DES MOINES, Iowa — [KCCI] –  A picture taken during the Iowa State Fair could soon be seen on envelopes across the country. The picture shows the big Ferris wheel at the fair and is part of a series of 10 stamps depicting images at carnivals or fairs as part of the Carnival Nights series.

The photo was captured by Phil Roeder, an accomplished photographer and the communications director at Des Moines Public Schools. Roeder says he’s excited to be part of the project, and just as excited to be able to highlight the fair.

ANAMOSA, Iowa (KCRG) – The family of an Anamosa corrections officer, is suing the state of Iowa. Correctional officer Robert McFarland and nurse Lorena Schulte were murdered by inmates trying to escape the prison in March 2021. Investigators say inmates Thomas Woodard and Michael Dutcher used hammers from the prison’s maintenance shop to strike both McFarland and Schulte in the back of the head. Both Woodard and Dutcher pleaded guilty to the crimes later that year. They’re both serving sentences of life in prison.

The lawsuit alleges the Anamosa prison was over-capacity and under-staffed for at least five months before McFarland and Schulte were fatally attacked. Specifically, the lawsuit states the prison had a maximum capacity of 911 inmates, but at the time of the attack was housing more than 950 inmates. The lawsuit also states the prison only had 172 staff members despite being funded for 201 staff positions.

It claims this problem of operating over capacity while being understaffed was not unique to the prison in Anamosa and has been a pattern across the state. The lawsuit also accuses the prison of failing to properly train and prepare staff members with an appropriate emergency response plan. It also highlights faulty radios that limited communication, failure to use surveillance cameras to monitor inmate activity, and a failure to control access to the prison’s tools.

In February 2023, the Iowa Department of Corrections redesignated the Anamosa State Penitentiary as strictly medium security. It had previously been a medium/maximum security. The change resulted in the relocation of some of its most dangerous prisoners to the state penitentiary in Fort Madison. Lorena Schulte’s family also filed a lawsuit against the state, the prison and the Department of Corrections in January alleging failures to provide a safe working environment, sufficient staffing and other failures of duty.

(Radio Iowa) – A Sioux City woman who is the wife of a Woodbury County Supervisor, plans to appeal her voter fraud conviction. Kim Taylor will have a new attorney.  Guy Weinstein has been appointed to represent Taylor in the appeal.

Taylor was sentenced to four months in prison and four months home confinement back on April 1st. She was convicted last November by a federal jury on 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, three counts of fraudulent registration, and 23 counts of fraudulent voting.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies conducted an arrest following a traffic stop late Tuesday night, near Villisca. Taken into custody near W. High Street and Highway 71 at around 11:25-p.m., was 54-year-old John David Stone, of Braddyville. Stone was arrested for Driving While Barred. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has voted to establish statewide regulations for automated traffic cameras that generate tickets for speeding and running red lights. Republican Representative Phil Thompson of Boone says tickets could only be issued if a vehicle is caught going at least 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. “While I certainly would prefer to ban these outright,” Thompson says, “the longer we sit around and do nothing on this, the more we’re seeing these systems being abuse across our state.”

Representative Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden, says after years of wrangling, it’s clear there’s no perfect answer, but it’s time to act. “Without this amendment and this bill…I think there’s going to be a lot of unwanted and unneeded traffic cameras that are going to keep springing up,” Best said.

The bill would require revenue from traffic camera tickets to be used on law enforcement budgets. Republican Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake wants to go further and ban all traffic cameras. “We don’t have to be found guilty just because our car was there, our license plate was there,” Wills says.

If the bill becomes law, cities that want to have traffic cameras would have to get a permit from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Cities with fewer than 20-thousand residents could not have mobile cameras that change locations. The bill passed on an 85 to 12 vote and now goes to the Senate.

(Radio Iowa) – A House-passed bill that would give property owners resisting a proposed carbon pipeline a new legal option has cleared initial review in the Iowa Senate. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, is working on some adjustments to the bill, but he says it’s time for the legislature to do something. “I do believe this is the correct thing…to give people an opportunity to know the fate of their land without waiting three years,” Schultz said. “That just seems cruel and unusual.”

Under the bill, property owners along a proposed hazardous pipeline route could go to court after a permit application is filed for a ruling on whether developers would have eminent domain authority to seize land for the project. Property owners who don’t want the carbon pipeline on their land are urging senators to pass the bill. Kathy Carter of Rockford says they need relief.

