DES MOINES—Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is issuing a warning about fraudulent business practices soliciting investments from Iowans. As part of the scam, World Trade Coal (WTC) presents a fraudulent “letter of surety” to investors, which deceptively uses Secretary Pate’s signature and the official seal of the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.

“While this certificate displays my signature and our seal, it is counterfeit and has not been approved or issued by my office,” said Secretary Pate. “We have received a number of complaints from Iowans impacted by this scam, and we have passed those complaints on for investigation. We encourage Iowans to remain vigilant and verify all businesses and organizations before they enter any partnerships.”

Official communications from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office will include contact information for the office, and Iowans are encouraged to verify the legitimacy of any documents they receive.

The Iowa Secretary of State’s office encourages Iowans impacted by this crime to seek legal counsel and lodge official complaints with the Iowa Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at consumer@ag.iowa.gov or 888-777-4590. At this time, the matter has been handed over to the Attorney General’s office for investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Ames police have charged a man for allegedly shooting video of women in a store changing room. Ames Police say they were called to Target February 24th on a report of a man using his cell phone camera under the fitting room door to record images without the victim’s knowledge or consent. Police say the investigation led them to more victims who were recorded in February.

Police charged 45-year-old Michael Leslie of Maxwell with (Felony) sexual exploitation of a minor, and three (Aggravated Misdemeanor) counts of invasion of privacy involving nudity. Anyone else with information on the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa or Ames Police.

Nevada Community School District superintendent Steve Gray has confirmed Leslie worked for the district as an assistant girls’ wrestling coach. He was hired as an assistant girls wrestling coach in 2022, the first season Nevada combined with Collins-Maxwell and Colo-Nesco to create a girls wrestling program. Prior to coaching at Nevada, Leslie spent seven years as head coach of Collins-Maxwell High School wrestling.

His employment with Nevada ended after the most recent wrestling season.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor’s bill to help Iowans rebuild after natural disasters has cleared four different committees in the Iowa House and Senate.

Last year’s massive tornadoes and flooding damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and the governor’s plan would pull $13.6 million dollars from the state’s Economic Emergency Fund for housing assistance. Senator David Rowley, a Republican from Spirit Lake, said the bill also would streamline and speed up disaster assistance distribution.

“Floods, tornadoes, derechos — all of these disasters — hailstorms, anything that comes through it creates a disastrous affect on these communities. We need to address it. We need to be faster than we have been in the past,” Rowley said. “This allows those dollars to flow forward.”

Photo by Melissa Ehrman Johnson of Greenfield tornado damage.

The package is getting bipartisan support. During the Senate Ways and Means Committee meeting this morning, Senator William Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, thanked the governor and her staff for their work on the legislation.

“This isn’t something that was just thrown together. It’s been worked on for a considerable amount of time and really is a pro-active approach that would help people in real time,” Dotzler said, “so I think it’s a good bill to move forward.”

After complaints about how insurance claims were being handled, the bill calls for state licensing of so-called “umpires” called in to mediate disputes between adjusters who represent property owners and insurance company adjusters. The bill would create a state revolving loan fund to help finance flood control and other projects designed to reduce damage from future natural disasters. There’s also $2 million in the bill to help Iowa cities hit by tornadoes or floods in 2024 demolish buildings that cannot be repaired.

(Radio Iowa) – A book that will be formally launched later this month is a collection of biographies and a heartfelt tribute to more than four dozen young men who attended Iowa Central Community College before their lives were taken in the Vietnam War. T-J Martin, Dean of Iowa Central’s Distance Learning Department, coordinated the book project that chronicles the lives of the former students from the 1960s and ’70s.

Martin says, “There’s 55 different individuals from Iowa Central’s nine counties who grew up in this area, went off to Vietnam, and unfortunately, didn’t make it home from Vietnam.” The book is called “Before They Were Soldiers” and it aims to preserve the narratives of the young men who once lived as brothers, students, farmhands, baseball players, grocery clerks, and more — before answering the call of duty.

“The book, as its titled, ‘Before They Were Soldiers,’ is just that,” Martin says. “We wanted to learn who they were before going into the military, into the service and going eventually over to Vietnam. So the book was to learn about who these guys were growing up as a small-town kid in north-central, northwest Iowa.” The college’s Fort Dodge campus will host a reception on April 22nd to which the families of the 55 have been invited.

Students who worked on the project conducted interviews with those family members over many months to compile the book as a memorial to those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. “We’ve met with some of these individuals over the phone and via Zoom and other ways. Sometimes they were in-person interviews that we conducted, but in some facets, we didn’t have a chance really to get to know the families very well,” Martin says. “This event is to bring those families back here and to honor their loved ones who went off to Vietnam.”

The reception and book launch is scheduled for 2 P-M on the 22nd at Decker Auditorium in the Center for Performing Arts. The book can be ordered through Amazon for $12. I-C-C-C’s service area covers: Buena Vista, Calhoun, Greene, Hamilton, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Sac, Webster and Wright counties.

