(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved new rules that align with a change by state lawmakers determining when a car or truck involved in a wreck needs a salvage title. D-O-T Motor Vehicle Division director, Melissa Gillett, presented the change. “This legislation increased the threshold for issuing a salvage vehicle title designation when the cost of the repair of a wrecked or salvaged motor vehicle exceeds 70 percent of the fair market value of the vehicle,” she says. Gillett says it ups the damage needed for a salvage title.

She says the threshold for a salvage title previously required damage of up to 50 percent of the cost of the vehicle. Gillett says the rules also clarified how the damage will be figured. “The changes also incorporate comments received from insurance auto auctions and Copart to clarify that damage levels will be confirmed by the direct entity with direct knowledge of the damage — such as an insurance provider or vehicle repair facility,” according to Gillett.

The Transportation Commission approved the change at its meeting today (Tuesday) in Ames.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – An open burning ban will be in place for Pottawattamie County starting today (February 8, 2022) at 2:00 p.m. The ban prohibits all open and controlled burning in Pottawattamie County, including all incorporated city limits within the county. The current weather forecast and environmental conditions indicate a very high fire danger for today with a warm/dry pattern continuing over the next couple of weeks. Under the current dry conditions, dead and drying vegetation is the perfect fuel to spread fires rapidly.

Emergency Management Director Doug Reed says “Pottawattamie County has seen the devastating effects of fire in extreme conditions and we want to do everything we can to help mitigate incidents like that from occurring.” During these dry conditions, citizens are reminded to not throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles and to discontinue burning yard waste, piled tree debris, grass/agricultural ground and set-asides or other items during the ban.

Small recreational camp fires are permitted only if they are conducted in a fire place of brick, metal or heavy one-inch wire mesh. Any camp fire not in an outdoor fire place is prohibited.
Violation of a burn ban can subject a person to citation or arrest for reckless use of fire or disobeying a burn ban.

For updated information on burn bans and the law you can find further information on the Pott. County EMA Facebook, Twitter, and web pages. The ban will remain in place until environmental conditions improve

(Radio Iowa) – Traffic on the state highways was down some at the end of the year. Stuart Anderson of the D-O-T gave a report today (Tuesday) to the Transportation Commission. “Did drop a bit in December, we were about two percent below the December 2019 levels. So again, still hovering right around our levels from pre-COVID,” Anderson says. He says rail traffic saw a similar pattern. “January was down three percent from January 2021 rail carload levels. That is driven really across the board,” Anderson says.

“The one sector that has shown some growth herein recent months is on the coal side. We are seeing with the high natural gas prices some shifting to coal, which is doing a little bit of a rebound from a long-term trend of being down for the amount of coal being shipped on the rail system.”

He says the shipment of grain continues to be strong. “They’re lower than January of 2021 — but January ’21 was a really high point — it was the highest since 2015 in terms of the amount of grain shipped on rail, 2022 was the second-highest since 2015. So, still pretty good news on our grain shipment,” Anderson says. Anderson says air travel continues to hold around 88 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

(Radio Iowa) – A key lawmaker is taking steps to launch an investigation of a northern Iowa judge accused of manipulating the process for nominating a district court judge. House Judiciary Committee chairman Steven Holt of Denison, a Republican, has introduced a resolution that would give his committee authority to investigate Judge Kurt Stoebe of Humboldt. “If these allegations are true, then they go beyond just an individual’s service on a commission and speak to their integrity on the bench,” Holt says.

Governor Reynolds says other members of the nomination commission told her Stoebe coached a candidate and make negative comments about another who was applying to be a district court judge. The governor ordered the commission to reconvene to redo the process in November and Stoebe stepped down as the commission’s leader. Holt says serious allegations have been made against Stoebe and the legislature needs to exercise its oversight authority to seek more information and, if necessary, issue subpoenas to get it. “If indeed a judge is willing to commit these acts in order to advance a favored candidate, including lying about one of the candidates withdrawing their name from consideration, how can an attorney or a citizen come before this judge and have faith in the integrity of the process?” Holt asks.

Holt says his proposal is not an impeachment resolution, but an attempt to discover whether the allegations against Stoebe are true and whether he faces sanctions for his conduct. Representative Mary Wolfe, of Clinton, is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Wolfe says the legislature has the authority to impeach, but she says this investigation is unprecedented. “We have some concerns that it is opening a door that has never been opened before,” Wolfe says, “and we’re not sure, at this point, what might be on the other side.”

