(Atlantic, Iowa) – One person died during a fiery crash Tuesday night northeast of Atlantic. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened at around 11:39-p.m., on Highway 71 just south of Fayette Road.

The Patrol says a 2008 Chevy Cobalt was traveling north in the southbound lane of Highway 71 when it collided head-on with a 2016 Kenworth semi driven by 59-year-old Michael Conn, of Maryville, MO.

Following the collision, both vehicles came to rest in the east ditch off of Highway 71. The driver of the car died at the scene. Their name was not released, pending identification by the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny. The semi driver was uninjured.

The road remained closed for several hours following the crash. It finally opened at around 9:40-a.m., Wednesday. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Cass EMS and Atlantic Fire and Rescue. All Atlantic units had cleared from the scene a little after 6:30-a.m. (Wednesday).

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A separate accident with minor injuries happened just before midnight on I-80, near the Cass/Pottawattamie County line, at mile marker 53 eastbound, where a semi rolled into the ditch. The truck was hauling construction equipment. The driver complained of pain, but was not transported to the hospital. A Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputy assisted rescue crews at the scene. No other information is currently available.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa City Police have arrested three people on multiple charges in a human trafficking investigation involving two massage parlors. Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson reports.

(As said) – Iowa City Police say the investigation and found the owners of two Paradise Spa locations, 60-year-old Zhenshi Liu and 56-year-old Junping Ren provide sex to male clients. They also required numerous female workers to provide sex to the clients while working more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Police say the two laundered two-point-six million dollars in cash from the massage parlors by buying two residential properties. They also face charges of pandering for prostitution and pimping. Zhenshi Liu is also accused of sexually assaulting a customer. The couple’s son 33-year-old Yang Liu of Hoover, Alabama is accused of assisting in laundering the money his personal accounts.

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The Iowa D-C-I, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the F-B-I assisted Iowa City Police in the investigation, along with several local and county law enforcement agencies.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is hoping negotiations among the leadership of both parties can find an agreement before the federal government shuts down on September 30th. The Republican from Red Oak says the Senate Democrat leader is threatening a shutdown if changes aren’t made to the House funding bill.

Ernst made her comments at an Iowa National Guard groundbreaking ceremony in Sioux City Tuesday. She expects there will be some type of plan to keep the government going once everyone gets back from their break.

Ernst says the American people are the ones who will be hurt by a shutdown.

Ernst’s fellow Republic U-S Senator, Chuck Grassley, says he believes there will be a compromise with Democrats. He says Democrats have always in the past approved a continuing resolution that keeps funding the government at the same level to give them time to finish work on budget bills.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has set December 9th as the date for a special election to fill the House seat Republican Mike Sexton of Rockwell City resigned from on Friday. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.

(A report by the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The former Elgin city clerk, originally charged with theft in the alleged misuse of $131,213 in taxpayer money, has been fined $430 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor offense. In March 2023, former Elgin City Clerk Rhonda Dales was named in a state audit report that identified $131,213 in improper disbursements by the city and an additional $7,532 in disbursements for which there was no supporting documentation.

The questionable spending cited by the auditor included:

— Excess payroll payments to Dales: $60,726.

— Unauthorized comp time for Dales: $27,451

— Unauthorized paid time off for Dales: $9,863

— Improper reimbursement payments to Dales: $19,204

The report noted that much of the questionable spending was tied to pay and benefits collected by Dales in violation of city policies. However, the report also noted that regardless of the policy, city council members did not agree as to whether Dales, as a part-time employee, was entitled to such payments.

According to the auditor’s office, its investigation stemmed from a May 2021 Elgin City Council meeting at which Dales was informed she was being fired due to concerns with her job performance. Because of the concerns, city officials asked state auditors to review the city’s financial records from 2017 through June 2021. According to the auditor’s report, the findings of wrongdoing were based on the benefits being contrary to city policy. The report highlighted several deficiencies in financial oversight by the council, noting that the city didn’t follow its own personnel policies and, as a result, Dales “periodically paid herself” for more hours worked than the council had ever authorized.

Within days of the auditor’s report being released in 2023, Fayette County officials criminally charged Dales with felony first-degree theft. Dales pleaded not guilty, and the case was initially scheduled for trial in July 2023.

Court records show that over the next two-and-a-half years, judges granted 14 continuances in the case, and on Aug. 22, 2025, Fayette County prosecutor Jason Dunn reduced the charge from felony first-degree theft to misdemeanor fourth-degree theft, alleging Dales stole no more than $750 worth of property from the city.

Dales pleaded guilty to the charge and on Sept. 3, 2025, was fined $430 and placed on informal probation for one year. There was no restitution ordered in the case.

(Audubon, Iowa) – Officials in Audubon County have released a list of the candidates whose names will appear on the November 4th City and School election ballots.

