COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, Friday, said 71-year-old Hershel James Ratliff, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced Thursday December 16, 2021, in U-S District Court, to serve 30 years in prison for six counts of Human Trafficking, and one count of Distribution of a Controlled Substance to a Minor. His prison term will be followed by ten years of supervised release. A jury found Ratliff guilty of the offenses on July 23, 2021.

The Council Bluffs Police Department began investigating Ratliff in August 2019 after a mandatory reporter made a report to the Iowa Department of Human Services about information reported by a fourteen-year-old child that involved inappropriate sexual conversations and advances by Ratliff. As the investigation continued, numerous other young adults were identified as being victimized by Ratliff while they were in high school. Ratliff provided drugs, alcohol, and a place to party for teenagers.

Ratliff groomed teenagers and after cultivating a trusting relationship with them, convinced them to engage in various sex acts with him and his friends for money, alcohol, or drugs. Ratliff also used his business, Jimmy’s All-American Diner and his rental properties to groom and recruit victims. This illegal activity spanned from 2012-2019.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, and Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Cass County Republicans recently made a $500 donation to the Rock Island Society Enterprise (ARISE) to be used for roof repairs and maintenance of the American Legion Memorial Building.

ARISE was organized and incorporated in 1992 as a non-profit entity with the purpose of combating community deterioration; to promote and encourage historical research; to purchase, preserve and protect historical buildings, records and relics; and to educate the community and mark places of national interest.  ARISE has spent more the $207,000 on major expenses.

ARISE has signed short form business property leases in 2008 and 2010 for 99 year terms to ensure that the American Legion, American Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Atlantic Color Guard Team, the American Legion Auxiliary  and the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War have a rent-free place to hold their meetings.

Delivering the donation are Cass County Republican Central Committee Treasurer Kathy Zimmerman (center) and Member and Past CCRCC Chair David Wiederstein (right).  Receiving the donation on behalf of ARISE is group President Steve Livengood (left).

If you or your group is interested in touring the American Legion Memorial Building contact Steve at 712-243-5445.  With rising costs to maintain the buildings, donation are always needed and appreciated.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest of 31-year-old Nathan Michael Tripp of Booneville, MO on a valid warrant out of Montgomery County for Kidnapping 1st Degree, a Class A Felony. The warrant stems from an incident that occurred in May of 2021. Tripp was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $100,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – After a record-setting fiscal year, Winnebago Industries is off to a good start for Fiscal Year 2022. The Forest City-based outdoor lifestyle products manufacturer saw revenues for the first quarter ending November 27th were a record $1.2 billion, an increase of 46% compared to the same quarter a year ago.

President and CEO Michael Happe credits acquisitions of other companies in recent years to Winnebago’s continued success.“The catalyst continues to be our Grand Design RV brand, which consistently delivers record results and outstanding support for our dealers and in consumers,” Happe says. “Newmar branded diesel motorhome share and Winnebago brand towables growth also contributed nicely.”

More people have been exploring the outdoors since the start of the pandemic, and a recent industry survey says 9.6 million additional households say they are considering purchasing a recreational vehicle in the next five years. Happe says the company should be able to take advantage of that projected demand.

“We fully recognize that not all these potential customers will actually buy a recreational vehicle, but we do agree that future demand will be reasonably sustained at higher historical levels in large part because of consumer interest and participation in the outdoors being at all-time highs,” he says. Happe says the company is now fully reaping the benefits of its 2018 purchase of Chris-Craft boats and this year’s acquisition of the Barletta pontoon boats company. This quarter marks the first time the company is reporting separate figures for the marine segment, with revenues being $79.3 million in the first quarter.

“Our marine segment is performing well and in line with the high expectations we have for Barletta,” Happe says. “The results highlight the strength of the pontoon market and Barletta’s unique offering in strong brand affinity, which has integrated smoothly into our portfolio and delivered on the high growth expectations we anticipated.” Happe says the company has and will continue to be challenged by supply chain issues. “While we anticipate the supply chain constraints and inflation to continue, we have found a good cadence in working closely with our suppliers to mitigate the impact as much as possible,” he says.

Shares of Winnebago Industries stock have climbed over the last calendar year from just under $60 at Christmastime 2020 to $70 at the time of today’s quarterly earnings report release.

(Radio Iowa) – The first female bishop of the 168-year history of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa will be ordained this weekend. Rev. Betsey Monnot will be the 10th bishop of the diocese. “That stained glass ceiling is breaking,” Monnot says. “It is shattering and I want to say that in Iowa, more than half of our congregations are currently led by female clergy, so there’s been a lot of cracks in that stained glass ceiling. and tomorrow it will shatter.”

Monnot was among four female candidates for the post. She was serving a congregation in California when elected Iowa bishop this summer. Rev. Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, says her election is part of the church showing society there is room for all. “For everybody equally,” he says, “and when that begins to happen, we’ll have a different world — not just a different church, but a different world.”

Rev. Monnot (Via iowaepiscopal.org.)

More than 400 people are expected to attend the ordination and consecration ceremony for the new Iowa bishop of the Episcopal Church tomorrow. There are five dozen episcopal congregations in Iowa, but the ceremony will be held in the Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, one of the largest churches in the state, to allow for social distancing and other pandemic protocols. The service, which starts at 11 a.m., will also be live-streamed.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Kassidy Arena)

(Radio Iowa) – Dentists are urging Iowa lawmakers to plug an extra 31-and-a-half million dollars in Iowa’s Medicaid budget to cover dental care. Laurie Traetow is executive director of the Iowa Dental Association. She says for the past 20 years, there’s been no change in what the state pays dentists who provide care to Iowans covered by Medicaid.

