(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Parks and Recreation Commission Co-Chair Ali Pieken reports, the Commission voted September 24th to close the Atlantic Splash Pad October 1st for the 2025 season. There will be some repairs, additions and winterizing to do yet this year.

Pieken says “It was an amazing opening first year for the Atlantic Splash Pad! We have taken all positive and constructive feedback and will be making adjustments for the 2026 season. We cannot thank all the donors enough for their support in making this a reality for our community. We are looking forward to splashing with you in 2026!”

(Radio Iowa) – An arrest is made in a brutal murder case in eastern Iowa. Davenport police and first responders were called to a house Saturday night and found a woman laying outside, bleeding. Police say the unidentified 49-year-old was given immediate medical aid and rushed to a hospital where she later died. A suspect was taken into custody at the scene. He’s identified as 41-year-old Donald Brentise Junior.

Davenport media reports say Brentise told police he hit the woman in the head with a hammer three times — and affidavits say a hammer was taken into evidence. Brentise is facing multiple charges including first-degree murder and going armed with intent.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County last week, arrested a man on a Cass County warrant for Child Endangerment with Injuries. Authorities said 21-year-old Gavin Shane McMillin, of Red Oak, was arrested Sept. 23rd and turned over to Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies. His bond was set at $50,000.

And, 41-year-old Cory Ross Smith, of Elliott, was arrested Sept. 23rd in Elliott, for Driving While Barred. He was released from custody after seeing the Magistrate.

(This post was inadvertently omitted from publication, but was read on-air)

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports two people were arrested on separate charges last week. On Sept. 22nd, Deputies arrested 50-year-old James Jeremy Button, of Winterset, on an Adair County warrant for Theft in the 1st Degree. The warrant was the result of work he was supposed to have completed on a residence that sustained tornado damage in 2024.

Over the course of a little more than four months, Button and the resident conversed about the work that needed to be done, according to the Sheriff’s report. In January 2025, Button and the Adair County resident agreed on a proposal for work on the roof of the residence, for an amount in excess of $14,460.That amount was later amended to $19,453, and included work on the residents’ roof and exterior of the home. Two checks written to Button – separate down-payments for the two, separate projects – cleared the bank, but Button failed to complete the work he had agreed to. Button was ordered by the resident’s attorney to repay $22,478, but failed to reply to the demand letter. James Button was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $10,000 cash-only bond.

On September 25th, Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 31-year-old Chu Taia Marika Kei Brown, of Des Moines, on an Adair County warrant for Failure To Appear in court on Jan. 31, 2025, on the original charge of Violation of Probation. Brown – who was picked up from the Polk County Jail – was transported to the Adair County Jail. She was being held on a $1,000 bond.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department say two people were arrested on separate charges over the weekend. At around 2-a.m. Saturday, 22-year-old Olivia Claire Henry, of Mount Ayr, was arrested following a traffic stop. She was charged with Driving While License Denied or Revoked. Henry was transported to the Union County Jail, and posted $1,000 bond before being released.

And, at around 8:40-a.m. Sunday, Creston Police arrested 37-year-old Casey David Mitchell, of Thayer, on an outstanding warrant for probation violation, on an original charge of child endangerment. Mitchell was being held without bond in the Union County Jail until seen by a judge.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with Cass Health in Atlantic, last week, said they had been made aware of scam phone calls that claim to be from Cass Health.

Cass Health Director of Marketing and Communication, Ann McCurdy, said “If you receive a suspicious phone call that appears to be from a Cass Health phone number, or the person claims to be with Cass Health, do not share any personal information. Please hang up and disregard these calls.”

She said also, “If you’re ever unsure about a call from Cass Health being legitimate, you can always hang up, call 712-243-3250, and ask for the department that contacted you.”

