(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau (IIDFB), Wednesday, said an Urbandale man, 42-year-old Jared Harrison, was charged on October 14, 2025, with one count of Acting as an Adjuster without a License, a Class D Felony, following an investigation by the Bureau. According to criminal complaints filed by the IIDFB, Harrison, who is General Manager at R3 Roofing and Exteriors, engaged in public adjusting without a license when negotiating an insurance claim for a client from which he and his company could benefit. Harrison was arrested Wednesday and booked at the Polk County Jail.

(Photo of Harrison courtesy of Polk County Jail)

Iowa law restricts a contractor completing the repairs from acting as a public adjuster on the insurance claim.  Iowans can view a list of licensed public adjusters in Iowa at the Iowa Insurance Division’s website.

Officials say no further information regarding this case will be provided at this time. Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.

Note: A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – Halloween – which is officially a little more than one-week away – can be a scary, stressful time for Iowans’ pets, with doorbells ringing, strange noises, and costumed kids darting through in the yard. Megan Matamoros, director of shelter operations at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, offers a few tips to keep your dogs and cats comfy and safe during this spooky season. “Make sure that you are paying attention to where your animal is, so when we’re opening and closing doors, we’re making sure our pets don’t go out and greet the trick-or-treaters,” Matamoros says. “They can be left in your room with the door shut, like your main bedroom, or maybe in a crate where they sleep with some light radio on, or a TV to kind of create a white noise thing.”

Some pets may appear to like Halloween candy as much as kids, but many sweet treats can be harmful and even poisonous to dogs and cats. Matamoros says it’s important to take precautions with the candy you’ll be passing out, and with the bags of edible loot kids bring home. “Candy should absolutely be left out of reach. Dogs and cats and all animals should not be getting human candy, so keeping them in an enclosed pet-proof container before you’re giving them out to trick-or-treaters is great,” Matamoros says. “If you do have a bowl, make sure you keep that high enough where your cat or your dog cannot reach it and cannot jump up and get into it.” If your pet eats something it’s not supposed to, contact your veterinarian or emergency vet immediately, or call the ASPCA’s Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435.

Halloween decorations inside and outside the house can also pose a threat to a pet, so don’t let them get access to chew on light bulbs, inflatables, or anything else with a battery pack. “Those fake spider webs are really cool and make it a really spooky house, but if it is within the pet’s reach or they’re really interested in it, they can get entangled in those fake webs,” Matamoros says, “so you want to make sure that those are very secure and that your animals aren’t interacting with them.” She urges pet owners to make sure their animals are equipped with an I-D tag and a microchip with your updated information to give them the best chance of being reunited with you if they manage to scamper away.

More info. at ARL-Iowa.org

(Radio Iowa) – In an update to an earlier report, a spokesman for the trade group called Fur Commission U-S-A now says around two-thousand mink were released into the wild after fences were cut down cut down and pens damaged at a mink farm near Woodbine Monday night. The spokesman says about 60 percent of the animals were recovered by the farmer.

The farmer is also involved in conservation programs that support national wildlife repopulation efforts and suffered additional losses when starving mink preyed on those animals in his care.

(Radio Iowa) – A Des Moines woman who was convicted of vandalizing the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017 is now out of federal prison. Jessica Reznicek was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for conspiracy to damage an energy facility with a terrorism enhancement. Frank Cordaro of the Catholic Worker House in Des Moines picked up Reznicek at the federal prison in Minnesota October 1st, and she is now serving time at a halfway house. “She has two more years to do, they’re cutting off two full years of the eight years, so she’ll end up doing six years,” he says. “And the halfway house will keep her until she’s ready to transition to home arrest with an ankle bracelet.”

Reznicek and Ruby Montoya vandalized a sign outside the Iowa Utilities Commission office in 2017 and then admitted to damaging the pipeline using an oxy-acetylene cutting torch and setting fires near pipeline instruments and equipment in Mahaska, Boone, and Wapello Counties. Reznicek was also ordered to pay more than three million dollars in restitution. “That’s just not going to get paid, not through the halfway house employment or through the rest of her life. But what she deals with now is paying what they take from her, whatever paycheck she gets at a minimum wage job,” Cordaro says. Cordaro says Reznicek glad to be back in Iowa.

