(Radio Iowa) -The state is asking the Iowa Supreme Court to end a lawsuit by the wife of correctional officer killed in 2021 at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. Sara Montague filed a wrongful death lawsuit against 26 state employees alleging they knew about inadequate training and policies that led to the murder of her husband Robert McFarland. Patrick Valencia with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office told the Iowa Supreme Court that Montague didn’t follow the rules for filing claims against all 26 employees.

“And the compliance with the rules is key, because that’s what the legislature has said you must do to take advantage of the limited waiver of sovereign immunity,” Valencia says. Montague’s lawyer, Robert Rehkemper, says the state withheld information that would’ve allowed them to name defendants earlier in the process.

“I think there’s a distinction too when we’re dealing with a death. I can’t ask Mr. McFarland, who messed up in the situation that got you hurt? I can’t ask him. I have to look at the investigative files,” he says. “But in this situation the investigative files are completely within the possession of the employer.”

Robert McFarland and a nurse at the prison were both killed in an attack by two inmates.

(Radio  Iowa) – A mayor has been chosen for a small northwest Iowa town after a tie in last week’s election. Incumbent Willard McFarland and challenger Michael Bohlke tied for mayor of Westfield during last Tuesday’s elections, with 22 votes each.

Per procedure, the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors had to draw lots to determine the new mayor of the westernmost town in the state. And during their meeting today, supervisor Doug Manley had the honor of picking one of two pieces of paper out of fellow supervisor Craig Anderson’s cowboy hat.

Manley pulled Bohlke’s name out of the hat. He will be the next mayor of Westfield.

(Radio Iowa) – Renewable Fuels Association C-E-O Geoff Cooper says the E-P-A in the past week has given more small oil refineries a pass when it comes to adding ethanol to gasoline. “Adding another 14 small refinery exemptions to what is already a massive pile of exemptions that have been granted in the last couple of months,” Cooper says. The Trump Administration has reviewed a backlog of requests dating back to the Biden Administration and so far this year has granted exemptions to 160 small refineries.

“Essentially what this decision does is it just adds more uncertainty, more confusion in the renewable fuel and agricultural and agricultural markets,” Cooper said, “and that’s certainly not something we need to see today.” The Renewable Fuel Standard requires that billions of gallons of ethanol and other biofuels be blended into fuel each year. Small refiners may seek exemptions, however, if they show the blending requirement would be a big financial hit the operation.

The E-P-A has another 15 requests under review. Iowa is the nation’s top ethanol-producing state, with 42 plants that use corn to make ethanol and two that use plant material to make ethanol.

AMES, Iowa – Nov. 12, 2025 – Today, the Iowa Transportation Commission approved $3,127,377 for nine State Recreational Trails Program projects. Among the projects and approved funding, was $285,000 for the Wabash Trace/Rapp Park Connector Trail (in Page County), and $500,000 for the Great American Rail Trail: Weston to Underwood (Pottawattamie County Conservation Board).

The State Recreational Trails Program was created in 1988 with the purpose of developing and maintaining recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both motorized and non-motorized trail users. This funding is available to cities, counties, state agencies, local governments, and nonprofit organizations through an annual application-based program.

The other projects and approved funding amounts are listed below.

• Clay County Connection Phase 3 (Dickinson County) : $295,000
• Grant Wood Trail Connection to Cedar Valley Nature Trail
  (Cedar Rapids) : $200,000
• Great Western Trail Rehabilitation Phase 2 (Warren County Conservation Board) : $543,200
• Heritage Trail Bridge 30 Replacement (Dubuque County Conservation Board) : $170,250
• Neal Smith Trail Reconstruction and Birdland Park Connection
  (Des Moines) : $200,000
• Prairie Restoration Trail (Laurens) : $433,927
• Waukee Regional Trail Connection and Safety Improvements Project (Waukee) : $500,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday, Nov. 12th and acted on several matters. First-up, the Board discussed and then approved a $500 contribution to ISAC (The Iowa State Association of Counties), to cover the legal costs of an Amicus Brief presentation to the U-S Supreme Court, and with regard to a case over local control of carbon pipeline projects. Numerous other counties across the State, including (locally) Montgomery, Page and Adair, have also agreed to contribute the same amount, while others were in the process of discussing and acting on the request for funds.

Supervisor Wendy Richter clarified ISAC’s role in the process.

