The Cass County Treasurer’s office has issued the first new license plate design in the County, to Craig Sporleder.  Early in 2017, Governor Branstad and Governor Reynolds asked the DOT to redesign the 1998 “county standard” blue and white with a silver-grey city and country image in the background plates.  Although this plate design has served Iowa well, it’s become a bit dated and stale. Iowans voted for the new “City and Country Reboot” design last August.

Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall shows the 1st, redesigned license plate issued in the County, with its owner, Craig Sporleder

It provides an updated representation of the urban and rural theme. The top blue border profiles city and country images and the bottom green border is intended to evoke growth, nature and wellness.  Reminds us Iowa is a great place to live, wherever you choose.

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) maintains license plate design standards that are intended to make sure license plates are recognizable and legible.  The license plate design was created with these standards in mind while keeping the purpose of the plate in mind, which is to help law enforcement and others clearly read the letters and numbers that identify the vehicle.

Materials for Iowa’s license plates are supplied by Minnesota-based 3M Co., and they are manufactured by inmates at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. Cass County will be using the old-style plates until inventory is depleted.  Only personalized plates ordered through the state will be issued with the new design.

A collision between a Nissan SUV and a truck with a flat bed in Atlantic, Friday afternoon, resulted in the driver of the truck being transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, for treatment of possible/unknown injuries. Atlantic Police Lt. Paul Wood told KJAN News the Nissan, with three occupants, was traveling north on Sunnyside Lane, and had stopped to turn left onto 2nd Street.

When the van pulled out, it was struck by the eastbound Dodge. Both vehicles ended up on the north side of the intersection. The accident happened a little after 4-p.m.

No one in the SUV was injured. No names were immediately available.

Republican Congressman Steve King’s supporters and opponents gathered in Sioux Center last (Thursday) night as the “Sioux County Conservatives” hosted King at a public event. Steve Mahr helped organize a protest outside the venue, before the meeting began. “Steve King behaves like a bully and a bully is not great representation of who this community is,” Mahr said. “…Kindness is important and I would not allow my children to speak to others than way Steve King speaks about others.”

King later responded to the assertion he doesn’t represent the views of Iowans in the fourth congressional district. “All they need to do is look at the polling and look at the election results,” King told reporters, “and they really shouldn’t be insulting the constituents here in this district.” During last (Thursday) night’s forum, King was asked to explain a comment posted on his campaign’s Facebook page that criticized one of the students who survived the Florida school shooting. It accused Emma Gonzalez of betraying her Cuban heritage by speaking in favor of gun restrictions during her speech at last week’s march in Washington. That Facebook post motivated Mahr and others to protest King last (Thursday) night.

“Instead of responding to the criticisms and the propositions presented by children, by teenagers, by students — he attacked their identity,” Mahr said, “which is what bullies do.” King says his campaign is using Facebook to provide “a rebuttal” to what he says are the “irrational arguments” about guns being made by Gonzalez and other high school students.

“We know what Castro did. He confiscated the guns and he told them: ‘You don’t have need of guns because we’re all here, we’re all on the side of the revolution. so you’ll never need a gun again. It’s just going to be a peaceful island,” King said. “And so, instead, he imprisoned 11 million people on that island and I only pointed out the irony of that.” King spoke with reporters after his supporters AND opponents attended last night’s meeting in the Sioux Center library.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction of a high school teacher who claimed his only physical contact with the student was hugging, finding that the hugging amounted to sexual misconduct in light of instant messages that showed she had “become the object of” his sexual desires.

Bradley Wickes, a 38-year-old former Camanche High School social studies teacher, was convicted in 2015 of a charge of sexual exploitation by a school employee and sentenced to five years in prison. Although the only physical contact Wickes had with the 17-year-old student were hugs at school and school-related events, the court concluded that more than a thousand Facebook Messenger exchanges between them over 45 days indicated that she had “become the object of Wickes’s fantasies and sexual desires, and the hugs that coincided with these messages were for his sexual gratification.”

Wickes challenged the conclusion that hugging a student constituted sexual conduct. But the justices ruled against him, pointing out that rulings in other states — including Maryland in 2013, Oregon in 2009 and Vermont in 2006 — found that hugging can constitute sexual exploitation in certain cases. They said they would not narrow the scope of the teacher sexual exploitation law by finding that hugs alone cannot amount to sexual conduct.

The court acknowledged that there was no evidence showing that Wickes had engaged in a sex act with the teen or any physical contact other than hugging, but it said the Facebook Messenger exchanges show how attractive he found her and how he wanted a more intimate relationship with her.

Within days of that message, the girl’s family discovered the relationship and took her cellphone to the police. Wickes resigned and was charged soon thereafter. Although the justices determined that the hugging was illegal in this case, they said teachers shouldn’t be overly worried about innocent hugs with students.

The court also upheld Wickes’ five-year prison sentence, finding that it wasn’t cruel or unusual punishment.

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona woman says her husband believed he was in the clear after escaping from an Iowa prison 37 years ago and they were both shocked when authorities arrested him earlier this week.

Virginia Cagley says an Iowa prison warden wrote in a 2006 letter that a warrant for Charles “Chuck” Leroy Cagley had been withdrawn. Police said Cagley was serving a sentence for second-degree robbery in 1981 when he left a minimum security work detail.

They arrested him on an active felony extraditable warrant after the FBI notified the Prescott Valley police that the 68-year-old Cagley was living there. Authorities say he will be extradited back to Iowa. An Iowa Corrections Department spokesman says the agency is revising the case.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County, Friday (today) report 41-year old Bret Hershel Ratliff, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 11:45-p.m. Thursday, for Domestic Assault, following a disturbance that involved his ex-girlfriend. 50-year old James Reilly Edwards, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 6-a.m. today (Friday) on a warrant for two counts of Indecent Contact with a Child. Edwards was taken into custody during a traffic stop on Interstate 29, after the warrants were confirmed. He was being held in the Pott. County Jail on a $5,000 bond.  And, Thursday afternoon, 36-year old Andrew Michael Hasbrouck, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for assault, as he was being served with a protective order.

The Adair and Guthrie County Auditor’s Offices have released the names and positions sought, by candidates for the June Primary.

In Adair County the candidates are:

• Democrat Steven Shelley, of Stuart is the lone candidate for Supervisor, District 2 northeast
• Democrat Jodie Hoadley, of Orient, is unopposed for Supervisor in District 4 southeast
• Republican Clint Hight faces no challenger for Adair County Attorney
• County Treasurer candidates include Republicans Brenda L. Wallace, and Kim Crosswhite Perkins, both of Greenfield.
• And, Republican Janelle Schneider, of Greenfield, is unopposed for the County Recorder’s job during the June Primary.

In Guthrie County, the candidates include:

• Republicans J.D. Kuster and Dana Tews – Supervisor District 4
• Republicans Everett Grasty, Scott Calmer, Randy Sparks, Joel Hester, and Democrat Kevin Wirt –  Supervisor District 3
• Republicans Rick Kness and Clifford Carney – Supervisor District 2
• Republican Tristen Richard for Recorder
• Republican Brenna Bird for Attorney
• and Republican Marci Schreck for Treasurer.