(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors held their regular weekly meeting on Wednesday (Today, Oct. 29th). During their session, the Board approved (as presented) Homestead/Military Disallowances. They received and acknowledged Weed Commissioner Nathan Jensen’s Annual report, and held a public hearing on a FY26 Adair County Budget Amendment.

Hearing no comments, the Board passed a resolution approving the amendment, and an associated Appropriations resolution, as explained by Board Chair Nathan Baier…

The Board approved a wage increase for Sawyer Hansen, Assistant to the Adair County Engineer, and they authorized the Board Chair to sign the front page plans for the Casey Stub Resurfacing and Rose Acres Road Resurfacing projects, along with the W9 Lincoln (Township) Culvert project.

And, Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman updated the Board of Secondary Roads Department maintenance and activities.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal judge is ordering the release of a man who was detained in northwest Iowa for being in the country without legal status. Armando Garcia Picazo was sent to the Woodbury County jail in early August after ICE agents picked him up. Guy Weinstein is Garcia Picazo’s lawyer and says his client was forced to stay behind bars, even though a judge set bond so he could try to legally stay in the U.S.

Weinstein says, “What the public doesn’t realize is that there’s a lot of individuals like Armando Garcia Picasso that have zero criminal history, they’ve been here in the community for a number of years, that this administration is trying to remove.” He says Garcia Picazo came to the U.S. from Mexico nine years ago and has worked in the Sioux City metro area as a mechanic. Weinstein says since his client has no criminal record, he has a strong case to stay in the country legally.

“What this administration is doing is making it really, really challenging for anyone who’s caught up in the immigration detention to be released,” he says. Judge Leonard Strand says Garcia Picazo should be immediately released after posting a six-thousand dollar bond. Strand recently made a similar ruling in another case. He said Noel Lopez De La Cruz of Mount Pleasant should have a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

Lopez De La Cruz, who is 24, lived most of his life in the U.S. ICE took him into custody in August from the Muscatine County Jail, where he was being held on a charge of marijuana possession. The charges were dropped.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports five people were arrested between Oct. 21st and Oct. 26th:

On the 26th (Sunday), Mills County Deputies arrested 32-year-old Brent Edward Hanson, of Stanton, for OWI/3rd offense. He was arrested following a traffic stop in Malvern and held on a $5,000 bond.

On Oct. 24th, 40-year-old Denny Gene Reeves, of Hastings, was arrested in Glenwood for Harassment in the 3rd Degree. His bond was set at $300.

On Oct. 23rd, Mills County Deputies in Glenwood arrested 33-year-old Nile Jonathan Packett, of Pacific Junction, on two counts of Child Endangerment. His total bond amounted to $4,000.

On the 21st of October, 19-year-old David Lucas Leazenby, of Mineola, was arrested in Glenwood for Making a False Report – Indictable Offense. His bond was set at $1,000; And, 27-year-old Diamond Alexis Marks, of Omaha, was arrested on the 21st in Glenwood, for Failure to Appear (in court). She was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(An Iowa News Service report) – New data show nearly half of Americans have made a health care decision they regret because they did not have the information they needed to make an informed choice. Health officials are reminding Iowans to review their existing Medicare plans and prepare for changes in 2026. The Edelman 2025 Trust Barometer showed 43% of people regret a health care choice they’ve made after realizing they didn’t have accurate information.

Kristin Griffith, director of the Senior Health Insurance Information Program and the Senior Medicare Patrol for the Insurance Division of the State of Iowa, said it is important to review your coverage because insurance companies have renegotiated their contracts with Medicare. “That new contract is going to have changes, usually in everything from what prescriptions are covered, what the premiums are,” Griffith outlined. “If it’s a Medicare advantage plan there are probably going to be changes to networks and providers and whose covered.”

More than 685,000 Iowans are enrolled in Medicare, according to KFF Health News. (Adobe Stock)

The Center for Medicare Services said beneficiaries could collectively save as much as $5.1 billion in 2026, with out-of-pocket drug costs now capped at $2,100 under Medicare Part D plans. Dr. Rhonda Randall, chief medical officer and executive vice president of UnitedHealthcare Employer and Individual, said it is important to understand the different options available through Medicare when choosing a plan. “The difference between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage, differences between Medicare parts A, B, C and D, for example,” Randall explained.

The Medicare open enrollment period began Oct. 15 and runs until Dec. 7.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – The Page County Engineer reports part of a bridge guard rail along 180th Street was recently stolen. Engineer JD King said the rail was stolen from the bridge located at the intersection of 180^th and H Avenue. He suspects the railing was stolen for scrap money. Some of the rail was recovered by secondary roads crews and brought back to the shop, but King told the Page County Supervisors, Tuesday, that several of the posts are still unaccounted for.

