(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show reached new heights, raising $375,265.92 at the 39th annual show. All proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa, with houses in Des Moines, Iowa City and Sioux City. The local charities provide a “home away from home” for families of sick children.

Since 1983, the Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show has raised over $4.5 million for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa. The Office of the Governor of Iowa; Kim Reynolds, Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and Iowa Beef Industry Council would like to thank past and present donors for their support. This event demonstrates the “Cattlemen Care” and “Iowa Nice” mantra, which is synonymous with Iowa.

This year’s show, held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, showcased 24 Iowa steer exhibitors. Ben Kelly, of Dallas Center, picked the Grand Champion Steer and Mike Sorensen, of Greenfield, selected the Grand Champion Showman. The Grand Champion Steer was shown by Jeff Angelo and exhibited by Lane Elmquist of Audubon. Elmquist is the son of Joe and Brittany Elmquist. He has shown his steer Nelson this summer at the Beef Expo, Austin Alt Memorial Classic, the Barn to Backdrop Classic, earned Grand Champion at the Audubon County Fair, and qualified for the Southwest Iowa Shootout. The Grand Champion Steer was sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association and purchased by Friends & Family of Lane Elmquist and the Audubon Community. Grand Champion Showman honors went to Celebrity Showman Teagan Schaefer, of TaterTough. Schaefer led steer Hero, who was raised by Carlee Cremeens and sponsored by the Iowa Hereford Breeders Association.

This year’s People’s Choice Award went to celebrity Eric Hanson and exhibitor Molly Chapman. The Community Hero award was a new honor in 2021 and encouraged youth exhibitors to promote a sense of community through donated non-perishable goods and pop tabs, and social media engagement to raise awareness of the event. Youth exhibitor Kami Schrunk received the first Community Hero Award for exemplary leadership and promotion of the cause. Social media played an important role in exposing the Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show to more than 266,000 people nationwide.

(Additional information can be found HERE)

CLARINDA – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 32-year-old Joshua Michael Pierce was pronounced dead at 3:25 a.m. (Monday) this morning, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Clarinda Correctional Facility.  The cause of death will be determined by the State of Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office.  An investigation is pending.

Pierce had been serving a 40-year maximum term for the crimes of Operating Vehicle No Consent, Dominion/Control of Firearm/Offensive Weapon by Felon, Going Armed with Intent and Habitual Offender (Property and Person) from Wapello County.  His sentence began on January 22, 2018.

(Radio Iowa) – As Iowa’s children prepare to head back to school, the state is experiencing a fourth wave of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. Stanley Perlman, a professor of immunology and pediatrics at the University of Iowa, says even though the state has outlawed districts from requiring masks in school, parents should still have their kids wear masks to slow the spread.  “If my child was going, I would try to make them wear a mask,” Perlman says. “I would certainly make it so that the school had very tough policies and if children came in with any kind of respiratory symptoms, they’d be sent home.”

“Make sure your child wears a mask, make sure all the rules are followed as much as they can be rigorously,” he says. “Make sure that the rooms that are used at schools are as ventilated as possible, if there’s choices.” Perlman says it’s also important that children ages 12 to 17 get vaccinated before heading back to school — to both protect themselves and those around them.

According to the CDC, only around 30-percent of Iowa’s kids in this age range have been fully vaccinated.

(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Public Safety said today (Monday), that after a nearly two month long investigation into the disappearance and death of 58-year old Timothy Fechter, law enforcement has charged his brother, 43-year old Creston resident Dustin Seley with one count of Murder in the First Degree.  Seley was taken into custody at the Union County Jail, where he had been since June 29 on unrelated charges. Seley was transferred to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, where was being held without bond on the murder charge. Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater said Monday, “It is believed that a prosecution for murder has not taken place in Adair County since 1951.”

Dustin Seley

Authorities say the charge against Mr. Seley follows an investigation by the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Creston Police Department, the Union County Sheriff’s Office, and the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, and an autopsy by the Office of the State Medical Examiner. The medical examiner ruled Mr. Fechter’s cause of death as blunt force trauma and gunshot wound. The manner of death has been ruled a homicide.

Fechter was reported missing to the Creston Police Department on June 20 with his body being discovered along a rural Adair County road on July 1st. Anyone with further information concerning the investigation is asked to contact Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater at 641-743-2148.

Seley had his intial appearance with the magistrate on Tuesday and bond has been set at 1 million dollars, cash only.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that 30-year-old Dylan Michael Joseph Hoffman of Council Bluffs was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th in District Court to 63 months in prison on a charge of Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm. He pleaded guilty to the offense in March 2021. His prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release.

The Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case.

A Council Bluffs man that worked as a foreign exhange student coordinator and host parent was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th in US District Court to 327 months in prison for Coercion and Enticement of minor foreign exchange students. 52-year-old Thomas Donald Boatright pleaded guilty to the offenses in February of 2021. His prison term will be followed by 10 years of supervised release and he was ordered to pay restitution to the minor victims.

