March 17, 2023 (DES MOINES, IA) – Today (Friday), the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Board approved awards for two established companies in Cedar Rapids and Muscatine, which will assist in the creation and retention of 69 jobs and result in a $102 million capital investment for the state. Innovation funding was awarded in support of four startups located in Ankeny, Des Moines and Hiawatha. The board also provided final approval on a reinvestment district plan for Newton. (A spreadsheet of the awards can be found HERE)

Collins Aerospace to upgrade Cedar Rapids facility
Collins Aerospace delivers advanced technology products and services to the aviation and defense industries. The company plans to remodel their manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids to accommodate expanded microelectronics fabrication processes. The project represents a capital investment of $22 million and is expected to create and retain 41 jobs at a qualifying wage of $30.24 per hour. The board awarded the company tax benefits through the High Quality Jobs (HQJ) program.

Kent Pet Group to construct facility in Muscatine
A subsidiary of the family-owned Kent Corporation, Kent Pet Group produces natural and sustainable cat litter under brands World’s Best Cat Litter, BreederCelect and Back-2-Nature. The company plans to construct a new 113,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Muscatine. The project represents an $80 million capital investment and was awarded a $150,000 forgivable loan and tax benefits through the HQJ program. It is expected to create 28 jobs, of which 27 are incented at a qualifying wage of $22.08 per hour.

Awards made to four startups

With a focus on apprenticeship opportunities, AxisU of Ankeny connects pre-qualified candidates to local trades-based employers. The platform also provides ongoing apprenticeship training that, when combined with on-the-job training, is recognized with a certificate from the U.S. Department of Labor. The company was awarded a $100,000 Demonstration Fund loan for product refinement, market planning and entry activities, and key personnel.

Ankeny-based Enceinte Health Inc. developed a smart commode to understand an individual’s health and wellness behavior within their home. The monitoring technology offers a more efficient and effective method of identifying potential health issues or preventative care opportunities. The company was awarded a $100,000 Demonstration Fund loan for proof of concept work, product refinement, market planning and entry activities, key personnel and equipment.

MetaFuel, based in Des Moines, created a system to help truck fleets manage fuel tax compliance. The technology provides assurance through data visibility and unlimited cloud storage for fuel records and seamless integration with a truck’s existing telematics hardware. The company was awarded a $50,000 Proof of Commercial Relevance loan for product refinement and market planning and entry activities.

Headquartered in Hiawatha, Shaka Culture, Inc. provides software that addresses team morale in remote or hybrid work environments. A subscription offers companies access to virtual culture programs with the goal of improving employee retention and recruiting costs. The company was awarded a $100,000 Demonstration Fund loan for market planning and entry activities and key personnel.

 Award recommendations for these funds are made by the Technology Commercialization Committee to the IEDA Board for approval.

Newton reinvestment district plan receives final approval
The Iowa Reinvestment District Program is designed to assist communities in developing transformative projects that improve the quality of life, create and enhance unique opportunities, and substantially benefit the community, region and state. The program provides for up to $100 million in new state hotel/motel and sales tax revenues to be “reinvested” within approved districts that cannot exceed 75 acres in size and must be in an Urban Renewal Area.

On June 25, 2021, the board approved provisional funding for six reinvestment district applications. Final application materials fully meeting all the program’s requirements were due prior to February 25, 2022. Newton submitted a pre-application during the 2021 annual filing window. Since that time, project representatives worked with IEDA staff to complete the final application for board review. Final application materials were received by the deadline, and today they received approval conditions subsequent on additional documentation.

The board approved the maximum benefit amount of $14 million for the Newton Legacy Reinvestment District submitted by the City of Newton. The project is focused on adapting existing facilities from Maytag’s departure, including apartments, a boutique hotel, event space and green space, as well as downtown improvements and trail connections. The plan proposes a capital investment of nearly $48 million.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report from the Alzheimer’s Association predicts a worsening shortage of family and professional caregivers in Iowa as more people are diagnosed — and more caregivers quit. Iowa chapter spokeswoman Lauren Livingston says there’s already a high demand for direct care workers, which includes nurse aides, nursing assistants and home health aides. She says they play a vital role in caring for people who are living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.  “By 2030 nationwide, we’ll need over a million more of these direct care workers, and in Iowa, we’ll need to see an increase of over 30-percent, so that’s pretty staggering,” Livingston says. “And on top of that, these jobs are really hard and they don’t pay very well, so there’s a really high turnover rate, too.”

