(Radio Iowa) – Community college overall enrollment in Iowa was down slightly in 2023. Amy Geiske works in the Bureau of Community Colleges in the Department of Education. “This year we saw credit enrollment level off down just point-three percent from last year since peak recessionary enrollment in 2012 there’s been an average annual decline in enrollment about at about two-point-three percent (2.3%) that’s in line with national trends,” she says. But that enrollment decline appears to be slowing. “As we saw in the fall 23 enrollment, there’s just a slight uptick, so we hope to see that in next year’s annual report,” Geiske says.”

Credit Hours are holding steady with a point-zero-five decrease in student credit hours, so almost even. Credit hours totals a little over one-point-five million, with an average credit hours at 13-point-one per student.” The number of high school students taking community college classes continues to increase. “This past year over 52-thousand high school students enrolled in joint enrollment This is up from over 50-thousand in the previous year,, so a five-point-six percent (5.6%) increase in headcount joint enrollment,” she says. The high schooler’s taking those college classes have a major impact.

“In total, joint enrollment students comprise 45 percent of all headcount enrollment at our state’s community colleges this past year. That’s a record high,” Geiske says. “At two colleges, N-I-C-C and DMACC, joint enrollment students accounted for over 50 percent of their headcount enrollment. And we have six colleges where they were over 30 percent of total credit hours.” She says the success rate of students who graduated or transferred from a community college to another school was up three percent to nearly 53 percent.

(Radio Iowa) – Advocates of the Alzheimer’s Association from across Iowa will meet at the state capitol on Monday to ask state legislators to support two priorities that will improve early detection, diagnosis and care. Lauren Livingston, spokeswoman for the organization’s Iowa chapter, says they’ll urge lawmakers to strengthen Iowa’s Dementia Services Network by placing a dementia service specialist at each of Iowa’s six Area Agencies on Aging. “What these positions can do is really help families to navigate care planning, help them find local resources to help support them through their journey with dementia,” Livingston says. “They can even perform memory screenings and ultimately, help families keep their loved ones at home longer and reduce those costs of care for families and the state.”

Another key priority for the Alzheimer’s Association and other agencies like the American Cancer Society is to ensure Iowans have access to what’s called biomarker testing, which determines if someone is at greater risk for a given disease. “One example of that could be a PET scan, which is something that is used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, however, it’s very expensive and is not well covered by insurance,” Livingston says. “So what this bill would do is have insurance coverage of these biomarker tests to be able to diagnose people earlier, which would cut costs for the families and the state.” Iowans who are interested in dementia issues can be a part of the lobbying effort in Des Moines on Monday.

“You can visit alz.org/iowa and right at the top there is a link, you can click on to register,” Livingston says. “You can join us at the State Historical Building starting at 11 a.m. We’ll have lunch and training so you can get up to speed on what these bills are and how to talk with your legislators, and then we’ll walk up to the Capitol at 1 p.m. and meet with the legislators.”

Advocates will convene in the capitol rotunda and meet with their legislators from 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday. Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. In Iowa, more than 66,000 people have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia, and there are nearly 100,000 family and friends caring for their loved ones with the disease.

(Radio Iowa) – The wife of a Des Moines firefighter who died of cancer is urging legislators to change Iowa law. Emily Broderick’s 51-year-old husband Mike Broderick died of liver cancer in mid-January. “Unfortunately we learned through his diagnosis that only 14 cancers are covered right now for disability for the firefighters. You should say the word ‘cancer’ and it should be covered,” Broderick said. “They’re selfless servants. They run into the most dangerous of situations and how can we not give back to them?”

A memorial service for Mike Broderick was held late Thursday morning in West Des Moines. Afterwards, his wife and many of his fellow firefighters made their way to the Iowa Capitol to attend the House State Government Committee meeting. The panel unanimously passed a bill to make firefighters as well as police officers in Iowa’s municipal retirement system eligible for accidental disability and death benefits if they’re diagnosed with any form of cancer. Emily Broderick says the sooner this bill becomes law, the better.

