JEFFERSON, Iowa [KCCI]— A man accused of abducting his son from an elementary school is pleading not guilty. Brandon Duong, 34, of Jefferson, was accused of removing his 7-year-old son from Greene County Elementary last week, prompting an Amber Alert that eventually ended without injury after an hourslong armed standoff.

Duong was charged with second-degree kidnapping, to which he is pleading not guilty, according to court documents filed this week. Duong is also accused of violating a custodial order. An arraignment is set for later this month in Greene County.

(Radio Iowa) – Waterloo’s crime rate fell six-percent last year, and an annual report credits the police department’s community engagement efforts. Violent crime is down nearly four-percent in the past year, property crime plummeted 17-percent, a for the first time since the pandemic, the city’s police department is fully staffed. Police Chief Joe Liebold (LY-bold) says that increase of about 15 officers enables the department to engage with the community more meaningfully. The chief says it’s easy to see the connection as it’s clearly making a difference to have more officers interacting with more citizens every day. Liebold also partially credits the drop in the crime rate to ongoing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training for his officers.

(Radio Iowa) – The paddlefish snagging season provides anglers a chance to snag an unusual fish on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers that may’ve put on a lot miles in the water. The D-N-R’s western Iowa fisheries supervisor, Chris Larson, says they recently heard about a fish tagged in Iowa that was caught in one of the reservoirs in Tennessee.

Larson says the fish was tagged in 2013 when it was around 29 inches and had grown to 40 inches and was about 20 pounds heavier. Larson says paddlefish live well over 50 years. The Iowa paddlefish season runs through April 30th.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a traffic stop at around 9:15-p.m., Tuesday, resulted in the arrest of a woman on a drug charge. Deputies initiated the stop in the 2300 block of Highway 48. During their investigation, the Montgomery County K-9 Unit was deployed. Deputies arrested 43-year-old Alexandria Dawn Lasley, of Shenandoah, for Possession of Methamphetamine/2nd offense. Lasley was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

And, at around 2:30-a.m. today (Wednesday, Feb. 7), a traffic stop in the area of Q Avenue and 110th Street in Montgomery County resulted in the arrest of 27-year-old Brittany Marie Asay, of Atlantic, for Driving While Barred. Asay was also being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 5:20-p.m. Tuesday in Montgomery County resulted in the arrest of a man on a felony, OWI charge. Red Oak Police report the traffic stop was conducted at the intersection of Highway’s 34 and 48. Upon further investigation, 42-year-old Anthony Thomas Germann, of Villisca, was arrested for OWI/3rd or subsequent offense – A Class D Felony.

Germann was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on the $5,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans on a House Committee have approved Governor Kim Reynolds’ bill that would put definitions of man, woman, mother and father in Iowa law and require changes in how the state issues new birth certificates to transgender residents. House Education Committee chairman Skyler Wheeler of Hull says he asked to have the bill assigned to his committee. “The bill is simple. We’re just defining what a woman is because under today’s society I think 95% of Iowans know what it is, but we have some people that try to disorient the issue and we’re just going to get back to the basics,”

Wheeler says “…It’s just definitions. It’s thinks that everybody knows, but we feel like we have to put it into law because of some of the crazier things that are happening out there.” Democrats on the committee voted against the bill. Representative Sue Cahill of Marshalltown says the bill puts transgender Iowans in danger. “To me it seems we are not protecting our transgendered,” Cahill says. “We are not protecting those who view themselves differently.” Representative Sharon Steckman of Marshalltown says the bill feeds on fear.

“I’m appalled that the governor would put this discriminatory piece of legislation forward targeting 0.29% of our population in Iowa,” Steckman said. “Shouldn’t we be working on something more important in education?” A large crowd of opponents rallied and chanted outside the room where a subcommittee hearing on the bill was held at noon yesterday (Tuesday). After the committee vote last (Monday) night, a couple of dozen people booed lawmakers after the bill passed the committee.

Protesters lined a statehouse hallway to boo lawmakers after tonight’s committee vote. (RI photo)

The committee did remove part of the bill that would have required transgender Iowans list their sex at birth on their driver’s license or government-issued I-D.

(Radio Iowa) – The four Republicans who represent Iowa in the U-S House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but the impeachment effort fell four votes short. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion released a video statement hours before the vote.

Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull says Mayorkas is unwilling to close the southern border and that’s a dereliction of duty with catastrophic consequences. Congressman Zach Nunn of Bondurant and Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of LeClaire, also voted to impeach Mayorkas, but did not issue statements after the vote.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Tuesday evening, arrested 36-year-old Bryce Michael McKinnon, of Red Oak. McKinnon was taken into custody at around 6-p.m., on a warrant for Violation of Probation. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail, on a $10,000 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, this (Tuesday) evening, discussed and then considered the purchase of 16 Scott Air-Pak Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses for the Atlantic Fire Department. Fire Chief Tom Cappel mentioned their current Airpaks are beyond their certifiable life.

He said he has not yet heard back on a FEMA grant for the bottles. He said the 16 certified Airpaks requested will equip the Departments First-out trucks. The bottles have a 15-year certifiable usefulness.

Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel speaks to the City Council (2-6-24)

The Council agreed to move forward with process of purchasing the devices. The Council then received an update from Jeremy Butler and Ali Pieken, SplashPad Committee members. Pieken also spoke last month, during the City of Atlantic’s Parks Advisory inaugural meeting.

Pieken said Rolling Hills Bank and Trust, in addition to their $10,000 donation, is willing to carry a loan with a 2% interest rate. The committee pitched the idea of a $300-thousand or $400,00 value, but that is only what they used for an amortization rate.

The project is currently estimated to cost $673,000, leaving a gap of $101,185. After some contentious, back-and-forth over allegations that the City told SWIPCO (the grant-writing arm of the City), NOT to write any grants for the Splash Pad project, the Council proceeded to move forward and approve a submission of a Letter Of Support for the Splash Pad Project, as part of an application to Enhance Iowa, for a CAT (Community Attraction and Tourism) grant. A delay caused by miscommunications with regard to the grant writing, means SWIPCO will have to hustle to meet the deadline to apply for the grant, which is February 15th.

Snyder and Associates Engineer Dave Sturm said the plan right now, is to go out for bid on the Splash Pad, at the end of this month, take bids in March, and possibly award a contract that same month, with the contract and bonds approved by the middle of April. The Splash Pad Committee is scrambling to get SWIPCO all the necessary information to get the grant application submitted on-time.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council passed two resolutions. The first was with regard to “Allocating the Alliant Energy Gas Franchise Fee for Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025.” On July 5th, 2023, the City Council in Atlantic granted a 25-year franchise to Interstate Power and Light Company (Alliant Energy), which imposes a five-percent franchise fee upon gross revenue generated from the sales of natural gas by the Company, within the City’s corporate limits. In Sept. 2023, the City Council passed a resolution adopting a Revenue Purpose Statement (RPS), outlining the purposes for which the City will use the franchise fee. The Personnel and Finance Committee deemed the fee should be allocated for FY 2024 and 2025, as follows:

• 2% to the Police Department Operating Fund
• 2% to the Fire Equipment Reserve Fund
• 1% to an Ambulance Subsidy Fund.

The other resolution the Council passed tonight (Tuesday night), was to authorize bids for 2024 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation. Dave Sturm explains…

The Resolution states the notice of letting will be published by law for Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, at which time the City Clerk will receive bids for the work until 2-p.m. on that date. The sealed bids will be opened 5:30-p.m. March 5th, for consideration of the adoption of the proposed plans, specifications and proposed form of contract for the improvements.

The Council concluded regular business and adjourned into a Closed Session for the purpose of “Providing for the strategy meetings of Public Employees for Collective Bargaining.”

New York, NY, Ithaca, NY, and Port Rowan, ON— The 27^th Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will take place from Friday, February 16 through Monday, February 19. Volunteers from around the world are invited to count the birds they see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, then enter their checklists at birdcount.org. Anyone with internet access can participate, no matter what their skill level—it’s a great family activity, too.

A lot has changed since the first Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was held in 1998. Each year brings unwavering enthusiasm from the growing number of participants in this now-global event. All the data contribute to a snapshot of bird distribution and help scientists see changes over the past 20 years.

“The very first GBBC was an experiment,” says the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Marshall Iliff, a leader of the eBird program. “We wanted to see if people would use the Internet to send us their bird sightings. Clearly the experiment was a success!” eBird collects bird observations globally every day of the year and is the online platform used by the GBBC.

“The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to introduce people to participation in citizen science,” says Audubon vice president and chief scientist Gary Langham. “No other program allows volunteers to take an instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations that can contribute to our understanding of how a changing climate is affecting birds.”

Varying weather conditions so far this winter are producing a few trends that GBBC participants can watch for during the count.

Jon McCracken, Bird Studies Canada’s National Program Director, reminds participants in Canada and the U.S. to keep watch for snowies. He says, “The GBBC has done a terrific job of tracking irruptions of Snowy Owls southward over the past several years. We can’t predict what winter 2024 will bring, because Snowy Owl populations are so closely tied to unpredictable ‘cycles’ of lemmings in the Arctic. These cycles occur at intervals between two and six years.  Nevertheless, there are already reports of Snowy Owls as far south as Virginia.”

In addition to counting birds, the GBBC photo contest has also been a hit with participants since it was introduced in 2006. Since then, tens of thousands of stunning images have been submitted.

Learn more about how to take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count at birdcount.org where downloadable instructions and an explanatory PowerPoint are available. The GBBC is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada and is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.

This is a wonderful family program for bird watchers of all ages and is free of charge. All you need is basic knowledge of bird identification! It is not required that you record every species you see, only those that can be properly identified. To participate in the bird count either call the Conservation Board at 712-769-2372 and receive everything you need in the mail (or pick up in the office), or go to the website: http://www.birdcount.org/ and follow the instructions.

Let’s get out there this year and stay in the top 10 in the state! Please help the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon Society by participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count.