(Atlantic, IA) – The Cass County (IA) Auditor’s Office, today (Tuesday), reported three candidates have officially filed their nomination papers with the proper number of signatures, in advance of the March 31st Special Election to fill a Vacancy position on the Atlantic School Board. Those candidates include: Jordan Zarbano; Chase B. Roller, and Dianna Blake. The deadline to file for the March 31st Special Election, a petition for which filed in February, to fill the seat left vacant by Laura McLean, who moved out of the area.The deadline to file nomination papers was March 6th.

The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports also, four Republicans have filed to run in the June 2nd, 2026 Primary Election. The latest is County Treasurer, Tracey J. Marshall. As we’ve previously mentioned, other candidates (all incumbents) who have filed papers for re-election, include: District 2 Supervisor Mark T. O’Brien; Cass County Attorney Vanessa Strazdas; and County Recorder, Mary Ward.

(Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Partisan County Office candidates have until March 20, 2026 (5:00 p.m.) to file their nomination papers with the County Auditor’s office. Candidates must file an affidavit of candidacy and nomination petition with the required number of signatures during the appropriate filing period. Forms are available at the Cass County Auditor’s office, 5 W 7th Street, Atlantic, IA.

For additional information regarding election for county offices, contact the Cass County Auditor’s Office at 712-243-4570

(Atlantic, IA) – There’s been yet another delay in a trial for the former Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. According to online court records, the trial for Bailey Linn Smith will now take place April 28th in Cass County District Court. Her trial was previously set to have taken place March 24th. Smith, who faces multiple felony charges, has had her trial continued (delayed) three times since she was charged with a Class-B Felony charge of Ongoing Criminal Conduct – unlawful activity, and Class-C Felony charges that include Theft in the 1st Degree, Fraudulent Practice in the 1st Degree, and Unauthorized Use of a Credit Card over $10,000. Smith entered a written plea of not guilty back in November, and waived her right to a speedy trial.

As we’ve mentioned previously, Smith resigned from the Chamber on September 15th. She turned herself in to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office on October 8th and was released on bond. According to a criminal complaint, between January 2020 and August 2025, Smith allegedly made 761 personal transactions with Chamber funds totaling $26,913.22, of which $6,632.38 was admitted by Smith. She was charged with Theft in the First Degree for allegedly misappropriating over $10,000. Smith also allegedly orchestrated a scheme from November 2022 to August 2025, making 47 fraudulent transfers between Chamber bank accounts to cover up her theft. The loss amounted to $76,215, and resulted in the charges of Fraudulent Practice in the First Degree and Ongoing Criminal Conduct.

Additionally, Smith allegedly used Chamber-issued credit cards for approximately $25,065.71 in personal expenses, with $6,632.38 acknowledged by her in a letter to the Chamber Board. She was charged with Unauthorized Use of a Credit Card over $10,000.

(Radio Iowa) – A company based in central Iowa has found a way to recycle the giant blades from wind turbines, using their ground up parts when making concrete traffic barriers that are popular around construction sites. Nick Wylie, founder of Renewablade, headquartered in the Des Moines suburb of Bondurant, says they have a growing list of clients who want the ten-foot-long barriers, which weigh about 33-hundred pounds each. “We’re significantly cheaper than what a DOT-certified barrier would be with the recycled material we have in ours,” Wylie says. “A normal ‘jersey’ barrier with the DOT would be around $1,200 to $1,500 a piece, and our ten-footers, we actually sell them for $500 a piece.”

Wind turbine blades are made of things like fiberglass, balsa wood, resin, foam, and steel. The average blade is 116 feet long, though some approach 200 feet, and Iowa is one of the nation’s top producers of energy from wind turbines. Wylie says they’re never lacking for raw materials. “There’s pretty much an endless supply,” Wylie says. “We’re getting a fair amount every year and we’ve been recycling them. We’ve taken blades in from Maine and we’ve taken blades in from Washington, so there’s an awful lot.”

Renewablade can go to the site where a turbine is being retired and cut the blades into sections and haul them away, or customers bring in blade sections to recycle, for a tipping fee. The blade parts are shredded and combined into a ready-mix concrete blend, for a product Wylie says is 30-percent lighter than traditional concrete. “From what we know, we’re the only people that really have an end game for them,” Wylie says. “There’s a few other people that are bringing them in and shredding them, but nobody has a finished product that we know of, where we actually can see it all the way to a new product.”

In addition to the barriers, the company also makes landscaping blocks for retaining walls and other large-scale concrete construction products.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division reports it handled more than four-thousand complaints last year, marking the second straight year with an increase. Attorney General Brenna Bird says complaints involving used cars and car repairs topped the list at 783 complaints. “Whether it’s faulty repair work or a car that wasn’t what they thought it would be,” She says. One person called after they said they had the oil changed in their car, but the shop forgot to put the new oil in and the engine was wrecked. Complaints about imposters pretending to be someone they aren’t were second on the list.

“Everything from a fake job offer that you won the lottery, but you have to pay some money to collect the prize,” she says. “And there’s even some that run a long con, is what I’m going to call it, con artists doing a romance scam. So they target someone and then build a relationship with them all online, never in person. And what they do is eventually get that person to give them money.” A-G Bird says be wary of unsolicited messages and avoid sending money electronically to someone you don’t know. Cryptocurrency A-T-M’s have become another way people try to scam you out of your money.

