AMES, Iowa – March 9, 2022 – The Iowa Transportation Commission will hold a public input meeting in Council Bluffs at the Mid-America Center, One Arena Way, on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, to hear about transportation matters from representatives of local government, interest groups, and individuals. Items that may be discussed at the meeting include the Iowa Transportation Improvement Program; transportation policies; and highway, aviation, rail, river, bicycle, pedestrian, and public transit issues.

A brief business meeting will begin at 8 a.m. immediately followed by the public input meeting. A detailed agenda will be posted on https://www.news.iowadot.gov/ prior to the meeting.

For more information concerning the meeting or to obtain a scheduled time on the agenda, contact the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Program Management Bureau, 800 Lincoln Way, Ames, Iowa 50010, telephone 515-239-1288 or email shawn.majors@iowadot.us. Please include the general topic you wish to discuss. The statements, presentations, or suggestions should be 10 minutes or less.

On Monday, April 11, the commissioners will meet informally and tour transportation projects in southwest Iowa. No action will be taken on transportation-related matters during the tour.

The Creston Police Department reports 54-year-old James Leroy Jones, of Creston, was arrested at around 9:15-p.m. Tuesday, at his home. Jones faces charges of Domestic Abuse Assault and Violation of a No Contact Order. He was transported to the Union Co Jail and held without bond, until seen by the Magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R plans to expand its bat monitoring program across the state with some new contracts. The D-N-R’s Karen Kinkead says the program began around 10 years ago. “And we’ve sort of grown the program over the last several years adding a new county or two each year. And so, this time we’ve gotten more money and we are hoping to expand almost statewide over the next three years,” Kinkead says. Federal officials picked the states where the sound monitoring of bats is done. She says the states and their partners then come up with routes that are driven by cars with boxes on top that records the sounds of the bats as they use echo location to fly and find food. Those recorded sounds then let them know what type of bats they have in each state.

Kinkead says computer software determines what type of bat the recorder heard. She says bat populations have been declining after being hit by disease. “White Nose Syndrome is a fungus that was introduced into the eastern U-S many years ago and it has slowly moved westward and has is know found I believe from coast to coast — we do have it here in Iowa,” she says. “And it’s a fungus that eats through the skin of the bat as it hibernates in the winter. Obviously it makes them uncomfortable it wakes them up and there is no food available, there’s no water available, and it disrupts their metabolism and causes quite a bit of mortality.” Kinkead says there’s some indication that White Nose Syndrome has dropped off in the east.

“Since it’s new in Iowa, we think we are still seeing a decline in our bat numbers, and we want to get a handle on that,” she says. The D-N-R has won some federal money to go along with state money, and will work with Iowa State University and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation in the bat tracking program. Kinkead says there’s no way to treat the bats — so they are focusing on improving their habitat to make them healthier.

“Invasive species in our forests is a real issue — like honeysuckle and those other invesive shrubs come in. It makes it hard for people to walk in the woods, and it also makes it hard for bats to fly and echo locate and find the insects that they need to eat and to stay healthy in the summer and produce young,” according to Kinkead. She says they are still determining which counties they will add to their bat monitoring. They will also be sending out a call for volunteers to drive the bat listening routes sometime in April or May.

(Radio Iowa) – A disaster recovery fund set up by the Greater Madison County Community Foundation is taking donations to support families impacted by Saturday’s deadly tornado. The E-F-4 twister damaged or destroyed more than 50 Winterset area homes. Foundation manager Tom Leners says with volatile prices for building materials, insurance and government relief may fall short of what people need to repair and rebuild. Leners says, “The future need and probably the bigger over-the-horizon need is for funding to go ahead and fill in the gap of what insurance and disaster payments don’t cover.”

Six people were killed in the Winterset area storm, with multiple injuries. Leners says the fund could also help pay for medical costs, deductibles or clean-up jobs not covered by insurance. The Red Cross is working with New Bridge Church in Winterset to operate a shelter for people whose homes were damaged or destroyed. Madison County Chamber of Commerce director Amara Huffine says the operation is well-stocked with food, supplies and winter clothing. She says what people need now is gift cards to help cover the cost of gas, groceries and other essentials. “Those are the biggest needs we have a lot of outpouring that have provided food, clothing all of that, that’s all taken care of,” Huffine says, “it’s the gift cards and the financial support.”

Huffine says gift cards can be dropped off or sent to New Bridge Church, while cash donations can be sent to the foundation or made online at MadisonCountyFoundation.org.

(by Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop in Red Oak, Tuesday night resulted in the arrest of an Adair County man. Red Oak Police report 34-year-old Kevin James Jungers, of Bridgewater, was taken into custody at around 10-p.m. for Driving Under Suspension – a simple misdemeanor. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on bond amounting to $491.25.