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa D-N-R veterinarian Rachel Ruden is studying the impact of a viral fungal pathogen on the state’s rattlesnake population. “It affects snakes kind of broadly and the vipers, so things that include rattlesnakes specifically,” she says. “So they have seemingly worse outcomes than other types of snakes.” Ruden has been doing some testing of rattlesnakes. “So we’re doing these skin swabs to kind of understand how much of the fungus we have on the landscape. You know, in that population and kind of what it’s doing to that population over time,” Ruden says. Ruden says Iowa doesn’t have the number of rattlesnakes seen in other states.

“They are fragmented across the state already, so we don’t have big contiguous, connected populations. In places locally, they’re doing well,” Ruden says. “Overall, we’ve lost a lot of our habitat and you know our numbers really for the different rattlesnake species. But some are doing better than others and it kind of depends on the place.”

Ruden has been working in southeast Iowa, but isn’t disclosing the exact location to protect the rattlesnakes.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department say a drivers’ age, and possibly impaired vision, along with sun glare, may have played a role in a non-injury accident Friday morning at the intersection of Highway 25 and Adams Street, in Creston.

Authorities said a 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan driven by 89-year-old William T. Lewis, of Carson, was turning right onto Adams Street at around 6:15-a.m. Williams told Officers that he believed a car was in his way, so he made a wide turn. His vehicle struck a 2004 Chevy pickup driven by 22-year-old Anthony Anderson, of Creston, as the pickup was sitting stationary and waiting to turn right. Anderson told Police there was a car in front of the minivan, but no vehicle on the side of the road that would have caused Lewis to turn so wide at the intersection.

Damage from the collision amounted to a police-estimated $8,000. No citations were issued.

(Radio Iowa) – A former Illinois congressman who served in key roles in the Clinton, Obama and Biden Administrations has made a trip to Iowa to explain his goals for the Democratic Party nationally — and Rahm Emanuel suggests recent special election wins in Iowa are a harbinger for 2026 and beyond. “I want the rest of America to know what Iowa’s doing, not the other way around. You guys are leading the way, so congratulations to you on that,” Emanuel said. “…I want you guys to have some confidence. People bet on winners and Iowa is where winners are made.”

Emanuel is the latest prominent Democrat to make public remarks in Iowa, where Democrats had kicked off presidential campaigns until President Biden called on the Democratic National Committee to move the Iowa Caucuses out of the lead-off spot.  “I have spent 30-plus years helping three different presidents (with) different responsibilities…trying to unrig a system that is rigged,” Emanuel said. “Well, I’m here to tell you, in confession, I’m done unrigging it. I’m going to rig it for the people that work hard and play by the rules.”

Emanuel, who is mulling a run for president in 2028, spoke to about 400 people at a fundraiser for state Representative Sean Bagniewski of Des Moines this weekend. Emanuel, who served as President Biden’s Ambassador to Japan, criticized politicians from both parties for failing to sound the alarm about this month’s report showing a national decline in student test scores. “Being over in Japan…I learned a lot about America, learned a lot about that region and there is nothing China’s doing that scaring me,” Emanuel said.

“I look back here and what we’re not doing is what scares me, so get our heads squared on, think about our next generation just your parents do, just like you do and let’s get our game together and think about tomorrow and act on it.” Emanuel raised concerns about President Trump’s tariff policies and he criticized the Trump Administration’s plan to provide a 20 BILLION dollar loan to Argentina. Emanuel says it’s a blank check for a country’s that’s undermining U.S. soybean farmers by selling 20 shiploads of soybeans to China this past week. China had been the biggest overseas market for U.S. grown soybeans.

“How’d they get $20 billion are you guys can’t keep a hospital open in rural Iowa? How did they get $20 billion like that,” Emanuel said, snapping his fingers. “That’s why Washington needs a 2-by-4 and somebody that knows how to swing it.” The president of the Iowa Soybean Association says the economic lifeline provided by the U.S. to Argentina is poorly timed and inexcusable.

Senator Chuck Grassley has questioned why the U.S.A. should bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers biggest market.