“These are machines that you put cash into and it goes into a crypto wallet, scammers are using that,” Bird says. “Sometimes they’re in a foreign country, so you put that in their crypto wallet and they get your money right away. In fact, it got so bad and we found so many people that had been ripped off in Iowa, we are suing those machines, and the legislature passed a law to make it easier for people to get their money back.”

Bird says if you think you have been a victim of fraud you can call her office at 1-888-777-4590 or you can file a complaint online at IowaAttorneyGeneral.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – The fundraising leaders in Iowa’s race for governor have filed the paperwork to qualify for the June primary ballots. Candidates for governor are required to submit at least 35-hundred signatures from eligible Iowa voters on petitions — and have at least 100 signatures from 19 of Iowa’s 99 counties. Democrat Rob Sand says the 24-thousand signatures his campaign submitted is a record — and one-fifth of them came from independents and Republicans.

“I think this is more emphasis and proof of momentum,” Sand said. “…This was a 99 county operation. In fact, we are very close to 100 signatures in all 99 counties for this, so that we’re showing not just strength in heavily populated areas, but no matter where you live in the state of Iowa, you’ve got neighbors that signed to help us get in on the ballot here.” Republican Randy Feenstra says people from all 99 counties signed his nominating petitions.

“Doubled the amount of signatures that we needed,” Feenstra said. “You need 3500. We submitted over 7500. Just a great day. Trying to take Iowa to new heights. That’s my vision and my whole goal.” Feenstra is likely to face four other Republicans in the June 2nd G-O-P Primary, candidates who’ve criticized Feenstra for failing to appear with them in debates.  “I tell you what, every day we’re on the campaign trail, hitting every Pizza Ranch,” Feenstra said. “We have meet and greets all over the state every day. I think we’ve done 80-85 stops now, but it’s listening to people, listening to Iowans, making sure that I’m earning every single vote.”

Feenstra, who raised over four MILLION dollars for his campaign for governor, is spending more than a million dollars on a statewide ad campaign — targeting Rob Sand, the likely Democratic Party nominee for governor.  “We know that if he becomes governor, he would take this state and make it look like California or Minnesota or Illinois,” Feenstra said. “We can’t have that.”

Sand, who raised over nine-and-a-half MILLION dollars in 2025 for his campaign for governor, says Feenstra has to run a different kind of campaign because he faces a competitive primary. “Whoever it is that comes out on the other side is going to be someone that is going to continue the direction that Kim Reynolds has been putting the state on,” Sand said, “and I think most Iowans are interested in a new direction.”

Candidates have until 5 p.m. this Friday to submit nominating petitions for the primary. So far Brad Sherman, a Republican from Williamsburg, is the only other candidate for governor who has done so.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has voted to name the American Cream draft horse the official horse of Iowa. Senator Annette Sweeney of Iowa Falls says it’s the only breed of draft or work horses that originated in Iowa.

“In Hardin County, Hamilton County and also Webster County this horse was developed,” Sweeney said, “the only draft horse in the United States and Canada.”American Cream draft horses have a cream colored coat and a white mane. It’s one of several breeds of work horses that pulled plows and harvesting equipment for Iowa farmers before horses were replaced by tractors.

The welcome sign to the town of Radcliffe notes it is the “cradle” of the American Cream draft horse. This is the second time Senators have advanced the idea, but it failed to win House approval.

(Red Oak, IA) – Police in Red Oak have arrested a man on a felony weapon charges, along with drug and theft charges. Authorities say Officers conducted a search warrant at 101 E. Prospect Street on March 3rd, in reference to thefts in the area. They were able to recover some of the property stolen during the thefts. Their investigation resulted in the arrest at around 6:50-p.m. Monday, of 44-year-old Jesse Donald Trost, of Red Oak, on charges that include Theft in the 4th Degree (A Serious Misdemeanor), Possession of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine/2nd offense (An Aggravated Misdemeanor), and on a Class-D Felony charge of Possession of a Firearm/Ammunition by a Prohibited Person.

Trost was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies and K9 Unit assisted in handling the incident.

(Red Oak, IA) – A traffic stop early this (Tuesday) morning in Montgomery County resulted in the arrest of a man wanted on a warrant out of Cass County (IA). According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 41-year-old Randon Daniel Phelps, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 12:26-a.m. on the warrant for Failure To Appear on an original charge of Possession of Marijuana- 2nd offense.

He was arrested near the intersection of Highway 34 and 48, and turned over to Cass County Deputies. Phelps was being held in the Cass County Jail in Atlantic on a $2,000 bond.

(Warren County, IA) – The driver’s of two SUV’s were injured during a collision early Monday morning in south central Iowa. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2011 Subaru Outback driven by 19-year-old Gabriel Stansell and a 2016 Jeep Wrangler, driven by 47-year-old Aaron Wickett, both of New Virginia, were traveling on Warren County Road G-76, east of the Interstate 35 interchange west of New Virginia, when the vehicles collided head-on, a little after 6-a.m.

The Subaru was traveling eastbound and the Jeep westbound, when they collided in the westbound lane. Both drivers were seriously injured. Stansell was transported by Airmed helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Wickett was taken by ambulance to the same hospital.

The crash remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, along with the New Virginia and St. Charles Fire/EMS Departments.