(Griswold, IA) – Cass County Board of Supervisor’s Chairman Steve Baier, a Republican from Griswold, today (Wednesday) announced he intends to run for Iowa District 9 Senate seat that will be open, following the announcement State Senator Tom Shipley (R-Nodaway) will retire at the end of his current term. Iowa Senate District #9 includes the counties of, Cass, Montgomery, Adams, Taylor, Page, Ringgold, and a large portion of Union County.

Baier has spent the past several years serving as the chair of the Cass County Board of Supervisors. He’s a former wrestling coach and educator. Baier also serves as the president of the Noble Initiative Foundation, which helps local families and parents looking for high-quality child care, including building a $3 million child care center in Griswold. Baier also taught Chemistry and Physics for over 25 years.

Steve Baier (R) – Griswold

Baier operates a family farm on land his family bought back in 1943 and has previously served as a leader at the Noble United Methodist Church. In the press release announcing Baier’s candidacy, Tom Shipley threw his support behind Baier’s candidacy, saying ““I have known Steve for many years dating back to my time on the school board and we have worked together over that time to support our rural communities,” said Senator Shipley. “He’s a hard-worker, solutions-focused and cares a lot about southwest Iowans and their families. I know he will do a great job taking his work ethic to the Iowa Senate and working to not just make our district better, but the entire state.”

JOINT FORCE HEADQUARTERS – DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa National Guard has announced official Welcome Home ceremonies for approximately 575 Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division who are returning from deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. The Soldiers recently began a phased return to the United States following successful mission completion overseas, where they worked alongside coalition and regional partners to significantly reduce the capabilities of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, helping make the region safer.

Welcome Home ceremonies will take place on two days: Saturday, March 7th, in both Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, and Thursday, March 12th, in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Sioux City. Ceremony times for March 12th will be announced at a later date. These events allow families, friends, and community members the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the Soldiers’ service.

Des Moines Welcome Home Ceremonies:
• Location: 132d Air Wing, Des Moines International Airport
• Address: 3100 McKinley Ave, Des Moines, IA 50321
• Date: Saturday, March 7th
• Ceremony Time: 1:45 p.m.

*This ceremony is not open to the public.

Cedar Rapids Welcome Home Ceremony:
• Location: Cedar Rapids Armory
• Address: 1500 Wright Brothers Blvd W, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
• Date: Saturday, March 7th
• Ceremony Time: 1:45 p.m.

These ceremonies mark an important moment for Iowa communities to welcome home Soldiers who have served overseas in support of national security objectives. While some Soldiers have returned earlier as part of a phased redeployment, others remain deployed to complete essential mission requirements, including partner support and base security. This phased return is based on mission needs, personnel requirements, and transportation availability.

Help us give our hometown heroes the powerful welcome home they have earned. Media are strongly encouraged to attend and capture this momentous event.

(Radio Iowa) – Linn County leaders say Google is pulling out of their effort to build a data center in an unincorporated area there after they passed an ordinance regulating data center development. Supervisor County chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt says Google is now looking to build in Palo to bypass protections against excessive water use and noise pollution in the ordinance.

“We took this process seriously from day one. We invested significant time and resources to create an ordinance with strong protections for our residents and our water resources, all while having Google, a trillion dollar company, pay their fair share,” she says. Running-Marquardt says a Google representative told her that the six buildings that the company initially hoped to build would use roughly 12 million gallons of water a day. Supervisor Sami Scheetz says Google is trying to pit the two jurisdictions against each other.

“If I had to take a guess, I assume, as they’ve done across the country, they’re looking for less regulation when it comes to water specifically, and to pay less money to provide a larger return to their shareholders, which is the whole point of existing as a company like Google does,” Scheetz says.

The county supervisors emphasized that data center projects have regional impacts on natural resources and urged Palo to consider a similar approach to the one adopted by the county. The water for a data center in Palo would still be taken out of the Cedar River, which is prone to drought conditions.

(Radio Iowa) – Podcasters and video streaming services caught pumping up the volume on advertisements would face a state fine if a bill that could be debated in a senate committee becomes law. Senator Jeff Taylor, a Republican from Sioux Center, says loud ads do catch your attention. “But not necessarily in a good way, you know, if it wakes up your baby or if you have some kind of a hearing impairment and you have a hearing aid,” Taylor said. “And just, in general, it’s just kind of an irritation.”

Lawmakers are considering changes in the bill, including which state agency would be in charge of taking complaints and conducting investigations. Taylor says his main concern with the bill is figuring out if the state would be able to enforce the policy and issue fines of at least five-hundred dollars.   “I don’t like passing symbolic legislation that gets on the books as law, but really – practically speaking — can’t be enforced well or fairly.”

