DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Public Information Board has charged Polk County Assessor Randy Ripperger with violating Iowa’s open records law. The Des Moines Register says Ripperger is accused of wrongly denying public access to a list of 2,166 Polk County property owners who have had their names removed from the assessor’s website search engine. That makes it impossible for others to determine what properties those entities own through an online search.

The case is an administrative proceeding, not a court trial. Either the board itself or an administrative law judge will preside over a June 21 hearing. A board prosecutor is seeking an order directing Ripperger to disclose the list of property owners and pay unspecified damages.

Ripperger has cited a state law that allows governmental agencies to keep confidential certain communications. Ripperger says his office grants every request for removal it receives from property owners, who he says are generally public officials.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Glenwood man early Saturday morning. At 2:08am Deputies arrested 29-year-old Justin Michael McFail of Glenwood in the 1200 block of Highway 48. McFail is charged with Driving While License Suspended and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. McFail was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond. Deputies were assisted by the Montgomery County K-9 Unit.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports his deputies, Friday night, arrested on multiple warrants, 29-year old Bianca Elizabeth Countryman, of Sidney. An investigation into her activities began at the end of November 2017 and continued into this year, as the Sheriff’s office was conducting investigations into the delivery of controlled substances in Fremont County.

Countryman’s warrants include, Delivery of Methamphetamine, Delivery of marijuana, Delivery of prescription pills, Conspiracy to deliver controlled substance, and Child Endangerment.

She was arrested at her residence in Sidney without incident and transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center, where her cash bond was set at $75,000.

Bianca Countryman (Fremont Co. S/O photo)

Red Oak Police, Friday afternoon, arrested 58-year old Thomas Oscar Anderson, of Red Oak. The man was taken into custody for Violation of a Protection Order. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst, from Red Oak, stopped in Atlantic, Friday afternoon. She first toured the Nishna Valley YMCA before paying a visit to the Ann W. Wickman Early Childhood Development Center, where she engaged the students in reading from Dr. Seuss’ “Mr. Brown Can Moo. Can you?”

Sen. Joni Ernst

Afterward, Ernst sat down with reporters, where she was asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, on Thursday boasted of new nuclear weapons that he said render NATO’s U.S.-led missile defenses useless. Ernst said “Russia is not our friend.” She said she had not been brief yet, on the specific capabilities…but, Russia is a concern and Russia will continue to be a concern for a very long time. They are what we consider a “Near peer” adversary, as well as China, Iran and North Korea. We like to keep our eyes on folks like that.”

Ernst was asked about whether or not Putin is just “Blowing smoke” when it comes to his stealth nuclear capabilities. She said “He likes to project power, and if he’s doing that just by “blowing smoke,” he will do that, but we do Russia has some nefarious intentions, especially when it comes to the United States, so we need to keep our eye on him and push back where we can push back.”

As for the RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard), Ernst said “Renewable fuels/biofiels are extremely important. Not just to the State of Iowa, [but] from a producer standpoint, a lot of folks from across the Midwest those that grow corn and use ethanol they are very concerned. They want to uphold the [RFS] but, it’s important to the nation as well. We look at clean air standards..it’s better than burning just purely fossil fuels, and it does decrease our reliance on foreign energy sources. So we think it’s very important to maintain it, keep pushing for it.

Late last month, the Whitehouse said talks will continue on a dispute over the future of the RFS, which has pitted producers from corn producing states against oil producing states. The standard requires biofuels from corn and soybeans to be blended into gasoline and diesel. Midwest states have sought to maintain the standards while oil companies have pushed to ease the mandates.

Ernst also mentioned she was concerned about the trade tariff on aluminum and steel President Trump has proposed, saying “Maybe it wasn’t as thoroughly vetted as it should have been, because now we have the WTO (World Trade Organization), that’s saying they may have “Trade wars” now, between other nations and the United States. She says she’s concerned because it may have implications “In our ag trade space.”

Prior to being Atlantic, Ernst was in Panora where she visited a tele-com company, and learned how broadband infrastructure will be important for rural communities as well as in town.

Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says a reduction in Iowa’s CORPORATE tax rate may be tacked onto the tax bill that cleared its first hurdle in the House yesterday (Thursday).  “I think it’s possible,” Upmeyer says. “We’re not going to preclude any topic at this point, I don’t think. The Senate sent a bill that they have an interest in doing. The governor sent us a bill and we’re going to see what we can do to come up with something that’s just good for Iowans.”

