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Man accused of stealing $55,000 worth of gas from his northwest Iowa employer

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – A man from the small northwest Iowa town of Albert City is in jail after being accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of gas from his former employer. According to the Newell Police Department, 48-year-old David Sanchez allegedly stole nearly 55-thousand dollars worth of fuel from Ag Partners in Newell.

The investigation showed multiple unauthorized transactions using a company fuel card during the period from November of 2020 through August of this year. Sanchez turned himself into the Buena Vista County Jail last Wednesday, September 8th. He’s charged with first-degree Theft.

Second inmate sentenced to life in prison for murdering two Anamosa prison staffers

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – A second inmate has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a nurse and guard during an escape attempt at the Anamosa State Penitentiary in March. Twenty-eight-year-old Michael Dutcher had originally pleaded not guilty and indicated he would claim he acted in self-defense. Dutcher instead pleaded guilty this (Wednesday) morning to two counts of first degree murder. Robert McFarland’s wife, Sara, gave a victim impact statement in court today (Wednesday).

“When Robert took the correctional officer position, it wasn’t for the money. He took it to help the inmates, to help you guys make positive decisions so you didn’t go back to prison. You took that caring soul from everyone. You killed the best father. I had to tell our boys their dad wasn’t coming home,” she said. “…I hate you more than anything for taking Robert from us. I hope you rot in hell.” Colten, one of McFarland’s sons, addressed Dutcher.

“March 23 was the worst day of my life. I ended up being in the vehicle with my mother, hearing the words Robert McFarland had passed away,” he said, “…and you don’t even care.” Another son submitted a written statement, telling Dutcher he looks like an idiot now because his plan to escape backfired. David McFarland, the older brother of the slain officer, wore a t-shirt that read “Stronger Together” to court today.

“Today is your judgement day, but it is not the judgement day that you should be worried about,” he said. “…This judge can only sentence you to life in prison. You should be worried about your final judger, God.” Stephanie Schulte, the mother of prison nurse Lorena Schulte Dutcher killed, said her daughter had a calling to help others. “Anything we do as a family from this point forward will now have to be experienced without Lorena,” she said. “This is a loss from which we will never recover.” The nurse’s sister, Gretchen, told Dutcher he had created a bottomless void in her family’s life.

“My 11 year old asks, ‘Why?’ — a question that we’ll never be able to answer because there is no reason Lorena should have been dead,” she said. Dutcher also pleaded guilty to attempted murder for attacking a fellow inmate and to kidnapping another prison employee in the Anamosa prison’s infirmary. Lori Mathis directly addressed Dutcher in her written remarks, which were read in court by a colleague. “The complete lack of regard for others’ lives was so apparent to me that day in that breakroom,” Mathis wrote. “I do not feel you have one ounce of remorse for all the lives you have forever changed by your inhumane act of violence.” Mathis said she has recovered from the serious physical injuries she suffered in March, but her mental wounds remain.

The judge who sentenced Dutcher today (Wednesday) asked Dutcher if he had a statement. “No, I got nothing,” Dutcher replied. The other inmate involved in the attack was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month. Dutcher will be transferred to a prison in Missouri.

Hotel/motel taxes indicate tourism rebound in Iowa Great Lakes

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Tourism traffic in the Iowa Great Lakes area appears to have rebounded this spring, compared to the second quarter of 2020. Hotel/motel taxes for the city of Arnolds Park this April, May and June were 52% higher than the same period a year ago. Milford saw a 31% increase in hotel/motel tax payments this spring compared to last spring. Rebecca Peters, director of Okoboji Tourism, says she wasn’t surprised by the rebound. “All of our indicators throughout the entire summer and leading up to the summer showed that our businesses were going to have a great season and that we were going to see a big influx of visitors this year,” she says, “so it was nice to see that that all came true.”