“We need relief from the unending stress,” Carter said. “We need the relief of the worry of how do I afford to continue on, all in an effort to protect my own property.” Jeff Boeyink, a lobbyist for Summit Carbon Solutions, says if the bill becomes law, it would have a chilling effect on Summit’s pipeline, as well as natural gas pipeline development. “At its core, this bill has been written to frustrate infrastructure development,” Boeyink said. “There’s just no doubt about it.”

Another lobbyist for the company told senators that Summit has paid 158 million dollars to over 12-hundred Iowa landowners who’ve signed voluntary easements for the pipeline — accounting for nearly 75 percent of the pipeline route through Iowa.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School Board will meet Wednesday (April 10, 2024) in the High School Media Center. Their meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., and includes action on setting the 2nd Budget Hearing as April 24th at 5:30-p.m., and the following resignations:

• Chelsey Christensen, Kitchen, effective immediately
• Terry Hinzmann, 8th Grade Girls Basketball Coach for 24-25 season
• Terry Hinzmann, 7th Grade Boys Basketball Coach for 24-25 season
• Holly Esbeck, NHS Sponsor for 24-25 school year
• Alyssa Boltz, Assistant Volleyball Coach, Fall 2024 Season

The Board will also act on the following Contract Recommendations and/or Letters of Assignment:

• Brett Johnson, Full-time Grounds Supervisor, starting April 11, 2024
• Kerry Jepsen, High School Office Secretary starting July 1, 2024
• Laura Horn, K-12 Librarian for 24-25 school year
• Julie Coffey, ELL Teacher for 24-25 school year
• Nicole Corpela, 2nd Grade Teacher for 24-25 school year
• Cory Bartz, High School Math Teacher for 24-25 school year
• Title I teacher, Schuler Elementary
• Stacey Schmidt, Director of Student Services
• Nick Bennett, Special Education Para thru TPRA Grant
• Cambry Miller, Girls Swim Coach
• Alyssa Boltz and Jesse McCann, Soccer coach stipends.

You can view the full agenda here: Public Agenda 04102024

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources annual spring auction is being held online until April 24. To view the firearms for sale and to register to bid, go to https://auctionsolutionsinc.com/auctions.

Items up for auction include firearms, bows, gun cases and scopes. The items are sold “as is” with no guarantee or warranty. The list of items for sale and the terms of service is available at https://www.proxibid.com/Auction-Solutions-Inc/Iowa-State-Firearm-Auction-2024/event-catalog/259840.

Iowans who are winning bidders are required to pick up their firearms on April 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the northwest corner parking lot/loading dock of the Wallace State Office Building, 502 East Ninth Street, in Des Moines.

The Iowa DNR reserves the right to reject any bids and withdraw any item from the sale at any time.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa agriculture officials are closely monitoring new developments with highly pathogenic avian influenza in the country. The U-S-D-A reported dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas tested positive for the virus last month. Earlier, avian flu was confined to domestic poultry and other bird species. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says other confirmed cases have been reported in Idaho, MIchigan and Ohio.

“What happens is, you’ve got cows that start to go off feed,” Naig says. “They might run a fever, their milk production drops, and that’s how folks started to realize and pick up that they had a problem. So, that certainly affects the health of dairy herds and the profitability of dairy, but, the good news is, those dairy cattle recover, just like you and I get over the flu.”

Last weekend, the Centers for Disease Control issued a health alert to inform clinicians, state health departments and the public of a case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with the virus. Though the case was confirmed in a farm worker in Texas, Naig says the public should not be alarmed.

“There’s only ever been two confirmed cases of high path avian influenza in humans,” he says. “One was in Colorado a few years ago, related to a poultry site. And, the second one now is a dairy worker, a worker at one of these positive sites who had a lot of contact with those cattle and milk. So you can understand why that might have happened, but there is no indication that it moves from person to person.” Naig adds, the avian flu doesn’t constitute a food safety issue.

“As long as you are drinking pasteurized milk,” Naig says, “the milk that you and I buy at the grocery store, or that kids are drinking at school during a lunch hour, that is pasteurized. That kills any viruses and bacteria that are of concern, that’s where I can say this is not a food safety issue, but one that we are watching very closely, trying to anticipate how we can stay ahead of it here in the state of Iowa.”

More information regarding avian influenza is available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s website.