She notes the median pay for these workers in Iowa is a little over 14-dollars an hour. Also, many tens of thousands of Iowans are getting -no- pay as they’re caring for a parent or other loved one. “There are 98,000 unpaid family caregivers, so those are loved ones caring for people that are living at home with them with Alzheimer’s and dementia,” Livingston says, “and they are providing an estimated 125-million hours of unpaid care valued at over $2.2 billion.”

Potential solutions to the looming shortage include getting better training for caregivers so they can better handle the rigors of the job, and mandated higher pay rates. The report says family caregivers in Iowa face significant emotional, physical and health-related challenges as a result of caregiving.  “These dementia family caregivers are putting in so much time that’s really taking a toll on their well-being and their mental and physical health,” she says, “on top of the health of their loved one living with dementia.”

Sixty-percent of Iowa caregivers report having at least one chronic condition, 27-percent report depression, 59-percent report high-to-very-high emotional stress due to caregiving, and 38% report high-to-very-high physical stress. According to the report, there are six-point-seven million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, including 66-thousand Iowans.

See the full report at: alz.org/facts

Police in Creston, Thursday morning, arrested a man on a charge of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree. 21-year-old Tenkeno Latraill Shaun Gipson, of Creston, was arrested at his residence. He was transported to the Union County Jail and held on a $25,000 cash or surety bond.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa District 18 House Representative Thomas Moore, a Republican from Griswold, has released his weekly report, “Moore on the Issues,” a summary of bills passed in the House. Moore said members of the House passed 33 bills, with 28 having had bi-partisan or unanimous support. Among the bills that passed through the House this week, was a State Government Realignment Bill.

Moore says “By aligning functions and services that are similar, taxpayers will have a more straightforward process for interacting with the government and receiving the proper services without unnecessarily going to several agencies. The bill now goes to the Governor for her signature.

Two other bills Moore highlighted include those pertaining to Consumer Data Privacy and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies. With regard to the CDP bill….

And, on the ESG, Moore says…

Among the other bills that passed through the Iowa House of Representatives this week, was:

·     HF340 creates a grant program to allow municipalities to provide a tax deferred award to volunteer firefighters, emergency medical care providers, and reserve peace officers.

·     HF358 increases penalties for eluding.

·     HF603 allows volunteer fire fighters, EMS providers, and reserve peace officers to purchase one set of tires per their personal vehicle each year through the state’s master contract for tires.

·     HF499 requires car insurance companies to cover the value of a car seat that is located in a vehicle subject to a loss.

·     HF570 increases penalties for assault if the victim is pregnant and the defendant knows or should have known.

Representative Tom Moore can be reached at tom.moore@legis.iowa.gov, or at 712-789-9954.

(Radio Iowa) – The State Patrol says there’s been an increase in distracted driving on the open roadways — and the D-O-T says it’s become an issue at train crossings as well. Kris Klop oversees the installation of warning devices at rail crossings for the D-O-T and says accidents started changing around the time of the COVID pandemic.  “For some reason, they’re now running into the side of trains, rather through the gates into the side of the trains, rather than trying to go around the gates and then getting hit by the trains,” he says. “I definitely have a suspicion that involves distracted driving.” Klop says racing to beat a train through a crossing is a conscious decision, but it’s hard to see how someone can just drive through gates into a train.

“Between the train through the middle of the roadway and the flashing lights and the gates, I don’t know how people can miss that and run into the train,” Klop says. Klop says there’s a yearly program to assess rail crossings and the need for warning devices or upgrades — but that doesn’t mean anything if the driver isn’t paying attention. “Nationwide, 47 percent of the accidents are at crossings that have lights and gates. So putting lights and gates at a railroad crossing does not completely eliminate the chance of there being an accident there,” he says. Klop says the number of accidents at crossings in Iowa has dropped from 300 a year in 1987 down to about 15 a year more recently.

“If everything is working properly and motorists are heeding the warning devices and not paying attention to their phone, they should be safe. If motorists are heading what’s there to warn them of the railroad crossing, they should heed that, and if everything is working properly, then they will be safe,” Klop says. Klop says Iowa has just under five-thousand railroad crossings with 22-hundred-64 that are passive and have no signals. There are 11-hundred-28 crossings with gates, 702 with just flashing lights, and 742 where the railroad track goes over or under a bridge. He says any crossing where a car has to drive over the track has some sort of advanced warning for drivers.

“At a bare minimum, it’s federally required that they have a crossbuck sign on either side with a yield sign attached to it. Or in some cases, if an engineering study determined it was necessary, they can put a stop sign there in lieu of the yield sign, “Klop says Of course, you can have a higher level of safety devices, you have flashing lights and gates or cantilevers over the roadway, with flashing lights on them. Klop says they have 15 to 18 rail signal projects during a typical year, and one to three cases each year where they close a crossing.