The latest area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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A woman from Red Oak was arrested on drug charges Tuesday evening. According to Red Oak Police, 26-year-old Veronica Interiano was taken into custody at around 6:10-p.m. in the 1800 block of N. 8th Street. Interiano was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense (Marijuana), and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. She was being held in the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Chuck Grassley and three other Senators say they have developed a compromise plan that give independent cattle producers more clues about what meatpackers are paying for cattle raised under private contracts. “One step closer, a big step closer to making that happen,” Grassley says. Grassley, along with a Republican senator from Nebraska and Democratic senators from Montana and Oregon are co-sponsors of the legislation. It would create a sort of library of sale contracts and require meat packers to disclose how many cattle they plan to buy for slaughter in each of the next 14 days.

Grassley says the aim now is to tack this proposal onto an already-existing livestock-related law that congress has to vote to reauthorize in December. “The next month will be critical as we talk to the leadership of the agriculture committees in both the House and Senate to get this bill included,” Grassley says. Grassley says a key senator who had blocked action on the issue in the past retired from the senate a year ago and leaders of the House and Senate ag committees appear open to negotiations.

“Producers across the country are counting on congress to make real reform to the cattle market,” Grassley says. Cattle producers have complained there’s a growing disparity between what they’re being paid for their livestock and what consumers are paying for beef at the grocery store.

(Radio Iowa) – Family and friends who spoke at the service honoring the Fairfield High School teacher who was murdered last week used words like sparkle and joy to describe Nohema Graber. Her oldest son, Christian, read a note his mother wrote to herself before this school year started. “I didn’t know what I was going to say in this moment,” he began, “but then I found this notebook in my mother’s study room and I thought I’d share a few words with you guys: ‘My plan is very simple and I think very powerful. My plan is to smile all the time. The reason is that I think a smile is contagious.'”

Graber, who was 66, wrote that by putting her intentions on paper, she would be aware of how others reacted to her smile. It took her son just over two minutes to read his mother’s words aloud. “When I come back to work and I have difficult students, I will try to see them as they are: just young children. I will be aware that this is only just a temporary thing,” Graber’s son read. “…We, the teachers, must be a positive role model for our students and even if the students forget about my Spanish classes, I hope they remember how and why to smile to life and to be honest.” A niece spoke next.

“She was a wonderful aunt by how she made life sparkle,” Sabrina said. “From her eyes literally sparkling when she’d give one of her full throated, full bodied laughs to way she would sparkle her words with such joyous inflection.” Others in the crowd stepped forward to pay tribute, including former students like Lorena Hucke. “Everything that I remember about Spanish and about Senora Graber is just surrounded in positivity and happiness,” Hucke said, “and this pure joy that she shared.” Mathew Johnson and Graber attended the same church in Fairfield.

“She was a wonderful soul that brought many different cultures together,” Johnson said, “and I am just absolutely blessed and honored to have known her.” Father Nick Adam of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fairfield led the service and concluded by expressing the community’s sympathy to Graber’s family.

“Nohema was deeply loved,” he said, “and she’s going to be deeply missed.” Last (Tuesday) night’s event was held at Fairfield High School, where Graber had been a teacher since 2012. She was reported missing a week ago. Her body was found in the park in Fairfield where she often went for walks. Two 16 year old Fairfield high school students have both been charged in adult court with first degree murder.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – For more than two decades, artist, Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II, has been painting giant boulders across Iowa. After painting the original rock in 1999 in rural Iowa, Sorensen and his family went on the Iowa County Freedom Rock® Tour, showcasing this impactful art all over the state.

A $20,000 bid was accepted and the winning bidder, along with the 100th Freedom Rock® location will be announced on Veteran’s Day. The Sorensen’s plan to make the announcement on the Freedom Rock® Facebook page. The 100th Freedom Rock® is slated for completion in the winning community on or around July 4, 2022.

The Sorensen family stand beside the 99th Freedom Rock in Linn County.

The auction was a way for communities to demonstrate support and gratitude for our nation’s service members and fund the needs of Veterans with a portion of the proceeds going to The Puppy Jake Foundation and T.A.P.S Foundation. It was also a unique opportunity for cities who didn’t yet have a Freedom Rock® to bid and join 99 of their peers across the state.

Sorensen and his family will now focus on a Freedom Rock® in every state, adding to Freedom Rocks® already placed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Washington and Nebraska and others scheduled for Ohio, Illinois and Oklahoma.