The City of Okoboji’s hotel/motel tax revenue for this April, May and June was up 37% from the spring of 2020, however, it’s a few thousand dollars short of the amount collected in the pre-pandemic spring of 2019. Spirit Lake was the only city in corridor to collect more in hotel/motel taxes in the pandemic spring of 2020 compared to 2019.

Photo from the Iowa Great Lakes Association website.

Peters says some of the hotel/motel tax revenue collected by cities surrounding the Great Lakes is used to promote tourism in the area. “But also a lot of the hotel/motel tax revenue goes right back into the city’s general budget so that it can be used for infrastructure to improve our parks, to improve our streets, to help support our police and fire departments,” she says, “so really that money that comes from a lot of our visitors really helps the whole community just thrive.”

At least half of the hotel/motel taxes collected in Arnolds Park are to be used to build, repair, or enlarge recreational, convention, cultural or entertainment facilities.

State funding approved for trail projects

Ag/Outdoor, News, Sports

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – State funding totaling nearly one-point-five million dollars has been approved for four trail projects. The D-O-T’s Craig Markley says a project on the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail in central Iowa won funding. He says it would pave a trail in Story County, with a grant of 400-thousand dollars. The total project cost is 674-thousand. A grant of 220-thousand was approved for the Raccoon River Valley Trail in central Iowa. “This would be a connection to the High Trestle (Trail). This continues filling in that missing link if you would between Woodward and Perry — where it would link those two very long loop trails,” Markley says.

He says the total project cost is 393-thousand dollars, and this will add to what is already a very good trail system in that area. The Grant Wood Trail in eastern Iowa’s Linn County was awarded a grant. “This would be hard-surfacing about three miles of current granular trail east of Marion, and that would be at a 400-thousand dollar cost,” he says. The total project cost of the Grant Wood Trail is 735-thousand dollars. The final award was to the Keokuk River Trail. “This would be the construction of one mile of new trail located along the Keokuk riverfront starting at Victory Park, and heading southwest towards the boat ramp,” Markley says.

That project won a grant of nearly 494-thousand dollars — with the total project cost of more than one-point-one million dollars. Markley says the requests for funding were way above the amount available. “We received 37 applications with a total project cost of nearly 37 million dollars. And the total amount requested was right at ten times the amount available — so almost 15 million requested for the one-point-five (million) available,” Markley says.

He says the projects are scored on a variety of criteria to determine which ones receive funding.

64 additional COVID-19 cases in Iowa over the past seven days

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Public Health, today (Wednesday), released new COVID-19 data. The data shows an 64 additional COVID-19 deaths occurred in the last seven days. The statewide total is now 6,401 since the start of the pandemic. Positive tests over the last 7 days are up 2,421, to 11,588. The 14-day positivity rate is up from 8.9% to 9.1%. The largest age group of positive tests over the last 7 days, are those under the age of 18, at 29%. However, only 7% of those hospitalized are in that age range.

The health department reports 578 Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19, up from 549 on Monday. Those ages 70-79 account for the most hospitalized, at 23%. State data shows 78.3% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are not fully vaccinated, while 87.3% of those listed in intensive care are not fully vaccinated. Iowa reports 3,374,538 vaccine doses administered in the state, with 64.8% of those 18 and older fully vaccinated. The state reports 67.4% of those 12 and older have had at least one vaccine dose.

There are now 23 long-term care facilities reporting outbreaks, up from 20 at last report.

Harlan Police report, 9/15/21

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

The Harlan Police Department reports two arrests. On Sunday, 40-year-old Angela Marie Torkse, of Council Bluffs, was arrested following a traffic stop, and charged with OWI, Driving While Suspended, and for having no proof of insurance. And, on Sept. 9th, Harlan Police arrested 53-year-old Brian Alan Sorensen, of Harlan, on an active Shelby County warrant. He was transported to the Shelby County Jail.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s report, 9/15/21

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests. A little before 4-a.m. today (Wednesday), 36-year-old Mathew Allen Pokorny, of Omaha, was arrested following a traffic stop, after a Deputy noticed a 2014 Hyundai Sonata traveling 93 mph in a 55 mph construction zone on I-29. Following the traffic stop, Pokorny was arrested for Operating While Intoxicated 2nd Offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

Tuesday afternoon, 54-year-old Michael Dwayne Weaver, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in Council Bluffs, for being a Fugitive from Justice. And, late Monday morning, 57-year-old Cary Kallhoff was arrested, after Deputies were dispatched to the 13900 block of Wabash Avenue, where two males were involved in a disturbance, and one of the men had struck the other. Kallhoff was charged with Assault Causing Bodily Injury or Mental Illness.

