(Urbandale, Iowa) – A man on a bicycle died after he was struck by a vehicle at around 7:17-a.m., Sunday, in Urbandale. According to Urbandale Police, the accident happened in the 8500 block of Meredith Drive. A preliminary investigation identified the driver of the vehicle as 67-year-old Deborah Jackson, from West Des Moines. Police identified the bicyclist as 55-year-old Eric Christopher Lindberg, of Des Moines.

Authorities say Jackson was traveling  east on Meredith Drive when her vehicle struck the eastbound bicycle in the outside lane. Emergency personnel attempted life saving measures at the scene, but Lindberg died at the hospital. The accident remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa)[ updated] – Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa has kicked off her campaign for a second term with a fundraiser in Coralville this weekend. “We’re at a precipice in our country. Which pathway are we going to go down? Are we going to going on the pathway of Venezuela or are we going to continue to be the greatest nation on Earth?” Miller-Meeks asked.

Miller-Meeks, an eye doctor who is an Army veteran, spent much of her 12-minute speech talking about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. “I know if I had been given an order to leave Bagram Air Force Base and put my soldiers at risk, I would have resigned rather than put their lives at risk,” Miller-Meeks said, to cheers. Miller-Meeks drew even louder cheers from the crowd of 200 when she called for the resignations of top U-S generals and the U.S. secretary of state.

Miller-Meeks also criticized the Biden Administration’s recent move to fine companies with more than 100 employees who do not ensure workers have had a Covid shot or are regularly tested for the virus. “Make no mistake, I’ve given vaccine in all 24 counties. I talk to people about the vaccine. I try to persuade them for the vaccine, but I still believe there should not be a mandate and we should recognize natural immunity, which we still do not do,” she said, to applause.

Miller-Meeks currently represents 24 counties in Iowa’s second congressional district, but state legislators have yet to set district boundaries for the 2022 election. Democrat Christina Bohanan of Iowa City has announced she intends to run against Miller-Meeks and, a few hours after the Miller-Meeks campaign event, Bohanan blasted Miller-Meeks for saying elementary students don’t transmit Covid to adults or other children. “We do not need leaders who tell lies,” Bohanan says. “We do not need someone who tells lies about a deadly virus that has killed thousands of Iowans.”

Bohanan was among the speakers at the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry on Saturday afternoon.

A 13-year-old male from Afton was injured Saturday evening during a collision between an UTV (Utility Terrain Vehicle) and a pickup truck, in Union County. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2020 Kawasaki Mule UTV driven by Clayton W. Toppin, was coming out of his family’s farm field entrance, and failed to see a 2022 Ford F-250 driven by 57-year-old Dean Earl Wittstock, of Afton, traveling north on 130th Street, within the Afton City limits. The UTV hit the pickup on its passenger side.

The impact spun the pickup around on the road, causing the back of the vehicle into the east ditch. The crash happened at around 5-p.m., Saturday. Following the collision, Toppin complained of pain in his right arm, and believed it to be broken. He was flown to Blank Children’s Hospital by Mercy One Air Ambulance. Authorities say Wittstock was not injured. Damage to the UTV was estimated at $2,000.

The pickup sustained $4,000 damage. No citations were issued.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller plans to seek reelection in 2022 for an 11th term. Miller, a Democrat, made the announcement this weekend at the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry. “Right now we’re doing some of the best work we’ve ever done. We have some of the best staff we’ve ever had,” Miller says. “I’m energized and challenged and fulfilled by the office.” Miller says he’s running again to tackle unfinished business. That includes overseeing a settlement with companies that spurred the opioid crisis and pursing allegations that Facebook and Google act like monopolies.

“The goal of the office is to use the law to serve the interests of ordinary Iowans,” he says. Miller, who is 77 years old, was first elected attorney general in 1978. Miller did not seek re-electon in 1990 as he ran unsuccessfully for governor that year, then Miller regained the office of attorney general after the 1994 election. Miller did not have a Republican opponent in 2018, when he won a 10th term, and he defeated G-O-P opponents in the two previous elections by double-digits.

A spokesman for the Iowa G-O-P calls Miller the most entrenched Democrat in Iowa. A Republican candidate has yet to announce they’ll challenge Miller in 2022.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Members of the Atlantic City Council have a lot on their plate for this Wednesday evening’s meeting. One of the action items before them is a Resolution of Support for the Cass County Board of Supervisors to invest in “Public Safety and First Responders Communication Infrastructure and Equipment.” City Administrator John Lund says the Resolution does not in any way bind the Council to pay for the equipment (which would include a communications tower and/or equipment).

Late last month, the Board of Supervisors held lengthy discussion with regard to the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System (ISICS), which is designed to provide public safety agencies, first responders, schools and utility workers in the state with better connectivity. Cass County Sheriff Darby McLaren told the Supervisors that public safety in and around Atlantic, and the people who serve in and around Atlantic, are unhappy with the communications that they have with the current system.

The Atlantic Police Department and Cass County Sheriff’s Office have utilized the system since late summer/early fall, 2020. And, while it has provided much clearer and more reliable coverage in rural parts of the county, thanks to the strategic placement of towers here and in adjacent counties, there is still a large “dead area” of reception in Atlantic, for the use of portable radios, because they have trouble reaching the tower a mobile radio can reach.