In October, Shelby and Story County officials filed a petition in their case against Summit Carbon Solutions, seeking to appeal the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in June that upheld a lower court’s ruling barring counties from implementing ordinances regulating carbon sequestration projects–such as the proposed Midwest Express CO2 pipeline.

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors acknowledged the receipt of recommendations from the Cass County Zoning Commission, and the setting of Public Hearings, with regard to: An application for a zoning change by Robert and Karen Davis, from Suburban Rural- to Agricultural. Cass County Zoning Administrator Mike Kennon explained the reason for the request.

A public hearing on the request will take place December 2nd at 9:05-a.m. In the Supervisor’s Board Room at the Cass County Courthouse in Atlantic. The Board set Dec. 2nd at 9:10-a.m., as the date & time for a Public hearing on a requested zoning change from Kelly Wise, from Agricultural- to Business. The request pertains to a property near Wiota on the north side of Highway 6 for the purpose of building a light commercial storage unit with a fence and gates.

The Board approved a Fiscal Year 2024-25 Urban Renewal Report. And, they discussed, but took no action on a lease request by the Iowa Department of Corrections 4th Judicial District for office space at 601 Walnut, Suite 1. The Supervisors discussed a request from Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall, to approve promotions and pay raises for County Treasurer’s Clerks Stacie Linfor and Amanda Darrow. Supervisor Mark O’Brien was opposed to the raises at this time.

Board Chair Steve Baier said he was not in favor of mid-year raises. The Board’s consensus was there was no interest in approving the raises at this time, and that it would be more appropriate to do so when it is time to consider the Budget next year. In other business, the Supervisors received a quarterly report from Cass County Veterans Affairs Executive Director Mitch Holmes.

Their final order of business was to pass a resolution certifying the results of the Nov. 4th City/School elections in Cass County. According to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office 33.84-percent of the registered voters in Cass County went to their polling places to cast ballots. Board Chair Steve Baier thanked the volunteer poll workers for their service to the County during the election.

(Radio Iowa) – A northeast Iowa native who was a small-scale farmer before working on Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign is launching his own campaign for congress. Thirty-one-year-old Dave Bushaw is running as an independent in Iowa’s second district, which is currently represented by 2026 U-S Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, a Republican. “We’ve seen a flood of candidates from both the Democratic and Republican Parties into the race,” Bushaw said, “…and if 63% percent of the country wants an independent or a third party option, I see no better time to give it to them than right now.” And Bushaw says among the four congressional districts in Iowa, the second district has the highest percentage of independent or “no party” voters.

Edward Gillette of Valley Junction — a member of the Greenback-Labor Party — was elected to the U-S House in 1878 — the last time Iowans elected someone who was not a member of either the Democratic or Republican Parties to serve in congress. “Growing up working class, I’m no stranger to a challenge, you know, growing up ‘patches on patches’ poor,” Bushaw said, “both parents working, my mom working multiple jobs — going in for the hard fights is something that’s not new to me.” When he was 19, Bushaw bought four acres of land near Hawkeye and grew squash on his “Solidarity Fields” farm for several years. He’s still living on the farm, but is currently working as a Midwest organizer for United Today, Stronger Tomorrow — a group that’s focused on economic issues in rural areas.

Independent candidate Dave Bushaw of Hawkeye is running in Iowa’s second congressional district. (Bushaw campaign photo)

“We see young folks that are bleeding out of our state due to poor economic conditions, poor workers’ rights and organized labor conditions, poor health care access and opportunities to grow and settle down with your own family,” Bushaw says. “I stayed and I have no intention on going anywhere other than to Washington, D.C. to deliver rural Iowa’s priorities to the halls of congress.” In 2019 and 2020, Bushaw worked for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada. “We were out there talking to people…and really giving a damn about what they have to say and committing to taking action for it,” Bushaw says, “for them and for all of us.”

Bushaw says he’ll use that approach to find grassroots supporters for his own campaign rather than bombard people with text messages begging for campaign donations. He will host his first campaign rally on November 22nd at the Fayette County Fairgrounds in West Union, which is his hometown.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports two Quad Cities men were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a racketeering conspiracy, which engaged in a years-long pattern of violence, including murder, attempted murder, and drug trafficking. According to public court documents and evidence presented at trial and sentencing, the racketeering conspiracy involved Fifth Street gang members. The Fifth Street Gang is also known as the “Arsenal Courts Posse,” “Zone Fifth,” “Fifth Street Mafia,” “Rock Town Money Getters (RTMG),” and “Money Team.” The Fifth Street gang operated as a criminal enterprise responsible for numerous acts of violence, including murder and attempted murder in the Davenport and Rock Island area. The criminal enterprise was connected to dozens of shooting investigations and at least seven homicides over the course of two decades.

