School has begun for dozens of central Iowa school districts, now that the state fair has ended. Marshalltown schools open tomorrow, Des Moines and Ankeny schools will be back in session on Wednesday, and Boone will return to class on Thursday.
Iowa’s public schools may soon get a new computerized testing program. The state’s board of education is reportedly on the cusp of approving the Smarter Balanced adaptive computerized tests. The tests eliminated the need to use paper, and change the difficulty of future questions based on a student’s answers.
A coalition of community groups are having a special forum a week from today for candidates for Des Moines’ school board. Nine candidates are up for four seats on the board. The forum starts at 6:30 at First Christian Church, and each candidate will get to outline his or her campaign platform.
The West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce will have a questions-and-answers session for West Des Moines school board candidates a week from today at the Learning Resource Center. Eight candidates are running for four seats in the September 8th special election.
More than a dozen health care professionals in Iowa are getting help from the new Iowa College Aid program. The program provides loan repayment benefits to those who practice in rural communities for up to four years. The average award was for nearly 39-thousand dollars.
The state is investigating nine possible cases of toxic algae exposure at state beaches. DNR has posted 27 beach advisory warnings this summer due to blue-green algae blooms in the water. The blooms are believed to be caused by a combination of warmer temps, and too much fertilizer and manure runoff.
Iowa’s drinking water wells have been tainted with small levels of pain medications, viruses, and antihistamines, according to a new report. While the Department of Natural Resources says the levels do not exceed health benchmarks, environmental advocates say they raise concerns.
The state utilities board has approved a plan from MidAmerican Energy to build a 900-million dollar wind energy project. The deal spells out how much the utility can charge customers for the plan, to reduce risk for consumers.
An Iowa-based ice cream maker has been awarded more than 640-thousand dollars in state tax incentives to help finance an expansion that will create nearly 20 new jobs. The Iowa Economic Development Authority approved the finance package for Blue Bunny on Friday.
Altoona’s city council has agreed to allow liquor to be sold at the new 10-screen Cinemark Theatre. The cinema is set to open this fall across from Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino.
The nice weather we had throughout most of the weekend drew what could be record crowds to the Iowa State Fair. The record was set in 2008, with one-million-109-thousand coming through the gates. Fair officials are still tabulating attendance.