The House bill, as currently crafted, would cut income taxes for individuals, but NOT corporations. It’s modeled after the tax plan Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled two weeks ago that would cut taxes by about 300-million dollars annually. The SENATE G-O-P’s plan eventually would cut a BILLION in taxes each year. Upmeyer says House Republicans intend to be “pragmatic” when it comes to tax cuts, to ensure the cuts don’t endanger the state’s ability to fulfill spending obligations on priorities like education, public safety and health care.

“We want a common sense approach on how we move forward,” Upmeyer says. The governor’s plan and the House G-O-P proposal both include “triggers” that would stop any scheduled tax CUTS — if state tax collections fail to grow by at least three-and-a-half percent, year-to-year. Upmeyer suggests the same “triggers” could be applied to any cut in CORPORATE taxes.

“We want to make sure we’re able to fund Iowans’ priorities and that additional dollars return to the taxpayer,” Upmeyer says. “Including safeguards, triggers in the plan, I think, could achieve that.” SENATE Republicans propose cutting the state’s corporate tax rate from 12 down to seven percent.

(Radio Iowa)

A college student was stabbed to death in an off-campus incident in Oskaloosa. Police were called to the Jiffy Convenience store in Oskaloosa shortly before 11 last night on a report of an injured man. Officers found 22 year old Marquis Todd of Woodbridge, Illinois, suffering from a stab wound. He was taken to a hospital where he later died of his injuries.

According to witnesses, an altercation occurred after a minor traffic accident during which Todd was stabbed. Todd was a former member of the William Penn Statesmen basketball team. His body has been taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for autopsy. So far, no arrests have been made.

(Radio Iowa)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Six people from Dubuque have been sentenced for participation in a phone call scam that victimized more than 250 elderly victims across the country. The six were sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. All six pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Prosecutors say the scheme consisted of phone calls to elderly people across the country, telling victims that relatives were jailed and that money should be wired to free them. The six handled the wire transfers.

Prosecutors say 33-year-old Tobey Hines was given 33 months; 33-year-old Tiffany Reynolds was given 19 months; Joshua Willis was given 23 months; 23-year-old Payton McCarville was given eight months; 21-year-old Morgan Cornell was given 14 months; and 34-year-old Paul Chase was given 15 months.

They also were ordered to pay restitution.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that on February 27, 2018, 35-year old Walter J. O’Donohue, III, of Omaha,  Neb., was sentenced to 15 years in prison, fined $50,000, and ordered to serve five-years of supervised release following his prison term, for Conspiracy to Distribute a Fentanyl Analogue that caused death or serious bodily injury.  United States District Court Senior Judge James Gritzner handed down the sentence.

O’Donohue was part of a drug trafficking organization responsible for receiving and  distributing fentanyl analogues obtained from a source in China to individuals in Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. The investigation began on June 28, 2015, when law enforcement  officers were called to a Carter Lake, Iowa, residence regarding an unresponsive male. Law enforcement found the body of a 20-year old deceased male at the home. Law enforcement also discovered a second male had been transported to a local hospital, and placed on life support, from the same location prior to law enforcement’s arrival.

A subsequent investigation revealed co-defendant Charles Beuterbaugh provided acetyl fentanyl to both victims, which was determined to be the cause of death and the reason for the hospitalization. Beuterbaugh had obtained the acetyl fentanyl through an organization that began distributing fentanyl, or an analogue of fentanyl, in November of 2014 and continued to distribute into April of 2016. Further investigation into the overdose death revealed O’Donohue was responsible for the importation of the acetyl fentanyl ultimately distributed by co-defendant Beuterbaugh.

All members involved in the distribution of the acetyl fentanyl have entered guilty pleas. On October 26, 2017, Senior Judge Gritzner sentenced O’Donohue’s co-defendants, 27-year old Dustin C. Sullivan, of Council Bluffs, to 162 months and 31-year old Cody Lanus, of Omaha, Neb., to a term of imprisonment of 144 months. Michael David Redmond, Jr., who joined the conspiracy in December of 2015, was previously sentenced by Senior Judge Gritzner to 120 months in prison. Amalia N. Pandis is pending sentencing at a future date.

The investigation was conducted by the Carter Lake Police Department, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, Omaha Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa Division of Narcotic Enforcement, United States Postal Inspection Service and United States Drug Enforcement Administration-Nebraska. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.