(Atlantic, Iowa) (Updated 10/21)- An Atlantic man spoke during the public forum portion of Wednesday evening’s Atlantic City Council meeting, and took Councilman Dick Casady to task for comments he made at a meeting two weeks ago. Justin Masker  – who resides on E. 21st Street – asked Casady to apologize for suggesting persons with vulgar signs (or flags) on their property and refuse to remove them – should be denied any requests they make to the Council in the future….

Masker said the theme he’s heard and comments he’s read from politicians, is for Americans to “comply,” in a Quid-Pro-Quo fashion (i.e.: “you to this and we’ll do that’).

He told Casady “You proved me wrong by saying something.”

He reminded Casady that an elected official works for the people, not the other way around.

Casady did not offer a response to Masker’s statements. In other business, the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, approved a schedule of Adoption Fees for the Atlantic Animal Shelter. The current adoption fees for cats is $10.00, with an additional $55.00 to $130.00 for veterinary costs. For dogs, adoption fees are $25.00, with an additional $60.00 to $265.00 for vet fees. The resolution moves the fees to a flat rate, $100.00 for cats and $200.00 for dogs.

• Giving new life to a long-closed landmark restaurant building on the Washington Square, and
• Activating an unoccupied upper story with four short-term stay units to meet local lodging and housing needs in Elkader.

(Radio Iowa) – A new Grinnell College National Poll finds President Biden’s support among independent voters has fallen and his overall approval rating is just 37 percent. The poll was conducted by Ann Selzer, who does The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll. Grinnell College political science professor Peter Hanson, the poll’s director, says Biden’s approval rating is driven by economic concerns.

“We have 52% of Americans who believe the economy will be doing worse in 12 months than it is today. Now, that’s a turn around. In previous editions of our poll we found Americans to be more confident,” Hanson says. “…I think that’s rooted in the fact that there’s been a lot of concerns about inflation, continuing concerns about the job market as Covid continues to have this ripple effect throughout our economy.”

The poll found if the 2024 election were held today, it would end in a tie between Biden and former President Donald Trump. Seventy-one percent of Republicans who responded to the Grinnell College Poll said they feel democracy is facing a major threat, and 38 percent of Republicans nationally said they’re not confident the votes cast in the 2022 election will be counted correctly.

“Consistent with the broader mission of our poll, we asked a set if questions designed to assess the health of American democracy,” Hanson says, “so we asked people how they believe our democracy is doing and then different questions being who in society they trust and what some of their attitudes are about different kinds of freedoms they have.”

Only seven percent of all the Americans surveyed said they had confidence in the federal government’s ability to solve problems and only a quarter expressed confidence in their own state’s governor. The Grinnell College National Poll found large majorities of Democrats trust doctors and scientists, but fewer than a third of Republicans trust scientists and 48 percent of Republicans expressed trust in doctors.

(Radio Iowa) – A former Southeast Polk High School teacher is sentenced to 24 years in prison for enticing a student into having sex with him. Thirty-nine-year-old Christopher Smith, formerly of Pleasant Hill, pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor.

Court documents show Smith used his cellphone and the internet in 2020 to contact a minor student while he worked full-time for Southeast Polk.

The information says he enticed the minor to engage in sex and also recorded sexual activity with the student on his cellphone. Smith will have to register as a sex offender once he is released from prison.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds plans to ask the Iowa legislature to approve new job-search requirements for Iowans who qualify for unemployment benefits. Reynolds is proposing that Iowans receiving unemployment checks be required to check in weekly with a state worker about job openings in their area and — with the exception of union members — unemployed Iowans will have to prove they’ve applied for at least four jobs.  “The agency’s primary focus will be on rapid re-employment,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says some of the changes will require legislative approval.

Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says her agency needs a re-set since Iowa is in the midst of a workforce shortage. “Our goal therefore must be to return unemployment to its original mission,” Townsend says, “a short term, transitory program with a focus on re-employment as quickly as possible.”

Iowa businesses have listed more than 86-thousand job openings on the agency’s website. Townsend says nearly 68-thousand Iowans are receiving unemployment benefits today. Townsend plans to hire 18 people to counsel unemployed Iowans and she will seek to redefine what qualifies as work search activities that are required of Iowans receiving jobless benefits.

“Utilizing new technology and additional career planners, IWD will provide one on one contact on a weekly basis to those on unemployment to help them find that next job in the shortest time possible,” Townsend says. “…(The agency) will compare individual work history with labor market information to proactively and systemically match claimants with open positions in their community.”

Townsend says the weekly check-ins would be able to happen on-line or in-person at 18 Iowa Workforce Development locations around the state. Reynolds and Townsend made the announcement this (Wednesday) morning during a news conference staged on the manufacturing floor of an Adel business. Senator Nate Boulton, the top Democrat on the Senate Labor Committee, says the state should focus on helping small businesses and expanding child care rather than having the government assign Iowans to specific jobs.