DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government announced Monday that it will support the ethanol industry in a lawsuit over biofuel waivers granted to oil refineries under President Donald Trump’s administration. The Environmental Protection Agency said it is reversing course and will support a January 2020 decision by the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit filed by the Renewable Fuels Association and farm groups.

The lawsuit is headed to arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court this spring. The move by the EPA comes roughly a month after President Joe Biden took office.

Ethanol tanks

A case of road rage and reckless driving resulted in a collision at around 8:42-a.m. Monday, in Creston.  According to Creston Police, a 1999 Honda Accord driven by 38-year old Cody Lee Witt, of Story City, was driving in an erratic manner on Townline Road, near Bunn-O-Matic, and trying to speak with 56-year old Christine Larkin, of Creston, who was driving a 2001 Buick LeSabre. Authorities said the pair had been in a relationship.

Police said Witt was driving recklessly when he swerved off the road and continued back on the road in a reckless manner, before his car hit the Buick. The Buick was traveling westbound at the time of the collision. Police say the Honda backed northbound in a reckless manner. Witt was cited for reckless driving. No injuries were reported. Damage from the collision totaled $2,000.

(Radio Iowa) – It’s taken months, but the long-predicted La Nina weather pattern seems to have taken hold, impacting much of the nation’s climate — and the effects may linger through spring. After Iowa’s prolonged, bitter cold weather during most of February, climatologist and drought specialist Becky Bollinger says the March temperatures should follow a La Nina pattern and be warmer.

“Most of the country is showing a leaning towards more likely to have warmer-than-average conditions,” Bollinger says. The weekly U-S Drought Monitor shows wide sections of Iowa are abnormally dry, while much of western Iowa is under moderate to severe drought, with portions of northwest Iowa considered in extreme drought. Bollinger says the regions that are in drought now will likely stay that way.

“Areas that have been dry, unfortunately, have an enhanced chance of continuing to be drier than average into March,” she says. Bollinger says the outlook for March, April and May are likely to follow the same pattern. “We see most of the region showing increased chances of above-average temperatures through the spring,” she says. Bollinger says the climate outlooks predict the La Nina will fade to neutral conditions by summer.

A La Nina occurs when Pacific Ocean surface temperatures cool below normal, which then has a wide-ranging impact on North American weather.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will hold a Special Meeting 6-p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24th, at the High School Media Center. On the agenda is discussion with regard to a Public Hearing for the Certified Budget, and the 1:1 Computer Plan.

Action items on the Board’s agenda include:

• The High School HVAC Replacement Project
• Approving the resignations of Chemistry/Physics Teacher James Todd, as well as HS 1:1 Paraeducator Rebecca Drake.
• The Board will also act on Open Enrollment Applications and
• 2021-22/2022-23 Master Contracts with the Atlantic Education and Employee Associations.

Following regular business, the Atlantic School Board will enter into a closed session to conduct Superintendent Steve Barber’s annual evaluation.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – A southwest Iowa man was sentenced Friday, February 19th in Council Bluffs U-S District Court, to serve 15-years (180 months) in prison in connection with a child pornography charge. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports 63-year old Mark Fredrick Sandell, of Red Oak, must also serve five years of supervised release among completion of his imprisonment.

At the time Sandell committed the present offense, he was on supervised release for a previous conviction of Receipt of Child Pornography. At sentencing, Sandell’s term of supervised release on the prior conviction was revoked and he was ordered to serve 30 months in prison consecutive to the 180-month sentence – for a total sentence of 210 months. Both sentences were imposed by a United States District Court Chief Judge.

The investigation began when the Nebraska State Patrol conducted peer-to-peer Internet network investigations and discovered that an Internet Protocol address associated with Sandell
received child pornography files. On February 27, 2020, a search warrant was obtained and executed at Sandell’s home located in the 1800 Block of Eastern Avenue in Red Oak. Sandell was
at his home and admitted to police he was in possession of child pornography. Officers seized numerous electronic devices and a forensic examination identified a total of 483 videos and 125
images of child pornography.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Homeland Security – HSI, Nebraska State Patrol, and the Bellevue, Neb. Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the
United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports, that on Friday, February 19th, 33-year old Casey Gantt, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced to nearly 12.5 years (151 months) in prison, and must serve five years of supervised release. On December 15, 2020, Gantt’s co-defendant, 42-year old Angela Garges, also of Council Bluffs, was sentenced to 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release. Both sentences imposed by a United States District Court Chief Judge in Council Bluffs District Court.

The investigation was initiated by the Iowa Department of Correctional Services Fourth Judicial District when Gantt failed to meet with his parole officer. Iowa parole officers went to
Gantt’s home located at the 300 Block of Huntington Avenue in Council Bluffs and upon arrival encountered numerous people, including Garges, inside his home. Officers located over 500 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and $4,600 in United States currency in Gantt’s home.

On January 24, 2020, Council Bluffs Police responded to Best Western Inn in Council Bluffs to serve a warrant for a room rented by Garges. Officers searched the hotel room for the wanted person and located 111 grams of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

The investigation was conducted by the Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, and the Iowa Fourth Judicial District Probation and Parole Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office said Monday (today) there were two recent arrests. At around 5:30-a.m. Saturday, 24-year old Victoria Anne Griffen was arrested, after a deputy observed a Chevrolet Equinox in the center of the median in Council Bluffs, near the 8 mile marker of Interstate 80. Griffen was charged with OWI/1st Offense, and Failure to Maintain Control of Motor Vehicle. The report also indicated she was taken into custody for Possession of Marijuana.

And, last Thursday, 35-year old David Michael Theisen was arrested following a traffic stop, in Carson. Theisen was charged with Driving While Barred.

(Radio Iowa) – Upgrades are planned for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch. A bill in the Iowa legislature would create a partial state tax credit for donations to the project. The last updates were completed in 1992.  “And by the way, that is the longest time period of any presidential library in the United States to go without having a major renovation.”

That’s Allan Hoover the third, the great grandson of the only native Iowan ever elected president. The goal is to complete this new round of renovations by August 10, 2024 in honor of Herbert Hoover’s 150th birthday. “Great granddad felt a genuine bond with Iowa, so much so that he chose West Branch to his final resting place along with his wife Lou Henry,” Allan Hoover III says.

“…When he was a young boy he was in his father’s blacksmith shop in West Branch…Great granddad stepped on a hot piece of coal that I imagine not only hurt, but it left a mark on his foot that would be there the rest of his life,” Hoover says. “He affectionately called this mark his ‘Brand of Iowa’ that was with him every step of the way as he went through life at the Paris Peace Conference, Secretary of Commerce, in the White House and the years beyond.”

The National Archives oversees 13 presidential libraries, including Hoover’s. The National Archives requires 90 percent of money to be raised before any construction and renovation of the libraries may start. Governor Kim Reynolds is asking legislators to appropriate five million dollars in state tax dollars, plus create a state income tax credit worth 25 percent of any donation an Iowan makes to the project.

(Radio Iowa) – Fire struck a six-story building on the Iowa State University campus, Monday morning. The fire at Ross Hall was reported just after 6 A-M and the Ames Fire Department had it extinguished by 6:45. I-S-U officials say the fire started in a custodial closet on the first floor. Ames police say there was one person in the building at the time of the fire who made it out safely. Reports say there is smoke damage throughout the building.

The cause of the fire is still unknown and the building is closed. Ross Hall is used for a variety of classroom instruction, primarily in English, history and political science.