Candidates for City Offices

City of Audubon

Mayor (vacancy term ending 2027)- (vote for no more than one)

Palle Lansman

City Council – (vote for no more than three)

Brooke Wegner

Bruce A. Christensen

Jeff Jacobsen

Rodney Benton

City of Brayton

Mayor – (vote for no more than one)

Cally Lee Christensen

City Council – (vote for no more than two)

David L. Hansen

Garrett Wilson

City of Exira

Mayor – (vote for no more than one)

Mike Huegerich

City Council – (vote for no more than two)

Dory Schrader

Christina Nelson

Matt Long

City of Gray

Mayor – (vote for no more than one)

NO Candidates Filed

City Council – (vote for no more than two)

NO Candidates Filed

City of Kimballton

Mayor – (vote for no more than one)

Ramadasa Jivatma

City Council – (vote for no more than three)

Sheila Partridge

Dirk Wasson

Peggy Mortensen

Thomas Lake

School Board candidates

Audubon School Board Member

(vote for no more than two)

Laurence H. Frakes Jr

Haillie Bruch

Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton School Board Director

(vote for no more than three)

Anna Schleimer

Nick Fredericksen

Eric Konecne

Deborah King

Beth Larsen

Emily Paulsen

Abby Rasmussen

Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton School Board Director

(vacancy term ending 2027)-(vote for no more than one)

Anthony L. Hough

Cally Lee Christensen

POLLING SITES

Audubon Agri Hall – 412 N Division St W (fairgrounds) Audubon: All Audubon County registered voters in the following townships: Lincoln-Cameron-Viola-Douglas-Leroy and Melville; IKM-Manilla & Coon Rapids Bayard voters will also vote HERE!

Exira Event Center – 106 N Jefferson: All Audubon County registered voters in the following Townships: Sharon-            Hamlin-Greeley-Oakfield-Exira and Audubon Twp.

Audubon School District voters in Sharon-Hamlin and Greeley will go to the Exira Event Center to vote, as do Guthrie Center-Adair-Casey- CAM and Atlantic Schools in Audubon County.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says President Trump made the right move in refusing to negotiate with Democratic congressional leaders over a looming federal government shutdown.

Last Friday, Hinson joined 216 other Republicans in the House to pass a spending bill to fund federal agencies for a seven weeks once the new federal fiscal year starts October 1st. Hinson says Senate Democrats are making wild partisan spending demands.

Democrats have been seeking an extension of the federal subsidies for insurance policies purchased on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Between 80-thousand and 130-thousand Iowans could be affected. Hinson says that’s not a real proposal that should be added to a stop-gap spending bill, and those subsidies should be considered inside regular budget bills.

Hinson, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, says congress needs to get back to passing the 12 budget bills that outline all federal spending for a 12-month fiscal year. Since 1977, that’s happened just four times.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest non-profit animal shelter tackled one of its biggest rescue efforts in years in northwest Iowa on Tuesday. The Animal Rescue League of Iowa rounded up and removed more than one-hundred dogs from a property in Plymouth County. K-C Routos, the A-R-L’s director of development and communications, says it was a major operation to safely house and transport so many animals almost four hours to the headquarters in Des Moines.

Members of the A-R-L’s trained medical staff are working to care for each dog, administer vaccinations, and get them healthy.

It’s hoped some of the dogs will be well enough to be put up for adoption very soon. The shelter is appealing to Iowans for help, both through financial donations and encouraging people to become pet parents.

She notes, the A-R-L receives no state, federal, or United Way funding, so it relies heavily on community support.

https://ow.ly/LAp050X16Nv

Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says this (Wednesday) morning’s deadly shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas adds urgency to her call to toughen penalties for attacking ICE agents. The F-B-I says two people detained by ICE were killed, but the phrase “ANTI ICE” was written on one of the shooter’s shell casings. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, is co-sponsoring a bill that would double criminal penalties for assaulting, resisting, or impeding an ICE officer or employee.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Saturday to ban ICE agents from wearing masks during raids in California. The U-S Department of Homeland Security says the law is a publicity stunt and ICE agents will continue to wear face coverings during enforcement operations.

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI] — An Iowa man is now facing charges for his role in a motorcycle crash that resulted in a teenager’s death. Kaelin Meinders, 23, of Albia, was the operator of a motorcycle Saturday night when the motorcycle crashed into a pedestrian in the 4900 block of NE 29th Street. The pedestrian was identified as Santiago “Santi” Rhone, 15, a Des Moines East High School sophomore.

Rhone was transported to a nearby hospital but died from his injuries.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday announced Meinders has been charged with multiple offenses. Meinders has been charged with reckless driving; driving while barred (habitual offender); and no insurance — causing an accident.

Authorities are still investigating the crash. Meinders was hospitalized following the wreck.