Wolfe says she has no doubt the Judicial Qualifications Commission is reviewing the allegations against Stoebe and a legislative investigation would duplicate those efforts. “Unnecessarily wasting taxpayer dollars and legislative time,” Wolfe says.

Separate bills pending in the House and Senate are proposing changes in the commissions nominating district court judges.

(Greenfield, Iowa) –  The Adair & Guthrie County Emergency Management Agency will host a Storm Spotter Class at the Menlo Community Center, March 16th, beginning at 7-p.m.  Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Kempf says the class is free and open to the public. The following week, March 21-25, is designated as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa.

The daily highlights of Severe Weather Awareness Week are Severe Thunderstorms on Monday, receiving Warning Information on Tuesday, Tornadoes on Wednesday, Family Preparedness on Thursday and Flash Floods on Friday. Schools, businesses, government facilities, and individuals are strongly encouraged to conduct Tornado Drills on Wednesday. Local communities should also be test their sirens on Wednesday.

During Severe Weather Awareness Week, HSEMD will post information on individual and family preparedness at www.BeReady.iowa.gov, including podcasts, public service announcements and videos. The NWS the National Weather Service (NWS) will promote severe weather safety on their websites and by issuing informative public information statements.

Additional information about severe weather and family safety can be found at: www.BeReady.iowa.gov.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests and one accident took place from Feb. 1st through the 7th. Yesterday (Monday, Feb. 7th), deputies arrested 50-year old Mark McNary, of Walnut, on warrants for Arson in the 3rd Degree and Criminal Mischief in the 4th degree.  McNary was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held until his later release by his own recognizance.

On Saturday, Cass County Deputies arrested 52-year-old Richard Fineran, of Council Bluffs, on a warrant for Violation of Probation.  Fineran was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held. Last Thursday, 50-year-old Mark Paulsen, of Atlantic, was arrested for Simple Assault.  Paulsen was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held until his later release.

And, there were two arrests on February 1st: 30-year-old Diamond Young, of Des Moines, was arrested by Cass County Deputies, on a warrant for Failure to Appear.  Young was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held until his later release after time served; And, 19-year-old Maria Mullenberg, of Atlantic, was arrested on a warrant for Aggravated Assault.  Mullenberg was transported to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and held until her later release on bond.

And, as we previously reported, on February 2nd, Cass County Deputies were dispatched to the area East of 590th St on Eastland Road.  Responding Deputies found that a white 2018 Chevrolet Silverado being operated by Donald Sonntag, of Atlantic, drove off the roadway to the right.  The vehicle left the roadway, struck a farm drive, continued down the ditch and collided with the embankment of a small culvert; resting in an area of shallow water.  Sonntag was transported to Cass County Memorial Hospital for evaluation.  The vehicle sustained disabling damage approximated at $6,500.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill to make it legal for Iowa distillers to ship spirits like whiskey and vodka directly to customers in Iowa and other states has cleared initial review in the Iowa House, but that may be as far as it goes in the 2022 legislative session. Under current law, Iowa wineries may ship their products via FedEx, but distilleries cannot. Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids is sponsoring the bill on behalf of Century Farms Distillery in Spencer, which is making whiskey from corn raised on local farms, including hers. “We are having problems being able to get this product into the hands of people who want to keep it as a family memento…so this is an attempt to do that,” Jones says.

Marquas Ashworth is an entrepreneur who’s making Ziyad Rye Whiskey in Des Moines, which is being sold in 500 stores in seven states. “In order to ship nationwide what we have to do right now is pay someone in Florida, ship the stuff, wait for it to ship from there to our consumers,” he says. “…Especially for someone like me — I have over 200,000 social media followers — I could probably sell 5000 bottles a month.”

A legislator who gave the bill the green light to get it out of subcommittee indicated the bill needs more work before he’d agree to letting it advance farther. Distributors object to the bill. David Adelman, a lobbyist for the Iowa Wholesale Beer Distributors Association, says the guardrails in current law exist for a reason. “We’re not selling Doritos or corn flakes,” Adelman says. “We’re selling hard alcohol and this is a dangerous, highly-regulated product.”

