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Auditor of State Rob Sand’s audit report on Guthrie County

News

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Auditor of State Rob Sand, today (Friday), released an audit report on Guthrie County.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
The County’s revenues totaled $19,612,679 for the year ended June 30, 2022, a 2.8% increase over the prior year. Expenses for County operations for the year ended June 30, 2022, totaled $14,213,357, a 10.0% decrease from the prior year. The increase in the revenues is due primarily to an increase in property tax revenue and the significant decrease in the expenses is due primarily to a decrease in rock and sand inventory purchased in fiscal year 2022.

AUDIT FINDINGS:
Sand reported seven findings related to the receipt and expenditure of taxpayer funds. They are found on pages 92 through 98 of this report. The findings address issues such as lack of segregation of duties, material amounts of accounts payable, prepaid expenses and infrastructure and capital asset additions not properly recorded in the County’s financial statements. Sand provided the County with recommendations to address each of these findings.

Five of the seven findings discussed above are repeated from the prior year. The County Board of Supervisors and elected officials have a fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight of the County’s operations and financial transactions. Oversight is typically defined as the “watchful and responsible care” a governing body exercises in its fiduciary capacity.

A copy of the audit report is available for review on the Auditor of State’s website at Audit Reports – Auditor of State.

Heartbeat Today 11-17-2023

Heartbeat Today, Podcasts

November 17th, 2023 by Jim Field

Jim Field visits with Iowa Farm Bureau Economist Dr. Christopher Pudenz about the 38th annual Farm Bureau Thanksgiving dinner survey.

Play

DIANA SMITH, 66, of Bella Vista, AR, formerly of Alantic (11-26-2023)

Obituaries

November 17th, 2023 by Jim Field

DIANA SMITH, 66, of Bella Vista, AR, formerly of Atlantic died October 6, 2023.  A Celebration of Life for DIANA SMITH will be held on Sunday, November 26, 2023 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm at The Venue (307 Walnut St.), in downtown Atlantic.

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A short welcome and eulogy will begin at 2:00pm with an open reception to follow.

Memorials can be made to the Atlantic Splash Pad fund or the charity of your choice.

DIANA SMITH is survived by:

Husband:  Kenn Smith of Bella Vista, AR

Mother:  Janet Petersen of Atlantic

Brothers:  Steven (Sherri) Petersen of Elkhorn, NE; Marty Petersen of Atlantic

and several nephews

THEODORE “TED” J. HANSEN, 81, of Audubon (Svcs. 11/21/23)

Obituaries

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

THEODORE “TED” J. HANSEN, 81, of Audubon, died Wed., Nov. 15,2023, at home, under hospice care. Funeral services for THEODORE “TED” HANSEN will be held 10:30-a.m. Tue., Nov. 21, 2023, at the First United Methodist Church in Audubon. Kessler Funeral Home in Audubon has the arrangements.

Friends may call at the funeral home, where the family will meet friends on Monday (11/20/23), from 5-until 7-p.m.

Burial is in the Exira Cemetery.

THEODORE “TED” HANSEN is survived by:

His wife – Donna [Nelson] Hansen.

His daughters – Amy (Todd) Olsen, of Ankeny; Marla (Doug) Hughes, of Waco, TX; and Carrie (Sid) Smith, of Ingleside, TX.

His sons  – Theodore (T.J.) Hansen, of Brayton; and Justin (Beth) Hansen, of Exira.

His brothers – Richard Hansen (and special friend Janet Leader), of Harlan; and Leonard (Anita) Hansen, of Exira.

His sister – Shirley Crouse, of Cookeville, TN.

7 grandchildren, 1 great-grandson, his in-laws,  other relatives, and dear friends.

Local Posted County Grain Prices: 11/17/2023

Ag/Outdoor

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

Cass County: Corn $4.28 Beans $12.89
Adair County: Corn $4.25 Beans $12.92
Adams County: Corn $4.25 Beans $12.88
Audubon County: Corn $4.27 Beans $12.91
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.31 Beans $12.89
Guthrie County: Corn $4.30 Beans $12.93
Montgomery County: Corn $4.30 Beans $12.91
Shelby County: Corn $4.31 Beans $12.89

Oats $3.13 (Same in all counties)

Lakeside casino fined for allowing 12 and 14 year olds onto gambling floor

News

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Lakeside Casino in Osceola is paying a 40-thousand dollar penalty for allowing two minors on the gambling floor in separate instances in January. One cases involved a 12 year old who got onto the floor with his mother, and the other involved a 14 year old who got onto the floor with her mother and played a slot machine. Lakeside general manager David Monroe told the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Thursday security measures were not followed. “The incidents that occurred in January are the result of a couple of employees failing to follow the training and guidelines that they had committed to,” he says. “In both instances, the minors would not have gained access if the employees and just to even a marginal job.”