(Radio Iowa) – A Senate committee has advanced a proposed amendment to Iowa’s constitution to require at least 34 state senators and 67 representatives approve any future increases in the individual income tax or the state’s corporate tax. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says if voters approve the amendment, it would hamstring the legislature’s ability to respond when income tax collections fall.

“Pretty soon you’re going to have to face some hard questions,” Quirmbach said. “And the questions if this amendment were to pass would be: ‘How high to raise the sales tax?'” Republicans on the Senate Ways and Means Committee advanced the proposal today (Thursday) without comment. Senator Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs has touted the concept in the past.

“The premise is simple here: it should be a majority to lower the taxes,” Dawson said in 2022, “but there should be some type of higher threshold to raise them here in the state of Iowa.” A resolution about requiring a two-thirds vote in the legislature to raise income taxes would have to be approved by the House and Senate this year or in 2026 before the proposed constitutional amendment could be presented to Iowa voters on the November, 2026 ballot.

(Radio Iowa) –  April is National Donate Life Month, and MercyOne Medical Center in Sioux City held its annual ceremony Wednesday to raise an organ donor flag to remind everyone of the importance of donation. The Iowa Donor Network’s John Jorgensen talked about the past year. “A hundred and 30 organ donors generously gave 387 organs for transplant. That was a record year for organ donation in our state,” he says. “Thousands more lives were healed through the gifts of tissue one-thousand-118 tissue donations in Iowa,” Jorgensen says it was the second straight year for record tissue donations. Jennifer McDonald shared the story of her husband Steven, who donated his organs.

“My husband’s death was sudden and traumatic. On July 2, 2022, Steve took his own life. His passing has been a profound loss for our family and friends, and we have found solace in knowing that his gift of life has saved others. Steve was able to donate his heart and both kidneys to three recipients,” McDonald says. She says she found out first hand how important organ donations can be. “I have had the opportunity to correspond via letters with one of Steve’s recipients, Michael, a 54 year old former U-S Marshal who was in need of a new heart and received that gift of life with Steve’s donation,” she says. “This is something that Michael is truly grateful for. Steve was always a giver, wanting to help, and it only made sense for our family to allow him to keep doing that after his passing.”

There are 600 people in Iowa and more than 104-thousand Americans overall currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. You can register as an organ donor at iowadonornetwork.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion says she advised her fellow Republicans to support the Senate-passed budget and tax plan — and resolve spending differences later. Some House Republicans had said they wouldn’t vote for it because it didn’t do enough to reduce the deficit — but it narrowly cleared the House late this (Thursday) morning. “I look at this vote as being pretty simple,” Hinson said. “It’s about moving forward on the tax cut conversation and, again, some of these investments that we need to be making.” Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Congressmen Zach Nunn and Randy Feenstra also voted yes. The plan includes a more than half a trillion dollar increase in spending on G-O-P priorities like border enforcement and the military. Senate Republicans approved their plan last weekend and President Trump has been urging House Republicans to pass the Senate plan is week.

“Maybe the Senate bill isn’t written how we wrote ours in the House. We wrote a very conservative bill in the House because I think that’s what Americans want,” Hinson said, “but what I want to see happen is for us to actually move forward with the process, so that’s what I’ve been communicating to my colleagues. I want to keep those Trump tax cuts in place.” The tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017 are set to expire December 31st — unless congress votes to extend them. The Senate resolution on taxes and spending requires the House Ag Committee to pare 230 BILLION dollars from the U-S-D-A. Hinson says that can be accomplished with the elimination of duplicative programs and waste, fraud and abuse as well as eligibility adjustments for federal food assistance.

“It shouldn’t be going to the 29 year old guy who’s sitting on the couch playing video games. It should be going to the single mom who needs to feed her family and I think we can all agree that able bodied adults should be working, for example, if they’re receiving these benefits,” Hinson says. “Work requirements are not cuts.” An analysis by the Legislative Services Agency found about 12 percent of Iowans receiving SNAP payments would lose the benefit if a work requirement is added for adults under the age of 65.

“I’m against cutting the benefits that people need and I want to make clear, too, the president said that. He’s not going to sign a bill if we send it to him with cuts to Medicaid or SNAP benefits,” Hinson said. “…When people are abusing these programs, defrauding it — that’s what really ticks people off and that’s what also makes it unsustainable and really jeopardizes the benefits for those who need them.” According to the latest U-S-D-A report, about 130-thousand Iowa households were receiving SNAP benefits in December of last year.

(Perry, Iowa) — A suspect in a trading card shop break-in in Perry was arrested for allegedly committing the crime. According to reports, 28-year-old Alex Michael McClellan, of Bayard, was arrested Wednesday on felony charges of first-degree theft and third-degree burglary.

The break-in and theft of Pokémon trading cards valued at $35,000 from TCG Planet in downtown Perry, occurred Sunday. In a Facebook post, the owners of TCG Planet says the alleged thief went to Jay’s CD & Hobby in Des Moines to sell the cards. Employees recognized the suspect and kept him at the store until police arrived.