Bill backers say Americans are growing used to buying more and more products online, including alcohol. Same-day delivery of beer, wine and hard liquor is allowed under current law, but spirits cannot be shipped via FedEx or other third-party delivery service.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Melanie Petty, with the Frederickson Foundation in Atlantic, reports applications are now being accepted for the 13th Annual Trevor Frederickson Memorial Scholarship. Applications may be obtained from the Atlantic High School guidance office at 1201 E. 14th Street or the Atlantic High School website: www.atlanticiaschools.org.

Up to two $750 scholarships are available to those graduating from Atlantic High School in the spring of 2022. Applicants must plan to attend a college or vocational school, show involvement in school and/or community activities, supply a copy of their college acceptance letter, provide two letters of reference along with their 7 semester transcripts, and maintain academic achievement of 2.5 or better. The scholarships will be awarded at the Atlantic High School Class Night held in May.

Trevor Frederickson

Trevor Frederickson graduated from Atlantic High School in 2006. He went on to further his education at Southwestern Community College in Creston where he studied automotive mechanics and played baseball for the Southwestern Spartans. Two additional $750 scholarships will be available for Southwestern Community College students this fall. Trevor, who passed away in 2009, had plans of pursuing a career in law enforcement and returning to his hometown of Atlantic. Melanie Petty, who is Trevor’s mom, says “Anyone who knew Trevor, knew he valued family, life and community. Trevor continues to live on in our hearts and minds. To this day, Trevor is still giving back to the community he loved to be a part of.”

Funds for the scholarships are raised at an annual golf tournament. Plans are already in the works for the 14th Annual TFred Memorial Golf Tournament to be held on Saturday, June 18th, 2022. Organizers look forward to another successful tournament so they can continue to grant scholarships for many years to come.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports, that an incident that began in Omaha earlier in the day, Saturday, culminated with a chase and the eventual arrest of four suspects. The Sheriff’s Office says at around 11:20-p.m. Saturday, Shelby County Deputies assisted multiple agencies in pursuing a vehicle from an armed carjacking in Omaha, NE. When the vehicle ran out of gas in Panama (IA), four persons fled from the vehicle. With the assistance of multiple agencies as well as Omaha Police Department Helicopter “Able-1,” all four suspects were taken into custody, after a short search of the area. One individual had minor injuries while attempting to elude law enforcement on foot.

Omaha Police Department Public Information Officer Michael Pecha tells KJAN News, the suspects included two 15-year-old males, a 14-year-old male and a 16-year old female. Their names were not released because of their ages. Pecha says at around 3:10-p.m., Saturday, Omaha Police were dispatched to Immanuel Hospital at 6901 N. 72nd Street, to relieve two other officers who were investigating a carjacking. A 32-year-old woman from Omaha said she was driving a 2007 Toyota RAV 4 owned by a 37-year-old man from Omaha.

As the woman was getting out of the SUV, she was approached by an unknown person who pepper-sprayed her before grabbing her keys to the vehicle. The unknown suspect took off in an unknown direction of travel.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, is hesitant to criticize actions taken by the Republican National Committee last week against two Republican members of the U-S House. The two were condemned and censured for serving on the House panel investigating the January 6th insurrection at the U-S Capitol. Grassley was asked if he agrees with the R-N-C’s resolution. Grassley says, “I believe in what we call the ‘big tent policy,’ that our national committee should be working hard to get Republicans elected.”

The R-N-C resolution focused on G-O-P Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Grassley says he doesn’t concern himself much with the R-N-C’s actions. “What they did, I haven’t studied, because I’m focused on issues that Iowans raise with me at my county meetings,” Grassley says. “I don’t hear anything about the RNC at my county meetings, either about this or anything else.”

Grassley says the issues he’s hearing Iowans care about include: prescription drug costs, cattle prices, inflation, and border security. The week after the storming of the Capitol, Grassley told Radio Iowa, “What happened on Wednesday…that sort of insurrection is untenable.” The R-N-C referred to the January 6th attack as “a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Grassley offered a brief comment when asked to respond to whether the incident was “legitimate political discourse.” “You and I both know that breaking into any federal building is a crime,” Grassley says.

The insurrection caused one-and-a-half million dollars damage to the Capitol, leaving seven people dead, 140 law officers injured and more than 700 people being prosecuted, including at least seven Iowans.