CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has been indicted on fraud charges for allegedly stealing $175,000 from her now-dead fiancee and his elderly mother.
Robin Ann Bertelli was arrested Thursday on a 35-count indictment and expected to make an initial appearance Friday in Cedar Rapids.

Bertelli is charged with stealing from accounts that belonged to her fiancee — former Navy SEAL Ken Martin Jr. — and Martin’s mother. Bertelli allegedly started a relationship with Martin around 2013 after a prior husband died and lived with his family in Central City, Iowa.

Martin died in 2016 while on vacation with Bertelli in Puerto Rico from what Bertelli told others was an accidental drowning after hitting his head on a rock. He was 57. The indictment alleges that Bertelli stole checks that belonged to the Martins before and after his death and wrote them payable to herself, forging their signatures.

Officials with the Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) say the organization is preparing a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application on behalf of the City of Villisca, for a housing rehabilitation project with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). If awarded, Villisca would receive grant funding to rehabilitate at least six (6) homes in the city over a three (3) year period.

Under the program, up to $24,999 in repairs can be made to each home. Additional funds are available for lead abatement. The City’s application is due to IEDA no later than May 4, 2018.

SWIPCO will hold a town hall meeting on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Villisca City Community Building located at 207 South 3rd Avenue. The town hall meeting will start immediately after a special city council meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m. SWIPCO staff will present information on the CDBG housing rehabilitation program, answer questions, and assist home owners interested in participating in the project to complete pre-applications for submission with the City’s CDBG application to IEDA.

The pre-application is a one-page document asking for the individual’s name and address, whether they are the home owner, the household’s annual income, and a brief description of the home’s repair needs. All citizens are welcome to attend, especially those living in the designated target area. The target area includes all houses south of 4th Street.

SWIPCO Community Development Director Dan Lee says, “We’re excited that Villisca wants to pursue another CDBG housing grant. This program can have a tremendous impact on a City and greatly improve the lives of home owners. We have a relatively short amount of time to build a strong application, but I’m impressed with the City’s response and commitment to making this happen. I encourage everybody to attend the town hall meeting on the 24th. The more home owner pre-applications we can submit with our grant application, the better, to help show there’s an existing need for housing rehabilitation in Villisca.”

Community Development Block Grants are awarded annually by the Iowa Economic Development Authority with funding from the department of Housing and Urban Development with SWIPCO’s assistance. Villisca has received CDBG funds for housing in 2006 and for past water and sewer improvements.

SWIPCO is a council of government serving the eight counties of southwest Iowa with public transportation, community development, and housing. SWIPCO is an equal opportunity employer, provider, and lender.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will conduct its annual spring wildlife surveys this month. Wildlife research biologist, Jim Coffey says the surveys start around one hour after sunset and can last until just about sunrise. “It’s going to cover what we call our nighttime animals or nocturnal animals — we kind of call it the second shift,” Coffey says.

“It started out in the 70’s as a raccoon survey in a response to that we were over harvesting raccoons — or people thought we were — and they were going to become extinct. And we started to do this survey at that time.” The survey then expanded to include deer and eventually all animals they would see. The information helps them chart how each species is doing.

“What we look at is trends over time and are we seeing animals in the same places or are we seeing animals in different places than we have in the past. How do we see comparatively numbers from not just from last year — but from maybe the last five or tens years — so are we seeing more or less in those areas,” Coffey explains. He says they can used all the statistic to make some predictions about where they should see the various animals. Coffey says the deer survey is one that everyone always pays attention to, but he says the fun part is the diversity of wildlife you can see on a survey run.

“You pick up the occasional animals that we’re not used to seeing. So, we might see a bobcat in a county where we are not used to seeing it in, so it becomes documented that. It’s always fund to get to see some of those odd creatures. If you get to see a grey fox — that’s an anomaly — we know they are out there, we just don’t get to see them very often,” according to Coffey. The surveys are always done in April as Coffey says they try to do them in the same type of weather conditions each year to take that variable out of the equation. They often begin in southern Iowa.

He says they want to be in line with an early spring or late spring. Coffey says they are seeing some green grass and buds appearing in southern Iowa, indicating it’s time to start the surveys. “We also want to time it with the actual humidity and the temperature. Because what we know is animals like raccoons and possums usually don’t like to come out until it gets into the mid 30’s. If it’s too cold they are not going to come out,” Coffey says. He says each D-N-R staff member has their own way of keeping track of the animals they see.

“I’m kind of an old schooler — I still use a pen and paper and I document it on my map. We’ve got some guys who use G-P-S locations and we’ve got some guys who are actually stepping up into the 21st century and are using I-Pads now that will download the data directly into our computer and actually saves us some calculation times,” he says

Coffey says each county has a pre-selected route covering 50 miles of varying habitat. Surveyors will follow the route shining spotlights from both sides of the vehicle to document the animals they see.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa is seeing an increase in both reported cases of child abuse and confirmed cases of abuse. Alli Moerman, spokeswoman for Prevent Child Abuse Iowa, says an increase in the number of reports doesn’t necessarily translate to an increase in cases. “Iowa’s rates of child abuse are higher than the national average,” Moerman says. “We are actually seeing an increase in confirmed cases of child abuse in Iowa which rose, between the years 2015 and 2016, by about 8%. It’s a serious issue and we need to take action to prevent abuse from occurring.”

The laws defining child abuse vary from state to state, which may account for why Iowa’s numbers are higher than the national average. “What Iowa code says is abuse may be different compared to other states,” Moerman says. “We also think one of the main factors is that there are cultural differences around the country as far as communities that are more likely to report abuse and, frankly, communities that may be more aware of the signs of abuse and more likely to report things that are going on.”