A federal law passed in 2010 bars television stations and T-V networks from boosting the volume of commercials to levels above the programs the ads accompany. The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation or CALM Act does not apply to radio stations or to online programming.

CUMMING, Iowa – The Warren County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are issuing an Endangered Person Advisory for 78-year-old Cheryl Anderson. Cheryl was reported missing on March 3, 2026, and was last seen leaving her residence in Cumming, Iowa at 4:04 PM. She may be traveling in a white 2007 Toyota Sienna, Iowa license plate PJ791.

Anyone with information on Cheryl’s whereabouts, is asked to contact the Warren County Sheriff’s Office at (515) 961-1122 or call their local law enforcement agency.

Cheryl Anderson
Age: 78
Height: 5’4’’
Weight: 180 lbs
Eye: Hazel
Hair: White

Last Seen Wearing: Black Slacks, Black Shoes, Black Socks, Brown Sweater, Ballcap with Diamonds.

(Atlantic, IA) – In an update to our report about a fatal fire east of Griswold on Feb. 24th, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office today (Wednesday) identified the victim of the house fire at 68444 560th St., as 53-year-old Carl Eldon Shaffer, of Griswold, Iowa.

At this time, the Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office is still investigating the cause of the fire.

(Corning, IA) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports five men were arrested recently:

A traffic stop on Highway 25 at 275th Street March 2nd, resulted in the arrest of 19-year-old’s Jose Zarza-Escamilla, Diego Cortes-Martinez, and Jesse Navarrete-Lopez, all of Omaha. The trio were charged with Possession with the Intent to Distribute/Deliver – Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Keeping or permit the keeping of a vehicle for drug violations.

On March 3rd, Adams County Deputies arrested 36-year-old Kyle Pack, of Corning, on an Outstanding Polk County warrant for Probation Violation.

And, on February 24th, 62-year-old Timothy West, of Prescott, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for Violation of Parole, and a Sex Offender Registry Violation.

(Clarinda, IA) Page County Attorney, James L. Varley’s office has issued a report Page County District Court outcomes for the week of February 9th.  Among the cases heard before the Judge, was that of:

41-year-old Bobbi Jo Christiansen, of Blanchard, who appeared by counsel and pled guilty to Operating While Under the Influence, 1^st Offense. She was sentenced to 30 days of incarceration, with all but 2 days suspended and fined $1,250. Christiansen was placed on probation for 1 year and as a condition of probation must obtain a drug/alcohol evaluation and successfully complete the Drinking Driver’s School. She was ordered to pay court costs, surcharges and court-appointed attorney fees.

31-year-old Farrin Nicole Stretch, of Bellevue, Nebraska, appeared by counsel and plead guilty to Operating While Under the Influence, 1^st Offense. She was sentenced to 30 days of incarceration with 28 days suspended. Stretch was fined $1,250 and placed on probation for 1 year. As a condition of probation, she is to obtain a drug/alcohol evaluation and attend and successfully complete the Drinking Driver’s School. Farrin Stretch was ordered to pay court costs, surcharges and court appointed attorney fees.

And, 60-year-old Terry Jay Warner, of Clarinda, Iowa, appeared by counsel and pled guilty to Reckless Use of Fire/Explosives/Destructive Devices. He was sentenced to 60 days of incarceration, suspended, and placed on probation for 1 year. Warner was ordered to pay court costs, a fine of $430 and court-appointed attorney fees. Terry Warner also pled guilty to another charge of Reckless Use of Fire/Explosives/Destructive Devices. The defendant was sentenced to 60 days of incarceration, suspended and placed on probation for 1 year. The sentence imposed will run concurrently with the previous sentence. Defendant was fined $430 and ordered to pay court costs and court-appointed attorney fees.

“All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa City school board has approved a three-million-dollar short-term loan for expenses as it looks to a long-term plan to trim costs. District Superintendent Matt Degner is proposing cutting five full-time staff positions in the district’s middle schools through attrition.  “The next step of the conversation is to really start to set those overall budget priorities, board priorities, and then: how do we achieve those goals through our staffing plan?,” he says.

The district would save an estimated 500-thousand dollars by reducing middle school staff. Degner is proposing reducing up to 23 teachers total through attrition, along with two administrators.
Board member Jayne Finch says the district should take a deeper look at possible cuts to the district’s administration.  “We are in a crisis. It’s not because we don’t like administrators or think that they aren’t important. It’s because we’re in a crisis and we want to find savings wherever we can, because we know that it is important to keep that funding in the classroom,” she says.

The cost cutting plan comes after ten million dollars was transferred from the district’s health insurance fund to its general fund without the board’s initial approval. The board retroactively approved the transfer in January.