(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Corrections is pulling out all the stops to try and find more corrections officers and other employees. Director Beth Skinner says it’s a top priority to find more employees. “We’re not just limited to Iowa, we are looking at other states surrounding us. We are looking in the south, we are doing advertising in Nebraska, we are doing billboards, we are doing radio ads, career fairs, we are using chambers of commerce, community colleges. We’ll be doing some advertising at football games, Nebraska football games,” Skinner says.

The D-O-C is also using social media to look for employees. The state allocated more money to the department following the deaths of a nurse and corrections officer at the Anamosa prison. Skinner says they are touting the benefits available. “Starting salaries average right around 40-thousand per year with opportunities for yearly increases. You also have the opportunity to receive what I believe is some of the best training in the country,” she says. Skinner says one of the new jobs will be someone who will be a full-time recruiting — and work on keeping staff. “Because you can recruit all day — but you also have to retain current staff. We have to make sure we are taking care of our current staff as well,” according to Skinner.

Skinner says the job of a corrections officer has evolved and they want to let potential employees about its importance. “Working at corrections provides individuals a chance to become a public servants. And it’s a highly rewarding job. You are ensuring that there’s fewer victims in our state, and you are creating safer communities. So, there’s also that piece too — that you are giving back to your communities as well,” Skinner says. There is a full external review underway of the state’s nine prisons, and Skinner says that could have an impact on the positions available in the system.

“We are waiting to see in the next couple of months when we get that report from them what other gaps we may have to make those investments with the additional general funds we received this year,” she says. “So we are being very thoughtful and strategic and very methodical. We know where the needs are right now in terms of institutions that need staff — but also there is more to come.”

The Iowa Legislature increased the funding for prisons by 20 million dollars in the last legislative session.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says a new state law that raised the penalties for rioting and gave police new legal protections for on-the-job activities is a recruiting tool for Iowa law enforcement. Reynolds discussed the new law in a just-released podcast hosted by Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel.

“As a mom, you want to know that your kids are being raised in safe communities,” Reynolds said. “As a business, do you want to come invest in a community or in state where you don’t know if tomorrow they’re going to come riot and loot and burn your business down?” The podcast was recorded in late August, just as Iowa schools were opening for the fall semester. The pair blasted states where last spring’s standardized tests for students were delayed until this fall.

“A lot of states aren’t doing assessments,” Reynolds says. “…They don’t want to know the damage that they’ve done to these kids.” McDaniel interjected: “They don’t want to graded on what they’ve done.” Reynolds concluded with: “They don’t want to be responsible or held accountable.” Federal law requires states to test students each year to gauge progress in reading, math and other skills. Earlier this month, Florida’s Republican governor announced he will end that kind of standardized testing after this school year and replace it with shorter tests. The Republican National Committee’s chairwoman and Governor Reynolds also criticized mask mandates in schools.

“I don’t know the health of students. We don’t what’s going on in that family…The other thing is there’s no data. I am so tired of people talking about data and there really isn’t,” Reynolds said, adding: “Be honest.” McDaniel added: “My son getting the vaccine, a big part of him getting the vaccine was: ‘I won’t have to wear a mask in school.'” Reynolds interjected: “And they changed that!”

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn says wearing a mask indoors prevents the spread of Covid and Reynolds is wasting her days and the tax dollars of Iowans by going on partisan talk shows to spout dangerous disinformation about a deadly virus. The Iowa Department of Public Health’s website listing confirmed Covid cases will be updated later today (Wednesday). Last Wednesday’s report found 29 percent of Iowans who had tested positive for Covid in the previous seven days were under the age of 18.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken, Tuesday (Today), announced the bridge replacement project on Olive Street (N16) one mile south of I-80, between Boston Rd. and Chicago Rd. is now open to traffic.

Wolken says “Thank you for your patience during the construction of this project.”

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released details on arrests dating back to August 28th.

• On August 28th Deputies arrested 23-year-old Dakota Michael Grund of Council Bluffs at Lake Icaria Campground for Public Intoxication. Grund was taken to the Adams County Jail and held on $300 bond.
• On September 4th Deputies arrested Amanda Brown of Creston for Simple Assault at the Adams County Speedway. She was held on no bond.
• On September 5th Deputies arrested Donald Jones of Sterling, IL for Public Intoxication. He was arrested at 120th and Sycamore and taken to the Adams County Jail and held on $300 bond.
• Also September 5th Deputies arrested Sheamus Gunning of Orlando, FL  at the Corning Hotel for Domestic Abuse Assault. He was held on no bond.
• On September 7th Deputies arrested Charles Regan of Omaha, NE at Lake Binder for Possession of a Controlled Substance Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was held on $1,300 bond.
• Also September 7th Deputies arrested Sheri Jo Watters of Gravity at 901 Davis Avenue in Corning for Public Intoxication. He was held on $300 bond.
• On September 12th Deputies arrested Layne Douglas Ruby of Creston at Highway 34 and Walnut Avenue for OWI and Possession of a Firearm While Intoxicated. He was held on no bond.
• Also on September 12th Deputies arrested Austin Michael Reed of St. Joseph, MO at 180th and Quince Avenue for a Missouri Warrant for Possession of Child Pornography. He was taken to the Adams County Jail and held awaiting extradition to Missouri.

(Radio Iowa) – The League of Women Voters of Iowa is calling on the Iowa Legislature to approve Plan 1 for redistricting. Maps proposing new boundaries for Iowa’s congressional and legislative districts were released last week. Terese Grant, president of the League of Women Voters of Iowa, said the plan does an incredible job of reflecting the population shifts that occurred in Iowa over the past decade. “We need to encourage our legislators to vote to adopt this plan…when they convene in special session on October 5,” she said. “We need to continue to be the ‘gold standard’ for the rest of the country.”

Grant testified today during one of three public hearings on the plan. In the 1970s, the League of Women Voters of Iowa joined the successful legal challenge that led to the unique process Iowa uses for redistricting after every Census. Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the League of Women Voters of Iowa, said the process is “messy” and “partisan” in most other states. “I’m so proud to be in Iowa…I do trust our legislature to do the right thing and look at the overall fairness of the maps that were drawn,” Campbell said during today’s public hearing.

The current map is on top, and the proposed map is on the bottom.

A dozen people have testified at the two public hearings that have been held on the redistricting plan and all urged legislators to approve the first plan that’s been released. If lawmakers reject it as well as the second plan developed by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, the Republican-led legislature could choose to make changes to a third plan. John Hale, the owner of a consulting firm in Ankeny, said Plan 1 reflects the “significant” population shifts that have occurred in Iowa, with 68 of 99 counties losing population from 2010 to 2020.

“Those we elect can’t praise the process of redistricting at one moment and at the next moment discard the process because they don’t like the result or are seeking another map that gives greater advantages to a particular political party or a person,” he said. Ryan Crane, who spoke at Monday’s public hearing, said Plan 1 for redistricting is based on the data. “(I’m) just really, really encouraging folks not to turn this into a partisan matter, not to go political with this, not to kind of blow up the process,” he said.

Crane said if Republicans who control the legislature make changes and adopt a third plan, that would generate negative headlines for Iowa. Since Iowa’s redistricting law has been on the books, the legislature has approved plans drawn up by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency in 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011.

A third public hearing on the first redistricting plan is scheduled for Wednesday night.