(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday morning, will received quarterly reports from Cass County Conservation Director Micah Lee, and Veteran’s Affairs Director Mitch Holmes. They’re also expected to discuss and act on approving the 2022 Cass County employees Wellness Program, and, if there are candidates available, the Board will approve the appointments of:

• 28 or more members to serve on the Condemnation in Eminent Domain proceedings
• 3 persons to the Cass County Zoning Commission
• A Franklin and Brighton Township Trustee
• and a Pleasant Township Clerk.

The final order of business is to discuss and take possible action on budgetary considerations. The Cass County Supervisor’s meeting takes place at 9-a.m. in their Boardroom at the Courthouse, in Atlantic, and will be viewable through Zoom, HERE. If you use the Zoom option, be sure and MUTE YOUR MICROPHONE until the time comes for those without an appointment to address the Board.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County (Iowa) Attorney was arrested over the weekend. According to the Cass County Jail roster and online records, 46-year-old Vanessa Elizabeth Strazdas was arrested a little after 4-a.m. Sunday, for OWI/1st offense. Strazdas was released about five hours later, on her own recognizance. No further details are available.

More area and State news from Ric Hanson.

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The latest area News from Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – Socioeconomic studies conducted for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission show some types of crimes do increase in casino communities — but overall they aren’t less safe. Spectrum Gaming Group managing director, Michael Pollock, says you have to look very closely at the crime studies. “Crime is a universal concern, a universal question in every gaming market. And the reality is –we’ve been studying this for 40 years — casinos do not create street crime, do not do anything along those lines,” Pollock says.

Pollock says certain types of non-violent crimes– such as robberies and thefts — are higher in casino towns. He says that’s because there are more people and money there and opportunities for criminals. “There’s going to always be some relationship, but it’s really a function of the number of people and the amount of money and the number of visitors. It doesn’t make a community unsafe,” he says. Pollock says other positive factors offset the impact. “When you add employment, and you add capital investment, quite the opposite is true. The community becomes safer. When you say the crime rate increases, people think that makes that community less safe — and it’s not the case,” according to Pollock.

Pollock says their study shows similar things with other socioeconomic impacts such as divorce. “You may in certain instances and this is nothing particular about Iowa, it could be in any state. You may see a correlation and that does not equate to causation. In our 40 plus years in this industry, there is nothing in the nature of this industry that would cause divorce rates to go up, or child abuse or any of the other issues,” Pollock says. He says you also have to look at the history of an area prior to the casino being there. “The communities that seek to have a casino as an economic stimulus and very much want that economic stimulus, often have a lot of problems to begin with that they don’t have the resources to address. So, those problems may have been there to begin with — that is essential to understanding what these numbers mean,” he says.

Pollock says there is an increase in problem gambling with casinos, but he says there are a lot of factors involved in that issue as well. He says the problem gambling rate remains very low in Iowa and the state ranks fourth for the amount of money put into its gambling treatment program. You can see the full report on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission website.

(Ames, Iowa) – There will be a new way for people to get around Ames this summer, and city leaders want the community’s help. Officials say two new electric buses will soon join CyRide’s bus fleet. The buses will run on battery and are funded by both a federal grant and a state fund. The buses should be delivered by the end of June. The clean vehicles were funded by the Federal Transit Administration Low- or No-Emission Grant program for $1.6 million and the Iowa Department of Transportation Volkswagen Settlement Environmental Mitigation Trust for $390,000.

The new buses will lower carbon emissions, control noise pollution, and reduce the operating costs of CyRide’s large bus fleet. Instead of an engine burning diesel fuel, these vehicles run from 564-kWh batteries, which could power a house for an entire month. These buses will look familiar as they are from the same manufacturer as CyRide’s articulated buses.

CyRide wants to draw attention to these unique buses while retaining many of the design elements and colors of the rest of the fleet. To help choose a new design, CyRide is asking Ames residents and Iowa State University students, faculty, and staff to help make the final decision on how these buses will look. To view all four sides of all three proposed designs, visit the CyRide site .

