Officials with the Harlan Police Department today (Tuesday) announced on social media, their K9 “Jax” has died from natural causes. Jax, a Belgian Malinois served the Harlan Police Department for nine-years, and was active until his passing. He was certified in Tracking/Trailing and Narcotics and assigned to Officer Tim Pederson. The Harlan Police Department says “He will be greatly missed.”

Officer Tim Pederson and K9 “Jax.” (HPD Facebook photo)

The Atlantic Police Department reports two arrests and two citations. Last Saturday, 59-year-old Donald Rose was cited into court for OWI/1st offense, and 45-year-old Ezra Sedina, of Atlantic, was cited for Simple Assault. Both individuals were released with their citations.  On May 20th, 41-year-old Richard Keasey, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, and on the 21st, 45-year-old Lindsay Pellett, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Both subjects were booked into the Cass County Jail and later released.

(Radio Iowa) – On this one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says a bipartisan police reform bill is nearly ready to go to a vote. Senators Corey Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, are working on a compromise version of the bill. Grassley says he’s up to speed on the legislation. “Haven’t had a personal meeting with Scott on it,” Grassley says, “but I’ve been in several larger groups where he’s presented his ideas.”

Scott, the only black U-S senator, says the bill is designed to hold law enforcement accountable for violent incidents, while also developing a system to track problem officers. Grassley says Scott first crafted the measure last summer, but it’s been languishing for months. “Democrats at that time would not take it up because they didn’t want a Republican senator or Republicans to have a victory during an election year,” Grassley says. “Now, they’re in the majority. They feel the heat of producing something. I think there’s a good chance we can reach an agreement.”

Grassley says there are a “couple dozen parts” to the bill, but perhaps just three key elements have been the source of difficulty. “One would be the immunity issue for individual policemen and there’s talks of compromise there,” Grassley says. “And then there’s some things on the extent to which the Department of Defense ought to give surplus equipment to local police departments.”

Grassley says the bill also aims to implement a restriction on the police use of chokeholds, like the one used on Floyd. His death was captured on video, which gained global attention and led to widespread protests calling for racial justice.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular weekly meeting 9-a.m. Wednesday (May 26), in the Greenfield Courthouse Courtroom**. On their agenda is the reading of a letter with regard to the Solar (Panel) Ordinance, an update from the Floodplain Administrator, and updates/discussion with regard to COVID-19. At 9:15-a.m., there will be a Public Hearing on the FY21 Adair County Budget Amendment, followed by action on a Resolution approving the budget as amended.

And then at around 9:20-a.m., County Treasurer Brenda Wallace will talk about an employee resignation, along with the new hire process.

**Please note: The Courtroom will be available for the Board meeting and the public will be allowed to attend in person, but attendance by members of the public is limited to 21 people, to allow for social distancing. The Conference Room phone will continue to be in-use for persons who cannot attend in person. It can be accessed by calling 1-605-313-6157, and when prompted, using access code 526272#

With Ric Hanson.

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With News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Griswold) – The Griswold Community School District’s Board of Education held a Special Meeting Monday evening, to act on a request from a teacher to be released from her contract. Superintendent Dave Henrichs told KJAN News the Board denied the request from TLC Teacher Taryn Maguire, based on a stipulation built into her contract.

Despite the stipulation, Maguire asked the Board unconditionally release her from the contract.

(They voted 4-2 with one member absent to deny the request until a suitable replacement can be found.)

(Radio Iowa) – The defense will present its arguments Davenport, during the Mollie Tibbetts murder trial today (Tuesday). This, after the prosecution rested Monday on the fourth day of the trial. Cristhian Rivera, is accused of confronting Tibbetts as she ran in her hometown of Brooklyn, then killing her and dumping her body in a cornfield in July of 2018. In a common procedural move, defense attorney, Jennifer Frese asked the judge to throw out the case. She said there was little evidence to link Rivera to the crime beyond a forced confession. “I think the state’s evidence is primarily the evidence elicited from the 11-hour interrogation of the defendant — and therefore the motion on behalf of the defense should be granted,” Frese said.

Prosecutor, Scott Brown, says everything they presented shows Rivera is the killer. “It’s our position that the evidence here is overwhelming concerning the guilt of the defendant on a first-degree murder charge,” Brown said. Judge Joel Yates agreed with Brown on the prosecution evidence presented. And we will proceed, and the defense’s motion for acquittal is hereby denied,” Yates said.

The trial will resume at 8:30 a-m today (Tuesday).

(Radio Iowa) – The popular fish finder site run by the D-N-R is back up after being changed over to a new provider. Fisheries Bureau spokesman, Jeff Kopaska, says the site includes information on species and numbers the fisheries staff gather during their surveys on lakes, rivers and streams. “We’ve actually updated our data collection and we are using tablets out in the field and updating all the data electronically while we are out there. We just upload it to the cloud and make that data available to the public,” Kopaska says.

He says it gives you the size and weight of fish by species. “If you are interested in going bluegill fishing and you want to know which lakes we caught the most eight to ten-inch bluegills in last year — you can compare all of the lakes that have fish from that size category,” Kopaska explains. “So, it’s a pretty useful tool for anglers.” He says there’s a lot of interest from anglers in this info. “Since April of 2018 when the site went down I get emails about every week asking when its going to be back up,” according to Kopaska. “We’ve finally got it to a point where we are happy with it and feel that it is good information for the public, and we’ve made it available to them once again.”

Kopaska says it provides good short-term information for anglers looking for fish — but the D-N-R uses the info for longer-term management of the fisheries. “We strive to make data-based decisions and have a solid scientific rationale for what we are doing and why we are doing it,” Kopaska says. “You have to have this data and this information available to make decisions on what we should be stocking, if we should be changing any regulations.” Kopaska says the numbers show the overall health of the fisheries are pretty good. “We have record numbers of fish being Caught. We have high-quality populations in numerous lakes across the state. And the ones that aren’t doing as well — we continue to strive to improve them,” he says. “Our overall goal in D-N-R fisheries is to shorten the time between bites — and to make each one of those bites count.”

You can go to the D-N-R website at www.iowadnr.gov to find the survey information.