(Radio Iowa) — The end of the 20-teens is just days away and the tally isn’t yet final, but the state has gained population in the last decade — and at a slightly stronger pace than some neighbors.

Iowa is in the midst of its longest period of population growth according to Gary Krob. He’s the coordinator of the State Data Center in the State Library of Iowa. “We’ve seen consistent growth every year since the mid-80s,” Krob says. “Generally, it’s more of what I like to call slow and steady growth, but there is growth.”

The U.S. Census Bureau is likely to release a 2019 estimate soon, but the agency estimated more then three-point-one MILLION people were living in the state by July of 2018. That’s three-point-six percent population growth since the beginning of the decade. “If you look at the neighboring states around us, we actually grew at a faster rate than Wisconsin. Illinois has population loss currently. We grew than Missouri. We grew faster than Kansas,” Krob says. “Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota grew faster than we did, but the rest of the states around us actually did not grow at the same rate that we did.” In addition, Iowa no longer ranks among the top five oldest states. At the beginning of the decade, Iowa ranked fifth in the percentage of residents who were over the age of 65 and only two other states had more residents above the age of 85.

“In both those cases we rank now 17th for 65-and-over and sixth for 85-and-over, so those populations are increasing in our state, but there are other states that are seeing larger increases in the elderly population,” Krob says. “That’s something that I think sometimes people assume Iowa is aging at a faster rate than other states and that’s really just not the case.”

Nearly 22-thousand people have moved out of Iowa this decade — but the state’s population was able to grow steadily because Krob says more than twice that many people from other countries moved into Iowa. The state’s minority populations are growing, too.  “The African American population has increased by about 36 percent in the last eight years,” Krob says. “The Hispanic population has increased by about 28 percent.”

The biggest jump was in the Asian population. The number of Iowa residents of Asian descent grew 58 percent from 2010 to 2018. Krob reminds Iowans the 2020 Census begins just a few weeks into the next decade. “And there will be forms and postcards and a way to fill out the Census online,” Krob says. “and all that will start hitting mailboxes in late February and it’s really important for our state that we make sure everyone gets counted and in the right spot so that we can make sure that the funding and the resources that are needed are properly allocated.”

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa is working with five other states to study the availability of alternative fuel along Interstate 80. A federal grant will help determine where electric vehicles can be charged and where compressed natural gas is available. Stu Anderson, the Iowa D-O-T’s director of the planning, says the range of the current “early generation” electric vehicles depends on the temperature and wind.

“We have some charging infrastructure which is called Level 2 which charge at a slower rate and take longer to charge,” Anderson says, “but what we really need on these corridors for long-distance travel are the DC fast charging stations, direct current fast charging stations, which do a really high charge in a short period of time.”

Drivers of these vehicles often suffer from something called “range anxiety,” as there are long stretches of road where there are no charging or fill stations. For now, Iowa only has three of the DC-3, or fast charge stations, in Council Bluffs, Des Moines, and Coralville, while Tesla has some stations for its own vehicles.

Anderson says, “So what this planning effort will do is try to really identify the ideal location to fill in gaps and also help identify partnerships to get those facilities developed.”  Of those three fast charge sites in Iowa, two are located at gas stations, while the third is in the parking lot of a Walmart. The difference between Level 2 and the D-C-3 charging stations is four to six hours versus 20 to 30 minutes. Anderson says the cost of filling in those gaps with the appropriate electrical service to fast-charge electric vehicles can be very expensive.

“Of course, it’s more than just the charging infrastructure,” he says. “These sites also need to have amenities for the public — some sort of shelter, rest room facilities, adequate lighting, and ideally there’s some kind of restaurant or food availability. So that all comes into the discussion as well.”

From coast to coast, Interstate 80 is 29-hundred miles long. The eastern half, known as the Mid-America Corridor, goes from New Jersey, through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to the western border of Iowa. That includes 306 miles of interstate in Iowa.

(Thanks to Herb Trix, WVIK, Rock Island)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:02 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Trial is set for Feb. 3 for an Iowa woman accused of a hate crimes, including intentionally running over a girl she thought was Mexican. Nicole Marie Poole has pleaded not guilty to the hate crime charge that stems from an incident at a convenience store in a Des Moines suburb. Police have said she went to the store after a hit-and-run in another suburb. Police say she drove onto a sidewalk to hit a 14-year-old girl, telling officers she did it because the girl “is Mexican.”

GUTHRIE CENTER, Iowa (AP) — Democratic congresswoman Cindy Axne returned to her southwestern Iowa district last weekend for the first time since voting in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump. Axne narrowly won the Republican-leaning district in 2018 and is a top GOP target in 2020. Republicans have been running ads against her focused on impeachment, and Vice President Mike Pence spoke on local television to urge her to vote against it. But at her town hall, none of her constituents asked about the vote. Instead, they focused on rural issues and the trade deal that passed last week.

NORTHWOOD, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman is accused of faking cancer to collect donations. Jennifer Hope Mikesell, of Northwood, is charged with ongoing criminal conduct, theft, fraudulent practices and forgery. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press. The Worth County Sheriff’s Office says Mikesell had said she was diagnosed with cancer and was receiving cancer treatments at Mayo Clinic Health System in Rochester, Minnesota. Iowa court records say Mayo has no record of Mikesell being diagnosed or treated there. The court records say Mikesell received multiple donations of money, food and other supplies, as well as a bedroom makeover.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former school district official in northern Iowa has been settled. Mason City Schools’ former human resources director Jodie Anderson filed the lawsuit in July 2018, alleging that men employed by the district were being paid more than women for the same categories of work. The district said in a news release Monday that its insurer wanted to settle in order to “avoid the cost and disruption protracted litigation can cause.” A trial had been scheduled to begin Jan. 7. Officials have not disclosed how much money, if any, will go to Anderson in the settlement.

Police in Red Oak report a woman was arrested Tuesday night, for Breach of Peace. Authorities say 21-year old Ciara Lianne Hebb, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 7:43-p.m. in the 1200 block of E. Summit Street, and transported to the Montgomery County Jail. Her bond was set at $300. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted in conducting the arrest.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Corrections is rolling out a new policy to identify and address racial disparities in the state’s prison system. Iowa Corrections Director Beth Skinner says all staff are now required to take what’s called implicit bias training, as the department seeks out data to identify racial disparities in discipline, access to treatment, work assignments, and other aspects of incarceration.

“There’s certain things we can’t control,” Skinner says. “There’s certain things we can control, and those things that we can control, we have built a policy around to make sure everyone has equal access to treatment, people are getting treated fairly in our system.” Iowa has one of the nation’s worst records for disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans.

Skinner says it’s important for the whole criminal justice system to address this issue. “If we see there’s a great difference between races, then we kind of look under the hood,” she says. “And we see if a policy or practice is maybe causing this disparity, and if it is, we have an action plan.”

The first batch of this data is scheduled for release in January.

(Reporting by Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Trial is set for Feb. 3 for an Iowa woman accused of a hate crimes, including intentionally running over a girl she thought was Mexican. Nicole Marie Poole has pleaded not guilty to the hate crime charge that stems from an incident at a convenience store in a Des Moines suburb. Police have said she went to the store after a hit-and-run in another suburb. Police say she drove onto a sidewalk to hit a 14-year-old girl, telling officers she did it because the girl “is Mexican.”