Monroe says they took a number of steps to ensure there is not a repeat. “First of all, we did the obvious we retrained every employee on property and had them sign an acknowledgment that they understood that it’s everybody’s responsibility on the property, not just security’s. And we went back and retrained the security officers on turnstile responsibilities,” Monroe says. “And we added a step where the security manager and assistant security manager were the only two that could approve somebody work in those stations. So not only do they have to demonstrate

IRGC (Radio Iowa photo)

the ability to verbally stay, they understood the job.” He says they reviewed the entry area and put in a new turnstile at the entrance to the gambling floor.

“The new turnstile has a physical arm barrier that requires a security guard to push a button that says I’ve acknowledged and I won’t let you in. We upgraded our I-D scanning system to a state of the art system which gives our security guards a better opportunity to identify fraudulent I-Ds,” he says. Monroe also apologized to the Commission. Commission member Allen Ostergren says his first thoughts on the violations involved a possible license suspension.” I can tell you in my mind, when I first read this, I was extremely punitive in my thoughts as to what should happen,” Ostergren says.

He says there was a lot going on in the one case with a mother bringing a 12 year old to the casino near midnight. Ostergren says the measures taken by the casino made him decided to go along with the fine. “But I can tell you and I want to tell other licensees, had there not been this level of remedial measures taken, I would have, I would have had a very hard time agreeing to just this kind of financial penalty, it would have been a lot more or something that would have hurt a lot more,” Ostergren says.

The Commission unanimously approved the 40-thousand dollar penalty.

Juvenile in Adams County faces felony charges in connection w/a Casey’s break-in on Nov. 10th

News

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Corning, Iowa) – Adams County Sheriff’s Deputies responding to an alarm call last week, in Corning, ended-up arresting a juvenile on several charges. The Sheriff’s Office, Thursday (Nov. 16th), said incident investigation began at around 1:17-a.m. Friday, Nov. 10th, following a call from the Casey’s General Store at 204 6th Street, in Corning.

Upon arrival, Deputies did not observe anything, but shortly after 2-a.m., Adams County Dispatch received call from a Casey’s employee who said they heard glass shattering. Upon further investigation, Deputies charged a 12-year-old with Minor in Possession of Alcohol, Theft in the 5th Degree, Criminal Mischief in the 2nd Degree (A Class-D Felony), and Burglary in the 3rd Degree (a Class-D Felony).

The juvenile was not identified because of their age.

**Sheriff’s Office disclaimer: “Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations, and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Red Oak woman arrested on an Assault charge, Thursday

News

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman from Red Oak was arrested Thursday night on an Assault charge. Red Oak Police report 31-year-old Makayla Dawn Hudson was taken into custody in the 1100 block of Kelly Circle at around 10:45-p.m., for Assault causing bodily injury. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond.

Skyscan Forecast for Atlantic & the Nishna Valley: Friday, Nov. 17, 2023

Weather

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

Today: Sunny, with a high near 49. North northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable.

Tonight: Clear, with a low around 28. South southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow: Sunny, with a high near 60. West wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tom. Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy w/a 30% chance of rain in the afternoon. High near 55. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Sunday Night: Cloudy &breezy,w/a 50% chance of rain. Low around 38.

Monday: Cloudy & breezy w/a 60% chance of rain through mid-day. High near 45.

Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 67. Our Low this morning was 23. This day last year the high was 34 and the low 11. The record high for Nov. 17th in Atlantic was 73 in 1941. The record low was -2 in 1959. Sunrise is at 7:11 am and sunset is at 4:59 pm.

Iowans urged to be vigilant as Asian longhorned tick spreads across U.S.

Ag/Outdoor, News

November 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – There’s another tick to be on the look-out for, especially if you raise cattle or horses in Iowa. The Asian longhorned tick has been found in 19 states, including Missouri. Veterinarian Grant Dewell says “They can bite humans, but they tend to prefer livestock.” Dewell is with Iowa State University Extension, and his research specialty is beef cattle.

The Centers for Disease Control has issued a warning about these ticks due to recently published research about three Ohio cows that died after being bitten tens of thousands of times by Asian longhorned ticks. This tick species was first found in the U-S in 2010. Dewell says a female can produce on her own. “A single female will produce several thousand eggs…so they can really expand exponentially their numbers once they get into a population,” Dewell says, “They can really overwhelm an animal in some cases.”

Asian longhorned tick (Iowa State University Extension photo)

Researchers in Ohio concluded the cattle there died of blood loss. Dewell says it’s important to keep grass cut around feedlots and make sure animals are grazing in pastures, because ticks prefer to live in areas with tall grass.”We’ll see how far north it spreads,” Dewell says. “It is somewhat cold tolerant, but it doesn’t love the cold either. We have ticks in Iowa, but they’re not as severe as in Missouri and Arkansas and those types of (warmer) places.”

While Asian longhorned ticks seem to prefer cattle and horses, they have been found on dozens of animals in the United States. A man from New York is the first known human to be bitten in the U-S by this species of ticks. That happened in June of 2018.