(Radio Iowa) – As the strike at a dozen John Deere plants in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas enters its fourth week, a Deere and Company executive says some production may shift to plants outside of the country to meet customer demand. The president of Deere’s Worldwide Agriculture and Turf Division told The Des Moines Register the company still aims to reach an agreement with striking union workers, but Deere’s international factories employ thousands that can make parts and components that are in demand.

During an appearance today in Pella, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds told reporters she’s confident both sides will reach a settlement to end the strike and she has no plans to try to intervene. “We’re letting the process work out and it is working out,” Reynolds says. “They’ll continue to come to the table, they’ll continue to work on the negotiations and, hopefully, they’ll reach that settlement sooner rather than later.”

A spokesperson for Deere said last week that the company will not resume negotiations with the United Auto Workers and the company’s second contract offer was it’s best and final offer. Union workers rejected the agreement on a 55 to 45 percent vote.

The Harlan Police Department is reporting two recent arrests and a citation. On Sunday, 28-year-old Ashlen Marie Rutherford, of Harlan, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault and False Imprisonment. On Saturday, 26-year-old Alexander Archer Foster Gorka, of Manilla, was cited for Driving While Suspended.

And, on Nov. 2nd, 56-year-old Michael Mario Morelli, of Harlan, was arrested for Assault.

Officers with the Red Oak Police Department, Tuesday, arrested a Pottawattamie County man for Interference with Official Acts. Authorities say 47-year-old Robert Michael Lynn Petersen, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 10:30-a.m. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Representatives of the Cass County Library Association, comprised of the head librarians from each of the libraries in the County, provided an annual report to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning, and made their traditional, annual request for funding. Sara Young, Head Librarian at the Anita Public Library, thanked the board for its continued support for the libraries.

As part of their early childhood literacy efforts, the library directors came up with a plan to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to all Cass County residents.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library partners with local affiliates to provide high quality, age appropriate books to children across the United States and beyond. Cass County is now one of 22 counties in Iowa that offers the program. Any child under 4 1/2-years old who lives in Cass County can register to receive a free book a month until their 5th birthday. Young said there are currently 178 children enrolled in the program.

With regard to funding, the directors requested: A $5,000 increase from the County for the Atlantic and Cumberland Public Libraries; $2,500 for the Anita and Griswold Public Libraries; a $1,000 increase for the Lewis and Massena Public Libraries. The request was taken under advisement and will be acted on when the Board meets in early 2022 to determine where county funds will be spent.

(Radio Iowa) – Tens of thousands of Iowans checked the box when they renewed their drivers licenses to become organ donors, but should they happen to die of COVID-19, will their organs still be used? That depends, according to Heather Butterfield, spokeswoman for the Iowa Donor Network. Butterfield says, “Based on studies that have been conducted and with the approval of our medical directors, our current policy is that as long as the patient isn’t actively infectious with COVID-19, so typically that means they would be at least 21 days out from a diagnosis or symptoms, then they can be considered for organ donation.”

Nationwide, more than 100-thousand people are waiting for organ transplants, while Iowa’s organ waiting list is nearly 600 names long. Organs are an exceptionally rare and valuable commodity and Butterfield says it would be a shame not to make use of those hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys that are healthy. “Our number-one priority is always the safety of the recipients and we want to make sure that the organs we recover are safe to transplant,” Butterfield says, “which is why we have the policy in place that we do.”

As yet, Iowa has not seen a dramatic upturn in the demand for organ donation during the pandemic, but there are fears about the situation worsening. “We are wondering, we have seen stories of people who have had COVID and have had long-term effects that are now needing a lung transplant,” Butterfield says. “We don’t know yet what the long-term implication of that will be. Will that mean the transplant waiting list will go up specifically for those in need of lung transplants? That is certainly a possibility.”

During the first year of the pandemic, Butterfield says the Iowa Donor Network set a new record for organ donations. “We had 103 organ donors give 300 organs for transplant despite the fact that, yes, we had a lot of people pass away from COVID but people who have COVID at the time of their passing cannot be organ donors,” she says, “so even despite the increase in deaths due to COVID, we still had a record year for organ donation in 2020.”

With less than two months remaining in 2021, Butterfield says this year is on track to break last year’s record, which would be the fourth straight year for new organ donation records in Iowa.
www.iowadonornetwork.org