(Radio Iowa) – Labor Day is often considered the kick-off for politicians’ sprint to the November election. The Iowa Libertarian Party has fielded a full slate of competitors for the six statewide offices on the November ballot. Jack Porter of Council Bluffs, the party’s 2018 candidate for governor, has run for secretary of state twice. Jules Ofenbakh of West Des Moines is the party’s nominee for Secretary of State in 2018.

“I am a lawyer. I am a businesswoman. I’m a Libertarian and, as you can all possibly hear by now, I am an immigrant,” she said. “I am that Russian that you want in charge of your elections.” Ofenbakh came ot the United States 26 years ago as visitors and sought political asylum. Sixteen years later, she become an American citizen and cast her first vote here at the age of 32. “I take the constitutional right to vote as a privilege,” Ofenbakh says. “lt is very important to me. It is near and dear to my heart…The fact that Iowans right now have their constitutional right impeded upon by a voter ID is appalling to me.”

Rick Stewart of Cedar Rapids, the party’s nominee for state ag secretary, is a retired businessman. “So what I know something about is economics, business and history…That’s what the secretary of agriculture needs to know. They don’t need to know how to farm,” Stewart says. “We’ve got 82,000 farmers who know how to farm. What the secretary of agriculture needs to know is how to stop the government from telling the farmers how to do their job.”

Marco Battaglia of Des Moines ran unsuccessfully for the party’s nomination for governor in the June Primary. Iowa Libertarians then nominated him to run for attorney general. Bataglia says he’s running to highlight the need for criminal justice reform. “We’re filling up our prisons by people that have committed crimes that most of us don’t think should be crimes at this junction, low-level drug crimes, things where someone is too poor to pay a fine and we’re locking them up because of that,” Battaglia says.

Battaglia, an independent journalist and musician, addresses the fact he’s a non-lawyer running to head the Iowa Department of Justice. “Few lawyers with JDs know and understand the historical context surrounding the Constitution,” Battaglia says. “Instead, they are taught case law which is extremely divergent from the founders’ intent.”

Libertarian Timothy Hird, an engineer from Des Moines, is running for state treasurer for a second time. Hird got three-and-a-half percent of the vote in the state treasurer’s race back in 2014. Fred Perryman, a sales manager from Cedar Falls, is the Libertarian Party’s candidate for State Auditor.

Six people were arrested over the Labor Day weekend, in Creston. Late Friday night, 28-year old Spencer Leitzel, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on three Union County warrants for: Failure to Appear (in court) on an original charge of Violation of a No Contact/Protection Order; Failure to Appear on an original charge of Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding air/blood flow, and Failure to Appear on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault. Leitzel was being held in the Union County Jail on a $15,000 bond.

Saturday afternoon, 27-year old William Force, and 25-year old Tori Force, both of Creston, were each arrested for Violation of Protective Order. Both were later released from custody on their Own Recognizance. Also arrested Saturday, was 52-year old Douglas Ringgenberg, of Osceola. He was charged with OWI/3rd offense, and Eluding. Ringgenberg was being held on a $10,000 bond in the Union County Jail.

At around 3:35-a.m. Sunday, an unknown female was arrested in Creston for Providing False Identification Information to law enforcement. The woman was being held in the Adams County Jail, pending a bond hearing. And, Sunday afternoon, 51-year old Joel Weeks, of Creston, was arrested for Driving While Barred. He was later released on a $2,000 bond.

(7-a.m. News)

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man and woman were injured when their elevated deck collapsed at their home in northeast Des Moines while they were grilling food. The Des Moines Register reports the incident occurred just after 5 p.m. Monday. Des Moines Police Sgt. Tina Kalar says rotted wood may have allowed the deck to fall away from the house. The 72-year-old woman was taken to a hospital for treatment of burns from the grill’s contents. Her 69-year-old husband was treated at an urgent care center.

Audubon School District Superintendent Brett Gibbs reports the Audubon School Board will hold a Work Session 6:30-p.m., Wednesday (Sept. 5), in their Board Room at the High School. Their tentative agenda calls for discussion “On present and future administrative staffing.” The next Regular Audubon School Board meeting is 7-p.m. Sept. 17th, also in the Board Room at the High School.

A flash flood warning has been issued for northeast Iowa. The National Weather Service said Tuesday morning that a radar reading shows rainfall of up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) have fallen since midnight.
Some flooding is expected in several communities, including Elkader and Postville. Flood watches also have been posted for much of northeast and eastern Iowa.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly survey report suggests economic conditions in nine Midwest and Plains states took a leap forward last month. The report released Tuesday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index jumped to 61.1 in August, compared with 57.0 in July. It’s the 21st straight month that the index remained above growth neutral 50.0.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the region’s manufacturing growth of 3.1 percent over the past 12 months exceeds the U.S. growth rate of 2.6 percent.

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth. A score below that suggests decline. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

(Radio Iowa) — Construction on the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska’s Prairie Flower casino in Carter Lake, Iowa is moving along on schedule, and the casino will soon start filling out the remaining available jobs. Ponca Tribe chairman Larry Wright Junior says they recently had a job fair for tribal members to fill some spots. “We have several positions already filled now and now we are going to be opening it up her in the next week or so or couple of weeks to the public as a whole. And so we’re going to invite people in the metro area or people looking for a job in the metro area to come to the fair,” Wright says.

The casino expects to have around 100 employees. Wright says another issue they will discuss is whether members of the tribe receive some sort of payment from the casino proceeds. “That will be a decision for our tribal people to decide, and we continue to work on that item specifically,” Wright says. “But we want to be sure we had other issues addressed first before we start spending money.” Wright says the majority of the tribe backed building the casino because of the jobs and other benefits it would bring. He says they need to know that that can take care of all the needs before moving ahead with anything else. “There’s lots of things to consider. We offer a lot of programs and services to our people — education, housing, health care — just to name a few,” Wright says. “We look at bolstering those programs to help our people become less dependent on those things.”

Wright says they want to be able to present the issue with all the information they can. “We’ll look at all avenues and give our people as much information so they can make an educated decision,” he says. The Ponca Tribe has some 43-hundred members in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. The 95-hundred square foot casino with 200 slot machines is expected to be opened sometime in late October.

Red Oak Police say no injuries were reported following a single-vehicle accident that occurred at around 6:30-p.m., Monday, in the 100 block of E. Corning Street. Authorities report Lowell Hardy was driving a 1999 Buick LeSabre westbound on East Corning Street, when he failed to see a large construction dumpster on the side of the street. His car hit the dumpster, pushing it about six-feet. The impact disabled the vehicle and caused its airbags to deploy.

No citations were issued. Red Oak Police were assisted at the scene by the Red Oak Fire Dept., Red Oak Rescue and a Deputy with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

Police in Red Oak arrested a woman Monday evening who has a lengthy record of being in the Montgomery County Jail. Officers arrested 48-year old Shelby Joann Olivares, of Red Oak, for Public Intoxication. She was taken into custody at around 7:35-p.m. in the area of 1st Avenue and W. 4th Street and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where Olivares’ bond was set at $300.