Jessicca Reznicek (Photo from Frank Cordaro)

“She’s very happy. She’s looking forward to dealing with the yet another crazy system and being close to home,” he says. It just makes it all that much closer, gets it that much closer to her freedom. She’s she’s done some hard time, and it’s time to get free. And she’s at a literally halfway house, it’s halfway out half way in.” Cordaro says The Catholic Work House has supported Reznicek, and he says she wants to come back there when she ends her time in the halfway house. “When she gets to be at home arrest, she can probably hang out with the workers, help us do the soup kitchen work and be part of the community. So, that’s all real good news for us. That’s better than having her in Minnesota in a federal penitentiary,” Cordaro says.

Reznicek and Montoya defended their actions saying they were climate activists. Cordaro says he believes they are heroes. “I think these young women took risks to stop the great sin of our times, the way in which we use oil to destroy the planet,” Cordaro says.

Montoya was sentenced to six years in prison. Cordaro says he does not know where Monotya is now.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is adding his voice to the bipartisan chorus of lawmakers who are questioning President Trump’s suggestion to import more beef from Argentina to bring down prices. Reports show U-S consumers are paying more than 50-percent higher prices for beef over the past five years, but Grassley says we need to look within, not outside our nation’s borders, for the solution. “I don’t think we ought to be taking more beef from Argentina and I think the president recognizes that he has a problem doing that,” Grassley says, “and that’s why he had the secretary of agriculture make changes in policy that will increase the production of beef in the United States.” Grassley says he and a half dozen other members of Congress met with Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday, and after that meeting, Grassley says he’s convinced the president has the best interests of beef producers in mind.

“He’s opened up more federal land for grazing, help for setting up smaller meat packing plants so that the four big packers that have 85% of the slaughter, we got more competition,” Grassley says. “We’ll help cattle feeders as well as helping consumers.” The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association issued a statement Wednesday saying Trump’s comments about importing more Argentine beef are “disconcerting,” adding, the president “continues to create undue harm to U.S. cattle producers, inhibiting their ability to make smart marketing decisions that directly impact their long-term profitability.” Grassley says cattle numbers in the U-S are the lowest they’ve been in 75 years and he believes Trump’s long-range plan will “reinvigorate” the cattle industry.

“So instead of eating grass-fed beef from Argentina, which is as tough as leather,” Grassley says, “and we’re going to eat corn-fed beef from the United States of America.” Trump posted Wednesday on social media: “The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil. If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years — Terrible! It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!”

OKOBOJI, Iowa (KTIV) – A woman from New Jersey is facing charges after allegedly stealing a Milford, Iowa resident’s identity and withdrawing money from their account. Court documents say on May 23, 2025, 65-year-old Fanny Singer from Paterson, New Jersey, used a fraudulent U.S. Passport at United Community Bank in Okoboji, Iowa. The passport contained the identity of an 89-year-old Milford, Iowa, woman. Authorities say Singer successfully used the passport to withdraw $8,200 from the 89-year-old’s bank account.

According to court documents, Singer later attempted the same act by using a separate fraudulent ID Card at The State Bank in Terril, Iowa. This time, Singer tried to withdraw $9,600 but was unsuccessful and left. In both cases, Singer was dropped off in the area of each bank and walked in. When leaving the banks, Singer left the parking lots and was picked up by a vehicle off bank property.

Investigators learned Singer was acting in part with a criminal enterprise from New York that conducted this same scheme across the United States at multiple banks. Singer is charged with the following:

• 2nd degree theft against an older individual
• 2nd degree theft
• Identity theft
• Forgery
• Ongoing criminal conduct – unlawful activity

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education held a Special Meeting this (Wednesday) evening in the Washington Elementary School Lunchroom. Prior to diving into their action items, the Board receive a presentation on the English Learner’s Program, from the ELL staff.

