(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Lakes Community College campus in Algona will be hosting a free one-hour seminar about credit scores for area business owners and entrepreneurs. Shelly Brown is the coordinator for the college’s Tietz Entrepreneurial Center in Algona. She says step one for anyone is to check the accuracy of your credit report. “The information that’s on your credit report is used to generate your credit score,” Brown says. “…Step two is understanding what goes into a credit score from a financial lender’s standpoint.” According to a recent Federal Reserve survey, lenders are toughening the standards for loans, which makes it even harder for most small businesses and start-ups to get loans. Brown says the seminar will cover ways to improve a credit score.

“For a new business owner it’s important to have a good understanding, good handle on their credit score because they need to secure financing for that start up, whereas an individual who’s been in business for a couple of years the credit score is still very, very critical because they may need it to establish a larger line of credit or perhaps they are going to try to secure funding for a new project, new growth expansion, a new additional location.” The seminar is scheduled for Wednesday, June 28th, from 6 to 7 p.m.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has declined to remove the injunction against the 2018 law that would limit abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Abortion will remain legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Chief Justice Susan Christenson, and justices Thomas Waterman and Edward Mansfield voted against removing the injunction. Justices Christopher McDonald, Mathew McDermott and David May voted to remove the injunction, while Justice Dana Oxley did not vote. The 3-3 tie leaves the injunction in place.

Justice Waterman wrote the ruling was never appealed when it was enacted, and the law was not legal at the time it passed before the Supreme Court’s ruling that abortion is not a right, and those are important reasons to deny the appeal. Justice McDonald wrote the dissent — saying that it is almost universally accepted that courts have inherent authority to modify or dissolve a permanent injunction based on changes in fact or law without regard to the passage of time.

Governor Kim Reynolds issued a statement calling the lack of action by the court disappointing. It says “Not only does it disregard Iowa voters who elected representatives willing to stand up for the rights of unborn children, but it has sided with a single judge in a single county who struck down Iowa’s legislation based on principles that now have been flat-out rejected by the U-S Supreme Court.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart released a statement saying “I am thrilled that the Iowa Supreme Court will not stand in the way of Iowans who need abortion care, especially when our friends and neighbors already have to navigate so many barriers to health care. Our job as Democrats going forward is to listen to the needs of our fellow Iowans and ensure that folks in every corner of the state can access the medical care they need, no matter where they live or what’s in their wallet.

Maggie DeWitte of Pulse Life Advocates, formerly Iowa Right to Life, had this reaction to the decision: “Profoundly disappointed. You know, we already passed a heartbeat bill once. And that law would have saved an estimated 2000 Iowans lives every year,” she says. DeWitte says the recent election the kept Republicans in control of all branches of state government showed Iowans support the bill. “We affirmed that decision by reelecting our governor, and a legislature that’s, you know, committed to protecting innocent children in the womb. And so it’s it’s very disappointing. You know, lawmaking is the job of the people’s elected representatives, and not unelected judges,” DeWitte says.

There is the possibility that the governor could call a special session to pass the bill again. “I would be supportive of that, the quicker that we can get the next step going in terms of saving innocent human lives, we would be supportive of that 100 percent,” she says. DeWitte says the overturning of the U-S Supreme Court decision making abortion legal one year ago has opened the door to move forward, and they will continue to work on ending abortion.

“We have a long ways to go. And that’s why groups like Pulse Life Advocates and others in the life community are working every day tirelessly to change hearts and minds,” DeWitte says. “And it goes back to the simple idea that all human life is valuable and dignity and therefore should be protected.”
Planned Parenthood will hold a news conference this afternoon to respond to the ruling.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two, recent arrests. Thursday afternoon, 25-year-old Willie Ray Johnson, of Gulfport, MS, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. Johnson was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail. And, Tuesday afternoon, 30-year-old Victor Hugo Campos-Penaloza, of St. Louis, MO., was arrested in St. Charles, MO., on a Mills County warrant for 1st Degree Theft. His bond was set at $5,000.

There were also two incidents reported to the Mills County Sheriff’s Office: Officials with the Silver City Post Office told authorities on June 6th, that there had been an incident of attempted burglary in the 3rd degree. And, on June 14th, a woman from Omaha reported an incident of Identity Theft occurred in Mills County, at a location on Ingrum Avenue.

Additional information on those incidents was not provided.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber, Wednesday (June 14, 2023), presented the School Board with his final report. Mr. Barber is leaving the District at the end of this month. He mentioned the Atlantic Community School District currently has five teaching positions that have yet to be filled.

Mr. Barber’s replacement, Dr. Beth Johnson, is in the process of interviewing for the Transportation Director’s position left vacant by the resignation of Mark Weis, who is leaving the District effective July 1, 2023.

Steve Barber said most of the summer projects will begin July 1^st, also. They include: The Washington Elementary School playground; High School storage shed; HS Auditorium lighting; carpets at the HS, ELC and Schuler; and Washington EVR units.

The lower elementary Summer Experience count he said is around 140 students, while the upper grades are averaging 50-to 60 students. The Atlantic School Board approved the hiring of Casey Pelzer, as the Middle School Principal.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, approved an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), with regard to the iJag (Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates) program. Steve Barber said Guy Somers “has done a wonderful job [with the program], and that he “continues to look at ways to improve [it].” For the 2023-24 school year, 28 students have registered for the program.

The Board also approved an agreement with the Green Hills AEA for managed services designed to enhance the school district in the continuation of protecting the system, and enhancing cybersecurity measures.