LEON GALE DITTO, 80, of Carroll (Svcs. 12/12/25)

Obituaries

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

LEON GALE DITTO, 80, of Carroll, died Sunday, December 07, 2025, at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll. Funeral services for LEON DITTO will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday, December 12, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church in Audubon. Schmidt Family Funeral Home of Audubon has the arrangements.

A public visitation with the family will be held one hour prior to the funeral at the church on Friday.

Interment will take place at Maple Grove Cemetery in Audubon.

A luncheon will be held following the committal in the fellowship hall of the church.

Memorials may be directed to the Ditto Family; they will be designated at a later date in memory of Leon. They may be mailed to the Schmidt Family Funeral Home, P.O. Box 201, Audubon, IA 50025.

LEON DITTO is survived by:

His wife of 60 years – Paulette, of Carroll.

His daughter – Donita (Tom) Anderson, of West Liberty.

His son – Darren (Lori) Ditto,of St. Louis, MO.

His sister – Linnet (Bob) Nissen, of Manning.

His brother – Elden Ditto, of Anita.

4 grandchildren; his brother-in-law Rod Benton of Audubon; his sister-in-law Kathy Benton of Brookfield, WI; his brother-in-law Brent Benton of Glidden; other relatives and friends.

Posted in Obituaries |

Logan Jones Named Finalist For Rimington Trophy

Sports

December 8th, 2025 by Jack McGonigal

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior Logan Jones is one of three finalists for the 2025 Rimington Trophy, it was announced on Monday. The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding center.

Joining Jones as finalists are Jake Slaughter (Florida) and Iapani Laloulu (Oregon).

Jones (6-foot-3, 302 pounds) anchors Iowa’s offensive line, which is a Joe Moore Award semifinalist.  The first-team All-Big Ten honoree has started 50 career games and has served as a game captain all 12 games this season. He is the top-rated center in the country by Pro Football Focus and has not been flagged for an offensive holding penalty in 2025. Jones’ protection, along with the rest of the line, has helped quarterback Mark Gronowski break school single-season records for rushing yards (491) and rushing touchdowns (15) by a quarterback.

Jones and the Hawkeyes have out-rushed their opponents nine times in 2025, compiling 245 yards in the victory over Penn State on Oct. 18 and rushing for 310 yards in the season-opening win over UAlbany. The unit helped Iowa gain more than 200 yards in four games and the line surrendered just 16 sacks. Jones was the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week on the weekend of Oct. 25 following Iowa’s 41-3 convincing victory over Minnesota.

The Rimington Trophy winner will be announced on Friday, Dec. 12 on the ESPN College Football Awards Show. Since its inception, the award has raised over $5.2 million for the Boomer Esiason Foundation.

The center with the most first team votes on three prestigious All-America teams (Walter Camp Foundation, Sporting News, and Football Writers Association of America) will determine the winner of the Rimington Trophy.

Former Hawkeye Tyler Linderbaum won the 2021 Rimington Trophy, while Austin Blythe and Bruce Nelson were finalists for the trophy in 2015 and 2002, respectively.

No. 23 Iowa will face No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31, in Tampa, Florida.

LOGAN JONES HONORS – 2025
Outland Trophy Finalist
Rimington Trophy Finalist
First Team All-Big Ten (coaches; media)
Outland Trophy National Player of the Week (Oct. 28)

Posted in Sports |

Hawkeyes Sign Léa Larouche

Sports

December 8th, 2025 by Jack McGonigal

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa women’s soccer team has signed, Léa Larouche, head coach Dave DiIanni announced on Monday. Larouche, a transfer, will be a junior in the 2026-27 season after spending her first two seasons at Butler University.

Larouche is coming off a sophomore campaign in which she was selected to the All-Big East Third team after starting in all 17 matches for the Bulldogs. The Quebec, Canada native totaled five assists on the season including three in a game against Providence. Larouche was named to the Big East Weekly Honor roll in September while also being named CSC Academic All-District. In her freshman season, Larouche started in all 19 matches finishing with a pair of goals and assists.

