(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School Board will hold their regular monthly meeting this Wednesday evening in the High School Media Center. Their session begins at 6:30-p.m., and includes action on personnel matters, including: The resignation of Benjamin Cordova, ELL Paraeducator; And Contract Recommendations to hire:

• Aidan Wendt, Industrial Arts Teacher (Starting with the 2nd Semester, and replacing Dexter Dodson).
• Emma Webb, ELL Para (Replacing Benjamin Cordova).
• Anna Wieser, Junior Class and Prom Sponsor.
• Skyler Handlos, 9th Grade Basketball Coach.

The Board will discuss: the 2022-23 Audit, with an overview; Staff BEDS (Basic Education Data Survey) report results; and the Unofficial results of the General Obligation Bond vote from Nov. 4th.  The Atlantic School Board will act on approving the Second Reading of various Board Policies covering: Board Committees; Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO); Student Substance Use; Emergency Plans and Drills; and the Care, Maintenance and Disposal of District Records. They will also act on Snow Removal Bids for some district parking lots.

Wednesday’s Regular School Board meeting can be viewed live at https://www.youtube.com/live/xzS6PcIvs4M

A Special, Organizational Meeting of the Atlantic School Board will be held 6:30-p.m. Nov. 18th, and will include the selection of Board President/Vice President, SBO/Treasurer, and the swearing-in of new At-Large Board Member Chet Meneely, as well as re-elected At-Large Board Member Josh McLaren.

(Radio Iowa) –  There’s no U-S-D-A weekly crop report due to the government shutdown, but the state’s top ag official says the end of the harvest close. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says his travels around the state and conversations with farmers indicates the corn and bean harvest is nearly complete. That would fit with the five-year average that shows 98 percent of soybeans and 91 of the corn is usually harvest by mid-November. Naig says the weekend drop of temperatures into the teens and low 20s marked the official end of the growing season.

State Climatologist Justin Glisan wrote in his weekly weather summary that temperatures took a “nose-dive” late into the Nov. 3 through Nov. 9 reporting period.  Several towns in northwest Iowa reported the weekly low temperature of 13 degrees Fahrenheit, which Glisan said was 14 degrees below normal. Despite the drop in temperatures toward the end of the week, the overall average temperature for the period was 47.2 degrees. The statewide average was 3.4 degrees above the climatological normal.

According to Glisan, more than 50 weather stations reported measurable snowfall during the reporting period. Pocahontas reported just slightly more than 5 inches of snow. The weekly precipitation average across the state was slightly under three-tenths of an inch, while the normal is 0.52 inch.  The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor showed 81% of Iowa was in abnormally dry or drought conditions. About 15% of the state, mostly on the eastern edge, was in moderate drought conditions.

(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents will interview the two finalists today (Tuesday) and then choose one to be the next Iowa State University president. Benjamin Houlton, the dean of the College of Agriculture at Cornell University, was the first finalist to visit campus last week. He says one of his goals is to make I-S-U a global leader in A-I. He says China is moving fast, and the U-S needs to do the same North Dakota State president David Cook is an Ames native and I-S-U graduate. He says the current educational climate requires colleges to have grads better prepared. He says they have to have critical thinking skills.

The new president will replace Wendy Wintersteen, who is retiring. The Regents will begin their meeting at 9 a-m and are expected to announced the new president by early afternoon.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – One person was treated by medics following a collision Monday morning, in Red Oak. According to Red Oak Police, the accident happened at around 8-a.m. at the intersection of Highway 34 and N. 4th Street. Authorities said they were told by the driver of a 2016 Peterbilt semi tractor-trailer – 45-year-old Tyson Means, of Villisca – that he was eastbound on Highway 34, and as he approached the intersection with N. 4th Street, a 2017 Buick Enclave pulled away from the intersection and struck the rear drive dual wheels of the semi’s tractor, before the van went down the side of the trailer and was struck by the rear dual wheels of the trailer.

The driver of the van – 89-year-old James Black, of Red Oak – told police he looked, but did not see the tractor-trailer before he pulled away from the stop sign. Black suffered suspected minor/non-incapacitating injuries, and was treated at the scene by Red Oak Rescue. His van was totaled in the collision, with the damage estimated at $20,000. The semi sustained a police-estimated $10,000 damage. James Black was cited by Red Oak Police for Failure to Obey a Stop Sign, and Yield the Right-Of-Way.

DES MOINES, Iowa (IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to follow due process and provide bond hearings for two individuals being detained in Iowa county jails by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Both people have sought asylum in the United States, claiming they are fleeing persecution in their home country.

In recent months, hundreds of people alleged to have entered the country illegally have been jailed by Homeland Security. Immigration judges, citing a new Trump administration interpretation of a longstanding federal law, have then denied those detainees hearings at which they could have argued for their release on bond while their deportation case was pending.

That has resulted in dozens of detainees suing the federal government, as well as the county jails where they’re held, in U.S. District Court, arguing their due process rights are being violated. In the vast majority of those cases, district court judges have sided with the detainees, ordering immigration judges to schedule bond hearings for the detainees. Two such cases were recently decided by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher of the Southern District of Iowa.

