(Radio Iowa) – Iowa now ranks among the “top tier” states in a non-profit group’s annual study of preparedness to respond to a range of health emergencies, including disease outbreaks and natural disasters. Dara Lieberman, director of government relations at Trust for America’s Health, says the rankings are compiled based on ten key factors. “Generally, Iowa’s been in the middle for the last couple of years so they did move up this year,” Lieberman says. “We think that might be because Iowa increased its public health funding in the last year but that is after cuts the previous couple of years. It is important that state lawmakers invest in public health every year and not just during a pandemic.”

In addition to a boost in public health funding, the report notes Iowa had an increase in the percentage of workers who use paid time off.  “One area where the state needs to improve is a relatively low percentage of hospitals had a top patient safety grade,” Lieberman says. “That shows why private sector health care systems are such an important piece of our emergency preparedness. We also found, in one of our new indicators this year, only about 38% of Iowa residents were estimated to be protected by what’s considered a public health system.”

As America enters its third year of grappling with COVID-19, she says the pandemic continued to demonstrate the need for urgent investment to create a public health system to protect everyone. Iowa showed its ability to respond to natural disasters just this past week, after a storm system spun off multiple tornadoes in the state. “The public health preparedness funding that goes to Iowa, that comes from CDC, has helped them better prepare for disasters like tornadoes,” Lieberman says, “so they can better equip shelters, they can help inform the public about the health risks, and work with emergency management to protect people who are most vulnerable.”

Iowa is among 17 states in the top tier category, with 20 states in the middle, and 13 in the bottom tier. See the full “Ready or Not” report at: www.tfah.org

Sheriff’s officials in Page County report the arrest on Wednesday, of 47-year-old Jeremy Leslie Williams, of Clarinda. He was taken into custody at a residence in Clarinda, on a Page County Warrant for Violation of no contact / protective order – contempt. Williams was transported to the Page County Jail where he was being held without bond, by order of his arrest warrant.

Jeremy L. Williams

 DES MOINES – Iowa Democrat 3rd District Representative Cindy Axne’s office, today (Thursday), said nearly $10.2-million that will go toward nine community projects in Iowa’s Third District, was included in the government funding bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Congresswoman Axne submitted her request for funding for the community projects to the House Appropriations Committee in April of 2021 and joined a bipartisan majority of her colleagues in voting to fund the projects this week.

Axne said “There’s no better feeling than to be able to deliver the money that communities all across Iowa’s Third District specifically requested. This money is going to be used to rebuild bridges, to expand childcare centers and affordable housing projects, and so much more. I’m so glad to know that these projects, which will help the Third District tremendously, will finally come to fruition.”

Locally, among the nine projects that will receive funding is:

• Expansion of the Stanton Child Resource Center ($1-million)
• The expansion of affordable housing options in Council Bluffs, Iowa by supporting the construction of more than 75 affordable units at the South End Housing Development Program ($904, 336).
• Expanded programming and the adding of facility at the Ringgold Child Care Center, in Mt. Ayr. $725,336).
• and the repair and upgrade of components at the Creston Waterworks, in Creston ($600,000).

Under guidance issued by the Appropriations Committee, each Representative could request funding for up to 10 projects in their community for Fiscal Year 2022. Projects were restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and eligible non-profit entities were permitted to receive funding. Last year, Rep. Axne solicited input from community members across central and southwest Iowa to identify funding opportunities that would qualify for inclusion in this year’s funding bills.

(Radio Iowa) – A central Iowa man faces life in prison for child sexual abuse. On Wednesday, 50-year-old Stephen Albert of Tama was convicted by a federal jury on one count of sexual abuse by threat and force and one count of sexual abuse of a minor. Evidence presented at the trial revealed that Albert sexually abused a child at multiple residences and at his place of employment on the Meskwaki settlement.