Afterward, the School Board approved a change to the Employee Handbook. Superintendent Dr. Beth Johnsen…

They approved a bid of $12,666.86 from Wilson Restaurant Supply out of Cedar Falls, for Hot Well and serving line equipment used the District’s Nutrition Program.

The Atlantic School Board approved an FFA Out of State, overnight trip to Indianapolis, and, as part of their Consent Agenda, approved the following:

• FCCLA Fundraising: Selling Jam from Nov. 1st thru Dec. 1st.
• The hiring of the following personnel:
  • Matt Jacobsen, Substitute Bus Driver
  • Marcella Peck, Preschool Bus Monitor
  • Felicity Swanson, Spec. Ed Para (replacing Lynnae Grandin)
  • Volunteer Coaches for Winter Sports.

The Board then approved the resignation of Makenna Askeland, Middle School Softball Assistant Coach.

The next time the Board will get together (with the possibility of a Quorum), are Town Hall meetings on the proposed bond measures, October 29th from 4-until 6-pm at Washington Elementary, and October 30th in the Middle School Media Center from 4-until 6-pm, also. Those are the last two meetings pertaining to the proposed bond referendums, prior to the November 4th City/School Election. The meetings also coincide with parent-teacher conferences.

The Board’s next Regular meeting is at the High School Media Center beginning at 6:30-pm., on November 12th.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports on or about Saturday, October 18th (2025), at approximately 8:52 am, Adams County Dispatch received a report of a vehicle fire at 130th & Elm Ave. Adams County Sheriff’s Deputies, Corning Fire and Corning Ambulance responded to the scene. Authorities say Corning Fire were successfully able to extinguish the fully engulfed blaze of the vehicle. The 2021 Chevy Silverado, was traveling westbound on 130th when it started experiencing power/electronic issues prior to the fire. The driver, Chad Weaver, attempted to put the fire out with an extinguisher but was unsuccessful. No injuries were reported from this incident.

Des Moines, IA – State Auditor Rob Sand today confirmed the Auditor of State Office has received a qualifying legislative request per Chapter 11.5C of the Code of Iowa to review licensing procedures performed by the Iowa Department of Education and the Board of Educational Examiners.

“The State Auditor’s Office received a qualifying request from a legislator this afternoon and, as a result, will perform procedures related to the licensing and background checks of educational practitioners conducted by the Iowa Department of Education and the Board of Educational Examiners.

“This request is unlike a request from legislators earlier this month to reaudit the Des Moines Public Schools, which is a governmental subdivision, and can only be reaudited at the request of an elected official or employee of the entity, or by petition from citizens per Chapter 11.6 of the Code of Iowa.”

(Radio Iowa) – Events are planned in both Iowa and Nebraska tomorrow (Thursday) on what would have been “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson’s 100th birthday. Roger Sorensen — president of the Johnny Carson Birthplace Society — says there’s no charge tomorrow (Thursday) for tours of the home in Corning where Carson was born.

“His parents were just ordinary people and [he was] born in the least populated county in Iowa in the middle of our country,” Sorensen says, “and then his rise to stardom – it is truly the American dream.” Carson started hosting N-B-C’s Tonight Show in 1962 and signed off the program 30 years later.

Photo from AdamsCountyIowa.com.

“His personality was certainly a warm, Midwestern type of humor and personality,” Sorenson says. Sorenson made his comments on Talk of Iowa on Iowa Public Radio. Carson’s family left Corning when Carson was three and they lived in Avoca, Clarinda and Red Oak before settling in Norfolk, Nebraska when Carson was eight. Activities are planned at the Elkhorn Valley Museum in Norfolk as well.

The museum has a Johnny Carson gallery that includes exhibits about his childhood in Nebraska and his show business career. A Birthday Party featuring jazz music will be held Thursday night at the Museum.