One of the two cases involves Maria Enriquez Reyes, who entered the United States from Mexico near Sasabe, Arizona, on Sept. 23, 2023, with her son, now 10 years old, and her husband. At the time, the family claimed they were fleeing persecution. They were detained briefly by the U.S. Border Patrol before being released on their own recognizance. Reyes and her family subsequently filed formal applications for asylum to escape what they called persecution by Mexican drug cartels that are now recognized as terrorists by the U.S. government.

On Sept. 2, 2025, with that application still pending, the Reyes family went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Cedar Rapids for a prescheduled “check in” appointment. According to court records, ICE agents accosted Reyes at the office and then sent her to the Muscatine County Jail to be detained at least until a hearing that is scheduled for Dec. 19, 2025. An immigration judge then denied her request for a bond hearing, citing the Trump administration’s new interpretation of laws related to the detention of individuals for possible deportation.

Reyes took the matter to U.S. District Court, suing Muscatine County Jail Administrator Matt McCleary, as well as DHS, ICE, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and DHS Director Kristi Noem. On Nov. 3, 2025, Locher ruled in favor of Reyes, noting that the overwhelming majority of courts around the nation have rejected the Trump administration’s interpretation of the law as somehow requiring mandatory detention without the opportunity to argue for bond. Locher noted that Reyes has lived in the United States with her family for two years and has no record of any criminal activity or dangerous conduct.

In ordering the immigration court to provide Reyes with a hearing on her request for pretrial release on bond, Locher noted he “would not be ordering any particular outcome on bond or detention. Rather, (Reyes) simply would be entitled to her statutory and due process right to a hearing.

In a separate case, Locher sided with Saider Santiago Helbrum, 26, who came to the United States in May 2024, alleging he was fleeing persecution in Colombia. After entering the country, he was detained briefly by U.S. Border Patrol and then released on his own recognizance, eventually settling in Des Moines.

In January 2025, he filed an application for asylum. In July 2025, with that application still pending, he was arrested and jailed on a simple-misdemeanor charge of fifth degree theft after being accused of stealing groceries at a WalMart store. Santiago Helbrum argued his store receipt, as well as bank records tied to the card he claimed was used to pay for the groceries, show the items were paid for.

Within three weeks, the theft charge was dropped, with the Polk County Attorney’s Office stating that “after examining the records, talking to the witnesses, and taking all other factors into consideration,” it was declining to prosecute the case in the interest of justice.

In the meantime, however, Homeland Security had taken custody of Santiago Helbrum and, after the theft charge was dropped, DHS continued to have him held at the Polk County Jail under a detention order. An immigration judge then denied Santiago Helbrum’s request for a bond hearing. After Santiago Helbrum took DHS and Polk County Jail Administrator Cory Williams to federal court, he explained to a judge the effect that three months of detention had on him.

In court filings, lawyers for the DOJ cited a provision of the Laken Riley Act that calls for detention in cases where a person “is charged” with a crime. The DOJ argued that an arrest on a theft charge triggers the requirement for mandatory detention — and that the subsequent dismissal of the charge had no effect on that requirement. Locher disagreed and ordered the immigration court to provide Santiago Helbrum with a bond hearing, stating in his ruling that “after charges are dismissed it is no longer accurate to say that a person ‘is charged’ with theft.”

Prior to the judge’s ruling in the case, Williams, the Polk County jail administrator, had filed papers with the court indicating his office took no position in the matter.

(Iowa Falls, IA) – The Iowa Falls Police Department, late Monday, issued an update with regard to a shooting Sunday inside an Iowa Falls home that left three people dead and another injured. In their press release, authorities said that at approximately 3:58 a.m. Sunday, authorities received a report of multiple people unresponsive at a home in Iowa Falls. Upon arrival, authorities found three individuals dead from gunshot wounds.

Police say 45-year-old Shawn Bean, of Iowa Falls, shot two individuals and then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two victims who died were identified as 42-year-old Jessica Bennett, of Iowa Falls, and 51-year-old Alan Karalius, of Garner.

Police say one person was taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. The survivor has not been identified at this time. The shooting was the result of a domestic incident, according to police.

The investigation is ongoing.

(Radio Iowa) – Congressman Randy Feensta, one of the five Republicans running for governor, kicked off a statewide campaign tour with an event in Sioux Center. “I don’t want to climb the Washington ladder. I don’t want to be swallowed up by D.C. games. I want to be right here, fighting for you full time,” Feenstra said. “…Tonight, back home, I am excited to announce that I am running for the governor of Iowa!”

Feenstra spoke to a crowd last (Monday) night on the Dordt University campus. It’s his alma mater and where he later taught business and economics classes. Feenstra says it’s been an honor to serve the past five years in the U.S. House, but his time there is wrapping up and he wants to bring his experience in helping craft the Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump signed in July back to Iowa.

