(Radio Iowa) – Cyberattacks are becoming more plentiful, disrupting Iowans’ lives, businesses and educations, and U-S Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s hopeful the federal government can intervene. Given recent attacks by computer hackers that have shut down gasoline pipelines, meatpacking plants and even community colleges, Grassley says there’s an urgent need for action. That may start, he says, with better communication. “There’s got to be greater cooperation between government and the private sector,” Grassley says. “There’s a reluctance in the private sector sometimes to talk about being hacked. And the government has some information that they ought to give. We ought to have a close working relationship and I think that would take some legislation.”

Grassley said he wished he could say something was in the works to address the issue in Congress, but there isn’t. Authorities indicate the cyberattacks are coming from within Russia. President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland. “This is supposed to be a point of discussion,” Grassley says. “If we had criminals in the United States attacking Russia, they’d expect us to do something about it and vice versa. I think it’s perfectly legitimate for the president to bring it up and be tough.”

The hackers have reportedly asked for — and received — millions of dollars in bitcoins as ransom, which Grassley says makes the complicated problem even more difficult to rectify. “There’s no paper trail on this cryptocurrency stuff,” Grassley says, “so when a crime’s committed, you can’t track it like you can if it was just regular currency through the banking system.”

The senator suggests it may be time to impose more regulations on cryptocurrency in order to make it easier to track the transfer of electronic funds, especially in criminal cases. The J-B-S meatpacking plants in Marshalltown and Ottumwa had production disrupted last week after a company-wide cyberattack, while Des Moines Area Community College has cancelled classes at all campuses for a fourth day due to a “data security incident.” DMACC officials say there’s no evidence student or faculty data has been compromised.

(Radio Iowa) – Classes have been cancelled for a fourth day at Des Moines Area Community College due to what DMACC officials call a “data security incident.” House Speaker Pat Grassley says the Information Technology Committee he established in the House in December spent the past few months working on the governor’s broadband initiative, but will now focus on cyber security issues.

“As you’ve seen more and more incidents happen across the country, whether it’s pipelines, meatpacking — any of those kinds of critical infrastructure needs, we have a situation in the House where we have a committee that will make that part of what they will look at and be working on between now and the upcoming session,” Grassley says.

DMACC’s president says it does not appear student or faculty data has been compromised by the security breach. The school has outside security experts and the F-B-I working on the case, but has not described it as a ransomware attack.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa – June 8, 2021 –  The Iowa Transportation Commission today approved more than $7 million in funding for 78 new public transit vehicles that will replace vehicles past their useful life. Funds are granted through the Federal Transit Administration’s Grants for Bus and Bus Facilities Formula Program as well as the Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program.

Vehicle replacement projects were approved for 21 different public transit systems, including Council Bluffs, which is receiving $951,374. Creston and Carroll are also receiving funds (in amounts of $337,272 and $257,361, respectively) for bus replacements, The complete list of funded vehicles can be found at https://iowadot.gov/transit/Funding-programs-and-applications/funding-programs.

Public transit is vital to enhancing the mobility of Iowans, getting them where they need to go.  Iowa has public transit service in all 99 counties.

(Atlantic) – A northwest Iowa man who announced in mid-February his bid for the U-S Senate, was in the Cass County area Monday afternoon. Iowa Republican Senator Jim Carlin, from Sioux City, plans to run for Chuck Grassley’s seat, regardless of the senior senator’s decision on running. The 87-year old Grassley is serving his seventh term in office. He has not yet announced if he will seek re-election. A recent Iowa Poll by the Des Moines Register and Mediacom, shows that most Iowans don’t want Senator Chuck Grassley to seek another term.

Carlin told KJAN News, he commends some of the work Grassley has done in office, especially on the last Supreme Court nomination that Carlin stood behind, but he still has concerns about the direction the country is going.

He says the country is “Not going in the right direction,” with regard to our freedoms. Carlin is a trial lawyer and Veteran of the Army, serving from 1983-85. He served in a Field Artillery Unit in Ft. Lewis, Washington, and set up a solo law office in Sioux City in 1992, specializing in medical malpractice and injury litigation. Carlin has served in the Iowa Senate since 2017. Carlin says he stands behind former President Trump’s assertion election fraud was the reason for Joe Biden’s win in November, 2020.

**FILE** Shown in this Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, file photo is State Rep. Jim Carlin, R-Sioux City, at the Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Carlin says “”When there’s evidence of fraud, the people of this country rely on [their leaders] to pursue the truth and define where the problems are, where the leaks are, and to hold people accountable.”

As for his accomplishments in the Iowa Legislature, Carlin says who served one-year in the house and won a Special Election in the Senate, says they were able to get some “Good things done” in the just ended legislative session.

Carlin says if Senator Grassley does not decide to retire, HE won’t drop out of the race.

A Creston man reported to police, Monday, that sometime during the early morning hours on Monday, someone vandalized his vehicle with spray paint, while it was parked at his residence in the 700 block of N. Mulberry Street, in Creston. The damage was estimated at $500.