(Radio Iowa) — Thousands of Iowans are getting new televisions, cell phones, laptops, and other high-tech gadgets as Christmas gifts. Iowa DNR Senior Environmental Specialist Susan Johnson is urging them to recycle their OLD electronics. “Many retailers will take back e-waste for recycling, regardless of whether you purchased a product from the retailer or not,” Johnson said.

It’s believed U.S. consumers who fail to recycle e-waste, annually, send over two-million tons of computers, TVs, cell phones, printers, scanners, and other such items to landfills.  “E-waste accounts for about 40-percent of the lead and 75-percent of the heavy metals found in landfills,” Johnson said.  Most electronic products contain toxic materials such as lead, cadium, arsenic and mercury. If they end up in landfills, those toxins will contaminate groundwater. While many retailers recycle e-waste, there are also regional collection centers for household hazardous waste in 93 Iowa counties.

“Not only do they take back most electronics, but other household hazardous waste too, such as stains, varnishes, and pesticides,” Johnson said. E-waste recycling habits are improving in the state. According to Johnson, Iowans recycle – on average – over six-million pounds of TVs and computers every year.

(Radio Iowa) — Republican Senator Joni Ernst, a combat veteran, says one of her top legislative accomplishments this past year was a collaboration with one of the Senate’s most liberal Democrats. “That measure in the National Defense Authorization Act to raise awareness and to treat traumatic brain injury, that was done with my colleague Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts,” Ernst says.

The legislation directs the military to take steps to track, treat and prevent brain injuries among soldiers. The Pentagon is now required to include information about recognizing brain injuries in its regular training sessions for soldiers. “That’s one that was very important to me and we were able to see that through to fruition,” Ernst says.

Ernst has collaborated with other Democratic senators on military matters. In 2015, for example, Ernst and California Democrat Barbara Boxer sponsored legislation signed by President Obama that allowed female pilots from World War II to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2019, Ernst will for the first time be serving in a politically-divided legislative branch.

“It can be painted as very difficult and in some circumstances it will be difficult having a divided congress with Democrats taking majority in the House of Representatives,” Ernst says, “but, at the same time, there is still opportunity and a lot of the work that I do here in the United States Senate is done in a bipartisan manner.”

In August, Ernst and a Democratic senator from Delaware cosponsored legislation designed to help military veterans get college credit for their military training.

The occupants of a home in Red Oak escaped without injury early Monday morning, after a fire broke out at around 3:15-a.m. According to reports, several departments responded to the fire in the upstairs bedroom at 410 East Nuckols Avenue, in Red Oak. A functional smoke detector alerted the residents to the danger.

The second floor of the home sustained extensive fire and water damage. Red Oak fire was assisted at the scene by crews from Elliott and Stanton. Red Oak Police, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, MidAmerican Energy and Red Oak’s Water Department also provided assistance. Firefighters were on the scene for about two-and-a-half hours.

The American Red Cross was contacted to assist the homes’ residents. The cause of the fire was under investigation.