DES MOINES – Today (Friday), the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) announced personnel changes that will occur at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility (FDCF) and the Anamosa State Penitentiary (ASP).

Effective February 17, 2023, current ASP Warden Kris Karberg will be transferring into the warden position at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility. Also effective February 17, 2023, current FDCF Warden Nick Lamb will be transferring into the warden position at the Anamosa State Penitentiary.

Prior to becoming warden at ASP Karberg served the South Dakota Department of Corrections (SDDOC) for over eight years; where he ultimately served as the Deputy Warden of the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield. Prior to joining the SDDOC, Karberg worked for the US State Department as Site Commander of Security at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. In total, he brings more than 30 years of security operations experience to his new role leading the FDCF team.

Prior to becoming warden at FDCF Lamb served the New Mexico Department of Corrections (NMDOC) as the Deputy Warden of Administration. Prior to joining the NMDOC, Lamb served in many positions throughout his 26-year-career in the Illinois Department of Corrections, where he most recently served as Assistant Warden of Operations at Stateville Correctional Center prior to his retirement from the IL DOC in 2020.

Commenting on the transfer of Warden Karberg and Warden Lamb, Department Director Beth Skinner said the following: “Warden Karberg and Warden Lamb are two incredible leaders within Iowa’s correctional system and we are lucky to have their expertise and dedication to public safety. As two of our newer wardens within our system, transferring them between these two institutions gives them an opportunity to gain additional experience with a new staff and a new facility. I cannot thank either of them enough for their leadership and eagerness to learn and grow as part of our greater corrections team. I have no doubt they each possess the abilities necessary to effectively balance reliable security within our institutions, while also overseeing effective treatment programs for those under our supervision.”

IDOC also announced plans to transition the security designation for ASP from a medium/maximum security facility (SD-5) to a strictly medium security facility (SD-4).

“Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, and in conjunction with Iowa’s prison population declining, IDOC has the bed space and resources needed to safely conduct and implement this transition,” said Skinner. “This decision was made after much consideration and detailed planning, and we feel certain that now is the time to make this transition. By transitioning Anamosa State Penitentiary to a strictly medium security facility, IDOC can focus on providing even further treatment opportunities for the system’s medium custody inmates, building upon two years of reducing Iowa’s recidivism rate.”

The security designation will not change until the transition process is complete. At the end of the transition, ASP’s general inmate population will be composed of inmates classified as medium custody. A majority of inmates designated as maximum security at ASP will be moved to the Iowa State Penitentiary, Iowa’s maximum security prison. Families and inmates have been notified.

(Boone, Iowa) – A collision Friday evening between an SUV and a pickup truck in Boone, left two women dead. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2017 Ford Escape driven by 55-year-old Pamela Mary Borkowski, of Boone, was sitting at a stop sign on southeast Marshal Street at around 5:11-p.m., Friday, at the same time 2008 Ford F-250 was westbound on Highway 30.

The SUV entered Highway 30 into the path of the pickup, driven by 20-year-old Joshua Ryan Lantz, of Pella. The pickup struck the SUV, causing fatal injuries to Pamela Borkowski and her passenger, 32-year-old Stephanie Jeanne Borkowski, of Boone. Both women were wearing their seat belts.

Lantz, and two passengers in his pickup, were transported to the Boone County Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

The crash remains under investigation.

DES MOINES – Gov. Kim Reynolds has selected Brig. Gen. Stephen E. Osborn as the 28th Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard.  According to the Governor, “General Osborn has been an invaluable member of the Iowa National Guard as our state has faced natural disasters, a pandemic, and civil unrest. Iowans can trust that the Iowa National Guard stands ready and prepared under General Osborn’s proven leadership capabilities.  He is a trusted advisor with a wealth of command experience at both home and abroad.”

Osborn is a native of Davenport, Iowa. He enlisted in the Army in July 1984 prior to commissioning as an infantry officer through the University of Alabama in 1990. He transferred to the Iowa Army National Guard in 1992 and has served in a variety of command and staff positions, to include: commander of the 1st Battalion,168th Infantry Regiment; deputy operations officer, 34th Infantry Division; director of operations, Joint Force Headquarters; commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division; and director of the Joint Staff.

Osborn is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. He deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 1991 in support of the Persian Gulf War. He deployed to Kosovo in support of Operation Joint Guardian in 2004 and to Iraq in 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

His significant awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Expert Infantryman’s Badge and Pathfinder Badge.  He has served as the Iowa Army National Guard’s deputy adjutant general since August 2018 and as the deputy commanding general of the Army National Guard at the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia. Osborn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alabama, a Master of Public Administration from Drake University and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.