There were no cameras nearby to capture the incident. King sadi the county’s insurance will not cover the loss of the rail. It’s not clear was the dollar loss of theft amounted to.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who love Halloween might want to share the holiday with their pets, but if you’re going to put the dog or cat in a costume, one expert says to be sure you’re not stressing them out instead. Megan Matamoros, director of shelter operations at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, says there are costumes out there for practically every critter, including guinea pigs, but for starters, make sure the costume is a proper fit for your pet. “You want to make sure you get the right size, so there’s everything from extra-extra small to triple extra large,” Matamoros says. “Make sure if you have a golden retriever, for example, that you’re not using a small costume, trying to squeeze them into that costume so that they can breathe appropriately.”

ARL of Iowa photo

Pets have very sensitive hearing, so if you’re putting a hat, hood or anything else on their head, make sure their ears aren’t covered. “And then you don’t want to cover their eyes with a mask with no eye holes, so making sure that they can still see,” she says, “so that they can move around like a normal cat or dog, walking on all four paws, being able to rotate left and right, wag their tail, stick their tongue out and be able to hear. That’s going to be your safest option for your costume.” Some pets simply don’t like to wear costumes, so only dress them up if they don’t become stressed while wearing one. With many animals, she says it’s easy to tell if they’re unhappy in that outfit.

“Sometimes they look like they can’t walk, so if they’re falling over in their costume or constantly digging or tugging at their costume, that may be a sign of uncomfortability,” Matamoros says. “If they’re starting to really pant in their costume heavily, whether that’s a cat or a dog, that can be a sign of stress.”

The A-R-L’s Animal House Store at the Des Moines headquarters has a selection of pet costumes available on sale through Friday.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Lottery ended the first quarter of the fiscal year with sales running ahead of last year, thanks to a big jackpot. Iowa Lottery C-E-O Matt Strawn. “Through September, through that three month period, total lottery sales just slightly ahead of 118 million dollars represents a 15-point-oh-three increase over last year through September,” he says. Strawn says the money sent to the state was also up. “Total lottery proceeds through September total 24-point-nine million. And that represents a year over year proceeds increase of 38point-six-five percent, and we’re ahead of fiscal ’26 budget targets by about 40 percent,” he says. The bottom line was boosted by the first big jackpot in some time.

“Those results were very heavily influenced by that one-point-seven-eight-seven billion-dollar Powerball jackpot we had in early September,” Strawn says. “In fact, the week of that big jackpot was the fifth highest sales week in the 40 year history of the Iowa Lottery.” Strawn says other games also benefited from the jackpot excitement. “When you have a large Powerball jackpot, there’s a bit of a halo effect on the rest of the lottery products that see a slight increase,” he says, “certainly nothing like we saw with the Powerball sales. But that increase dissipates over time.” Strawn says October has been a normal month thus far. “Sales have normalized and are much more closely tracking where we were last year, at least through the month of October,” Strawn says.

Strawn says fuel prices and the economy have more impact on sales in the absence of a big jackpot run.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Tabor was arrested Tuesday night following an investigation into a suspected case of abuse at a group home in Red Oak. Officers arrested 39-year-old Donnie Kenneth Pitcher at around 7-p.m., Tuesday, on two-counts of Dependent Adult Abuse – Intentional/with physical injury. Both are Class-C Felonies. Pitcher was also charged with Dependent Adult Abuse – a Serious Misdemeanor.

He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $10,000 bond. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office assisted Red Oak Police in conducting the investigation.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested two people Tuesday afternoon, in connection with the theft of lottery tickets. Authorities say 22-year-old Jessica Andrea Nuñez, and 21-year-old Kaleb Rylie Toepfer, both of Red Oak, were arrested a little after 3-p.m., Tuesday, in the 400 block of N. 3rd Street. Nuñez was arrested on with two felony counts of lottery ticket theft and Theft in the 2nd Degree. Toepfer was arrested as an Accessory after the fact (stealing lottery tickets) – Felony, and Theft in the 2nd Degree, an Aggravated Misdemeanor.

Red Oak Police say the pair were arrested following an investigation involving the Iowa Lottery Authority, which resulted in the discovery of more than 500 stolen Lottery tickets and about $1,600 in profit from those tickets. Bond for both suspects was set at $5,000 each. They were being held in the Montgomery County Jail.