“Dental Medicaid rates in Iowa now only reimburse between 30 cents to 40 cents for each $1 of care provided,” she says. “Due to the ongoing under-funding of the program, Iowa has seen a decrease in dentists taking on new Medicaid patients, which creates access for the children and adults receiving Medicaid dental benefits. These patients are having to travel outside of their communities to receive services and the wait lists for these services can be very lengthy.”

Traetow says dentists are dealing with financial pressures, like rising supply costs and workforce shortages that push wage expectations higher for the staff in dental offices. “The vast majority of Iowa dentists are small business owners who often provide a certain level of charity care to those in need,” Traetow says. “However, no small business can survive taking a 60-70% loss on the service it provides.” The Iowa Dental Association is suggesting the dental care reimbursement rate for Medicaid patients rise to the level set in a separate government program that helps working parents acquire private health insurance for their children.

“This increase in rates is long overdue and is critical to the overall health of Iowans,” Traetow says. The latest state report indicates more than 800-thousand Iowans are enrolled in the Medicaid program.

DES MOINES – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has issued a disaster proclamation for Carroll County in response to Dec. 15 severe weather. The governor’s proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of this severe weather.

In addition, the proclamation activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program for qualifying residents, along with the Disaster Case Management Program, for Carroll County. The Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program provides grants of up to $5,000 for households with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Grants are available for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food, and temporary housing expenses. Original receipts are required for those seeking reimbursement for actual expenses related to storm recovery.

The grant application and instructions are available on the Iowa Department of Human Services website at https://dhs.iowa.gov/disaster-assistance-programs. Potential applicants have 45 days from the date of the proclamation to submit a claim.

The Disaster Case Management Program addresses serious needs related to disaster-related hardship, injury, or adverse conditions. Disaster case managers work with clients to create a disaster recovery plan and provide guidance, advice, and referral to obtain a service or resource. There are no income eligibility requirements for this program; it closes 180 days from the date of the governor’s proclamation.

For information on the Disaster Case Management Program, contact your local community action association or visit www.iowacommunityaction.org.

DES MOINES, Iowa – As the holiday travel season continues, local, state and federal agencies within the Southern District of Iowa are working together to ensure the safety of commercial airline passengers, flight crews and flight attendants.
Federal law prohibits assaults, intimidation and threats of violence that interfere with flight crews and flight attendants, as well as other enumerated criminal acts that occur during flight. Passengers who commit assaults against other passengers are also subject to federal prosecution.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed United States Attorneys to prioritize the prosecution of federal crimes occurring on commercial aircraft. To assist in the investigation and prosecution of in-air crimes, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Justice have created an information-sharing protocol, resulting nationally in the referral of numerous incidents by the FAA to the FBI for investigation.

A statement from the Des Moines Police Department indicated that officers from the Des Moines Police Department’s Community Outreach and Protective Services Airport Section will be available throughout the holiday season to support and collaborate with federal partners to provide for the safest travel experience for all.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal said “Holiday travel should be accomplished in the same spirit as celebration of the holiday itself. We support our federal, state, city and airport security partners in assuring safety for passengers, flight crews, and flight attendants, in the air and on the ground. In assistance to these partners, and for those crimes that have singular federal jurisdiction, we are committed to hold accountable those who engage in criminal behavior during air travel.”

FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel stated, “The FBI continues to work with the FAA and other partners to combat violence aboard commercial flights and ensure the safety of all passengers. We remain committed to investigating all incidents that meet the threshold of a federal crime and fall within FBI jurisdiction.”

(West Des Moines, Iowa/KCCI) – West Des Moines Police today (Friday) announced five students will be charged in a series of threats made at Stilwell Junior High (in W. Dsm). Since Dec. 10, police have been investigating several social media and spoken threats of possible violence. According to police, two students have been charged with felony terrorism and three more have been charged with first-degree harassment.

In a West Des Moines P-D news release, authorities said “Although these threats were not carried out, the seriousness of the crimes and the disruption of the school and the learning environment were factors taken into account when criminal charges were filed. On Friday specifically, these social media threats quickly caused parents to be concerned which led to an overwhelming amount of phone calls made to the school and parents arriving at the school to remove their children. Accordingly, the School Resource Officer from the West Des Moines Police Department worked directly with staff at Stilwell to investigate these threats as quickly as possible in order to maintain order and the safety of the students and staff.”

Police said the students charged are all under the age of 18, so none of their names will be released.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Public Health released new COVID-19 data Friday. Iowa has surpassed 601,531 total positive tests since the start of the pandemic. Also on Friday, the IDPH reports 9,087 positive COVID-19 tests in the last seven days. This is up from 9,012 positive tests reported on Wednesday. The state’s 14-day positivity rate dropped from 11.3% to 11.1%.

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa decreased from 823 to 810 people. IDPH reports that of all the people hospitalized with COVID-19, 81.1% are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19. In Iowa, there have been 4,461,143 total COVID-19 vaccines administered. 69.8% of Iowans 18 and older are fully vaccinated, and 73.4% of Iowans over the age of 12 have at least one dose of the vaccine. Long-term care facilities recording COVID-19 outbreaks increased from 16 to 19.

On a related note: The Polk County Health Department announced a case of the COVID-19 omicron variant detected in Polk County, Friday. Health officials said the case occurred in a vaccinated individual over the age of 18. The individual has not received a COVID-19 booster shot. The Polk County Health Department states that “the individual has mild symptoms and has not traveled.”