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Gov. Reynolds signs proclamation that eases transportation rules for propane

Ag/Outdoor, News

January 7th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES — Gov. Kim Reynolds, Thursday, signed a proclamation that temporarily suspends regulatory provisions of Iowa law pertaining to hours of service for crews and drivers hauling propane.

The proclamation is effective immediately and expires on February 5, 2022, at 11:59 p.m.

The proclamation can be found here.

Army Corps predicts below average runoff in Missouri River basin in 2022

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Army Corps of Engineers predicts dry conditions will persist in the Missouri River Basin this year. Last year, the runoff in the Missouri River basin above Sioux City was just 59 percent of average volume — the 10th lowest annual runoff in 123 years of record keeping. According to a news release from the Army Corps of Engineers office in Omaha. the ongoing drought shows no relief in sight. The water flow out of upstream reservoirs was reduced this past July.

There will be releases from Gavins Point Dam this winter, at minimum levels, though. The Army Corps says the flow in the Missouri River along Iowa’s western border will meet with needs of cities that use the river as a source of drinking water.

(UPDATE) Name of Deputy in Adair County shooting released

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

ADAIR COUNTY, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Thursday, released additional information with regard to an Officer-Involved shooting that occurred December 29th, in Adair County. The officer involved in the shooting was identified as Adair County Deputy Josh Armstrong. Deputy Armstrong is a 2 ½ year veteran with the Adair County Sheriff’s Office. A copy of the report of the DCI’s investigation will be forwarded to the Adair County Attorney’s Office for review.

Three additional charges have been filed on the suspect who was shot by the Deputy. Authorities says 57-year-old Charles R Bradshaw, of Jefferson, is now charged with:
1. Attempted murder of a peace officer (707.11 (5) (A)) Class B-Felony,
2. Assault on a police officer (708.3A (2)) Class D-Felony
3. Intimidation with a dangerous weapon (708.6, Class C-Felony).

The incident that resulted in Bradshaw being shot in both arms and taken into custody, begin at around 8:30-p.m., Dec. 29th, when a Stuart Police Officer attempted to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation. The suspect (Later Identified as Bradshaw) failed to stop and a pursuit was initiated. Several agencies assisted in the pursuit, including Stuart Police, Greenfield Police, Guthrie and Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies.

The pursuit ended in rural Adair County just north of 130th Street on Jordan Ave when Bradshaw’s vehicle abruptly turned around in the roadway. A Stuart Police Officer was unable to stop and struck the Bradshaw vehicle, which continued to travel a short distance and ultimately struck a Guthrie County deputy’s vehicle before it came to a stop.  During this series of events an Adair County Deputy heard a gunshot from the suspect vehicle.

Deputy Armstrong exited his patrol car just as Bradshaw’s vehicle became disabled and observed the Bradshaw to be in possession of a handgun.  The Deputy fired his service weapon and struck the Bradshaw, causing non-life threatening injuries.

Bradshaw was taken a hospital to be treated for his injuries and then taken into custody. A black .9mm handgun and a spent shell casing was found during a search of the vehicle, along with a substance believed to be meth. Bradshaw had previously been convicted on a felony drug charges in Missouri.

He remains in the Adair County Jail.

10.2% jump in state sales taxes in last half of 2021

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Consumer spending in Iowa is driving state sales tax revenue higher. Over the past six months, there’s been a more than 10 percent increase in sales tax payments to the state. The latest report of overall tax collections shows total state revenue grew just over nine percent last month compared to December of 2020. Jeff Robinson is the senior fiscal analyst with the Legislative Services Agency.

“In summary, Iowa net General Fund revenue continues to grow at a strong pace, with sales tax posting remarkable year-over-year gains,” Robinson says. “Corporate income tax growth has moderated, but remains positive.”

Robinson says it’s likely there was a modest gain in the amount of personal income tax payments made to the state, however an accounting change made in mid-November makes a precise reading difficult. That’s because the Department of Revenue set up a single account on November 15th for depositing ALL tax payments made to the state and Robinson says it’s taking some time for payments to be separated and reported in each tax category.

