(Radio Iowa) — The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing a $145,452 civil penalty against the Sioux Gateway Airport for numerous alleged safety violations at the Iowa airfield. The F-A-A inspected Sioux Gateway Airport in May 2018, June 2019 and September 2019 and says there were violations each time, including failure to maintain surfaces, runway and taxiway markings, and visual wind direction indicators. City Manager Bob Padmore says the city is disappointed with the report and that reconstruction of the runways has been underway for several months.

“I don’t know if the inspection took that into account. My understanding is some of these deficiencies were unrelated to the construction,”Padmore says. “The city is committed and has been since that inspection time to address those deficiencies and correct them. We are also taking a a long term look at what we need to do to prevent that from happening going forward.” The F-A-A report states that in 2018 and June 2019, inspectors found the airport did not properly grade the Safety Areas for both runways to eliminate hazardous ruts, depressions or other surface variations. The report also alleges the runway and taxiway markings were not properly maintained and that wind indicators were faded, making them difficult to see. Padmore assures air passengers using Sioux Gateway that the airport will be safe.

“The safety of our airport is paramount to — not only our community — but the members who work at the airport. And we will do everything we can to make sure it is a safe well-run airport,” he says. The FAA says two taxiways were not properly marked in the September 2019 construction inspection, and one not properly maintained, creating potentially hazardous debris.
Padmore again says safety of passengers and planes is the top priority. “We’ve had maintenance issues — but not related to the safety of planes coming and going to the airport. We’re committed to maintaining a very safe airport,” according to Padmore.

Airport Director Mike Collett says his staff is working to correct the deficiencies and develop a corrective action plan to eliminate those issues for the future.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says authorities received a report on Wednesday, about a theft from a building in Yorktown. Troy Clark, of Clark Tree Service, reported that an unknown person(s) gained entry to a storage building at 407 Adams St. in Yorktown ,sometime between 3-p.m. December 13th and 10-a.m. Dec. 18th. The person responsible for the break-in stole two Stihl MS 201TC Chainsaws, a Stihl 026 chainsaw, and a Stihl BG55 leaf blower.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office is requesting anyone with information to contact the Page County Sheriff’s Office at 712-542-5193 or their local Law Enforcement agency. A CrimeStopper’s reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading up to the arrest and conviction in this case. Informants will be given a number and do not have to give their names.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa man is trying regain custody of a young coyote that he says has become his emotional support animal. Matthew Stokes told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that Drifter is a youngster who was left by a coyote family that had dug a den in his backyard on the outskirts of Waterloo. Stokes was suffering from a bone infection in a foot and was in danger of losing it. He says Drifter kept him going. The pup was corralled by a neighbor while roaming the area and placed with a wildlife rehabilitation agency. Stokes is considering seeking a federal license to keep a dangerous animal.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says 32-year old Christopher Robert Williams, of Colfax, was arrested at around 4:45-p.m. Wednesday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Williams was arrested on a Union County warrant for Forgery. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond. And, an Afton man reported on Dec. 16th, at sometime overnight, someone entered his residence and took a Remington .22 Model 12 with hex barrel, a purse, a wallet, money, and a Motorola cell phone. Those items were valued at $1,950 altogether.

(Radio Iowa) — Leaders in Page County held two public hearings this week to gather residents’ comments on wind power, whether to allow more wind turbines to be built or to enact tighter regulations on the turbines. County Supervisor Chuck Morris says the purpose of the meetings is to find a way to balance property rights with economic opportunities. “Our intent in having an ordinance is to protect people,” Morris says. “I’m proud of that fact. Is it perfect? No, that’s why we’re debating here. How do we make this ordinance work best for everybody? It’s a tough issue. You have land rights that are important, whether that’s with a windmill or without a windmill.”

Morris pointed to other counties in the state which have no wind turbine ordinances. He says having something on the books promotes expansion of the industry while providing some sort of protection for property owners. “If you have an opportunity for some expansion in your economy and in your tax base, we’re not doing our job if we don’t take a reasonable look at it,” Morris says. “We very much appreciate the feedback. I wish that there was an answer that everybody is going to happy, but that’s not going to happen.”

Page County resident Rex Engstrand says if the county goes too far with setback regulations, wind energy companies will not invest the time or money to come there. “Any time you put ordinances in place,” Engstrand says, “you’re keeping companies from being able to come in — some for very good reasons — but you are limiting your tax base, you’re limiting your property owners the option to put windmills up.”