Larouche also spent time on the U-20 Canadian National Team where they won the U-20 CONCACAF Championship in 2025. Her game winning goal against USYNT pushed them to the championship match.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH DAVE DIIANNI
“Lea is a versatile soccer player whose athleticism and technical ability allows her to excel in multiple roles across the field. Her composure, intelligence, and competitiveness elevates her play. The national team experience brings maturity, competitiveness and leadership to our Hawkeye program.”

Posted in Sports |

DNR continues CWD education

Ag/Outdoor, News

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R recently released a series of informational updates on chronic-wasting disease that’s found in deer. State deer biologist Jace Elliott says they want to get information out to update everyone as the deer season is underway. “C-W-D has always been a hot topic. It’s controversial, and it’s important for hunters and the public to understand, you know, there, there’s a lot of information out there and we just want to help provide maybe sort of a biological, scientific and deer management focus,” he says. If you haven’t seen any of the information, you can find it online.

“Our deer hunting website, which is just iowadnr.gov/deer, has a lot of different helpful resources,” Elliott says. “We have a a sub website in there called deer health. You can find a lot of information about C-W-D, including our our interactive C-W-D dashboard.” He says there’s also information on other diseases that impact deer.

” You can also see. our E-H-D and blue tongue reporting tool and dashboard, So, for anybody who hasn’t visited that website, there’s a wealth of information for folks who are interested in in how and why we manage deer in Iowa,” Elliott says.

The D-N-R collects samples from hunters throughout the deer season to test for C-W-D to help track its spread in the state.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Survey finds 65% of Iowa Democrats want ’28 Caucuses to be among first wave of voting contests

News

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – About 750 Iowa Democrats took an online survey to share their thoughts on the future of the Iowa Caucuses — and 65 percent want Iowa Democrats to be first or at least among the early states hosting contests in the 2028 presidential election. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart released a video statement, saying the results are not surprising.”The bottom is that Iowans must have an early role in the 2028 presidential nominating process,” Hart said, “and our party-run process needs to be more accessible and inclusive.”

Nearly 30 percent of Democrats who completed the survey said in-person precinct caucus gatherings should be maintained, but the party should figure out a way for people to participate if they cannot attend on Caucus night. Respondents were split on whether the Iowa Democratic Party should “go rogue” and hold first-in-the-nation Caucuses if the Democratic National Committee decides another state should go first. Hart says Iowa Democrats will meet the January 16th deadline and apply to the D-N-C to be among the handful of states allowed to hold caucuses and primaries in early 2028.

“There is still along way to go before an early window calendar is finalized and there’s still a lot of conversations with the DNC and with my fellow Democrats that need to be had,” Hart said, “so while I’m looking forward to having those discussions, my primary focus right now continues to be making sure we win elections in 2026.”

A smart phone app delayed release of the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2020 Caucuses and national party leaders voted to take Iowa out of the lead-off spot in the 2024 campaign. The Iowa G-O-P’s Caucuses have been the kick off for Republican presidential campaigns for over four decades and party leaders are optimistic the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses will remain first-in-the-nation in 2028.

Posted in News |

Former Iowa State coach Matt Campbell introduced at Penn State

Sports

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

Matt Campbell was introduced as the new football coach at Penn State. Campbell spent the past 10 years at Iowa State and led the Cyclones to a pair of trips to the Big 12 Championship game.

Campbell says his meeting Friday night with the Cyclone team was one of the hardest things. He led ISU to seven bowl games in 10 years and left as the school’s all-time leader in wins.

Campbell says Penn State is the right program at the right time.

Campbell says Derek Hoodjer will serve as GM for Penn State as they seek to rebuild the roster. Hoodjer served as director of player personnel at Iowa State.

Posted in Sports |

Mills County Sheriff’s report on arrests

News

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

(Glenwood, IA) – Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests took place over the past week (in addition to the two previously mentioned arrests – in a separate post – of two people from Omaha on drug charges).

On Dec. 6th: 39-year-old Steven Michael Trotter, of Omaha, was arrested in Glenwood on a warrant for Failure to Appear. His bond was set at $5,000; 58-year-old Derrick Lee Dornsburgh, of Malvern, was arrested in Glenwood for Violation of Probation (Bond $2,000).