The agency is sponsoring its annual Child Abuse Prevention and Family Support Conference in Des Moines next week. The event — scheduled for Monday through Wednesday — should draw about 600 people from across the state. “People that are focused in the fields of family support, social work, education, a lot of professionals who work with families and children,” Moerman says. “We really aim to bring collaboration across sectors that will ultimately help strengthen families and develop components that will lead to greater community change, all with the aim of prevention of child abuse.”

In 2015, Iowa had some 47-thousand referrals for child abuse and neglect. Of those, more than 23-thousand reports were referred for investigation. That same year, the Iowa Department of Human Services says there were nearly 83-hundred children found to be abused statewide, while 12 Iowa children died from abuse or neglect. The Child Abuse Hotline is 800-362-2178. http://www.pcaiowa.org

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Page County Sheriff’s Office say they have received complaints of a scam call going around in the area.  The caller states that the person contacted is in trouble with the Federal Government and is given a number to contact within a short time period or they will be jailed. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says “This is definitely a scam.  Law Enforcement does not contact persons in this manner.  Do not call the number given nor give any information to the caller.”

Another scam is a robo-call stating your Itunes account has been breached. The voice leaves a message telling you return the call to protect your account. Apple does not call its customers to tell them there is a problem. If you have any doubts as to the status of your account, log-in as normal as see if you have any messages, or your designated customer service rep on their official line.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports a man who was involved in a rollover accident wasn’t found until nearly seven-hours later, laying in a ditch, suffering from hypothermia. A Sheriff’s Office was notified shortly after 7-a.m. Wednesday, about a single motor vehicle accident that took place near the intersection of 172^nd street and Taylor / Page Avenue, or about six-miles northeast of Clarinda.

A Deputy arrived and found the vehicle upside down with no persons in or under the vehicle.  A search for the person was conducted and a Deputy located 65-year old Steven Richard Olson, of rural Shenandoah, lying in a ditch showing signs of hypothermia.  Clarinda ambulance service was contacted to assess Olson at the scene.  They arrived and transported him to the Clarinda Regional health Center for further evaluation.

The investigation into the accident showed that Olson was driving a 2010 Hyundai westbound on 172^nd street at around 12-a.m. Wednesday, and had attempted to turn left (south) onto Taylor / Page Avenue.  He missed the turn, drove over a Yield sign, and rolled the vehicle in the ditch.  Olson then walked a short distance and passed out in the ditch.  The outside temperature that evening was 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

Citations are pending for Olson.

Leaders of Iowa’s largest employers are predicting economic growth over the next six months, but they’re also concerned about an ongoing shortage of qualified workers. A new survey from the Iowa Business Council (IBC) shows 80-percent of its members expect higher sales through summer. IBC executive director Georgia Van Gundy says those employers are struggling to attract and retain a quality workforce “We have our 2.8 percent unemployment rate and Iowa ranks fourth as far as the number of people already employed in the workforce,” Van Gundy said. “We just don’t have a lot of people to draw from.”

The IBC recently formed a Business Education Alliance to get at the root of the problem. “Our first meeting was great in February. Our members had the opportunity to talk about what their challenges are and we had a great conversation about how we start moving forward,” Van Gundy said.

According to the survey, half of the IBC members say they will increase capital spending and nearly half forecast hiring more workers over the next six months.
…..
link to survey:
https://www.iowabusinesscouncil.org/news/eos_q1_2018/
(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has ruled that former Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett won’t appear as a candidate for Iowa governor on Republican primary ballots. The decision Thursday clears the way for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who will be the only GOP candidate in the June 5 contest. Six Democrats and two Libertarians are also running for governor. A state elections panel voted 2-1 last week to reject Corbett’s ballot petition because he fell eight names short of the 4,005 required. Corbett had filed a lawsuit in Polk County district court challenging the decision.

District Judge David May said the panel was correct to not count signatures that had been crossed-through by the campaign. Corbett had told reporters he’d “grab my gym bag and head for the locker room” if he lost.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A group working to elect Democrats to Congress is targeting Rep. Rod Blum with an ad claiming the congressman is “swimming in his own ethics violations.” The House Majority PAC is launching the ad Thursday on digital platforms such as Facebook in Iowa’s 1st District. The ad cites an investigation by The Associated Press that found Blum violated ethics rules by failing disclose his ownership in a questionable internet marketing company.

Tin Moon has promised to help companies cited by the Food and Drug Administration bury their warning letters below positive search results. Blum has called the lack of disclosure an oversight and distanced himself from Tin Moon, which is run by his longtime business partner. The ad shows Blum saying that he’s interested in “draining the swamp” but asserts he’s actually “swimming in his own ethics violations.”
Democrats are hoping to unseat Blum in November.

(Updated 10:11-a.m.) DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Mexican official says autopsies show the gas that killed an Iowa family was propane that leaked from a faulty water heater at their rented condominium in Mexico. Investigator Christopher Martinez with the attorney general’s office for the state of Quintana Roo told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday that the water heater had rusted in the humid climate.

Services were held Saturday in Creston for 41-year-old Kevin Sharp and his wife, 38-year-old Amy Sharp, and their children, 12-year-old Sterling and 7-year-old Adrianna. Their bodies were found March 23 inside the condo in the resort town of Tulum. Amy Sharp’s cousin Jana Weland said Wednesday that relatives know the water heater was the suspected source but that U.S. and Mexican officials hadn’t yet said what type of gas the Sharps inhaled.

The condo association has said owners are responsible for maintenance. The water heater was bought in 2012, Martinez said, and its warranty ran out last year. He wouldn’t say who owns the condo. The family’s rented car was full of sand the day bodies were found, leading police to believe the Sharps had been at the beach the day they died. Investigators think the family returned to the condo to bathe and rest.