GREENFIELD, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Adair County’s only hospital officially cut the ribbon to mark the reopening after the tornado this spring.

The May EF-04 tornado killed four people and damaged hundreds of homes and businesses.

The hospital sits just feet from the tornado’s path. Hospital CEO Catherine Hillestad said, “I don’t think that there was a part of this hospital that wasn’t touched by the tornado in some aspect.”

Hillestad says the entire roof had to be replaced and the wind blew out most of their windows.

“The debris and the glass was embedded in our drywall so essentially we had to take everything down to the studs and then put it back up,” she said.

They had to move their clinic to the elementary school in the aftermath.

Hillestead says the community is eager for the hospital to reopen, because the next closest hospital is 20 miles away.

“This hospital is extremely important to the community and the patients it serves. You know, without this hospital, it would be really hard for people to access healthcare just because of the distance from other hospitals,” she said.

While the hospital is now accepting patients, State Rep. Bubba Sorensen (R-Greenfield) is putting finishing touches on a mural inside.

“Have the medical symbol right here and it’s kind of, it’s a little bit of an artsy take on it. So, instead of snake heads, I used eagle heads,” he said.

Sorensen says Greenfield is making remarkable progress in its recovery. “Greenfield’s never going to be the same. We’re always going to have kind of that scar through town but I think it’s we’re coming back stronger than ever,” she said.

Sorensen says the fact that a rural community like Greenfield has a rural hospital makes it crucial for the small town’s success.

“Not every rural community has an amazing hospital like this and they offer so many services here. Like I said, a great anchor point, you know. Everybody looks towards schools, hospitals, and things like that to have in a community if you want to move into a community,” he said.

Construction is mostly finished. All they need now is a garage to house their ambulance.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

The Iowa State football team continues to make signing the best in-state talent a priority, landing the top quarterback in Iowa for the third straight season.

Alex Manske, a four-time all-state selection for Algona High School, was among the 19 players who signed with the Cyclones on early signing day Wednesday. 

“We’re really excited about the class coming in,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “The staples, and what we’ve always believed in, we didn’t waiver from those. This class has guys that are winners, that come from great high school football programs and our coaches did a great job recruiting within a six-hour radius of our doorstep. We wanted to continue to find guys that fit what Iowa State is about, and I think we did that.”

The Cyclones finished with six of the Top 10 recruits from within the borders, adding Manske’s teammate, Jack Limbaugh, to the defense along with Gilbert High School star Will Hawthorne. 

Manske is regarded as a four-star recruit and ranked 42nd overall in the nation by On3. He is the highest-ranked Big 12 recruit by that outlet.

Along with Manske, Limbaugh and Hawthrone, Campbell and Iowa State added West Des Moines Valley wide receiver Zay Robinson and three-time state champion receiver Sam Zelenovich from Southeast Polk. 

Spirit Lake’s Ethan Stecker and Will Tompkins of Cedar Falls round out the Iowa preps. 

Here is a look at the early signees for the 2025 Iowa State football recruiting class:

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For the second time in less than a year, a sanitation contractor for Seaboard Triumph Foods LLC in Sioux City was found to employ children doing dangerous work at the pork processing plant.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa approved a consent order and judgment Nov. 27 with Qvest LLC. Under terms of the agreement, Qvest must pay $171,919 in child labor civil money penalties, hire a third-party to review and implement company policies to prevent the employment of children and establish a process for reporting concerns about the illegal employment of children.

In an emailed statement, Seaboard Triumph Foods (STF) said that none of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) filings included their company. It said it has not contracted with Qvest, “who had express contractual requirements to follow all labor laws,” for more than a year.

“STF did not employ any of the alleged individuals and has no evidence that any underage individuals accessed the plant,” the statement said.

The statement, which quotes former head of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division and current Seaboard counsel Paul DeCamp, also pointed out that employers across the country are struggling with the problem of people, including minors, being able to obtain jobs through fraudulent identification documents sophisticated enough to fool even the federal government’s E-Verify system.

“Businesses are victimized by this fraud,” DeCamp said in the statement.

“Safety, ethical practices and compliance with regulations and industry standards are of paramount importance to STF. We expect the same from our vendors and partners, and we will not tolerate any vendor’s use of underage labor within our facility, and will also take measures to prevent fraud against our company,” the statement said.

Qvest did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Federal law forbids children under age 18 from being employed in dangerous jobs common in meat and poultry slaughtering, processing, rendering and packing operations.

A DOL investigation determined that 11 children had been employed during the night shift and were using corrosive cleaners to clean head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws, neck clippers and other equipment within the facility. The DOL did not provide ages of the child workers.

Earlier this year, the federal court levied nearly $650,000 in penalties against Fayette Janitorial Services of Somerville, Tennessee, after hiring 24 children, some as young as 13, to clean dangerous equipment at Seaboard Triumph.

Seaboard Triumph announced in February it was cancelling its contracts with Fayette after the DOL investigation found the children working in the plant and sought a court injunction to stop it. Fayette had taken over the sanitation duties from Qvest in September 2023 and rehired some of the children that Qvest previously employed, according to a DOL new release.

Seaboard Triumph contracted with Qvest for cleaning services from 2019 until September 2023, when it hired Fayette.

JBS USA announced in April 2023 that it would start its own sanitation service at its meatpacking facilities including Marshalltown, cutting ties with Packers Sanitation Services, Inc., (PSSI) after it admitted employing approximately 100 children at several JBS plants throughout the Midwest and was fined $1.5 million.

PSSI admitted having workers ages 13 to 17 clean 13 slaughterhouses, although none were in Iowa.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to end the illegal employment of children in our nation’s workplaces,” DOL regional solicitor Christine Z. Heri said in a news release. “We are committed to using all strategies to stop and prevent unlawful child labor and holding all employers legally responsible for their actions. Children should never be hired to perform dangerous and prohibited tasks.”

In fiscal year 2024, the DOL concluded 736 investigations uncovering child labor violations that affected 4,030 children, and assessed employers more than $15.1 million in penalties for violating federal child labor laws, an 89 percent increase since 2023.

Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.