On Dec. 3rd, 40-year-old Edicson Arturo Pineda Suarez, of Omaha, was arrested in Council Bluffs for OWI/1st offense (Bond $1,000). And, on Dec. 2nd, 53-year-old Bret Phillip Samuelson, of Auburn, NE, was arrested in Glenwood for Failure to Appear (No bond set).

Posted in News |

Jimmy Rodgers introduced as the new football coach at Iowa State

Sports

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

New Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rodgers hopes to build on the success of former coach Matt Campbell. After spending the past season at Washington State, Rodgers takes over an ISU program that has won 19 games over the past two seasons.

The first priority is building a roster for next season and retaining as many of the current players as possible. Rodgers admits it is likely some will follow Campbell to Penn State and others will enter the transfer portal.

Rodgers met with the players on Sunday and hopes they will get to know the new staff before making a decision on their future.

He has experience in roster building after taking over at Washington State one year ago.

Rodgers says the calendar is more condensed with the transfer portal opening early next month.

Prior to his time at Washington State, Rodgers was the head coach at South Dakota State and is familiar with recruiting in the Midwest.

Posted in Sports |

Trumpeter Swan winner announced!; Soiree with the Swans set for Jan., 3rd 2026

Ag/Outdoor, News

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

(Lewis, Iowa) –  In October, the Cass County Conservation Board announced their annual Trumpeter Swan contest was underway, with the question of “When do you think the first Trumpeter Swan will arrive at the Schildberg [Recreation} Quarry (in Atlantic)?” We now have the answer, and a winner! The sponsors of the contest have determined the official arrival of the swans as December 2nd! On that day 10 Trumpeter Swans were here and stayed more than twenty-four hours. The winner that was the closest to that date was Alice Brown! Alice Brown will receive a Trumpeter Swan Prize from the Cass County Conservation Board. Cass County Conservation thanks to all who participated!

Speaking of the swans, you’re invited to join the Cass County Conservation Department on January 3rd, 2026, for their “Soriee with the Swans,” at Atlantic’s Schildberg Recreation Area- Lake number 4. Conservation staff will give ten-minute presentations about Trumpeter Swans every half-hour, beginning at 11:00 a.m., with the last one being presented at 2:00 p.m. There will also be time to view the swans through spotting scopes and witness random swan feeding sessions. Hot chocolate, cookies, and other snacks will be provided free of charge with donations being accepted (for swan care).

The Schildberg Recreation Area is located on the northwest edge of Atlantic, Lake 4 is on the north side of Highway 83. Atlantic is celebrating 25 winters of the Trumpeter Swans wintering here. This event is not to be missed! IF THE WEATHER IS “BAD” OR THE SWANS ARE NOT AT THE PARK…the program will be at the Atlantic Public Library from 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. with hot chocolate, cookies, and other snacks available. The event is being sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board, Atlantic Parks and Recreation, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Meth, marijuana & prescription drugs seized during a Mills County traffic stop Sunday morning; 2 from Omaha arrested

News

December 8th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

(Glenwood, IA) – A man and woman from Nebraska were arrested on drug charges, following a traffic stop early Sunday morning in Mills County. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the traffic stop was conducted at around 4:55-a.m., and while speaking with the driver of the vehicle, the deputy could smell the odor of narcotics coming from inside the vehicle. A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of 40 grams of methamphetamine, 13 grams of marijuana, and the unlawful possession of 279 prescription pills.

The driver was identified as 48-year-old James William Eads, Jr., of Omaha. His passenger was identified as 43-year-old Diana L. Dubas, also of Omaha. Both were charged with:

  • Drug Trafficking more than 5 grams but less than 5-kilograms of Meth (A Class-B Felony)
  • Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp (A Class-D Felony)
  • Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug (Both are Serious Misdemeanors).

Both were additionally charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (Simple Misdemeanors). Dubas was also charged with Possession of a Contraband in a Correctional Facility (A Class-D Felony). Their preliminary hearings were scheduled for Dec. 17th.

Bond for Eads, Jr. was set at $40,300. Dubas’ bond was set at $33,300.

Eads and Dubas (Mills County S/O photo)

Sheriff’s Disclaimer: “A criminal charge/citation is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty” (In a court of law.)

Posted in News |