Resident Jane Stimson says one of the reasons she chooses to live in Page County is because of a lack of “visual pollution,” while adding wind turbines would negatively affect her view. “I appreciate being able to see the sunrise, the sunset and I’ve put trees in my yard so I could keep my view,” said Stimson. “I’ve got a pleasant ridge that I can pretend is a mountain ridge and to have windmills in that sight, would make me crazy.” Resident Galen Peery says he recently moved to Page County from Ida County, where about 150 windmills are located. “The biggest concern up there was the noise, the interference with televisions, if you’re just on an antenna,” Peery says. “We had a lady come in who had had one for several years. She said there was a crop reduction. The biggest complaint up there is that it messed up the scene of the outdoors.”

Robin Sunderman, who lives on a farm northwest of Clarinda, expressed concern over the decommissioning of wind turbines. She also outlined the dangers of turbines to the environment, as well as the impact on land values. “In my opinion, instead of having fields of dreams in Iowa,” Sunderman says, “we’re going to have fields of abandoned junk in the next 20 years.” Board members say any possible ordinance changes won’t take place until mid-January at the earliest.

(Radio Iowa) — A group representing Iowa’s largest chambers of commerce is urging lawmakers to take steps to address the shortage of qualified AND available workers in the state. Iowa Chamber Alliance executive director Dustin Miller says many people stop looking for work because they can’t find — or afford — childcare.  “It’s about entrepreneurs. How do you get more people into the childcare industry? And how do you help the people in the childcare industry have the employees that they need?” Miller asked. “So, it’s something that we think that there’s going to be a big push for this session.”

The Chamber Alliance also supports recommendations from the governors criminal justice reform committee that call for improving education and training programs so more people are ready to work when they’re released from prison. The Iowa Chamber Alliance held its annual policy forum yesterday (Wednesday). The group’s executive director says the group supports overall tax reform if lawmakers raise the state sales tax. A ballot initiative passed by voters in 2010 says that 3/8ths of the next penny sales tax increase must go toward conservation and water quality. That leaves a debate for the legislature over how to use the rest and Miller says his group will argue for a reduction in the taxes businesses pay, because some neighboring states have far lower sales tax rates. “We have members competing across the river in South Dakota at 4.5 cents. So how do you balance those sorts of things?” Miller asks.

Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver has said Senate Republicans will not support a sales tax increase unless it is part of an overall tax reduction.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Grant Gerlock)

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) – An Ames man has been imprisoned for burning at LGBTQ flag flying at a church in the central Iowa city. Court records say 30-year-old Adolfo Martinez was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years for the hate crime of arson and given a year for reckless use of explosives or fire and 30 days for harassment. The sentences are to be served consecutively. He’d been arrested in June. He’s said he tore down the flag that had been hanging from the United Church of Christ and burned it because he opposes homosexuality.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — Iowa is seeing a slight upturn in the number of uninsured children but the Hawkeye State still has one of the lowest rates in the country. Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, says there are many reasons more children are falling into the ranks of the uninsured. “We’re seeing more red tape that states are requiring families to provide more pay stubs more frequently,” Alker says. “Some families are simply getting cut off because they never got a piece of mail saying it was time to renew their coverage.”

A report finds more than 20-thousand Iowa children, or about two-point-seven percent, were listed as uninsured in 2017, the most recent year the figures were released. That’s a modest increase from two-point-two percent uninsured Iowa children in 2016. Nationwide, the rate of uninsured children increased from four-point-seven percent in 2016 to five-percent in 2017, almost twice Iowa’s rate.

“These results are so troubling because they are occurring during a period of relatively low unemployment and economic growth — when you think children should be gaining health coverage, but they’re not,” Alker says. “That really reflects the high cost of dependent coverage for low-wage families.”

The report finds more than four-million children nationwide have no health insurance. “It’s really, frankly, a high cost for many families, regardless of income,” Alker says. “Because of this, we believe the uninsured child rate may increase even more rapidly should an economic downturn occur, which we know it will, eventually.”

The Georgetown report finds more than half of all uninsured children live in the South. More than one in five uninsured kids in the nation live in Texas, where the rate in 2017 was 835-thousand children or ten-point-seven percent, almost four times Iowa’s rate.

Police in Creston say a man was arrested Wednesday afternoon on an assault charge. 34-year old Steven Bochniak, of Creston, was arrested at the Law Enforcement Center on the charges of Domestic Assault – Simple, and Obstruction of Emergency Communications. He was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a  bond hearing.