THURSDAY, JAN. 18, 2024 • VOLUME N0. 129 • ISSUE NO. 18 • 1 SECTION • 8 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
State shares outside firm’s finding on local public health Four models show different levels of control local public health entities would maintain; no changes planned in the near future By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune Following the statewide consolidation of Public Health and Human Services to a single agency in 2022, Health Management Associates, a healthcare consulting firm from Minnesota, began cond u c ti n g a review of the delivery of health and human services (HHS) in Iowa. During the Jan. 11 Jasper County Board of Health meeting, administrator Becky Pryor highlighted some areas where county residents may be affected by the firm’s recommendations. “I see a theme within this that the recommendations come down to them recommending 10 to 15 regions comprised of counties that are by each other and they need to have a population of 50,000 or more,” Pryor said. “We have a population of 37,000 to 38,000 people. That means we
would have to be with another neighboring county. Also, this isn’t saying they are doing anything yet, these are all just recommendations made by this company.” After really digging into the almost 200 page document, Pryor found a table that assessed different states in the county and h o w they do public health. It ranged from having a local county board of health to the state having control of public health. On the side of more control, the firm has a regionally administered centralized governance model based on Arkansas. In this model, HHS would provide administrative, policy, managerial direction and support and Local Public Health Agencies (LPHAs) would be organizationally a part of HHS. Other features include the establishment of a local presence in each HEALTH | 3
Submitted Photo The Colfax-Mingo Band and Choir will head to New Orleans for a performance in the “Big Easy” during spring break.
New Orleans or bust Colfax-Mingo Band and Choir headed south for spring break performance By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune The Colfax-Mingo Band and Choir are headed to the Big Easy for spring break. Almost 40 people will head south to take in the Crescent City and put on a show it won’t soon forget. “These trips are truly once in a lifetime opportunities for some of our students,” C-M 5-12 Band Director Michelle Grant said. “I look forward to them every time because it’s a chance for students to make some lifelong memories with their classmates.” The group will head out March 9, arriving the next day to begin the adventures. They will visit the Audubon Aquarium and Mulate’s for dinner and dancing the first day in New Orleans. March 11 begins with a step into history at the National World War II Museum.
In the afternoon the group will go for a walk on the wild side at the Audubon Zoo before heading to view Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World where they will see gigantic jovial jester, fiercely realistic alligators and a gorgeously exciting Marilyn Monroe with skirt flying. They will get to see some of the most awesome floats ever built for Carnival — the Orpheus 140-foot triple-tandem sea monster “Leviathan” and the 240-foot quintuple-tandem “Captain Eddie’s S.S. Endymion,” with tens of thousands of fiber optic lights. That evening the band and choir take the stage at Toulouse Street Wharf on the dock of the Steamboat Natchez. The group will then get to enjoy a ride of the boat for a dinner jazz cruise. The next morning everyone will head to Destrehan Plantation where they can view an original
KNIFF MCCULLA: Legislature should help citizenship process of immigrants who want to work State representative’s priorities for 2024 legislative session strive for improving workforce and economic development By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune
Editor’s note: The following is the final piece in a series of three articles going over Jasper County lawmakers’ priorities for the 2024 legislative session. For this year’s legislative session, Iowa House Rep. Barb Kniff McCulla’s priorities of workforce and economic development almost fully align with her role on the five committees she serves: commerce, economic growth and technology, health Kniff McCulla and human services, labor and workforce and ways and means. Kniff McCulla was only just ap-
pointed to the labor and workforce committee this legislative session. As a small business owner, she knows workforce is a constant challenge, and she told Newton News that perhaps it was that experience that earned her a spot on that committee. “I don’t know they must have flagged that and said, ‘OK, if you’re so interested in that we’re putting you on that!’ So we need to bring more workforce to this particular state,” Kniff McCulla said. “We’re just so short, and every industry I’ve spoken with agrees. That’s really going to be my drive here this next year.” Specifically, Kniff McCulla wants to allow the legalization of immigrants who really want to work. From what she has gathered speaking with immigrants, they tell her if they can get into a legalized system somehow — which she acknowlCONTACT US
document signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison dated 1804. The “Jefferson Document” assigned a handful of men, including the plantation’s first owner — Jean Noel Destrehan — to the Orleans Territorial Council, a body formed after the Louisiana Purchase to help ease the cultural transition of the Orleans Territory into an American representation democracy. Lunch will take place at the French Market before heading to the New Orleans Jazz Museum at Old US Mint then St. Louis Cemetery #2. At the cemetery, the group will go on a Voodoo Cemetery Tour and learn about the past and present of this fascinating city viewed through St. Louis Cemetery #1 (established 1789) with one of New Orleans’ top-rated guides. BAND | 2
Recent snowfall could help drought conditions for farmers While added winter moisture can be beneficial, the state has a long ways to go for topsoil to be at adequate level
edged could be more a federal problem than a state problem — they will work. “They say, ‘We want to work. We By Jamee A. Pierson want to be part of the United States. Jasper County Tribune We want to be part of the dream.’ And there are some of those indiMother Nature has made her presence known after viduals out there,” she said. “It’s not dropping more than a foot of snow from Jan. 8 to 13 all, you know, coming across the and causing the temperatures to plummet below zero for border that are horrible, that are daily highs. While a change in the forecast closed schools causing issues. We gotta close the and gave snow plow businesses their first real run of the borders but that’s a federal piece.” season, it also brought much needed moisture to the soil Kniff McCulla clarified it is gothe state so deeply depends on. ing to take some heavy vetting to The State of Iowa has been in a drought, with some ensure they have individuals “that areas in extreme drought conditions, going on four years. truly want to be United States citAccording to Greg Wandrey, Iowa Corn Growers Associizens.” ation Director of Sustainability, more than 97 percent of “There are people out there that the state is in some level of drought. Shaw “Many Media are willing and able to work and places in the drought-stricken areas of the state want to work and would love to are more than 10 inches of rainfall short of long time avcome to the United States,” she said. erages. Rainfall in Iowa averages 32 to 34 inches per year “But right now we’ve got such a mess with less in the northwest and more in the southeast,” going. And what’s taken centerstage Wandrey said. “Not many areas of the state have been est. 1851
est. 1851
KNIFF MCCULLA | 3
Newsroom: 641-792-3121, ext. 7 • Advertising: 641-792-3121, ext. 2 Subscriptions/Delivery: 641-792-5320 • Billing: 641-792-3121, ext. 6
DROUGHT | 3
est. 1851