Officials with the Iowa Donor Network broke ground this morning (Friday) on a new facility in Altoona. It’s scheduled to be completed in January of 2015 and will replace the current facility in Johnston. Iowa Donor Network spokesperson Tony Hakes credits the “generous nature” of Iowans for the necessary move into a bigger building. “We have 1.8 million people registered as organ and tissue donors. Our tissue donation has been on the rise for the last 10 years and organ donation was on the rise last year. As a result, we have just outgrown our current facility,” Hakes said.

The Iowa Donor Network administrative headquarters are located in North Liberty and will remain there, according to Hakes. The new facility in Altoona will include two recovery rooms, as opposed to just one, and will include upgraded equipment. “We’ll also have a state-of-the-art communications center which will allow us to make and take more phone calls,” Hakes said. “The end result will be we’ll be able to carry out the wishes of more Iowans and help more donor families.”

The communication center is staffed 24 hours a day and currently handles over 65,000 calls a year. Approximately 60 employees will work in the new building. Hakes said the three acres site will eventually include a memorial garden for donors and their families. The Iowa Donor Network is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

(Radio Iowa)

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) – A mural depicting TV talk show legend Johnny Carson will be going up on the side of a downtown building in his Nebraska hometown of Norfolk.  The Norfolk Daily News says Norfolk artist Karl Reeder will use various images of Carson on the side of the former Andrew Bicycle building.  Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, but grew up in Norfolk, Neb., and attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He hosted NBC’s “The Tonight Show” for 30 years. He died in California in 2005.

Organizers hope the mural will be finished in time for the 2014 Great American Comedy Festival, set for June 11-14 in Norfolk. The festival was created as a way to honor Carson.

A workshop for “Baby Boomers” on “Saavy Social Security Planning” will take place April 22nd in Atlantic, at Iowa Western Community College. The no-cost workshop runs from 6:30-until 7:45-p.m. Seating is limited.

Officials say after being told for years the Social Security is “Going Broke,” Boomers are realizing that it will soon be their turn to collect. The decisions you make now, can have a tremendous impact on the total amount of benefits you stand to receive over your lifetime. The informative seminar aims to cover the basics of Social Security, and reveals strategies for maximizing your benefits.

Seminar attendees will learn about: The 5 factors to consider when deciding to apply for benefits; Why you should always check your earnings record for accuracy; How to coordinate benefits with your spouse; How to maximize taxes on Social Security benefits, and how to coordinate your Social Security with your other sources of retirement income.

There will also be someone on-hand to answer your questions, such as “Will Social Security be there?”  How much you will receive, when you should apply, how to maximize your benefits and will Social Security be enough to live on in during your retirement.

To register for the seminar, call 712-243-5527, or e-mail majohnson@iwcc.edu.

The Iowa Supreme Court has thrown out the conviction of a former Davis County Community School District coach who had sex with a student. Patrick Nicoletto was an assistant girls’ basketball coach from 2007 to 2009. He had a sexual relationship with a member of the Davis County varsity team that started when she was 16. A jury convicted him of sexual exploitation by a school employee and he was given a five-year prison sentence. Nicoletto had a coaching authorization, but worked nights at a local manufacturing company and was not a teacher.

He appealed his conviction saying he is not a licensed professional could not be charged under the exploitation law. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in his favor, saying a coach who holds a teaching or other professional license is clearly subject to the sexual exploitation law — but someone holding only a coaching authorization without a professional license is not. They reversed Nicoletto’s conviction.

Justice Thomas Waterman wrote a dissent to the ruling, saying the “hypertechnical interpretation” opens a gaping loophole in the law that was enacted to protect students from sexual exploitation by adults at their school. Justice Edward Mansfield also signed on to Waterman’s dissent.

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A review has found that nine more Iowans wrongly had their votes thrown out in the 2012 election because of inaccuracies in the state’s list of ineligible felons.    Secretary of State Matt Schultz announced Friday the additional cases were uncovered during a statewide review launched after news broke that three voters in Cerro Gordo County were wrongly rejected as felons.

Schultz says the 12 cases included three who were not felons but were wrongly included on the state’s list and nine others who had their voting rights restored and should have been eligible.     Schultz on Friday also formed a task force of state and local officials to fix inaccuracies in the felon file, which contains 46,000 names.

Iowans convicted of felonies lose their voting rights until restored by the governor.