DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that Iowa Department of Transportation officers do not have authority to issue speeding tickets to or arrest drivers outside of the regulation of commercial vehicles. The finding came Friday in separate 2016 cases in which lower courts split on the issue, with a judge in Iowa County finding that carrier enforcement officers did have such authority, while a judge in Polk County ruled that those officers did not.

The state’s high court ruled Friday that Iowa law allowed the officers to make arrests and issue tickets only for violations relating to operating authority, registration, size, weight and load of commercial vehicles.
State law changed last year, giving IDOT officers the authority to ticket drivers of noncommercial vehicles, but only until July 2018.

More than three-hours after a fatal, head-on crash closed Highway 92 west of Massena, this morning, the road has finally re-opened. Cass County Deputy Bill Ayers reports (that as of 10:25-a.m.) the wreck has been cleared away and the road is passable. The accident, which resulted in one-person flown to a hospital in Omaha, and the death of another person, occurred between 720th and 730th Streets on Highway 92, at around 6:45-a.m.  The names of the victims and other details have not yet been released.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowans are being bombarded with campaign ads in the most expensive election to date. Jay Newell, a professor of advertising at Iowa State University, says more money is being spent on ads during this 2018 midterm election than even the 2016 presidential election. More than six-million dollars is being spent on ads just in the governor’s race. Newell says ads for the 2016 Iowa Caucuses started early in 2015 and ran nearly a full year. “In Des Moines, there was something like $20-million of advertising, that’s a colossal amount,” Newell says. “In comparison, Hy-Vee, which is the largest advertiser in the state, spends about $4-million a year. Statewide, it was the equivalent of ten Hy-Vee chains opening all at once.”

What happens in political advertising is a lot like what happens with brand advertising, accord to Newell. “If all it took to get you to buy a product was to just advertise, then all you would do is advertise, advertise, advertise and you would win the market,” Newell says, “but that’s not what happens in brands and it’s not what happens in politics.”

An I-S-U study of political advertising during the 2016 Iowa Caucuses showed the candidates who spent more on television advertising generally received more support on caucus night, but spending does -not- guarantee a win. “Certainly, there is a relationship in that the more popular the candidate, the more access they might have to funding,” Newell says. “That’s going to result in advertising but that advertising may not result in voting behavior.”

Republican Jeb Bush spent more than nine-million dollars during the 2016 Caucus season, the second-biggest advertiser, but only won about three-percent of the vote. The top spender, Marco Rubio shelled out slightly more than Bush — around nine-point-two million — and still placed third, behind Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A prominent youth basketball coach in Iowa has admitted to possessing nude photos and videos of 400 boys, including former players and their friends. Former Iowa Barnstormers Coach Greg Stephen pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually exploiting minors and possessing and transporting child pornography. He acknowledged in a plea agreement that police discovered files on his hard drive with the names of 400 different minors.
The folders contained videos of the boys undressing and showering that Stephen recorded with secret devices he placed in hotels, his home and lake house. Stephen recorded boys whom he enticed by posing on social media as teenage girls. Some images showed sleeping minors with their pants pulled down, including many in which Stephen recorded himself touching their genitals.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, earlier this week, gave their blessing to a woman who requested to paint a mural on the west side courthouse garage doors. According to County Auditor Dale Sunderman, Connie Boose appeared before the Board to say she wants to paint an Art Deco-style mural on the garage door, in keeping with the style of courthouse, which was built in 1934. Boose suggested an eagle motif for one of the doors, and a floral motif for the other. Painting an maintenance of the murals would come at no cost to the County.

Boose, who painted Coca-Cola murals in Atlantic, said the CPC and City of Atlantic asked her to look for three- or four-more places in town to paint other murals. Both the Supervisors and Sheriff Darby McLaren indicated they had no problem with the proposal. Boose said she will present her plan to the City and CPC for final approval. If that’s granted, the Supervisors will take official action on the project at a future meeting.

In other business, County Engineer Charles Bechtold reviewed current road projects. He said Fall pipe, rock and seal coat projects have been completed…a 1,500-ton capacity salt shed has been built, and more safety equipment has been purchased. Bechtold said also, an existing 58-foot wood trestle bridge on Quincy Road over Hoyt’s Branch, will be replaced with a 70-foot concrete culvert. During their next meeting on Oct. 24th, the Cass County Supervisors will hear an annual report and request for funding, from the Cass County Library Association, and accept the work and final application for partial payment on the gray water transmission to ethanol plant project, from Crow River Construction.

DECORAH, Iowa (AP) — A December trial has been scheduled for an 18-year-old man accused of helping to fatally beat a Decorah resident. Winneshiek County court records say Dalton Adam has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. His trial is set to begin Dec. 12. Prosecutors say Adam and a 17-year-old boy attacked 46-year-old David Hansen after Hansen confronted the pair as they damaged property outside his home on July 12. He died Aug. 30.