(Eddyville, Iowa) – A 10-year-old girl* from Eddyville was injured Wednesday afternoon, when she ran into the side of a pickup truck in southeastern Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol says the incident happened at around 2:15-p.m. in Eddyville, as the pickup, driven by 58-year-old Mark A. Dalbey, of Blakesburg, was traveling south on N. Merino Avenue, and approaching the intersection with Elm Street.

The Patrol says the unidentified juvenile entered the roadway and collided with the passenger side cargo area of the vehicle. The girl suffered minor injuries and was transported by ambulance to the hospital in Oskaloosa.

Assisting the Patrol at the scene was the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, Mahaska County EMA, and Mahaska Ambulance.

*The initial State Patrol report indicated the girl’s age was 7. That was changed a few hour later, in an update to their report.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports Charles Bechtold, of Atlantic, filed nomination papers today (Wednesday) for one of three open seats on the Wiota City Council. Previously, it was reported the following candidates’ names will appear on the November 4th General Election ballot in Cass County (IA):

(Radio Iowa) – The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain reported good results in the first-quarter of the new fiscal year. Senior vice president Brian Johnson spoke about the results in a conference call. “Total revenue for the quarter was four-point-six billion dollars, that’s an increase of 469 million dollars or 11-and-a-half percent from the prior year. That’s due primarily to higher inside sales as well as higher fuel gallons sold, partially offset by a lower retail fuel price,” he says. He says summer is always a busy time for stores and that proved to be true in the first quarter that started in July.

“Total inside sales for the quarter were one-point six-eight billion dollars, an increase of 210 million dollars or 14-point-two percent from the prior year,” Johnson says. Some of the growth in sales is from recently acquired stores, though C-E-O Darin Rebelez says the conversions including kitchens have not yet been complete in the newly acquired stores in Texas. Rebelez says the acquisition market for smaller store chains continues to be active, while buying larger chains is dependent on decisions by those companies.

“We’re having some conversations with folks. We haven’t had anything active at the moment, but we’re in the market and we’ll see how things evolve as we get through the year,” he says. Rebelez says they are staying with the plan to expand with a 50-50 mix of purchased and newly built stores. “You know our geography that we operate in today can support a large number of new stores in it, there’s a lot of towns and a lot of white space that do not have Casey’s that would benefit from one,” he says. “So we see a really unlimited runway for unit development just within our geography, let alone in the adjacent states to that.”

Casey’s has approximately 29-hundred convenience stores in 19 states.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Auditor Kathy Somers is reminding residents interested in running for office in the November 4, 2025 City/School election the best practice to obtain nomination paperwork is directly from the county auditor for city offices, or the school board secretary for school board office.

Somers said several nomination forms have been rejected because they were incomplete or inaccurate. To avoid this, candidates are encouraged to consult with the auditor’s office and school board secretaries to ensure their nomination forms are completed correctly before seeking signatures for nomination.

The filing deadline for both city and school offices is Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 5:00 PM. City candidates must file with the Auditor’s Office; school board candidates with their school board secretary. For more information, contact the auditor’s office at 712-243-4570, or your school district office.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Police Department, today (Wednesday), released a report on persons arrested or cited between August 3rd and Sept. 9th. Those arrested include:

• On Aug. 3rd: 19-year-old GR Riosen, for Violation of a No Contact Order
• Aug. 4th: 32-year-old Tesha Stevens, of Atlantic, for Public Intoxication.
• Aug. 8th: 62-year-old Catherine Christensen, of Atlantic, for Driving While Suspended or Revoked.
• Aug. 10th: 54-year-old William Edie, of Atlantic, for Public Intox.
• Aug. 14th: 19-year-old Shantell Michaels, of Atlantic, for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree.
• Aug. 15th: 30-year-old Kyle Wilson, of Hancock, for Harassment in the 1st Degree; 28-year-old Mercedes Rayburn, of Atlantic, for Domestic Abuse/1st degree.
• Aug. 16th: 76-year-old Leslie Boggs, of Atlantic, for OWI/1st offense.
• Aug. 17th: 53-year-old Jesse Simmons, of Atlantic, was arrested for Possession of a short-barrel rifle/shotgun, Dominion/Control of a Firearm by a felon, Possession of a Controlled Substance/Meth-1st offense, and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia.
• Aug. 20th: Atlantic Police arrested 57-year-old Masiachy Kovac, of Atlantic, for OWI/1st offense.
• Aug. 27th: 20-year-old Grant Swanson, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intox.
• Sept. 5th: Atlantic Police arrested 23-year-old Benard McGee, of Atlantic, for OWI/1st offense.
• Sept. 6th: 25-year-old SK Kovac, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intox.
• Sept. 8th: Atlantic Police arrested 41-year-old Hartman Hartman, of Atlantic, for Violation of No Contact Order.
• and, on Sept. 9th: 30-year-old Kray Luke, of Atlantic, was arrested for Driving While Barred.