The Supervisors asked Sheriff McLaren, Atlantic Police Lt. Devin Hogue and others in emergency services, to approach City Officials and the municipalities of Cass County, and learn what support there is for bonding for ISICS infrastructure is a good investment. Lt. Hogue says an enhancement tower that would boost overall coverage and provide radio coverage suitable for public safety use, should be located in the City of Atlantic. Motorola has proposed using the existing AMU water tower on 22nd Street to build an enhanced communications system. The cost of a new tower is roughly $3-million dollars.

In other business, the Council will act on granting a sanitary sewer system connection to 60499 Glacier Road. The site location is too far from the City Limits to annex, just like the location the Council approved a connection for at 60365 Glacier Road, during their last meeting. The Council will also act on: appointing Heather Santi-Brown to the Housing Committee; and an Order to close selected streets on Oct. 9th for the 6-p.m. Atlantic Fireman’s Parade. The Council will recognize three City employees for their 10-years of public service: Chad Silence, with the Street Dept.; John  Lund, who started as an Assistant to the City Administrator, and Lt. Devin Hogue, who began as a patrolman with the Atlantic P-D.

And finally,  Mayor Dave Jones is expected to announce the Halloween Trick or Treating in the City will be held Sunday, Oct. 31st, from 5-until 7:30-p.m.

The Crawford County Board of Supervisors is the latest group of Iowa elected officials to run afoul of the state open records law by restricting how members of the public can ask for records. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the board erroneously told a citizen she had to submit an information request in writing.

Iowa’s open records law allows people to ask for information in person, or “in writing, by telephone, or by electronic means.” In recent years, some Iowa local governments and state agencies have illegally told citizens, including reporters, that they had to submit requests in writing. Sometimes, they even demanded people use an online portal.

Crawford County Democratic Party Chairwoman Beth Ann Vogt had requested a copy of the county’s public records policy after a local controversy over the ownership of a communications tower. She noticed that the county required information requests to be in writing, in conflict with state law.

Vogt filed a formal complaint with the Iowa Public Information Board. The board’s staff lawyers on Thursday recommended the panel find that the the complaint had “merit.” That would mean the parties would have to negotiate an informal resolution. But the supervisors moved to change the policy after an assistant county attorney pointed out the conflict with state law. Vogt withdrew her complaint Thursday.

The board soon will vote on a new policy the county attorney’s office is drafting, to comply with state law.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will meet at 5:15-p.m. Monday, in the East Ridge Park gazebo (1630 E/ 22nd St.; 22nd St. & Redwood Drive area). During their meeting, the Board will act on matters pertaining to:

• The Schildberg Park Rec Area (an update)
• Produce in the Park
• A YMCA Pool Memorandum
• Pool upgrades
• The Cedar Park Basketball Court
• A recycled plastic park bench, and
• The Lions Club Pancake Feed.

In his report to the Board, Parks & Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen will discuss: this past Saturday’s “Hyggefest,” in Atlantic; Adult Art in the Park; Cement slabs for tables/benches; Rec items checked out; and the Cedar Park Basketball Court. Bryant will also note the flowerbeds are blooming, and an Owl Nesting Box location has been identified.

The Board’s next regular meeting will be held 5:15-p.m. Oct. 18th, in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall.

At least three area school district Boards of Education will meet Monday, in separate sessions. At 5:30-p.m., the Griswold School Board will meet in the High School Conference Room. Some topics up for discussion and/or action, include: the consideration/approval of a compensation package in consideration of the inability to secure a third football coach; Discussion and possible action on Covid-19 protocols and the district’s Return To Learn plan; approval of a 2022-23 Corner Conference Agreement; Approval of modifications to the school calendar, for special basketball events, and more.

The Elk Horn-Kimballton School Board will meet at 6-p.m., Monday, in the Conference Room at the Elk Horn building. Some the item on their agenda for discussion and possible action incude: The Return To Learn plan; a Request For Proposal with regard to banking; approving fund raising events for FFA, MS/HS TAG and the Elementary Spartan Store; as well as the hiring of Maria Hughes and Drew Buckholdt as paraeducators, Steve Humphrey – Bus Driver, and Cody Parmley – Speech. And, they’ll act on the resignation of Bus Driver Tonia Lozano.

The Audubon School Board meeting is set for 7-p.m. Monday, in the High School Board Room. They are set to act on several matters, including approval of: a bus bid; a DMACC Observation Contract; A canvass of votes from the Sept. 14th Special Election; a sidewalk project easement, and personnel matters. In his report to the Board, Audubon Superintendent Eric Trager will provide an update on the building project, financial information (A preliminary UAB, & enrollment), School Board/AEA Board election; Mask mandates and a Transportation report.

Police in Red Oak arrested a man early Sunday morning, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense, and on two counts of supplying alcohol to persons under the legal age. 22-year-old William Christopher Laire, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 1:50-a.m. in the 1200 block of N. 3rd Street, in Red Oak. His cash bond was set at $1,000.