Boatright led a program where students from other countries enrolled in a year of high school in the United States and were assigned a host family to live with while they attended high school. A report was made by a student in February 2020 after they discovered a hidden camera in the bathroom of Boatright’s home. A search warrant recovered numerous electronic devices that contained many videos of three minor foreign exchange students in the bathroom. A further investigation determined that Boatright used his cell phone and computer to communicate with foreign exchange students prior to their arrival and those conversations were sexual in nature. Boatright used his position as a foreign exchange student coordinator and host parent to coerce and entice foreign students to engage in sexual activity after they arrived in the United States.

The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa DCI, FBI, and the US Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute provided training and equipment.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that a Council Bluffs man was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th to 121 months in prison for Possession of Child Pornography. 31-year-old Cody Goodwin Taylor of Council Bluffs pleaded guilty to the charge in April 2021.

The case began with a cyber-tip that was received by Council Bluffs Police in July of 2020 that suspected Child Pornography had been uploaded to a Google Drive account. While investigating the tip, a report was received that Taylor’s cell phone contained child pornography as well. A search warrant was executed and a forensic analysis of the phone uncovered over 100 photos and videos of child pornography.

The Council Bluffs Police Department investigated the case and the US Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute provided training and equipment.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office released details on an accident that took place on Sunday evening. At 5:51 p.m. Deputies responded to the accident at the intersection of Highways 25 and 141.

After investigation it was determined that a 2011 Toyota Tundra driven by 44-year-old Horacio Gomez Sanchez of Memphis, Tennessee was traveling northbound on Highway 25 when he ran a stop sign at the intersection with Highway 141. Gomez Sanchez then struck the rear driver’s side of a 2013 Ford F150 pickup driven by 57-year-old Steven Joseph Kepford of Moorhead, IA as he was traveling westbound. The F150 spun around and stopped on the north shoulder of Highway 141 facing East. The Tundra spun around to the northwest and became airborne, striking a light pole before coming to rest on its top north of 141 in the ditch.

Panora EMS transported two patients to the Guthrie County Hospital for possible injuries. A passenger in the Ford, Karen Kay Kepford suffered suspected minor injuries.

Both vehicles were a total loss and were towed from the scene. The Guthrie County REC light pole that was struck sustained an estimated $3,500 damage.

Horacio Gomez Sanchez was cited for No Valid Drivers License and Failure to Obey Stop Sign and Yield Right of Way.

This map created by the National Weather Service in Johnston, shows Precipitation departure from January 2020 to August 15, 2021 with the Drought Monitor overlaid. Is also shows the locations with the most significant precipitation deficit with many locations over northern parts of Iowa ranging from 12 to 18 inches below normal for that aforementioned period.

Notice the northern part of Cass County is down 19 1/4 inches, while the surrounding areas are in a deficit of slightly more than 12.75 inches. Areas in the far west and southwest have recovered slightly, due to recent heavy rain during intense thunderstorms.

(Radio Iowa) – A Facebook post led to a Florida woman being flown to Sioux City for potentially lifesaving surgery that had been canceled due to the Covid surge in Florida. Jac E. Chace has colon cancer. Surgery to remove part of her colon had been scheduled at a hospital in Panama City, Florida, last Monday, but Grant Wittstruck, Chace’s son, says the hospital is now just dealing with Covid and trauma patients.

“My mother has Stage 3, possible Stage 4 colon cancer and needed to have a large section of her colon removed and, you know, it’s a lifesaving surgery,” he says. “They deem as elective and they couldn’t do it in Florida.”

Wittstruck says out of frustration, he wrote about the situation on Facebook. One of his former Morningside College classmates saw it. Jenna Rehnstrom-Liberto works at MercyOne in Sioux City and connected Wittstruck with the Sioux City hospital’s chief medical officer, who specializes in that very type of surgery.

Wittstruck family. (KSCJ photo)

“Out of the kindness of her heart, she sent me a private message,” Wittstruck says. “She sent me a private message and she did not have to do that. She could have just kept scrolling on our feed and she took the time to ask us to come here and it could possibly end up saving my mom’s life.” Chace flew to Sioux City Wednesday and her surgery was last Friday. Her son says if more people were vaccinated, the trip wouldn’t have been necessary.

“It’s time to get vaccinated,” he says. “…There’s no reason not to get vaccinated, but if you do get Covid after you’ve been vaccinated, the symptoms are significantly less, you’re not necessarily ending up in the ICU.”

Wittstruck is a 2008 graduate of Morningside College in Sioux City and Jenna Rehnstrom-Liberto — MercyOne’s communications director and the one who acted on Wittstruck’s post — graduated in 2006. Whittstruck’s dad is also a Morningside graduate and his mom, the cancer patient, posted a brief statement on Morningside’s Facebook page, thanking “all the people and prayers” that made her surgery possible.