(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Auditor of State Rob Sand’s office reports taxpayers are reaping the rewards of a more than 55% increase in participation in Sand’s Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program in just its second year. The increase includes entries from 84 counties, 310 cities, and first-time submissions from 121 school districts.

Sand says he’s “thrilled government entities in every Iowa county used this opportunity to save taxpayers money. Ultimately, the PIE program has the potential to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for communities across our state.”

The government entities participating in the 2021 PIE program in Cass County, are:

• The Griswold Community School District (CSD)
• City of Lewis
• Countywide Submission (Aud)
• CAM CSD
• City of Cumberland
• Atlantic CSD
• City of Massena

Auditor Sand created the PIE program in 2019 to spark innovative ideas to cut waste and save tax dollars. The PIE program also provides local leaders with tools to collaborate and share their cost-cutting concepts, known as PIE recipes, via the Auditor of State website. The submissions range from installing solar panels to shutting down computers when not in use. The PIE program has proven so successful, it is being replicated by Mississippi Auditor of State, Shad White who said his office was “inspired” by Auditor Sand’s PIE program.

“The across-the-aisle friendship shows what elected officials should put first: public service, not party,” said Sand. “I’m humbled to share what we started in  Iowa, but also excited to in turn copy innovations uncovered in Mississippi.” Auditor Sand will announce the winners of the 2021 PIE awards at a later date and recognize their money-saving achievements by hand-delivering a pie to community leaders.

For more information on the PIE program, contact Drew Stensland at drew.stensland@aos.iowa.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – Regional air carrier SkyWest has announced they are planning to pull their commercial service out of Sioux City, Mason City, and Fort Dodge. Assistant city manager Mike Collett oversees the Sioux Gateway Airport and says this SkyWest also gave a 90-day notice they were ending service during the height of the pandemic. “The good thing for Sioux City is that we’re part of the essential air service program, so as soon as they file this notice — it triggers a process with the federal D-O-T to start the 90-day — which they’ll go out and take bids from other airlines so we don’t have an absence in service,” according to Collet.

SkyWest cites the ongoing pilot staffing shortages as the reason for ending service. Collett is confident another airline will step up to provide flights:  “We’ll reach out to our airline contacts and foster those relationships we’ve had with them through the years. We’ll have other interest, we had three last time and I think we’ve had two to three bidders each time we’ve gone through this bidding process for essential air service,” he says.

Collett is also hopeful SkyWest will extend their service past the next 90 days: He says when American filed to leave in August of 2020 and were in the market into the following April and he expects SkyWest to be in the market for a smooth transition like American did.

SkyWest had recently suspended one of its three daily flights from Sioux Gateway Airport to Denver, and Sioux City officials last month announced they were extending their service agreement with the air carrier.

(Radio Iowa) – A Girl Scout troop in Council Bluffs is turning cookie sales into opportunities for girls who are homeless. The Micah House Homeless Shelter sponsors a troop that’s sold more than four-thousand boxes of cookies so far, with the money raised going toward field trips for the girls and their families. Shelter associate director Ashley Flater says the troop gives the girls a chance for stability and fun.  “That’s the way that we’re going to improve their self confidence,” Flater says. “That’s how they’re going to learn and grow and make those connections that help determine what their future looks like.”

Last year, the troop sold more than 20-thousand cookies to customers in all 50 states. This year, the girls are asking each buyer to consider giving an additional box of cookies to a friend or neighbor. Kayla Terrillion oversees the shelter’s Girl Scout program. She says it’s about more than just badges. It’s about community. “Most of their friends probably have no idea what it’s like to be homeless,” Terrillion says. “And so for them, it’s the idea that I’m here, and everybody else is going through the same thing that I’m going through.”

Cookie sales can pay for things like zoo passes or going horseback riding, while Terrillion says meeting cookie sales goals empowers the girls. “Some of these kids are pushing against the odds right now,” she says, “and what better way to show that we can beat the odds then by starting with Girl Scout cookies?”

The troop will be accepting orders until the end of March.

(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Democrats are considering a plan that could bump the Iowa Caucuses out of the first-in-the-nation position — and the party will be hosting three forums to give Democrats across the country a chance to weigh in on how the party picks its presidential nominees. Later this summer, the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is to recommend the sequence of voting events in 2024. Former Iowa Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan is a member of the committee, which met this past weekend.

“I have been assured that it’s going to be a fair and open process,” Brennan says, “and I take everyone at their word that is going to be the case.” National party leaders have been encouraging states to hold primaries rather than caucuses. By 2020, Democratic Parties in just Iowa, Wyoming and Nevada held Caucuses — and officials in Nevada already are planning to hold a presidential primary in 2024.

“Caucuses have their challenges, but I think we want to work with the Rules and Bylaws Committee to come up with a proposal that makes the Caucuses even more open and accessible.” The Des Moines Register was first to report national party leaders have developed a memo that outlines some new rules for which states have early voting contests in the 2024 presidential election, but the committee took no action on the matter this weekend.

The chairman of the Iowa REPUBLICAN Party says national party leaders are poised to confirm that the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses are to be first in 2024 and send the message that Middle America matters to the G-O-P.

(Creston, Iowa) – Authorities in Union County report two separate, non-injury accidents. In Creston, the Police Department says a 2020 Chevy Equinox was traveling west on Irving Street and approaching Elm Street, Saturday, when the SUV struck a legally parked, unoccupied 2018 Jeep Cherokee. The accident happened at around 1:17-p.m. The damage was estimated at $7,000 altogether. The driver of the SUV was identified as 40-year-old Emily Marie Edwards, of Creston. No citations were issued.

The second accident happened in Union County at around 7:26-p.m., Sunday. Sheriff’s officials report a 2004 Ford pickup driven by 69-year-old Dennis James Leith, of Creston, was traveling on Rea Road near Lark Avenue, when his leg cast (for a broken leg) got caught on the accelerator and caused him accelerate while attempting to negotiate a left curve in the road.

Leith tried to brake, but was unable to stop the pickup. The vehicle struck a Union County Secondary Roads Dept. sign, went around the curve and into the west ditch, where it rolled over and came to rest on its top. Leith was not injured. He was the vehicle removed by a tractor and towed back to his residence. The damage amounted to $5,100 altogether.