Alex Michael McClellan (Perry PD photo)

An official with the Perry Police Department said McClellan was identified as the primary suspect, detained in Des Moines and brought to Perry for questioning, where he confessed to the crime. All of the stolen property was located at McClellan’s parent’s residence in rural Bayard, IA.

*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – Fire swept through a three-story apartment building in Coralville on Wednesday afternoon, causing heavy damage and rendering the building uninhabitable. Reports say 12 people were home at the time of the blaze and all escaped safely, though a total of 22 residents were displaced. Resident Gloria Amuda tells K-C-R-G T-V she was asleep and only realized there was a fire because a neighbor was banging on her window.

“My immediate reaction was like, I need to call my work and tell them I’m not gonna be able to go to work, because I’m supposed to be reporting at work in like an hour and a half or so, so that was the first thing I did,” Amuda says. “But then it hit me. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, where am I gonna sleep tonight?’”

No injuries are reported in the fire near Coral Ridge Mall, though several pets perished. Investigators believe the cause of the fire was accidental. Damage is estimated around one million dollars.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Catholic Health Initiatives-Iowa, a faith-based health care provider, is arguing in a medical malpractice case that the loss of an unborn child does not equate to the death of a “person” for the purpose of calculating damage awards. In Iowa, court-ordered awards for non-economic losses stemming from medical malpractice are capped at $250,000, except in cases that entail the “loss or impairment of mind or body.” Attorneys for the CHI and MercyOne hospital are arguing the cap on damages still applies in cases where the “loss” is that of a fetus or unborn child. CHI’s status as a nonprofit, tax-exempt entity is based on its stated mission of providing health services “in the spirit of the gospel.” The ethics guidelines it approved in 2018 state that the corporation is committed to “respect the sacredness of every human life from the moment of conception until death.”

The lawsuit in which CHI is currently embroiled involves the treatment provided to Miranda Anderson of Poweshiek County. Anderson was 34 weeks pregnant when, on April 13, 2021, she arrived at Pella Regional Health Center for evaluation due to elevated blood pressure, headaches and edema. Citing concerns that she was experiencing pre-eclampsia — a condition that can lead to serious complications for both mother and baby and may require early delivery — Anderson was transferred to MercyOne’s Obstetrics Emergency Unit via ambulance. According to the lawsuit later filed by Anderson and her husband, Landen, Miranda Anderson was discharged after two days of monitoring and testing. After further evaluations over the course of the next several days, she was again discharged to her home — until, during an April 21 evaluation, her doctor was unable to detect any fetal heartbeat. The next day, she underwent a cesarean delivery of a nonviable baby girl, Eloise.

The Andersons’ lawsuit seeks damages for negligence, alleging CHI, MercyOne and its physicians failed to recommend early delivery of the baby while it was still viable and Anderson showed evidence of pre-eclampsia. The defendants have denied any wrongdoing. Citing the state’s $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in malpractice cases — a cap that was approved by state legislators in 2017 — CHI and MercyOne are arguing that while the cap on damages includes an exemption for cases that entail the “loss or impairment of mind or body,” that exemption should not apply to a case where a fetus or unborn child is lost. They argue the Iowa Legislature did not intend for the loss of a baby prior to delivery to be included within the exemption and that Anderson’s lawyers are attempting “to put words in the Legislature’s mouth … There is no case law, and plaintiffs cite to none, finding ‘loss of pregnancy’ is a ‘loss or impairment of a bodily function.’”

As evidence of this, they cite the fact that in 2023 — two years after the Anderson pregnancy — state lawmakers explicitly added “loss of pregnancy” to the exemption on the cap for damages. Attorneys for Anderson argue the 2023 change was enacted merely to clarify the scope of the 2017 statute, not to expand the exemption on the caps for damages. In recent court filings, attorneys for CHI and MercyOne argue that “finding an unborn child to be a ‘person’ would lead to serious implications in other areas of the law.” They also argue the Andersons’ unborn child should not be considered a “patient” for purposes of calculating damages. “There is no statute or binding case law finding an unborn child to be a ‘patient’ under the law,” attorneys for the hospital have told the court, citing an Iowa Supreme Court ruling in a 1971 case that held “there can be no recovery (of damages) on behalf of, or for, a nonexistent person.”

As part of their case, attorneys for CHI and MercyOne also argue that the Iowa Legislature’s decision to cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases was motivated by a desire to “reduce the size of medical malpractice verdicts to increase the affordability and availability of medical care and protect the public treasury.” The hospital is now seeking a court order affirming the Andersons’ recovery for any non-economic damages that might be awarded shall be limited to $250,000 under the cap approved by legislators in 2017. A hearing on that issue is expected later this month, while the case itself is scheduled for trial on May 12, 2025.

A spokesperson for MercyOne stated Wednesday that the hospital does not comment on pending litigation.