Atlantic & Audubon School Boards to hold special sessions Monday night, re: Vaccine mandate

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Audubon, Iowa) – School Administrators across Iowa and the nation, for that matter, are planning to enact one of two options with regard to Federally Mandated employee COVID-19 vaccinations. The mandate says businesses with 100 or more employees must ensure those employees are vaccinated, or submit to weekly testing. The U-S Supreme Court is expected to received oral arguments tomorrow (Friday), on whether or not to enforce the Mandate. That would include most school districts, including Atlantic, Audubon and Griswold. As previously mentioned, the Griswold School Board has a special meeting this evening to discuss the matter and enact a plan. Atlantic will hold a vaccine policy meeting at Noon on Monday, Jan. 10th in the District Central Office at 1406 S.W. 7th Street (The meeting will be streamed on YouTube, with the link to be made available prior to the meeting).

Atlantic’s Policy says “Employees must submit to the Superintendent (or their designee) acceptable proof of vaccination status no later than January 10, 2022. Beginning Feb. 9, 2022, any employees who are not fully vaccinated must submit proof of negative COVID-19 test results every seven days. Audubon Superintendent Eric Trager says the Audubon School Board will meet in special session 7-a.m. Monday, to discuss the federal policy and their response.

He says this situation is still very fluid, and could very well change, but the deadline for having those policies in-place, is Monday, Jan. 10th.

If the high court rules against the mandate, the Audubon School District will cancel the meeting and take no action at all. Either way, Trager said the “Timing is not ideal here.”

The Audubon School Board, he said, is not alone in having to act on the policy one way or another.

The Audubon School Board meeting takes place 7:00 a.m. Monday, January 10th, in the Board Room at the High School.

Stuart P-D gets a furry new addition to the force

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Stuart, Iowa) – The Stuart Police Department, today (Thursday), announced on social media, that K9 “Ally” has officially joined the department. K9 Ally and her handler, Officer Daniel Irving, have begun working as a team and are ready to serve the Stuart community. Ally is an 18 month old shepherd mix that was purchased from Midwest K9 in Pleasant Hill, Iowa. Midwest K9 had already trained K9 Ally in narcotics detection and tracking, when she was purchased. Officer Irving and K9 Ally then needed to train together as a team, to ensure they understood each other. Officer Irving and K9 Ally went through 50 hours of of narcotics detection training with Midwest K9. Officer Irving and K9 Ally then went through a certification test and passed with a perfect score. Officer Irving and K9 Ally will be required to recertify each year.
Officer Irving and K9 Ally are currently in the process of going through tracking training, which is an additional 20-25 hours. Once Officer Irving and K9 Ally are certified in tracking, they’ll be able to assist in tracking suspects and missing persons. K9 Ally’s ability to help track missing persons, whether it is a lost child or an elderly person who has wandered too far from home, will hopefully be an asset to Stuart and surrounding communities.

Stuart Police K9 Ally & Officer Irving (photo via the Stuart PD Facebook page)

While Officer Irving and K9 Ally’s priority will be serving the Stuart community, outside agencies can request Officer Irving and K9 Ally’s assistance. Officer Irving, as K9 Ally’s handler, will consider outside agency requests on a case by case basis, factoring in such things as department policies, location and the environment in which K9 Ally would be deployed. K9 Ally’s safety is a top consideration when Officer Irving is deciding whether or not to deploy her. When K9 Ally is not working, she resides with Officer Irving at his residence. K9 Ally is a member of his family, even though there are differences between a working dog and a house dog. K9 Ally has certain times and locations where she is able to relax, spend time in the yard and enjoys playing with tennis balls.
Officials say the next step is to work towards getting K9 Ally a protective vest. Protective vests are recommended for dogs over two years old, hopefully to ensure that the dog is fully grown when fitted for a protective vest. The Stuart Police Department says it is grateful for all the community support it has received regarding their K9 Program. The K9 Program they say, would not have been possible without the many generous donations from private citizens and businesses, along with a grant from the Empowering Adair County Foundation.
The Stuart Police Department will continue to accept donations for the K9 Program to help with ongoing costs such as veterinarian care and training costs. Donations can be made out to the Stuart Police Department K9 Program and sent to PO Box 370, Stuart, IA 50250. Donations can also be dropped off at the police department in the mail box next to the entrance door.