34-year-old Rasheem Damonte Bogan was sentenced on October 9, 2025, to 27 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy and felon in possession of ammunition charges, followed by three years of supervised release. On June 1, 2020, Bogan and seven co-defendants went to Necker’s Jewelers to commit a burglary. While there, the group encountered a man they mistakenly believed to be a rival gang member. Bogan and others fired 33 rounds from four firearms, seriously injuring the victim.

29-year-old Kylea Dapri Cartwright, Jr., was sentenced on November 6, 2025, to 30 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy and felon in possession of ammunition charges, followed by three years of supervised release. Cartwright was also ordered to pay $29,732.23 in restitution. Following a six-day jury trial, Cartwright was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy and possessing ammunition as a felon. Evidence at trial demonstrated that on July 5, 2020, Cartwright fired four rounds from a .40 caliber pistol toward a man on West Third Street in Davenport, resulting in the victim’s death. Cartwright used the same pistol that another Fifth Street Gang member had fired during the Necker’s Jewelers shooting a month earlier.

In total, 14 defendants, including Bogan and Cartwright, were convicted of federal crimes related to the Fifth Street Gang’s criminal conduct between April 2006 and February 2024. The 12 co-defendants were sentenced as follows:

·         Don Christopher White, Jr. was sentenced to 480 months’ imprisonment;

·         Raheem Jacques Houston was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment;

·         Deaguise Ramont Hall was sentenced to 400 months’ imprisonment;

·         Brandon Deshane Branigan was sentenced to 226 months’ imprisonment;

·         Michael Linn Cross was sentenced to 216 months’ imprisonment;

·         Devell Carl Lewis was sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment;

·         LaShawn D. James Hensley was sentenced to 144 months’ imprisonment;

·         Simmeon Terrell Hall was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment;

·         Ricky Lee Childs, Jr. was sentenced to 160 months’ imprisonment;

·         Timothy Justin Beaver was sentenced to 235 months’ imprisonment;

·         Devante Atwell French was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment; and

·         Cortez Deangelo Cooper, Jr. was sentenced to 162 months’ imprisonment.

Davenport Police Chief Jeffery Bladel said “This was a thorough and relentless investigation. Our officers stayed committed, and prosecutors were steadfast in seeking justice. Gun violence will never be tolerated in our community. These dangerous individuals showed no regard for human life and are now being held accountable. I’m incredibly thankful for our investigators, officers, and partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office whose dedication has made our city safer. The message is clear: if you commit violent acts, you will be held accountable.”

David C. Waterman, U-S Attornery for the Southern District of Iowa, said “This case represents years of tireless investigative work and close collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies to dismantle one of the most violent criminal organizations operating in the Quad Cities. The sentences imposed send an unequivocal message: those who bring violence, guns, and drugs into our communities will be held fully accountable under federal law. And let me be clear—anyone who threatens or attempts to harm our law enforcement partners will face the full force of the federal government. Our office will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the men and women who safeguard our communities every day, working together to restore safety, stability, and peace to our neighborhoods.”

The case was investigated by the Davenport and Rock Island Police Departments, with assistance from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Drug Enforcement Administration.

(Ames, Iowa) –  The Ames, Iowa-based Iowa Farmers Union (IFU) is hosting an upcoming community event in Clarinda next week. The IFU will hold a Farmers Union Community Happy Hour in Clarinda. The event takes place at The Ice House (1515 S 16th St.) on Tuesday, November 18th, from 6-until 7:30-p.m. Officials say “This is a relaxed gathering open to all Southwest Iowa residents – not just farmers or Clarinda residents. We are there to listen to local residents and there will be a short program (15 minutes or so) for folks  to learn about IFU’s work across Iowa supporting family farms, local food systems, and rural communities.”

Enjoy drinks and appetizers – the first round is on the Iowa Farmers Union! More information is available at info@iowafarmersunion.org

Make your reservation to attend here: bit.ly/ClarindaHappyHour