(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.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors held their regular weekly meeting this (Wednesday) morning, in Greenfield. During their session, the Board approved a $40 Greenfield Township Clerk wage for Amanda Pickrell, and a one-dollar an hour pay increase for paralegal employees in the Adair County Attorney’s Office. The Board then moved to approve a tax abatement for the New Life Church.

The Supervisors in Adair County heard from Renee Schwartz, with the Greenfield Pool Steering Committee, with other members of the Committee in attendance. Schwartz mentioned the Greenfield City Council met Tuesday night, and approved having a one-million dollar Pool bond referendum on the Nov. 4^th General Election ballot. The Pool, Schwartz said was built in 1942 and is in bad shape, and has one-to two-years of life expectancy remaining.

A new, zero entry-style pool, also called a beach entry pool, has a gradual, sloped entry like a natural beach or lake, allowing swimmers to walk into the water at any depth. The design provides excellent accessibility for children, seniors, and people with mobility issues, as well as a comfortable space for sunbathing or relaxing in the shallow water. The current pool has no such accessibility, and only offers ladders.

Schwartz said it would cost about five-to six-million dollars.

Schwartz said their focus will be on swimming, not added aquatics attractions such as those in nearby communities.

The Committee is hoping that the County can contribute a couple of million dollars, which would also help with the capture of a matching CAT (Community Attraction and Tourism) Grant. The Board took the County’s financial participation in the project under consideration.

In other business, the Adair County Supervisors passed resolutions and contracts as presented by County Engineer Nick Kauffman, who also presented the weekly Secondary Roads Department maintenance and activities report. The Supervisors continued discussion from last week with regard to a shared, Adair-Adams County Engineer Agreement. Supervisor Jodie Hoadley said she and the constituents she’s spoken with, do not agree with a proposed 50-50 split of cost and time/service.

She proposed a 60-40 sharing arrangement, with Adams County absorbing the bulk of the incurred cost.

The vote on sharing a county engineer was 3-2 Walker, Baier, Wedemyer voted,Yes. Hoadley and Christoffersen voted, No. *Corrected from an earlier post*

(Radio Iowa) – Job seekers looking for personalized help from federal career centers now have to verify their citizenship, as the Trump administration is preventing people without legal status from using federal programs. It means anyone wanting one-on-one job assistance needs to be able to show their citizenship status. Eric Kress, the director of Central Iowa’s Workforce Development Board, says people need to be aware of what documents to bring in.

Kress says, “A lot of what the government is trying to determine is who’s eligible for public assistance, what constitutes public assistance and then what safeguards do they need to put in place to ensure that assistance is only being received by those who qualify.” Kress says he doesn’t expect the new policy will cause any slowdowns in his office, as citizenship verification is a part of job applications further down the line. “We’re going to monitor the situation and play it by ear a bit as well,” Kress says, “but we believe that it should not be disruptive for most of our clients.”

Conversations around citizenship verification are also happening around other federal programs, like English language classes as well as Head Start.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with Cass County ISU Extension and Outreach in Atlantic, report Jacque Wickey was inducted into the 2025 Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the 4-H Exhibits Building at the Iowa State Fair on Sunday, Aug. 17. Ninety-two Iowa counties participated this year and selected 122 inductees for their outstanding service and dedication to 4-H. Inductees or their surviving family members were presented a certificate by the Iowa 4‑H Foundation President, Don Timmins, and State 4-H Program Leader, Mitchell Hoyer, as they were introduced on stage.

Wickey participated in 4-H from 1964-1972 and belonged to the Massena Champions, Massena Merry Maids, and the Massena Merry Maids/Victoria Volunteers.  She also was a member of the “Boys” Club so she could show livestock where she showed cattle and horse. Other memories include building a Cass County team and attending the State Fair and AKSARBEN livestock shows.  She always enjoyed dressing in the calves for shows.  She even got her start as a beautician at the rear end of a steer.  She could make the tails bigger and fluffier than anyone else.  Skills learned there have yielded her career as a licensed Cosmetologist for 50 years now. Other 4-H member activities include a Jr Leader, Jr Superintendent, and holding all offices in her club.

Jacque Wickey (Photo submitted)

She attended the State Conference and Camps at the Iowa 4-H Camp, in addition to State Fair and AKSARBEN.  After graduation, Jacque Wickey volunteered to chaperone at the Girls Dormitory at the State Fair.  This allowed her to help out and stay connected with the people from Cass Co.  Upon moving back to Cass County, she served as Secretary of the YAC committee in the early 2000’s in addition to helping Great Nieces learn to sew or simply sat in the stand cheering them on. She is deeply involved in her community and church and is always willing to plan and volunteer for events.  She is a pretty amazing aunt, and a friend to everyone.

Many inductees serve as club leaders, youth mentors, fair superintendents or fair board members, County council members, county youth council members, fair judges, financial supporters, chaperones or ISU Extension and Outreach staff members. The inductees have demonstrated dedication, encouragement, commitment and guidance to Iowa’s 4-H’ers through the years.  “We are honored to recognize these special individuals, for their advocacy and dedication to the Iowa 4-H program,” shared Iowa 4-H Foundation Executive Director, Emily Saveraid. “This is a great way to honor the volunteers and staff across the state of Iowa that generously give their time and talents to foster positive partnerships with our 4-H youth,” said Tillie Good, Iowa 4-H staff and volunteer development manager.

Information about previous inductees to the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame also is available on the Iowa 4-H Foundation website, organized by year and by county. Go to www.iowa4hfoundation.org/ and under the heading “What We Do” select “Recognizing Service” then “Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame.” Cass County 4-H Hall of Fame past recipient list can be found at https://www.iowa4hfoundation.org/what-we-do/recognizing-service/iowa-4-h-hall-of-fame/iowa-4-h-hall-of-fame-inductees/categories/cass

(Anita, Iowa) – When the CAM School Board met Monday evening at the high school in Anita, one of the things they discussed, was payment for improvements to and mainenance of, the Massena City Park. Superintended Dr. Pam Stangeland told KJAN News, the school district shares the playground with the Park, and they Board wants to make sure they have an appropriate partnership with Massena City Hall, and the District is doing its fair share.

The Board discussed also, the gifting of McIntyre Road in Anita, from the City of Anita, as it pertains to the demolition of the North Elementary Building in Anita.

The road, Dr. Stangeland said basically leads to nowhere. She said the plan is a win-win for both parties.

She said also, the CAM School Board, Monday, discussed room ventilation at the Massena building.

And, as we mentioned in a separate report, the Board discussed this weekend’s Homecoming Coronation. They also discussed Board/District Goals, and the School Board Election Process, as well as Open Meeting training.