Albert City woman who bought house with cash sentenced for money laundering

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa woman has been sentenced to 30 days in federal prison after pleading guilty to money laundering.Twenty-three-year-old Yesenia Ledesma-Ledezma, of Albert City, has agreed to forfeit the house she bought in April of last year with 65-thousand dollars in cash. According to a plea agreement, she admits smuggling counterfeit goods into the country and selling them for a profit.

A news release from U.S. Attorney’s Office indicated the value of those smuggled goods was 370-thousand dollars.

Hospital assaults lead to more training

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Assaults at hospitals increased at some locations in the state during the pandemic. That includes Sioux City where police reported six assaults of staff at MercyOne and five at UnityPoint St. Lukes. In the Mercy One Emergency Department, Johnny Garza says they have a two-part training that first emphasizes dealing with situations as they escalate and how to get out of them. “The second part of the training is what do you do if physical contact is made — how do you ensure safety to self? For instance, what techniques are involved if you are grabbed by the arm, grabbed by the hair if someone is biting you,” Garza says. “So, each one of these, the safety training that we provide does provide resources for staff on how to escape or how to prevent further injury.”

He says there are alarm buttons in the E-R for staff to get help if things do escalate. “By initiating either the emergency or the code, you are definitely going to get team members there to assist,” he says. Garza says the staff also have an alarm system that is linked to their I-D badge. “So it’s on them every single minute that they are working. There’s a button that they are to push. This will not only activate a panic alarm — but it will also tell staff where that distressed staff member is so that staff and security can respond,” Garza explains.

Staff also have radios available. The assaults in Sioux City included eight nurses and four security guards. The University of Iowa recently reported that two-thirds of the aggravated assaults on the campus in 2020 happened at the University Hospitals and Clinics. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported this trend of staff assaults began in April — but the story said attacks on health care workers have been rising for years.

What is the Link Center and CCEOC?

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

The following article was submitted by Rebecca Wallace, Family and Consumer Sciences at the Atlantic High School & Atlantic Middle School. It was written by Mary McBride, and is part of a series of articles letting you know what’s going on with the Atlantic, Iowa School District….

Not everyone knows that the Atlantic Community School District has multiple settings for their high school students to earn a diploma. In addition to the traditional high school setting, there
are two other programs to help students meet their graduation goals. These programs are called the Link Center and the Cass County Educational Opportunity Center (CCEOC). Both of these
programs are usually located at the Achievement Center, though they are currently displaced by the 6th and 7th-grade students due to the Atlantic Middle School fire. However, they are two
very different programs that serve a variety of students.

The Link Center is a program for students who need a smaller classroom setting, higher teacher-to-student ratio, and social-emotional support. This program is led by Special Education
teacher Mary McBride and Behavior Interventionist Melanie Fell. They are assisted by paraprofessionals Oran Perkins and Clint Weppler. The Link Center serves students between 6th and 12th-grade and can have up to 10 students at a time.

The CCEOC is a program that allows students to recover credits if they get behind at the high school. This program is led by Special Education teacher Karen Vogl and assisted by general
education teacher Bryce Smith and paraprofessionals Stacy Van Aernam and Sheri Walter. They can serve up to 40 high school students who work at their own pace to complete classes
through independent study.

Both of these programs help to ensure that students who may struggle in the traditional high school environment can still obtain a diploma and move forward in their postsecondary plans.
Students from these programs may go to college and often go on to a successful career.

Muscatine program will have kindergartners learning English and Spanish

News

January 6th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – An eastern Iowa school district is adding a dual language program next fall that will have kindergartners learning English and Spanish. Corry Spies, principal at Franklin Elementary School in Muscatine, says parents of kindergartners can sign them up for the program that will start in August and it will extend to the following grade every year. Spies says, “It’s just something that will continue to help our students overall in life with problem-solving skills, building leadership, self-confidence, and then strengthen that bond that exists between our schools and our community.”

Becky Wichers, the Muscatine district’s director of student services, says the program will benefit kids who speak English at home, but especially those who speak Spanish at home. “So it lets them be a leader in the classroom,” Wichers says, “and I think it really demonstrates the appreciation for our native-speaking Spanish students and their families, so I think culturally, it will really enhance that relationship.”

The Muscatine Community School District already has a similar program for four-year-olds in preschool, but this will be the first time it’s brought into the district’s K-12 system.

(by Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)