Willow Heights set to close

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Willow Heights, a 43-bed private, non-profit Residential Care Facility (RCF) on Atlantic’s southwest side, is closing, with officials working to find suitable housing for its residents, who are 18 and older, and unable to live independently because mental illness, intellectual disability, a pattern of substance abuse or other disabling conditions. The nearly 50-year old building, which is leased and run by Partnership for Progress, Inc., is owned by Cass County. It first opened as a County Care Facility in about 1973, and was privately leased to a non-profit agency in the early 1990’s.

Willow Heights RCF (photo via Partnership for Progress)

Cass County Board of Supervisors Chair Steve Baier told KJAN the news did not come as a complete surprise to him.

He says the model for mental health care is changing, and the funding streams for large settings such as Willow Heights, is not what it used to be. The finances are a lot better, he said, if those clients are placed in houses, but it’s not without a certain level of risk.

Baier says he doesn’t know what will become of the facility, what the property might be used for, or even if the County wants to continue to own property of that size. He said it’s a good, solid building, and has received consistent upgrades and a new roof.

Suzanne Watson, CEO & Director of Southwest Iowa Mental Health Disability Services (MH/DS) Region, based in Council Bluffs, told KJAN News SWIMS will be working closely with Willow Heights to find placement for the affected clients in Atlantic and surrounding communities. They hope to make it an easy transition for them as possible.

She said while in most of the cases where RCF’s are closing is simply due to downsizing from larger to smaller settings, the current employment situation in Iowa and across the country is another factor.

She said the main thing she wants people to know, is that Willow Heights residents will not be homeless and left to fend for themselves. KJAN News reached out to Willow Heights Administrator Julie Steffen for additional details on exactly when the RCF will close, but had not heard back as of the time of this post.

East Mills voters approve $22-million bond issue

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Malvern) — Voters in the East Mills School District, Tuesday, approved a bond issue referendum. Unofficial results from the Mills County Auditor’s Office show the $22 million bond issue passing with 63.68% of the vote, 675 yes to 385 no for Proposition L, and 62.42% of the vote, 666 yes to 401 no for Proposition M. Proceeds from the bond issue will allow an expansion and renovation of the Malvern junior-senior high school into a pre-K-12 facility, which will include an early childhood development center, preschool rooms, daycare, and the remodeling of the junior-senior high, school.

Additional parking and renovation of the district’s athletic facilities, including an all-weather track are also in the plans. The superintendent says the projects would be carried out in phases.
Plans also call for converting the existing Hastings elementary building into a Regional Center for Career Technical Education in cooperation with Iowa Western Community College and the state’s iJAG program.

Dsm woman caught on video abusing her autistic son

News

September 15th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa — A Des Moines woman faces a child endangerment charge and two counts of assault, after witnesses captured video of her abusing her son at a gas station. KCCI say witnesses saw Rejanie Morris yelling at her young son on Sept. 12 at the Quick Trip on Hubbell Avenue. The yelling escalated to the point where the woman allegedly began hitting her. Witness cell phone video captured Morris picking up her 9-year-old son by the arms and throwing him face down on the ground.

When a man and a woman intervened, another video shows Morris punching the woman in the back of the head. Des Moines police took Morris into custody at the Quick Trip Sunday. They say the child, who has autism, is now in the care of the Iowa Department of Human Services.

If you suspect a child is in danger call the Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-362-2178. It is available 24-7.