(Radio Iowa) – A new study by the Iowa Food Bank Association finds more than 27-million pounds of food was “rescued” last year by the six Feeding America food banks that serve Iowa. Annette Hacker, spokeswoman for the Des Moines-based Food Bank of Iowa, says an astounding amount of food is wasted and chucked into landfills daily, so they work with grocery and convenience stores, manufacturers, growers and restaurants to rescue that food and get it to people who need it. “It might be a pasta manufacturer who says, ‘These pasta noodles are just an eighth of an inch shorter than we normally make to put on the shelf and sell, so we’re going to donate this pasta,'” Hacker says. “It might be a dairy that says, ‘This particular batch of cottage cheese had slightly less salt in it than meets our standards,’ but it’s still perfectly good.”

A report from the U-S-D-A says up to 40-percent of the U-S food supply is wasted every year, so Hacker says food banks rely on retail rescue to meet the growing, record need for food assistance.  “We have recently had pallet after pallet of Triscuits marked organic, but guess what? They weren’t organic,” Hacker says. “So that was a great volunteer project, to go through every Triscuit box and mark out the word ‘organic,’ still perfectly good, fresh crackers inside that box, but they were not able to be sold because they were not labeled correctly.” Hacker says food banks strive to divert perfectly good food from landfills and get it onto dinner tables for Iowans who face food insecurity.

Food rescue visit at Catholic Charities in Des Moines, Iowa on February 7, 2024.

“Food Bank of Iowa distributes more than 22-and-a-half million pounds of food every year, so our portion, a little over seven-million pounds, about a third of what we’re distributing is food that has been rescued from retailers, manufacturers, grocery stores,” Hacker says. “It’s absolutely critical. Food rescue is the reason food banking began in the first place.” Many Iowans will throw out food just because it’s past the “best by” date on the label, which Hacker says is something that’s largely misunderstood.

“There really are no such things as expiration dates, except for baby formula and baby food,” she says. “Other than that, the dates that you see on food are often either a ‘sell by,’ a ‘best by’, or a ‘use by’ date and those dates speak to optimal quality, not food safety.” Hacker says food banks adhere to very strict guidelines for food handling, temperature and storage of rescued food.

foodbankiowa.org

(Radio Iowa) – Teens as young as 14 and a half could get a permit to drive to and from work if a bill headed to the governor becomes law. It would be similar to school permits that let 14 and 15 year olds legally drive to and from school as well as to school activities. If the bill becomes law, any teen under the age of 16 with a permit for work, school or farm work who’s caught driving elsewhere would lose their driving privileges for three months — and when they turn 16 they won’t be able to get an intermediate permit for three months.

Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, led development of the bill.  “Some real teeth to the permits to highly discourage youth from operating on these permits outside of their allowed designations,” Dickey says. A 14 or 15 year old with one of these “special minors restricted licenses” would only be able to drive an hour before work or a school event and get home within an hour of their work shift or the end of the school activity. Once they’re at work, they won’t be able to drive. Dickey says that means they cannot be asked to be delivery drivers.

“Mechanisms put in place to make the roads safer for the people and these youth,” Dickey says, “so they’re not driving to the mall or to a friend’s house, but they’re driving within the certain criteria that’s in the permit.” Teens under the age of 16 who have a permit for farm work will have a little more driving freedom as current rules are preserved, letting them drive to pick up parts, for example. Senator Todd Taylor, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says having young teens drive for work early in the morning or late at night isn’t a good idea.

“We are talking about 14 and a half year olds driving,” Taylor said. “That’s kind of my problem with it. Some are ready, sure. Some are not ready.” Representative Mary Madison, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says letting inexperienced drivers drive themselves to work increases the likelihood they’ll be involved in an accident. “Child driving is not the solution to our workforce shortage,” Madison said, “and it never will be.”

Representative Elinor Levin, a Democrat from Iowa City, says letting 14 and 15 year old drive to and from work as well as school will increase the number of very inexperienced drivers on the road.  “In Iowa, our teen drivers are already among the youngest and the least experienced in the U.S.,” Levin says, “with independent driving allowed at 14 and a half and no minimum hours of supervised driving practice.”

Representative Brent Siegrist, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says the proposed 25 mile radius for each trip made by young drivers going to work or school makes sense. “Having less veteran drivers drive has some risks with it, but I don’t that its enough that we shouldn’t provide this opportunity for our students to get to school activities, work activates or farm activities,” Siegrist says.

A temporary 10-member conference committee was convened to resolve an impasse between House and Senate Republicans on some sections of the bill and the committee’s agreement won final legislative approval at 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

(Atlantic, Iowa) [updated 4/23] – The Atlantic Community School District has scheduled a Public Hearing on the proposed 2024-25 Certified Budget. The hearing kick’s-off the School Board’s meeting at 5:30-p.m., on Wednesday, April 24th in the High School Media Center. During the hearing, the Board will accept objections/comments on the budget. Action on passing the budget and a Resolution levying a tax for FY 2024-25, for the future optional redemption of General Obligation School Bonds, will take place later on in the meeting.

During the Board’s meeting on April 10th, ACSD Director of Finance Lisa Jones, said she had some revised numbers with regard to the proposed property tax levy (rate) of $12.51/$1,000 valuation, which was down from 12.91524 announced during the March 27^th meeting. Last year, it was $13.00/$1,000.

In other business, the School Board in Atlantic will act on the resignation of Jesse McCann, HS Special Education teacher (at the end of the 23-24 school year), and approving contract recommendations for:

• Taylor Vargason, Elementary Special Education Teacher
• Lindsey Roberts, ELL Teacher
• Cayleigh McBee, HS Student Council Sponsor
• Alexandra Griffen-Uren, HS English Language Arts Teacher
• Jesse McCann, HS School Student Support Coordinator contract.

The full agenda can be seen here: PUBLIC AGENDA 04242024