And, those who were cited into court on charges of 5th Degree Theft, include:

• Aug. 3rd: 61-year-old Scott Hanning, of Shelby.
• Aug. 6th: 39-year-old Justin Kohl, of Minden.
• Aug. 11: 54-year-old Martha Oltmanns, of Grant.
• Aug. 21st: 26-year-old Tyler Thomas, of Atlantic.
• Aug. 30th: 42-year-old Nicole Jensen, of Atlantic.
• Aug. 31: 34-year-old Jacob Hicks, of Oakland, and
• on Sept. 7th: 59-year-old Michelle Carey, of Adair.

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand — a Democrat who’s running for governor — says the state income tax cuts Republican lawmakers have approved mean hard decisions are ahead when it comes to the state budget. “The reserves that we have can cover these structural deficits that they’ve created for a few years,” Sand said, “and then it’s going to get very ugly.” The state’s current nine-point-four BILLION dollar budget plan includes 900 million dollars worth of withdrawals from reserve funds. Sand says the Republican-led legislature did the politically popular thing of cutting income taxes, but didn’t do the responsible thing of making the budget balance. “They haven’t figured that out yet,” Sand said. “Hopefully they’ll get a little bit closer this year.”

Republicans say they designed state reserve accounts to cover initial losses, but expect tax cuts to spur economic growth that will ultimately lead to more state tax revenue. In January, the state income tax dropped to three-point-eight percent. A recent report shows Iowa income tax collections fell 18-point-six percent in July and August compared to the same month a year ago. Sand says the steps to deal with that decline will be unpopular. “They have done what I would call a ‘fiscal time bomb,'” Sand said. “They lit the fuse by passing a bunch of tax cuts that sound great, but they haven’t done the responsible thing of either figuring out, ‘O.K., well how are we going to either going to cut spending and where — is it going to come from education or public safety — or is it going to come from increasing revenue?’ They’re going to have to figure that out.”

And Sand, one of the candidates running to succeed Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, says the state’s next governor may face a difficult budget situation. “You don’t sign up to do public service because you think it’s going to be fun the whole time,” Sand said. “You do it because you think it’s the right thing to do and you need serious people to make serious decisions.” Sand is campaigning today (Wednesday) in western Iowa. Governor Reynolds, whose term doesn’t end for 16 months, has indicated property tax cuts will be her priority during the 2026 legislative session.

(Radio Iowa) – The president of Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City plans to retire on May 15th after serving 15 years in the role. Dr. Terry Murrell started at Western Iowa Tech in 2007 as vice president of instruction. Last year, Western Iowa Tech agreed to pay 23 students from Chile and Brazil who were in the country with J-1 “exchange visitor” visas a combined five-point-three MILLION dollars to settle claims they were mistreated in a job training program in 2019. Last summer Murrell told reporters the program didn’t live up to Western Iowa Tech’s standards or meet the expectations of those students.

“The J-1 program is complex. It’s complicated and I don’t know that we fully appreciated that when we stepped in and all of that is my fault,” Murrell said. The two lawsuits that were settled alleged the college secured the visas for the students, who worked in local factories and the college used part of their paychecks to offset tuition and other student expenses. Murrell announced last year that the cost of the settlements would be covered by the college’s insurance provider. “We got too deep into something that we were not overly familiar with and we didn’t do a good job and not doing a good job certainly had implications to those students,” Murrell said last summer, “and to those students I would say: ‘We wish you luck and we hope you’re able to pursue your education and your career goals.'”

During Murrell’s presidency, the community college nearly tripled its graduation rate, added athletic programs and established a food pantry, health center and expanded mental health services. Murrell says serving alongside Western Iowa Tech’s faculty, staff and students has been one of the greatest privileges of his career.

(Radio Iowa) – The state Transportation Commission is updating its rules so you can’t change the sex listed on your driver’s license. D-O-T Motor Vehicle Division attorney Sara Siedsma told the commission the update makes the rules comply with a change in the law.”That legislation added a new definition of sex in Iowa Code, referring to sex as male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth, and removed the ability to obtain an amended birth certificate to reflect a person’s change in sex designation,” she says. Siedsma says there was a public comment against the rule change.

“Urging the D-O-T to revert to the prior process to allow for more accurate identification,” she says. “We did reply to the commenter that the rule changes are implementing statute and that under Iowa code Chapter 17 A, an administrative rule cannot conflict with the statutory provision, or amend or nullify legislative intent. Accordingly, we cannot leave in place in our rules, a process by which a person could amend the sex on their driver’s license is something different than what is listed on the identity document.” Commissioner Sally Stutsman, a Democrat from Hills, was the only commissioner to comment on the change. “I do not agree with the legislature on the action. I know that once we get to this point, there is no, I cannot vote no, but I plan to abstain from voting on this issue,” Stutsman says.

The rule applies to all types of driver’s licenses and state issued I-D’s.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports a man was arrested late Tuesday night on drug and alcohol charges. 18-year-old John Leroy Friday Adams, of Malvern, was arrested following a traffic stop at around 11:55-p.m., Tuesday, in Glenwood. Adams was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance-Marijuana/1st offense, and OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $2,000.