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (Via KCCI) — Police say a good Samaritan suffered serious injuries in a crash in West Des Moines.  The crash happened just before noon. Officers say a man was helping a semi-truck driver who broke down on Highway 5 at Veterans Parkway. One car slowed down, but another did not, slamming into the car, which then hit the pedestrian.  His condition has not been released.

(Radio Iowa) -A regional cattle processing plant that’s planned for the Council Bluffs area is expected to benefit from the Biden administration’s just-announced Meat and Poultry Supply Chain Action Plan. Chad Tentinger, founder of Cattlemen’s Heritage, says the massive facility will get a financial boost from the billion dollars earmarked for expanding the footprint of independent processors. Tentinger says they’ll break ground late this spring or early summer. “We are in fundraising right now through various means, talking to a lot of investors at this point,” Tentinger says. “We are 75% done with all blueprints and planning. We have the site under control. We have done grid sampling and boring samples to make sure it’s stable. We’re moving along quite nicely.”

The project is on schedule, he says, to be completed by late 2023 or early 2024. Tentinger says their approach is different because they want to put a face on their product for consumers and give small family farmers a place to sell their high-quality cattle and be rewarded for it. “Our plant will be 400,000 head a year, roughly 1,500 head a day. We will have 750 employees. We will have a $1.1 billion annual impact on the state of Iowa. We are incorporating all of the latest technology into this plant. We will have agent source verification from the ranch to the plate.”

He says they’re still trying to determine if they will sell direct to consumers or online.  “We have a lot of demand for this high quality beef that we’ll be putting through this plant and with that demand, we’re exploring all options,” Tentinger says. “It will be domestic and international. We anticipate a lot of restaurant groups. Cattlemen’s Heritage will be an umbrella that will set the gold standard of quality for meat.”

Tentinger says the goal is build the facility and not be bought up by one of the nation’s four major meatpackers.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman from Cass County was arrested Sunday afternoon, in Red Oak. Authorities says 65-year-old Marcia Elaine Lehman, of Griswold, was arrested at around 4-p.m. in the 1800 block of N. 4th Street, for Violating a No Contact Order. Lehman was being held in the Montgomery County Jail, on a $300 bond.

Marcia Elaine Lehman (Sheriff’s booking photo – 2021 file)

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says carbon pipelines are private sector projects and she does NOT support direct state investment in any of the pipelines that are proposed. During her Condition of the State address last week, Reynolds called for investment in what she described as carbon capture solutions.

“To sustain and build on our leadership in renewable energy,” Reynolds said. During an interview with Radio Iowa, Reynolds indicated she’s talking about state money for Iowa State University research focused on how Iowa farmers could secure carbon credits for planting crops.

“There’s a lot of interest in capturing carbon and we want to truly understand that,” Reynolds says. “It’s a value add for our farmers. It’s really important, I think, for the industry to not only sustain it, but to build on our leadership and I just think like we have with other renewables — wind, biofuels — we should be leading again and this is an opportunity for us to do that.” For example, I-S-U researchers already are studying something called “biochar” which is added to soils to help store carbon underground.

There are now three proposed pipeline projects to carry liquid carbon through the state, with terminals to pick up stored carbon emissions from Iowa fertilizer and ethanol plants. Reynolds told Radio Iowa it’ll be up to the private sector to make their case with landowners and state regulators. “We always have to be conscientious about taking someone’s land and the impact it has on that. This is underground, so it’s disrupted for a little while, but they can still utilize it, as far as the pipelines, but also, I mean it is extremely important to an industry,” Reynolds says. “I think it is like over 55% of our corn goes to ethanol, so we have figure out a way to balance the two.”

Critics of the pipelines say the projects to capture carbon emissions from ethanol plants are a waste of money as the country moves toward electric vehicles. Environmentalists says liquid carbon is a hazardous material and poses a danger as it’s shipped through pipelines and stored underground.