“Washington isn’t me. I want to be back home,” Feenstra said. “I want to be together. I want to be right here, fighting and taking this state to new heights.” Feenstra did not mentioned the four other Republicans who are in the governor’s race, but spent a good chunk of his speech criticizing Rob Sand, who is positioned to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor. “Rob Sand, he won’t tell you what he believes. Maybe he thinks truth is too mean. Perhaps he wants everyone to think that he agrees with them or maybe he just doesn’t dare to stand up for anything,” Feenstra said. “Iowa needs a strong leader, one who is respectful, but honest; civil and courageous; and one that doesn’t just go along to get along.”

Congressman Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) spoke on the Dordt University campus in Sioux Center tonight. (RI photo)

Feenstra, who lives in his hometown of Hull, says his goal as governor would be to ensure small town values are promoted and preserved. Feenstra greeted people in the crowd, posed for some photos and then spoke to reporters. He expects to vote in the U.S. House tomorrow (Wednesday) on the plan to reopen the federal government. “There’s a lot of work to be done in D.C. and it’s so exciting that we’re going to open finally, after 40 days, the Democrats have finally relented and now can give SNAP benefits and salary dollars back to air traffic controllers and TSA agents and all this stuff,” Feenstra said, “so I’m so grateful for that.”

Feenstra also told reporters he expects work on the Farm Bill to begin in earnest when the House reconvenes.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowan’s 15 year search for a long lost World War II memorial with his uncle’s name on it has ended — and the plaque is now hanging in a Michigan museum.Jeff Ortiz, of Ames, grew up in Detroit. Ortiz says his dad — a World War II veteran — never really talked about his brother who died after the U-S-S Indianapolis was hit by a Japanese torpedo and sunk in the Pacific on July 30th, 1945. Ortiz has pieced the story together himself. “I have a very strong feeling that anybody that has been killed in the line of duty for our country, that their stories should not be forgotten,” Ortiz says. Ortiz’s uncle “Bobby” — Orlando Robert Ortiz — enlisted in the Navy when he was 18 and was 20 when the U-S-S Indianapolis was hit.

“I was lucky enough to meet two of the survivors — there’s still one alive — and they both concurred that because of his position he probably had like a day shift kind of a job and it was so hot that night that anybody that didn’t have to be in the ship was probably sleeping on deck, so he probably went into the water,” Ortiz said. “That’s about the best I have for what happened to my uncle.” Ortiz knew about the plaque that listed his uncle and the other U-S-S Indianapolis shipmates from Michigan who died because he had a copy of the program on the day the plaque was dedicated.

“In this program, there was a picture of this,” Ortiz said, “and then about 15, 16 years ago, I started wondering: ‘Whatever happened to this thing?'” Ortiz spent part of every trip back to Detroit searching V-F-W halls, museums and even Detroit City Hall. “Last December I was back there for my 50th high school reunion and there were two places I hadn’t checked out yet. One was the convention center…I walked every square inch of it, looking to see if it got hung in there. I went to another place called the Dossin Great Lakes Museum and it was closed because it was Saturday,” Ortiz said, “which ended up being a blessing.”

Jeff Ortiz of Ames holding the program from the original dedication ceremony for the plaque after it was found in a storage site for the Detroit Historical Museum. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Ortiz)

Ortiz called the museum later when he got back to his home in Ames and got a tip that the Detroit Historical Museum might have the plaque in storage. “Sure as shootin’ there it was in this dark corner, leaning up against a wall, dirty — no archive of when, how or why they got it,” Ortiz said. A ceremony was held in August for a rededication — and the plaque now hangs in the Arsenal of Democracy section of the Detroit Historical Museum. “Fifteen years of looking and digging for it and almost giving up — and not giving up and finding it,” Ortiz said. “Now it’s on permanent display.”

Ortiz says his uncle made his last trip home to Detroit in the spring of 1945 as the U-S-S Indianapolis was being repaired in California after being damaged in the Battle of Okinawa. That July, his uncle and the rest of the crew headed back to the Pacific, carrying top secret cargo. Not even the captain of the ship knew what was inside the crates. “They loaded key components of the atomic bomb on the ship,” Ortiz says. On July 26th, the U-S-S Indianapolis dropped off the crates on the island where the bomb that struck Hiroshima was assembled.

Four days later, the U-S-S Indianpolis was hit by torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Ortiz has learned 27 Iowans died in the sinking of the U-S-S Indianapolis and three survived. The survivors were Seaman First Class Charles O. Wells of Camanche, Seaman Second Class Glen Laverne Milbrodt of Akron and Electrician’s Mate Second Class Edward Koche of Denison. Ortiz’s uncle was a Yeoman Third Class and his obituary says he was a veteran of five sea battles in the U-S-S Indianapolis and had planned to become a C-P-A after the war.

Ortiz gave photos of his uncle to the producers of the 2016 movie about the U-S-S Indianapolis that you can see as the film’s credits roll. Ortiz also notes a character in the 1975 movie “Jaws” mentions his hatred of sharks began when he was floating in the Pacific for four days, waiting to be rescued after the U-S-S Indianapolis was sunk.