Hi, Tuesday. If you haven't felt like yourself lately, you may be growing.

☁️ Weather: Mostly cloudy, with a high of 61 and a low of 48.

🎂 Happy birthday to our members Bryan Moon and Kathryn Smith and happy belated birthday to Brian Millard.

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Today's newsletter is 919 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Ankeny has joined a growing list of Iowa schools offering students "brain health retreat rooms" — spaces to step away to when anxiety becomes overwhelming.

Why it matters: The rooms fit into a broader shift toward addressing student well-being before problems require more intensive behavioral or therapeutic services.

Driving the news: Ankeny this month announced it opened rooms at Northview and Southview middle schools through a partnership with Brain Health Now.

• Up to five students can use a room for 10 minutes to practice self-regulation with school social workers.
• Brain Health Now provided each room a $2,500 stipend plus furniture and signage; existing staff operate them, district spokesperson Shelley Rouse tells Axios.

Catch up quick: Debi Butler founded Brain Health Now in 2017.

• She and her husband, Andy, later helped launch the first retreat rooms at Dubuque Senior and Hempstead high schools in 2022.

Context: Debi's brother Steve was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1985, and she has said the stigma surrounding the diagnosis was isolating and negatively affected him.

• She advocates reframing the term mental illness as "brain health," arguing that it can help people overcome feelings of personal failure and encourage more people to seek treatment.

State of play: In February, the Iowa Department of Education said that nearly 20 Iowa schools had the brain health retreat rooms.

• Ottumwa High recorded about 1,000 visits during the first half of last school year.

Zoom in: Ottumwa school officials say attendance has improved since they added the rooms, particularly among students who had been chronically absent, and that some students use the rooms less frequently as they develop coping skills.

Behind the scenes: The expansion comes as Iowa schools try other approaches to improving student well-being, including tighter cellphone restrictions.

• Some Iowa schools use therapeutic classrooms to provide more intensive support for students with complex needs, aiming to help them return to a typical classroom.

The big picture: Schools are increasingly prioritizing prevention and early intervention to support students' mental health and classroom behavior, per the CDC.

Zoom out: Similar calming or wellness rooms have been used in schools in Minnesota and Massachusetts, though research remains limited on whether they improve attendance or reduce costs.

What we're watching: Whether longer-term use shows the rooms are an effective, affordable tool for schools confronting some of their biggest challenges.

Polk County could allocate $1 million toward expanding a Des Moines addiction treatment center.

Why it matters: The project would help fill a gap in inpatient addiction treatment and detox services in the metro area, particularly for people with co-occurring conditions.

Driving the news: County supervisors will vote today on the grant to Community and Family Resources (CFR) for its ongoing $18.5 million Grays Woods expansion at 3451 Easton Blvd.

State of play: The money comes from national opioid settlements with drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies, of which Polk County expects to receive more than $17 million.

Zoom in: The new 45,000-square-foot facility will bring detoxification, residential and outpatient treatment and mental health services together at CFR's existing Des Moines campus.

• Plans call for 74 beds: 24 for men, 22 for women, 16 for adolescents and 12 for medically monitored detox.
• The campus will also offer medication-assisted treatment, walk-in substance use evaluations and psychiatric services.

What's next: CFR continues to raise money and will have about $4 million left if the county approves today's allocation, spokesperson Carolyn Jenison tells Axios.

• The expansion is anticipated to open next year.

West Des Moines Parks and Recreation has reopened Crossroads Skatepark after removing aging infrastructure last year.

Why it matters: The updated park targets beginner and intermediate skaters (so feel free to pull out those rollerblades from your closet).

Details: The updated park includes a slappy curb, box bollard, radius wedge and quarter pipes for skaters.

• Around $275,000 was spent on improvements.

If you go: A ribbon-cutting will be held tomorrow at 4pm.

• 5205 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines

🚒 West Des Moines plans to demolish and rebuild its fire station off Ashworth Road, instead of moving it closer to the Valley West area. (Des Moines Register)

🚜 U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is calling on President Trump to embargo diesel exports as prices reach over $5.35 a gallon. (Newsweek)

⛽ Gas prices in the metro jumped 19 cents in a week, and are up $1.44 from a year ago. (WHO-13)

Linh here. Happy first day of fall!

Driving the news: In honor of our autumnal season, I wanted to give an update on my not-State-Fair-award-winning but still beloved plant, Hope #2.

Zoom in: While I didn't have a viable gourd for the fair, the cooler temperatures over the last few weeks have helped Hope #2 grow and have a chance for survival. (Honestly, same.)

The bottom vine: After the fair, I stopped giving the plant, well, anything.

• No fertilizer, no water. Just Iowa dirt. And here we are, ready for Halloween season!

🏚️ Linh is mourning the death of Merlynn Linn, whose haunted house has kept generations of Des Moines kids (including herself) from sleeping at night.

👻 Meanwhile, Jason wrote a song about DSM ghosts.

This newsletter was edited by Chloe Gonzales.