(Radio Iowa) – Saint Patrick’s Day is next Friday and next week is traditionally one of the deadliest weeks of the year for motorists and pedestrians in Iowa and nationwide. Sheri Krohn, program administrator of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, says they’re partnering with local law enforcement to launch a nine-day effort this weekend, spreading the message about the dangers of drinking and driving — and to take impaired drivers off the road. “There’s a lot of celebrations surrounding this holiday which means an increase in alcohol consumption and an increase in pedestrian traffic, and it can also be a nighttime event,” Krohn says. “This year, the holiday is on a Friday which will again increase the amount of activities and pedestrians in the area.”

The program starts this Saturday and runs through next Sunday, March 19th. Krohn says if you’re at a St. Pat’s party on foot, you’ll need to be especially cautious. “Pedestrians can limit their number of drinks, stay alert while they’re walking, stay off of their phones, use crosswalks,” Krohn says, “and most importantly, make sure that you make eye contact with the driver before crossing the street.” During the week of St. Patrick’s Day last year, 48 people were either seriously injured or killed in car crashes on Iowa’s roads. “Drivers should also stay alert, slow down, stay off their electronics,” she says. “Everyone needs to play a part to stay safe.”

If you’re going to drink, Krohn says to make the smart choice and plan for a sober ride. If you’re the designated driver, she says to make sure you keep that promise of safety to yourself and your passengers.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill to set up a new, quicker routes for getting a license to teach in Iowa cleared the Iowa House this week. Representative Henry Stone, a Republican from Forest City, says it would help ease the teacher shortage. “When a teacher shows up in the classroom, kids aren’t asking them what path it took to be there,” Stone said. “Their only concern is to be educated to the best extent possible.”

If the bill becomes law, people with a college degree could be hired as teaching interns while they complete their
training for a license. The bill would also let a college graduate take an online course to get a temporary teaching license rather than enroll in a teacher prep program at a college or university. Sixty-one Republicans voted for the bill. Two Republicans and all the Democrats in the House voted against it.

Representative Molly Buck, a Democrat from Ankeny who’s a teacher, says there should be a required period of student teaching under the direct supervision of an experienced educator before someone leads a class on their own.  “Would you want you house wired by an electrician who had never done an apprenticeship? Would you like to be operated on by a surgeon who’d never been through a residency program? How about flying on a plane with a pilot who’d never actually flown a plane?”

Representative Sue Cahill, a Democrat from Marshalltown who’s a retired teacher, says she’s seen people quit after a stint of student teaching — with another veteran teacher in the room. “It is a lot different than it looks on TV, then it looks when reading a book, or you may have experienced when you were a student,” Cahill says. Stone says these type of alternative licensing options are being used successfully by teachers in other states like Wisconsin and Missouri.  “It might not be comfortable trying something you’re not used to,” Stone said. “But…why not give them a try?”

Stone says the traditional route of licensure, with periods of supervised student teaching, is always an option, but this bill would let capable people more quickly get a job leading a classroom. “Somebody who wants to pursue a teaching degree as a second career path or later on in life isn’t just doing it on a whim. They are invested in this process. Also the district doesn’t have to hire them,” Stone says. “At the end of the day the school district decides whether or not to hire that individual.”

Also this week, Republicans in the House passed a bill to change the make-up of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners so five would be parents, five would be educators and one would be a school board member. Currently, the Iowa Department of Education’s director, two parents and nine educators serve on the board.

(Radio Iowa) – A state official who signed off on the legal settlement with a dozen former Hawkeye football players says he applauds the decision to have Iowa’s Athletics Department cover the entire cost. State Treasurer Roby Smith, a member of the State Appeals Board, voted to approve the settlement Tuesday. State tax dollars were to cover nearly half of the more than four MILLION dollar payment to black players who alleged there was racial discrimination in the Hawkeye football program.

Smith is revealing the Iowa Attorney General’s staff told him before the vote that the University of Iowa and the Board of Regents were refusing the pay the full amount, but voting no would force the case to trial and that could cost taxpayers far more. Smith says requiring the Iowa Athletics Department to cover the entire settlement is the right course, but Smith is renewing his call for the university’s president to reexamine the University of Iowa’s relationship with Hawkeye athletics director Gary Barta.

State Auditor Rob Sand, another member of the State Appeals Board, voted against the settlement because it’s the fourth discrimination settlement during Barta’s tenure at Iowa. Sand says he’d like to see a copy of the two million dollar check the Iowa Athletics Department writes to the state so taxpayers aren’t on the hook for it. “I am delighted that President Wilson listened to the concerns that lead to my vote against the settlement,” Sand says. “I am delighted she listened to taxpayers who wanted real accountability.”

A bill pending in the Iowa House would forbid state tax dollars from being spent on any future legal settlement over Hawkeye athletics. The state treasurer says legislators should consider expanding the bill to prohibit tax dollars from covering all claims against the three state universities.

(Irwin, Iowa) – A collision in Shelby County Thursday, claimed the life of a 20-year-old man. The Iowa State Patrol reports Grant T. Gaer, of Irwin, was driving a 1995 Toyota Camry northbound on M-47 at around 3-p.m., just south of Irwin, when the vehicle crossed the center line of the road and the southbound lane. The car struck a transport van driven by 74-year-old Galen Dean Gaer, also of Irwin.

Grant Gaer died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt. The occupants of the transport van were not injured.