(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is urging the Justice Department to drop its appeal of a ruling that struck down the mask requirement for public transportation. “Americans’ decisions to wear masks should be up to them,” Ernst says. “…Americans are tired of the masks. They’re ready to move on and get on with their life.”

Last week a federal judge in Florida ruled the Centers for Disease Control had exceeded its authority by issuing a mask mandate for planes, trains, buses and subways. Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, points to President Biden’s statement last week that it’s now up to Americans to decide whether to mask up and she says pursuing an appeal creates uncertainty for businesses and travelers. “This is a point in the pandemic, and I wish that we would start calling it an endemic, that people can make up their own mind,” Ernst said.

The now cancelled nationwide mask mandate for public transportation was set to expire May 3rd. Ernst says the Biden Administration should focus its public health measures on immigrants who are illegally crossing the southern border. “You don’t know if they have been vaccinated. You don’t know if they are carrying COVID,” Ernst says. “You simply don’t know the background and their circumstances.”

Ernst opposes the Biden Administration’s plan to end a Trump era policy that has sent unauthorized immigrants and asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait for immigration court action on their cases. Human rights groups say the policy has led to an increase in violence in areas where migrants are waiting in Mexico. Ernst and other Republicans say ending the policy will lead to a dramatic increase in illegal border crossings.

(Radio Iowa) – Sioux City residents are being asked to voluntarily conserve water because of the ongoing drought. The flow in the Missouri River is low and Sioux City Utilities director Brad Puetz says wells that are used to provide water in the system are low, too. “What we’re seeing right now is significant lower levels in those supply wells,” he says, “and we’re having to valve them back a bit just to keep those wells in water.”

Puetz says residents can reduce lawn watering, take shorter showers and adjust the length of washing cycles on dishwashers and washing machines — and he emphasizes these are voluntary moves for Sioux City residents. “There is a conservation plan in place. This step does not start step one of the conservation plan,” Puetz says. “We’re trying to head it off as early as possible, asking citizens to conserve water in the home as much as possible.”

City officials are reducing street cleaning in Sioux City and will not flush fire hydrants unless it’s necessary. The Missouri River helps replenish the city’s water wells. Puetz does NOT expect the Army Corps of Engineers to boost the water flow out of the Gavins Point Dam upstream in Yankton, South Dakota. “I can’t speak for the Army Corps of Engineers, but I think right now the max releases are going to say right around 25,000 to 26,000 cubic feet per second, just to meet navigation and recreational purposes,” Puetz says. “They’re dry up north, too. The larger basins — (Lake) Sakakawea, Garison and Fort Peck — they’re 10 to 11 feet low.”

Sioux City Utilities also provides water to South Sioux City, Nebraska and Dakota Dunes, South Dakota. Puetz says if customers start voluntarily conserving water now, it will lower the possibility the city will have to mandate restrictions early in the summer.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Board of Education for the Atlantic Community School District met in a Special Session this (Wednesday) evening. During their session, the Board received an update from Guy Somers on the iJAG (Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates) Program. They are also discussed School Social Work/Therapeutic classroom programs.

Superintendent Barber reminded the Board of the following dates of events:

• Their next regular meeting, which is 5:30-p.m. May 11th.
• Senior Class Night takes place at 7-p.m. May 11th.
• Baccalaureate will be held 7:30-p.m., May 18th.
• Superintendent Evaluation Comments are due in on May 18th, also.
• Graduation/Commencement is at 2-p.m. on May 22nd.
• There is a Board Work Session on May 25th at 5:30-p.m.
• The last day of school is May 26th.
• And, the End of Year Reception/Employee Recognition will be held May 27th.

The Atlantic School Board approved the following resignations and Contract Recommendations:

• Resignations:
  • Brandon Baggett, and Robert Astuni, HS English Teachers
  • Rhonda Hawkins, HS Business Teacher/Multi-Occupations Coordinator
  • Laura Vogel, HS Math Teacher
  • Pattiey Koontz, 3rd Grade Teacher
  • Jeff Hetrick, Preschool Route Driver.
• Contract Recommendations for:
  • Scott Dickerson, Transfer from HS Night Custodian to MS Day Custodian
  • Allison Widrowicz, MS Special Education
  • Nathan Berg, Volunteer Girls Golf Coach
  • Anna Pauley, HS Chemistry/Physics Teacher
  • Molly O’Hara, HS Physical Education/Health Teacher

The Board also approved the High School Gymnasium Sound System improvements. Superintendent Steve Barber said the original system was installed in 1995, and that they are “lucky” it’s lasted them this long. “We’ve looked at two different systems,” Barber said, “One that comes out of the scoreboard, which is limited to reach, and then a comprehensive one,” which would include acoustics, and is under the cost estimate of $51,000. It includes multiple speakers and controls, and will be an upgrade from the system they’ve been struggling with all year.

The goal is to have the work complete by sometime in August.

(Woodbury County, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Insurance Division report 64-year-old Jay Wickey, of Sergeant Bluff, recently pled guilty to two counts of Forgery (Aggravated Misdemeanor) following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau. The investigation began in February 2019 after a complaint alleged Wickey had falsely endorsed the signature of a financial institution on multiple insurance checks. Wickey was arrested on December 21, 2019.

The investigation determined Wickey falsely endorsed the signature of his vehicle’s lienholder, Regional Acceptance Bank, without their knowledge or consent, allowing him to collect proceeds for himself. Wickey’s actions prevented Regional Acceptance Bank from protecting their financial interest by confirming the vehicle’s repairs had been completed.

“Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime,” Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said. “I appreciate the hard work of our Fraud Bureau and the Woodbury County Attorney’s Office in the prosecution of this case so Mr. Wickey was held accountable for his actions.”

Photo courtesy of the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office

Following his guilty plea, Wickey received a two year suspended prison sentence, two years of probation, and was ordered to pay a fine of $625 as well as a probation enrollment fee of $300.

Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report details the healthiest — and least healthy — counties in Iowa, based on more than 30 factors that influence how long and how well people live. Michael Stevenson, a team leader at the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute, says Iowans can log on and see how their individual counties stack up. “The healthiest counties in the state of Iowa are Dallas coming in at number one, Winneshiek coming in at number two, and Sioux coming in at number three,” Stevenson says. “The counties ranking among the least healthy in Iowa this year are Monona, Lee and Montgomery.”

One of the big expenses families face is child care. The report finds the typical Iowa family with two children will spend 24-percent of their annual income on child care, just one-point below the national average of 25-percent. “There’s multiple factors that influence how long and how well we live,” Stevenson says. “This includes things like access to health care or health behaviors, things that we traditionally think about when we think about health, but it also includes things like access to a good job or access to safe and affordable housing.”

UWPHI graphic

The report’s authors hope the information is used by leaders from public health and health care, business, education, and government to provide everyone a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. “What’s important to understand is that every county has its strengths and weaknesses,” Stevenson says. “So even though a county may be ranked low in comparison to other counties within the state, there are things that they’re doing well, but there are also opportunities for them to make a difference, and to really improve the conditions that help us all be healthy.”

This is the 12th year for the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program, which offers communities across the nation the tools and resources to help them take action to improve health.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report from a progressive think tank finds 15 percent of Iowa households with at least one full-time worker did not have enough income to meet basic needs in 2020. The “Cost of Living in Iowa” report from Common Good Iowa finds nearly half of single-parent families needed government assistance to cover basic living expenses.  “Half the jobs in Iowa don’t pay enough for a single parent with two children to make a living and cover the costs of child care.” That’s Peter Fisher, research director for Common Good Iowa who is the report’s co-author.

The report focuses on mid-2020, the most recent period when detailed data was available. Fisher says it means the analysis doesn’t reflect the current impact of inflation. “Inflation has started to take off and wages which until recently were keeping up with inflation probably in the last several months have not,” he says. According to Fisher, most Iowa workers need to earn at least twice the minimum wage to have an income that covers a barebones budget for food, housing, utilities, transportation, health care and — if there are kids — child care.

“For example, a single person now needs $13.84 an hour. A single parent with just one child would need $18.24 an hour,” Fisher says. “A married couple, both working, with two children would need to each earn $15 an hour.” The report concludes nearly 114-thousand Iowa households where at least one adult has a job needed food assistance along with government-paid health care coverage and child care assistance in 2020. Natalie Veldhouse, co-author of the report, says the majority of residents in those households are white, but racial minorities are more likely to live in an Iowa home where money is tight.

“That’s 34% of black working households,” she says, “26% of Hispanic working households.” Common Good Iowa executive director Anne Discher says the earning power of workers who are paid by the hour has eroded over several decades. Common Good Iowa supports raising the rate to 15 dollars for all workers who are paid by the hour, plus it’s calling for an increase in government spending to supplement the wages child care workers as well as employees who provide direct care to elderly and disabled Iowans.

“The economic bind of those industries are that workers are paid extraordinarily low wages and yet families struggle mightily to pay for them and there’s really a role for the public sector — and in particular I’m thinking of Medicare reimbursements or our child care assistance program — to really fill in the gap,” she says. “so that folks can work in those job and make a barebones (income) and families can afford to get the care they need for their loved ones.”

Common Good Iowa was formed 16 months ago by the merger of the Iowa Child and Family Policy Center and the Iowa Policy Project. The Iowa Policy Project had issued seven previous “Cost of Living in Iowa” reports.

(Radio Iowa) – Hy-Vee is eliminating up to 500 more jobs at its corporate offices. The company is offering to pay moving expenses for an undisclosed number of those corporate employees who accept retail jobs in Hy-Vee stores. HyVee made the announcement in advertisements in The Des Moines Register and The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Hy-Vee’s C-E-O said the company is reducing operational costs in preparation for uncertain times ahead.

Hy-Vee already cut 121 corporate positions in March and its C-E-O criticized employees in that group who did not accept transfers to retail positions. Last week, Hy-Vee announced it would no longer open five new stores in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. This week, it announced a delay in construction of a Hy-Vee warehouse in Cumming.

HyVee currently operates at 280 locations in eight states. It has recently scaled back the number of stores that offer its “Aisles On Line” grocery delivery and pick-up service.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A little more than a week after a Cass County District Court Judge took a change of venue request in the Alison Dorsey case, she ruled today (Wednesday), that Dorsey’s second trial in the death of a child will take place in Council Bluffs’ Pottawattamie County District Court. Judge Amy Zacharias agreed with the Prosecutor, that the case could not be tried again in Cass County, due to extensive publicity.

Dorsey’s new trial remains set for 9:30-a.m. June 20, 2022. Her first trial in Cass County District Court ended November 4, 2021 in a mistrial, because the jury was deadlocked.

Dorsey was on trial for the October, 2019 death of an infant in her care at a facility in Massena. The State charged Dorsey with First Degree Murder and Child Endangerment resulting in death.