Court documents reveal the incidents occurred between the summer of 2012 and October of 2016. A sentencing date has not yet been set. Albert faces a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, and a lifetime of supervised release if he’s released from prison.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak are investigating a hit-and-run, property damage accident that took place at around 6:30-p.m., Wednesday. Authorities say a 2017 Chevy Traverse SUV owned by Patricia Turnbull, and legally parked at 1110 E. Corning Street, was struck behind the driver’s side front tire and driver’s side door, apparently by a vehicle traveling westbound. The collision resulted in a transfer of white paint from an unknown vehicle. There were no tire marks on the road to indicate someone tried to stop.

Damage to the SUV was estimated at $2,000.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office Thursday (today), reports a man was arrested on warrants Wednesday night, in Carbon. Authorities say 61-year old Ricardo Alphonso Avila was taken into custody in the 600 block of B Street in Carbon, on 10 Adams County warrants for Failure to Appear. Avila was additionally charged with possession of a controlled substance/Methamphetamine, and possession of a controlled substance/Marijuana. He was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond.

Ricardo Avila

And, Deputies in Adams County arrested a woman from Union County, Tuesday. Officials say 40-year old Heather Fay Scarberry, of Creston, was arrested following a traffic stop on Highway 34 at Poplar Avenue. Scarberry was charged with OWI/1^st offense. She was also cited for speeding and open container. Deputies transported Scarberry to the Adams County Jail where she was being held without bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain reported net income was up 66 percent in the third quarter compared to last year as gasoline and in-store sales were both up. Gas prices in Iowa have increased by 46 cents a gallon in the last week — but Casey’s C-E-O Darren Rebelez, says sales haven’t dropped off. “This will seem counterintuitive, but when you see prices rapidly increasing like we have over the last week — the consume behavior tends to be more of aggressive buying as opposed to not aggressive buying — because people are afraid it is going to be 20 cents more a gallon tomorrow as it was today,” Rebelez explains.

Rebelez spoke about the gas situation during a conference call for investors on the third-quarter results. “Our gallons have increased far beyond where our current trend line had been going prior to all this happening. Now, at some point when it hits a peak –people are going to have full gas tanks and we’ll see a week or so lag of full volume, and it will start to normalize again,” he says. Rebelez says you need to keep things in perspective as the gas price approaches four dollars a gallon. “The last time was in July of 2008. Certainly, that was during the financial crisis and it peaked out at four dollars and six cents a gallon. By today’s dollars — that would be five dollars and 30 cents a gallon,” Rebelez says.

Casey’s CEO Darren Rebelez

He says the economic situation is much different now than it was when gas hit the four-dollar mark. “All four dollars aren’t created equal,” Rebelez says, “we would need to get to well over five dollars a gallon before we start to see the same dynamic that we saw in 2008. In 2008, you did start to see some demand destruction — but there was also a pretty significant recession taking place at the time. Unemployment at that time was six percent and rising — ultimately getting to ten percent.” He says unemployment now is below four percent — and there is a labor shortage with employers trying to lure in workers. Rebelez doesn’t think we are at the point where people will cut back on buying gas. “There is a price at which people will start to change behavior — but we think that price is closer to five dollars a gallon than it is to four dollars a gallon right now,” he says.

Rebelez says the midwest market Casey’s serves is different from the national gas market. “The national numbers for retail prices of fuel are heavily influenced by the northeast and the west coast — which are well over four dollars a gallon,” Rebelez says. .”As we sit here today in our market, we are sitting just under four dollars a gallon across our 16-state geography. And the midwest tends to be pretty low relative to others. And part of that is because we blend a lot of ethanol, and ethanol is trading about 70 to 80 cents below gasoline.”

Casey’s saw its fuel gallons sold increase nearly six percent in the third quarter — with a margin of 38-point-three cents per gallon compared to nearly 33 cents a gallon one year ago. Total fuel gross profit increased nearly 40 percent to 237-point-nine million dollars compared to the prior year.