(Radio Iowa) – G-O-P backers say a new plan unveiled on the final day of the 2022 legislative session gives parents who’re unhappy with their local public school the option of immediately transferring their child to any other public school in the state. “I think it shows that the legislature stands with parents and students.” That’s House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says this plan was drafted after the governor’s proposal for state scholarships for private school expenses faltered in the House.

“Obviously with the other school choice pieces not passing this year, we thought that was a logical step to continue to allow parents to have as much choice as possible while staying within the public school system,” Whitver says. Grassley says the open enrollment proposal isn’t targeted at any specific district, but was inspired by frustrated parents. Governor Reynolds met earlier this month with parents of Linn-Mar students who’re upset about the district’s policy for transgender students. The Linn-Mar policy was approved after the March 1st open enrollment application deadline for transfers to another public school district.

“We think that parents need to have that opportunity that if they want to send their child to another educational institution, that they should have that,” Grassley says. Under current law, open enrollment requests must involve transferring a student from the public school district where they live to a school in an adjacent district and applications are due March 1st. However, Emily Piper of the Iowa Association of School Boards says parents have been able to get their child immediately transferred to a school in a neighboring district under certain circumstances.

“For instance, bullying and harassment, a divorce or custody changes…failure to help the student achieve,” Piper says. “Those things are fairly black and white as far as what the exemptions are from the current March 1.” That March 1st deadline for most student transfer requests gave schools time to adjust staffing levels, since the yearly allotment of state spending for a student shifts to their new district under open enrollment rules. Piper says schools are prepared to make mid-year calculations on budgeting for students who are transferring immediately, though, since mid-year transfers have been happening under special circumstances.

The plan that cleared the legislature in its closing hours does not change some parts of the open enrollment process, so districts will be able to decline a transfer request if they don’t have classroom space or staff to serve a student who requires special education services. “The home district still has to approve the request. They did not change that,” Piper says. “The receiving district still has to accept the student and they did not change that.” The proposal is included in a wide-ranging bill Republicans in the House and Senate approved late Tuesday night.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report 45-year-old Michael Butcher, of Council Bluffs, was arrested today (Wednesday). Butcher was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. Bond wa set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Blood donated by Iowans is being rushed to Texas today (Wednesday) following Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school that left at least 19 children and two adults dead. Another 15 children and four adults were wounded. Danielle West, spokeswoman for the Des Moines-based LifeServe Blood Center, says Iowa is answering Texas’ call for help, even though blood is very scarce here. “We don’t have a ton of inventory on hand,” West says. “We’re not where we want to be but we do have units set aside right now. We’re sending 10 O-negative and 10 O-positive but we also have more set aside throughout the week, so every day, we’re checking in with Texas to see if they need more.”

LifeServe is part of the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, a coalition of more than 35 blood centers across the U-S that have committed to collecting extra blood units on a rotating, on-call schedule. The 20 units of Iowa blood being sent to South Texas Blood & Tissue won’t mean any Iowans are denied an important surgery, but it does ratchet up the urgency. “We absolutely need donors. O-negative and O-positive are always lower than we want them to be, especially when we’re sending more outside of this area,” West says. “This is a way that our community can step up and help our community blood supply but also the Texas area that probably will need more blood products throughout the week.” An appeal is going out to all Iowans who are left wondering, “What can I do,” following the Texas shootings, as they -can- make a difference.

“I would just encourage people to go to our website, LifeServeBloodCenter.org,” West says, “or give us a call at 800-287-4903 to find a blood drive or donor center near them and get scheduled as soon as they can.” LifeServe is the sole supplier of blood products to 129 hospitals across Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

(Greenfield,Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) approved the use of $16,000 from the County’s share of the ARPA allotment (American Rescue Plan Act for Covid recovery), for the Adair County Neighborhood Center, in Greenfield. The Center is owned by MATURA. They will provide the necessary matching funds, the sum of which would serve to make the building’s restroom ADA compliant, and feature new flooring, and heating and cooling system. The agreement stipulates if MATURA sells the building, money from the County would be paid-back within five-years. It also says bids for their improvement projects must not exceed $32,000, with proof of receipts. The Neighborhood Center provides assistance to families who are facing a crisis situation with food and/or shelter.

The Board also approved a wage increase for Timber Woosley in the Adair County Auditor’s Office. The Board and Auditor Mandy Berg all agreed Timber is a great asset, and as such approved an increase in her salary from 73-percent, to 74-percent, of Berg’ salary. The increase is accounted for in Berg’s office budget.

They heard from Adair/Guthrie County Environmental Health Coordinator Jotham Arber. He provided the Board with an Environmental Health report update.

Anyone who wants to install a septic system on their property in Adair County, he said, should get the required perc test done now.

He said the cost of the perc test is reimbursed if you apply for the grant. Arber said there are currently 19 perc tests scheduled for Adair County. Septic systems, he said, generally have a 30-to-35 year lifespan, so if yours is that old or older, you should consider getting it replaced, before it causes sewage issues. Jotham Arber said also, the Environmental Health Department is recommending Adair County residents perform a Radon test in their home. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. Arber left five free tests off at the Adair County Courthouse and will continue to provide five free each month. They can also be purchased at most hardware stores for as little as $10-dollars.

For more information, call Jotham Arber at 641-747-3972. In other business, Adair County County Engineer Nick Kauffman recommended and the Board approved, a 5-cent longevity raise for Secondary Roads employee Alex Bauer. The Supervisors then acted on awarding a Resolution for the N5 Richland Bridge Project to the low bidder, Murphy Heavy Contracting out of Anita, in the amount of $847,841. There were two other bidders for the project. All were in the ballpark of the Engineer’s estimate of $820,000.

Kauffman then updated the Board on his department’s activities.

(Radio Iowa) – Court records show a woman killed in a weekend shooting in Waterloo was arrested on robbery charges connected to another homicide nearly two years ago. The woman who died early Sunday morning has been identified as 26-year-old Ana Berinobis-McLemore. Police say someone opened fire on a vehicle at a residential intersection, killing her. She was a passenger in the vehicle.

Court documents show Berinobis-McLemore was awaiting trial on first-degree robbery charges connected to a 2020 shooting that left one man dead. Her murder is the third in the city this year. So far, no arrests have been made.