The adjutant general is the highest-ranking position in the Iowa National Guard. Osborn will manage more than 2,000 federal and state full-time employees as well as nearly 9,000 part-time Soldiers and Airmen.  Osborn will replace Maj. Gen. Benjamin J. Corell, who has served as the adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard since September 2019. Corell announced his retirement from the position in January 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa farmer is speaking out in favor of carbon pipelines. Kelly Nieuwenhuis, who farms near Primghar, is calling on what he says is the silent majority to join him in speaking out for carbon capture utilization and storage, or C-C-U-S. Nieuwenhuis calls opponents of such projects, like the Sierra Club, extremist environmental groups.

Nieuwenhuis says the Sierra Club has three reasons for fighting against carbon capture and the pipelines. The first he names is they don’t like the livestock and the cattle production industry. Second, he says they don’t like production agriculture and they’re anti-G-M-O.

Carbon Intensity, or CI, is a way to measure how well a company manages its carbon output. The lower the score, the more carbon-sensitive markets are willing to do business with you. Nieuwenhuis says an ethanol plant’s base CI score is around 70, and a carbon pipeline lowers that score around 30 points. He questions why the Sierra Club is opposing things that will help meet their own goal.

Niewuenhuis says he’s negotiated with the pipelines and received everything he asked for regarding his land and how they’ll use it. He says the argument pipelines will ruin farmland is false.

Nieuwenhuis serves on the board of directors for Siouxland Energy, an ethanol production plant in Sioux Center, and he’s also the chair of the National Corn Ethanol Committee.

(Radio Iowa) – A new video being released by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau features the family of two Iowans who were killed seven years ago by a distracted driver in a Webster County crash. The wreck in May of 2015 took the lives of 56-year-old David Castenson of Harcourt and his mother, 85-year-old Velma Castenson of Dayton. State Patrol Sergeant Alex Dinkla says the video is important for all motorists to watch.

The video is filled with emotion and shows the far-reaching impact that can result from a single, dangerous mistake.

In 2017, the driver of the vehicle that killed the two was sentenced to probation after being convicted of vehicular homicide. Dinkla says it was the first case of its kind to be prosecuted in Iowa for distracted driving with a cell phone.

In the video, Kristi Castenson, David’s widow, says her husband was very special to the lives of their children.

The video is posted on YouTube and on the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau Facebook page.

Des Moines, IA – A man from Urbandale was sentenced today (Friday) to serve nearly 6 1/2 years in prison. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, reports 44-year-old Russell Glenn Crane was ordered to serve 78 months in prison following his guilty plea to a charge of Possession of Child Pornography. Crane must also serve a five-year term of supervised release following his prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court documents, on or about January 6, 2022, Crane knowingly possessed visual depictions of child pornography, including over 20,000 images and at least four videos, some of which depicted minors younger than 12 years old. Using several electronic devices, Crane had collected the child pornography over the course of at least a decade by downloading the material from various internet sites.

The Urbandale Police Department, Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Task Force investigated the case.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – The non-union association for teachers is joining other groups that represent educators to warn of a teacher shortage in Iowa. Nathan Arnold is director of legal services for Professional Educators of Iowa, a group formed in 1981 as an alternative to the state teachers union.

Arnold says it’s not just about training new teachers, but keeping teachers from leaving the profession.

Arnolds made his comments this week at a statehouse hearing about the G-O-P proposal to provide a three percent increase in next year’s state funding formula for public schools. The group is not registered for or against that level of spending on public schools.

Senate Republicans have voted for the three percent spending increase and House Republicans are likely to pass the bill early next week — to provide about 106 million dollars more to Iowa’s public schools for the next academic year.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Area Chamber Ambassadors were hosted by Stephanie Steffens, owner of YOUR FORTE, on Thursday, February 2nd, 2023, to celebrate the opening of her music, book, and art supply store located on Chestnut Street in the building previously known as Howard’s Clothing. Chamber officials say Stephanie has always had a passion for reading and writing and it was with that passion that she pursued a career in education. Fast-forward to 2022, Stephanie decided to bring her long-time dream of owning a bookstore to life and opened YOUR FORTE in December 2022.

The definition of forte means “a strength, strong point, or something at which one excels,” and Stephanie hopes to help those that walk though her doors find their passion.

YOUR FORTE provides art supplies, musical instruments, and used books, while offering a space for local art to be sold and displayed, tutoring services, instrument rentals for students, and creative workshops. Stephanie shared that the first workshop will take place this Saturday, February 4th. Community members are welcome to join the “Embroidery Basics” workshop on Saturday from 2-4PM. The cost of the workshop is $50. Participants will receive a “starter kit” and learn how to begin seven basic stitches.

YOUR FORTE is located at 415 Chestnut Street and is open 10AM-5:30PM, Monday- Friday, and 10AM-4PM on Saturdays. For more information about tutoring services, instrument rental, etc. please contact 712-243-2074 or visit their website at www.shopyourforte.com.