first year. Pollack says, in Iowa, that amounts to roughly $111 million. “That would result in more than 2,000 jobs being at risk,” Pollack said. The plan would eventually cut funding to state Medicaid program by 33-percent in 2021.

The Families USA report claims that would put as many as 13,280 jobs “at risk” in Iowa. In addition, Pollack says those job cuts would have a “multiplier effect” on business activity in the state. “Those folks would have less of an ability to purchase consumer goods, whether it’s an television set, a dishwasher or an automobile. In turn, folks who own businesses that sell those goods would have less of an ability to purchase other consumer goods,” Pollack said.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

A dispute over abortion policy has become a major stumbling block as the Iowa legislature tries to adjourn this week. Iowans who qualify for government-paid Medicaid can obtain a taxpayer-funded abortion at the University of Iowa Hospitals if they’re the victim of rape or incest, if the fetus is profoundly deformed, or if the mother’s health is endangered by the pregnancy. Republicans in the Iowa House want new restrictions that would require rape and incest victims to see an ultrasound and be told about adoption options before an abortion could be performed. Representative Matt Windschitl  is a Republican from Missouri Valley.

“In these traumatic situations it has to be a horrible decision to make, but in the interest of health — not only mentally but physically of a woman in one of these situations — we want to make sure a decision is not made in haste,” Windschitl says, “that the mother understands all options available to her.” Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, a Democrat from Ames, called the proposal offensive.  “You are talking about a woman who has suffered one of the most cruel crimes that can possibly happen and now you’ re trying to tell her what she needs to know to make her decision as if she is ignorant.”

Windschitl says there are two lives to consider in these cases. “I respect that the mother may not have wanted this to happen,” Windschitl says. “But at the same time, the child didn’t ask to be conceived and we have to respect that. We have to put both lives on the same level because I do believe life is a sacred gift from God.”  Wessel-Kroeschel says rape and incest victims — regardless of their income — should be able to make this decision on their own.

“We can’t continue to revictimize these women,” Wessel-Kroeschel says. Windschitl says giving women information about adoption and a chance to see an ultrasound doesn’t cause “undue harm.”   “Even if it comes through traumatic, unfortunate, horrible circumstances, there is still a life in that womb,” Windschitl says. “And we have to respect both those lives equally, in my opinion.” Wessel-Kroeschell countered…

“I think anyone who believes that a woman makes a decision under any circumstances rashly to terminate a pregnancy is not giving credit to the intelligence and thought process that a woman goes through when she’s in these kinds of situations,” Wessel-Kroeschell says. Democrats have promised to make a counter-proposal on the abortion issue later this morning (Wednesday) at 10:30.

This abortion-related issue is included in a budget bill that outlines state spending for the Departments of Public Health and Human Services. Legislators are trying to strike compromises on a host of spending decisions in order to have a state budget plan in place before the new state fiscal year begins Friday.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, a Republican, attended Democrat President Barack Obama’s speech at the Davenport Alcoa aluminum plant Tuesday. The governor said afterward he felt the president should have addressed regulations and tax barriers that are hurting business growth.

Branstad says he was concerned that Obama didn’t address those issues on the economy and “I think that’s important.” Branstad was asked why he would attend the speech by the president from a different party who is running for re-election. He says he used the visit to talk with the president before his speech.

Branstad says he thinks we always need to appreciate it when the president comes to our state, and said he asked the president to come back and visit western Iowa. The governor says he told Obama he is appreciative of the federal disaster declaration for the counties along the Missouri River, and hopes the president will visit the area.

 “I asked him to come back and view the flood damage himself, and he said ‘we got to do that’ and so hopefully he’ll do that,” Branstad said. White House officials say the trip to Iowa wasn’t political, but Branstad says there were political themes, and the president chose a business that is doing well.

Branstad says he’s been through enough campaigns to know “you choose to go to places where you think you are going to have a positive reception, and this is a great company.” Obama stuck to his economic theme during his short speech and did not mention the flooding trouble in western Iowa.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

New Atlantic Middle School Principal Cameron "Cam" Smith

Cam Smith

The Atlantic Board of Education was officially introduced to the new Middle School Principal during their meeting Tuesday night, at the high school. Cameron Smith begins his duties Friday, taking over the position from Todd Roecker, who is retiring at the end of the month.

Board President Phil Hascall asked Smith what his vision was for the Middle School. He said first and foremost, was to make sure the school is taken off the SINA (seen-uh), or School In Need of Assistance, list. He says he wants to ensure students’ Iowa Test of Basic Skills scores are raised, and along with that, he sees the school excelling, academically. He also wants help the students and teachers see the Middle School as its own entity, with home rooms giving the kids a “sense of belonging,” and get past the idea it’s merely a springboard to the high school.

Cam also says he’d like to get as much technology in the building as possible, and making sure the teachers are as up-to-speed on technology as their students are. He also wants to make sure the kids excel in the “upper quadrant level work.“ Smith says bringing the kids’ level of proficiency up sounds like an easy task, but he says it’s actually a “tall task.” He says his ultimate vision is for Atlantic to have a Middle School that other districts look at as a trendsetter in the areas of educational practices and technology.”

When asked why he applied for the position, Smith said it was because he could concentrate on being a Middle School Principal, and not have wear so many hats as he had done at the Garner-Hayfield School District, which was where he last served. He says the community is a perfect fit for him and his family, as well.

Cam and his wife have three children, and one on the way in September. The family has moved to Atlantic and are already exploring all it has to offer.