(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa company that owns casinos in Riverside, Grand Falls and Davenport announced it is purchasing the Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington. Elite Casino Resorts led by C-E-O Dan Kehl announced they have acquired the Catfish Bend Casino and FunCity Resort in Burlington.

A statement from Kehl says the purchase “feels like coming home,” as the family helped launch casino gaming in Burlington when a riverboat was required.

The information says all Catfish Bend employees will be retained, with expanded opportunities for training and advancement. The Kehl family has a long history in the state casino industry, gaining the first ever riverboat casino gambling license in Dubuque in 1990.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley is the longest-serving current member of the U.S. Senate and he’s not ruling out running for re-election in 2028.

“I’ve been very careful to say that a decision like that, I’ve always answered the question: ‘Ask me the question in a couple of years,’” Grassley said this morning during his weekly conference call with Iowa radio reporters.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) delivering a tribute to President Carter in January, 2025.

Grassley, who will turn 92 in September, said when the time comes, he’ll consider the factors that played into his decisions about previous campaigns. “It’d be pretty much the same thing I’ve done through several re-elections and that is family considerations and whether or not I can do the job,” Grassley said.

Grassley has served over 50 years in the U.S. congress — the first six years as a member of the House and, for the past 44 years and nearly eight months, as a U.S. Senator. West Virginia’s Robert Byrd was a U.S. Senator for 51 years. That is the record for longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

Grassley and his wife, Barbara, celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary this past weekend. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about one-tenth of one percent of marriages in the United States reach that milestone.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Council Bluffs man was sentenced July 24, 2025, to 180 months in federal prison for receipt of child pornography and possession of a firearm as felon.

According to public court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip that an account, later determined to be associated with David Michael Morse, 55, received and uploaded an image containing child sexual abuse material. During a search of Morse’s Council Bluffs residence, law enforcement seized Morse’s electronics, including a cellular phone, and firearms. A forensic examination of Morse’s phone showed that Morse used the device to receive images and videos containing child sexual abuse material.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Morse will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Morse was also ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Iowa Department of Public Safety – Cyber Crime Bureau; Council Bluffs Police Department; Iowa State Patrol; the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Child Exploitation Task Force; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Task Force.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two people suffered minor injuries during an accident early this (Tuesday) afternoon, in Creston. According to the Creston Police Department, the accident happened at the intersection of Montgomery and Sumner Streets, at around 12:05-p.m.

Authorities say a Chevy Blazer driven by 86-year-old Carolyn Biere, of Creston, was traveling east on Montgomery Street and had stopped at the posted intersection, waiting for traffic. A crew was working on Sumner Street, which police say may have been a contributing factor in the accident, as they presented drivers with an obstruction.

Police say Biere thought she was clear to enter the intersection, but due to the crew’s location, did not see a Chevy passenger car driven by 19-year-old Willow Snow, of Creston, traveling north on Sumner. The SUV struck the car, causing both vehicles to become disabled.

Both drivers were cleared by medics at the scene. Damage to their vehicles amounted to $4,000 altogether. No citations were issued.

(Radio Iowa) – Dubuque is rolling out a new flood-fighting pump system that was tested by researchers at the University of Iowa. The system will include four pumps, with each being capable of removing 100-thousand gallons of water a minute from flooded areas, doubling the city’s current capacity. Jim Bousley is Dubuque’s project manager and says making sure there are sufficient backup pumps in case one fails is a key reason for the project.

“So as that detention basin goes up during a storm event, to have the ability to make sure that goes down quickly, and can be pumped quickly without any issues is a huge thing,” Bousley says, “because if you don’t, there are other parts of Dubuque that could be affected by flooding, possibly, if those pumps fail.” Troy Lyons is the associate director of the U-I’s hydroscience and engineering program, and he was hired to evaluate the pump system and make sure it meets national standards.

“This pump station has four pumps,” Lyons says, “and that’s, for one, to provide redundancy, but also to provide the peak amount of flow that’s needed to keep the water levels down in Dubuque during a flood event.” Flooding in Dubuque has damaged more than 13-hundred homes and businesses in recent decades and city leaders are preparing for projected increases in rainfall in the future.

The 26-million-dollar pump system is expected to be operational by August of 2027.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Council Bluffs Police Department is asking for your help in locating a man wanted on active felony arrest warrants. 55-year-old Timothy James Ehlers, of Council Bluffs, is wanted on the CBPD warrants for Willful Injury resulting in serious injury, Domestic Abuse Assault-Strangulation, and Harassment in the 1st Degree.

Ehlers is described as being a Caucasian male, 6-feet 1-inch tall, weighing 200  pounds. He is bald, and has blue eyes. (see the picture attached to this story).

Timothy Ehlers

If you see him or know where he is, call 911 immediately, or Council Bluffs Police Officer Tony Friend at 712-890-5150.

(A report from the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A physician assistant charged with incompetence and over-prescribing opioids will be allowed to keep his license under the terms of a deal with state regulators. The Iowa Capital Dispatch says the Iowa Board of Physician Assistants recently alleged that licensee Chad Walker violated several state regulations at some undisclosed time in the past. According to the board, Walker was working at the Burgess Family Clinic in Mapleton, when he allegedly engaged in the inappropriate prescribing of narcotics, benzodiazepines and amphetamines. He also is alleged to have over-prescribed controlled substances, including opioids, to a patient.

In addition, the board alleges Walker failed to follow guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when prescribing controlled substances; failed to perform annual drug screens on patients in accordance with polices on controlled substances; failed to have checked the Prescription Monitoring Program on a regular basis for the names of his patients; and failed to prescribe a drug the board identifies as “nalozone” — the drug naloxone is commonly used to reverse the effect of an opioid overdose — for patients who had received high doses of opioids with concurrent use of benzodiazepines.

