(Radio Iowa) – We are getting closer to having driverless vehicles cruising on the streets of Iowa. The state Transportation Commission approved the rules for automated vehicles at its meeting Tuesday. Daniel Yeh with the D-O-T says the rules apply to fully automated cars and trucks. “We know that there’s a lot of vehicles out there now that have what we would be called advanced driver assist systems — things like lane-keeping and automatic stopping, and even some of your advanced adaptive cruise controls. So, these proposals and these rules really don’t impact anything like that,” Yeh explains. The Iowa Legislature cleared the way for driverless vehicles in the last session, and this sets up some of the rules of the road. “What we’re looking at there is the potential to issue some restricted registrations to those types of vehicles just to make sure that they are not operating in scenarios that they might not be prepared for,” Yeh says.

He says some of the rules are pretty common sense. “For example, if you have a vehicle that is not designed to operate autonomously on gravel roads — we just want to reflect that in the registration. So that maybe when the vehicle is being directly operated by a human, it could be on a gravel road — but that it would be very clear to both us and the operator that the vehicle shouldn’t be operated in automated mode on a gravel road,” according to Yeh.  He says automated systems are being used — just not in Iowa yet. “There are live examples in other states of vehicles that carry passengers. Such as very short-distance and low-speed automated shuttles. There are vehicles that carry freight, typically small delivery,” Yeh says. “A very good example is the vehicle that is seen on the Domino pizza ads nationwide. That would be considered an automated freight vehicle.”

Yeh says it will be up to companies that use the vehicles to decide when they come to Iowa. “We just want to be ready. We don’t know for sure when a manufacturer, when an operator might call up and say ‘Hey we are ready, we think there is a good situation or perhaps a good market we want to tap into.’ So, we really just want to make sure that we’ve thought this through in advance,” he says.

The rules adopted by the Transportation Commission have to be published in September and the legislature’s Administrative Rules Committee will likely vote on them at its October meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – Today’s date is August 11th, or in numerical terms, eight-eleven. That means it’s time for Eight One One Day which is celebrated as a reminder by Tyler Jass at Iowa One Call as an important telephone number which homeowners need to remember. “The number to call is 811 to have any locates marked before you dig,” Jass says. “It is the law to call 811 at least 48 hours before any digging occurs, including Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.”

The call and the service are free, but if you skip the call and damage a buried utility, you could face fines and expensive repair costs. Jass says the call center for Iowa One Call logged more than three-and-a-half million locate requests last year. “So, as you can tell, the construction industry has not been impacted by COVID,” Jass says. “If anything, it has gone up and we are seeing the results of that.”

Homeowners should contact Iowa One Call whenever they plan to excavate, whether it’s to put up a fence, plant a tree or for a large project like a deck or a home addition.

A woman wanted in Harrison County on a warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree, was arrested late Tuesday night, in Red Oak. According to Red Oak Police, 31-year-old Linsey Marie Williams, of Omaha, was arrested at around 10:40-p.m.  She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The top two Democrats in the Iowa legislature are urging Republican Governor Kim Reynolds to order more frequent updates to Covid-related data on the Iowa Department of Public Health’s website. The agency had been updating data several times a day, but in July switched to weekly updates on positive Covid test results and Covid patient loads in Iowa hospitals. House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights says that makes it harder for parents to make good decisions about sending their kids back to school.

“It makes it very difficult for Iowans to do exactly what she says she expects us to, which is do the right thing. We can’t do it when we don’t have good information,” Konfrst says. “…As case numbers are increasing and data release is shrinking, it really does send a message that the governor really doesn’t want us to know what is happening with Covid in the state of Iowa.”

A spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Health says at this time, when numbers do not change at the same frequency as in the past, a weekly feed provides an appropriate level of awareness. Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says more timely public information would help Iowans understand the challenges Covid-19 may present. “We all know that especially during a pandemic when we are seeing misinformation and disinformation, having open and honest and responsive communication is absolutely imperative,” Wahls says.

The public health department’s spokeswoman says the agency will continue to assess its response to ensure Iowans are equipped with information at a level that is appropriate.

(Radio Iowa) – School boards around the state are reviewing and revising their diversity and equity policies to comply with a new state law that bans teaching some topics such as people of a particular race are inherently racist. The Waukee school board approved a revised set of equity standards at its Monday meeting.

Some Waukee parents like Courtney Collier opposed the district standards. She says teachers should focus on academics and leave equity to parents. ” We do not send our children to Waukee Schools to be taught a worldview, or a political ideology, or a moral compass. That is our job as parents and families,” Collier says. But other parents like Michelle Townsend says the reason for the equity standards is to learn about others.

“They do pave the way for students to the safety to share their experiences and values, to learn about those of others, and grow in their ability to process both the world around them and their place in it,” Townsend says. The school board passed the revised standards on a five to two vote.

(By Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)