“I do know the statistics. You’re 14 times more likely to get cancer as a firefighter,” she said. “They’re exposed to all these toxins. Their PPE has carcinogens in it.” Joe Van Haalen is president of Des Moines firefighters’ union. He says their gear contains PFAS — the so-called “forever chemicals” — to make it water repellent, plus they are being exposed to many other cancer-causing chemicals as they fight fires.  “Construction materials, the things that are inside of our houses,” Van Haalen says. “The things we encounter in house fires are just getting more and more dangerous.”

After the bill passed the House committee, firefighters lingered in Capitol hallways for handshakes and more conversions about Mike Broderick. Broderick met his wife Emily in high school in Cherokee, Iowa. He served 20 years in the U-S Army and joined the Des Moines Fire Department in 2007.

(Radio Iowa) – The Siouxland Freedom Park has opened a temporary exhibit to honor local military hero Bud Day. Brigadier General Day received the Congressional Medal of Honor after surviving years of torture in a prison camp during the Vietnam War. Freedom Park board member Marty Hogan says the exhibit honors the hero and his wife Doris as Day’s 99th birthday approaches February 24th.

“We have a lot of really good pictures, several with him and his family before he went to Vietnam and then there’s some after Vietnam. We have some little items that Doris started that remember our P-O-Ws, we have a bumper sticker from that era,” he says. Hogan hopes the display at the interpretive center of the park will spur donations of local memorabilia that will eventually become a permanent display.

“Hopefully this will kick start a few donations coming in for you know of items and then we can start on our permanent display,” Hogans says. “We would like a collage of pictures on the wall, so most of those pictures that you’ll see will be incorporated into that. But then I would like a showcase to have items inside there with little stories beside them.” Day endured more than five years of torture after being shot down. He escaped a P-O-W camp, but was recaptured and punished more for escaping. Hogan is a retired major who marvels at the fortitude of Day throughout the ordeal.

“To not hold endless hate in your heart, his faith, his faith in his country, everything that he did was geared towards getting back home to his family,” Hogan says. “And on the converse side of that, his wife was doing the same thing here. And that is a family value. I think that Americans have kind of let slip away.” Day earned 70 decorations in service to his country, second only to General Douglas MacArthur. Day was posthumously promoted to Brigadier General in 2017.

The Interpretive Center is currently open Saturdays from 10 a-m to 4 p-m in South Sioux City Nebraska.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two accidents occurred Thursday (today), in Creston, but no one was injured. According to Creston Police, the first accident happened at around 1-a.m., on Spruce Street. Authorities say a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup driven by 21-year-old Christopher Gage Selvy, of Creston, was stopped in a driveway. Selvy didn’t realize the vehicle was in reverse. When he reached down to grab something in the vehicle, he stepped on the accelerator.

The pickup crossed Spruce Street and struck a 1991 Dutchman camper which was parked in a yard. The camper was pushed into a 1990 Ford Econoline E-350 motor home/RV, which was also parked in a yard. The front of the camper also struck a 2006 Dodge RAM 2500 pickup, which was parked in front of the camper. No citations were issued.

Damage from the accident amounted to $10,500. Police were notified about the accident at around 9-a.m.

The second accident happened at around 1:30-p.m., Thursday, at S. Maple and E. Page Streets. Creston Police say a 2008 Dodge Avenger driven by 25-year-old Joshua Lee Rafter, of Creston, was traveling south on S. Maple Street, while a 2012 Chrysler van driven by 20-year-old William Brandon Berry, of Creston, was traveling east on E. Page Street.

As both vehicles entered the uncontrolled intersection, Rafter failed to yield the right-of-way. His car was struck on the passenger side rear door by the van. The damage amounted to $10,500 altogether. No citations were issued.