The board also alleges Walker “created documents and signed (them) on behalf of his supervising physician without her permission or knowledge.” The publicly available board documents give no indication as to whether any patients were harmed by Walker’s alleged conduct. As a result of the allegations, the board charged Walker with professional incompetence, prescribing opioids in dosages that exceeded what would be prescribed by a “reasonably prudent licensee,” and unethical conduct. Although the board has not disclosed when any of the alleged violations took place, board documents indicate the case against Walker was initiated in 2023. The Burgess Health Center’s website indicates Walker joined the Burgess Family Clinic in Mapleton in late 2016.

In order to settle the matter, Walker and the board recently agreed to a settlement that calls for Walker’s license to placed on probation for two years, during which time he can continue to practice subject to restrictions imposed by the board. Those restrictions call for Walker to complete eight hours of educational training in “Drug Enforcement Administration narcotics,” and to complete a course of unspecified duration in ethics and prescribing. Walker will also be required to meet with a worksite monitor for at least one hour each week. The monitor will review 20% of Walker’s patient charts each month. In addition, the board has issued a formal warning to Walker, informing him that any future violations may result in additional sanctions.

Walker is currently affiliated with Sioux City’s Thrive Wellness Center as a direct care provider.

(Iowa DNR News) – Iowa’s mourning dove season begins Monday, Sept. 1st, and officials with the Department of Natural Resources say with the mild weather in the forecast and a later teal season, experts are predicting a busy opening day. “Anytime the opening day falls on a holiday weekend, we see higher participation, and with the weather forecast and teal not opening until Sept. 6, we expect a lot of hunters to be out,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Last year, hunter numbers increased an estimated 3 percent to 14,000, but dove harvest fell 27 percent, to 143,000. Mourning doves are the most abundant game bird in the country, with a population estimated at more than 345 million. Hunters are reminded that if they hunt mourning doves or other migratory game birds that they are required to register for HIP annually, either through the Go Outdoors Iowa app on their smartphone or through a link at www.iowadnr.gov/waterfowl. Migratory game birds include doves, ducks, geese, coots, woodcock and snipe.

Mourning Dove

Doves are most often hunted in fields of mowed sunflowers, burned winter wheat, alfalfa or small grains and around farm ponds. “This is a good season to bring novice hunters along because there’s usually a good number of birds passing through, and a lot of action with mild temperatures,” he said. The Iowa DNR identifies state managed public areas with dove fields on its online hunting atlas with a pin on the nearest parking lot to the field.

As with all types of hunting, safety and communication is important. Know each hunter’s zone of fire, be aware of where everyone is and properly identify the dove before taking a shot. Be sure to pick up the spent shell casings – leaving them in the field is considered littering. Shooting hours begin one-half hour before sunrise until sunset.

(Iowa DNR News) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced the first-ever collection of the federally endangered pallid sturgeon from the lower Des Moines River. The discovery of two pallid sturgeon this spring came a week a part during the Iowa DNR’s annual spring sturgeon sampling effort. The sampling has been conducted since 2014, but until this year, only shovelnose sturgeon, and an occasional lake sturgeon, have been collected. “To find a pallid sturgeon was a surprise, but to find a second one in nearly the same spot a week later was truly remarkable,” said Joe Larscheid, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Fisheries Bureau.

Pallid sturgeon are one of the rarest and most endangered species in North America. They were placed on the federal endangered species list in 1990 due to slow and continual declines in their populations throughout the Missouri and lower Mississippi River basins. The declines were due to limited natural recruitment often attributed to habitat loss and fragmentation caused by dams, which blocked migration routes for spawning adults and reduced or limited critical flow needed for larval development. While pallid sturgeon have been the focus of recovery efforts in the Missouri River, they have never been officially documented in the Des Moines River. “The presence of these wild, likely decades-old sturgeon, alongside other native sturgeon species preparing to spawn, reinforces the value of this river stretch,” Larscheid said.

Pallid Sturgeon (U-S Fish & Wildlife photo)

While the discovery is monumental, Mark Flammang, fisheries biologist for the Iowa DNR, said the wild population remains critically small and is not self-sustaining. “Nearly nine out of ten pallid sturgeon collected from the Iowa section of the Missouri River were originally stocked from a hatchery. Finding two naturally reproduced individuals is a game changer for how the Iowa DNR and its partners manage the Des Moines River. This is a positive milestone, but does not mean the species has recovered,” Flammang said. Pallid sturgeon are slow-growing and late to mature, with females not spawning until they are 15-20 years old.

Anglers fishing in this stretch of the river who may incidentally catch a sturgeon will need to know how to identify the different species. The Iowa Fishing Regulations includes images identifying characteristics for the lake sturgeon, the pallid sturgeon, and the shovelnose sturgeon. Pallid sturgeon have a smooth belly; its outer barbels are twice as long as the inner barbels; and the base of barbels is “U” shaped, with inner two set out in front.

Of the three, only the shovelnose sturgeon may be kept – the lake and pallid sturgeon must be immediately released unharmed.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken, Tuesday morning (Aug. 26th) updated the Board of Supervisors on the Secondary Roads Department’s projects and maintenance activities. Wolken began with an update on the bridge south of the Cass County Landfill.

The project is expected to be finished within a couple of weeks, depending on the availability of the guardrail sub-contractor. Wolken said work has begun on a bridge on Rockport Road, south of Massena. A pre-construction meeting was set to take place today(Tuesday) on Bridge #73, south of Griswold.

Trent Wolken said the start date on the N-28 Project is expected to begin sometime next month, with a 45-day window for completion.

A pilot car will guide traffic through the construction zone. He said also, the Roads Dept. has accomplished quite a bit of work on the paved road, gravel shoulders.