(Radio Iowa) – A so-called Talent Poll that was done by a coalition of the state’s 15 largest chambers of commerce aims to find out what people who live in Iowa love about the state, and equally as crucial, what might make them want to move away. Dustin Miller, executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, says Iowa has one of the slowest-growing populations in the country, and most employers statewide are desperate for new blood. “We have to grow our population,” Miller says. “The reason we did this Talent Poll was to really kind of put a marker out there to say, how do Iowans feel about the state? Can we learn things from a policy standpoint that we can take to policymakers and say, childcare is important, recreational opportunities is important.”

Iowa’s slow population growth is creating a serious problem for economic growth, Miller says, as labor shortages can strangle expansion opportunities. He says most of the things survey respondents said were the positives that keep them here were of little surprise. “When we look at why do people like the state they live in, we get: small town feel, affordability, the people. We find that ‘Iowa nice’ is a real thing,” Miller says. “One of the things that I don’t think we talk about as Iowans enough is safety. That’s a big priority for people and it’s something that if you’ve lived in other places, maybe as Iowans, we take for granted.”

In the poll, 45-percent of respondents said Iowa’s entertainment opportunities are inferior to other states. While outdoor recreation continues to be a major selling point, respondents aged 18-to-29 said the lack of recreation was a major consideration for leaving Iowa. Miller says those responses are being taken very seriously. “Cities like Davenport are reinvigorating their access to the Mississippi. The same with water trails in the Des Moines area,” Miller says. “Every single community that’s a member has something like that. We know that it’s not as simple as Boomers and Gen X like myself where you’re just happy to have a job. You have to build these places around the state to attract new talent.”

Iowans’ biggest concerns, according to the poll, are with stopping inflation and the rising cost of living. Those were the top priorities with 36-percent of respondents.

The 15 chambers of commerce that are members of the alliance represent 17-thousand Iowa members in these communities: Ames, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Burlington, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Muscatine, the Cedar Valley, Iowa City, Marshalltown, Mason City, the North Iowa Corridor, the Quad Cities and Siouxland.

www.iowachamberalliance.com

(updated) (Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop at around 3:15-a.m. today (Friday), resulted in the arrest of a woman for Driving While Barred. The traffic stop took place at Highway 34 and A Avenue. 45-year-old Jill Alicia Palmer, of Bellevue, NE, was taken into custody following a records check. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 bond.

Deputies initiated a traffic stop at around 9:35-p.m., Thursday, in Villisca, and upon further investigation, arrested the driver of the vehicle, 29-year-old Tyler Steven Gibler, of Villisca, for Driving While Suspended. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on slightly more than $491 bond.

And, Police in Red Oak, Thursday afternoon, arrested 28-year-old Christian Lee Meek, of Red Oak. He was arrested on a valid Red Oak P-D warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense. Meek was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Shenandoah, Iowa) – Police in Shenandoah conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle for speeding a little after 10-p.m., Thursday, ended-up arrested the driver of the vehicle, for OWI/1st offense. Authorities say 51-year-old Timothy James Stuck, of Essex, was taken into custody in the 1500 block of Highway 48. He was being held on a $1,000 bond in the Page County Jail. Stuck was additionally cited for Speeding.

(Radio Iowa) – House Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans are having productive conversations and he’s predicting the governor’s school choice bill has the votes to pass the Iowa House.  “I don’t think I’d be moving the bill along throughout the process if we didn’t have that expectation,” Grassley says. Governor Kim Reynolds has proposed less expansive plans in the past two years, but each failed to secure enough support among House Republicans to pass.

Her new plan would let low income parents get state funds to cover expenses if they enroll a child in a private school and starting in 2025 — any private school parent could apply. Grassley says the goal now is to take a vote on the governor’s bill next week.  “I think we’ve come up with a really good bill here,” Grassley said. “I think the governor has proposed a really strong bill that addressed a lot of any of concerns that may have existed over the last two years in the debate that we’ve had.”

Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the bill yesterday (Thursday), so it’s eligible for debate next week in the Senate, too. Democrats say legislators should at least wait for the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency to complete its analysis of the bill’s fiscal impact. Senator Claire Celsi, a Democrat from Des Moines, says she doubts the governor’s estimate the plan will cost about 900 million dollars over the next four years.

“We have no clue what it’s really going to cost,” Celsi says. “If you look at what it costs in other states that have gone this route, the estimates are way low.” Other Democrats say the bill doesn’t have enough oversight of the private company that will be hired to distribute the state money to private school parents.