(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two recent arrests. Saturday night, 45-year-old Eduardo Rojas, of Omaha, was arrested on southbound Interstate 29, following a traffic stop. Rojas was taken into custody for: OWI/3rd offense; Operating a non-registered vehicle; No valid driver’s license, and failure to show proof of insurance (accident related). His bond was set at $2,000.

And, last Wednesday (March 26th), Mills County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 32-year-old Jacquelyn Marie Chapin, of Tabor, in Glenwood. Chapin was taken into custody for Child Endangerment-Serious Injury. Her bond was set at $10,000.

Brian Luther Clark

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports Brian Luther Clark, who was convicted of Burglary 1st Degree in Clinton County, and Voluntary Absence in Scott County, failed to report back to the Davenport Work Release/OWI Center as required on Friday, March 28th.

Clark is a 42-year-old, 5’8″, 216-pound White male. He was admitted to the work release facility on Dec. 30, 2024. Persons with information on Clark’s whereabouts should contact local police.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken reports road Construction will begin this week on Cass County Road N-28, north of Cumberland. Wolken says bridge approaches will be replaced on four bridges south of Highway 83 and north of Cumberland. The bridge over Seven Mile Creek (one mile north of Cumberland) will be closed while bridge approaches are replaced. There will be a detour in-place using  Oxford Road, Highway 71 and Highway 92.

The remaining three bridges will be reduced to one lane during construction. It is anticipated the road construction will last four to six weeks.

The work is taking place ahead of an asphalt resurfacing project, which will begin in May.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Economic Development Authority’s proposed overhaul of state tax credits has cleared initial review in the House and Senate. The changes would include limiting the money spent on research and development tax credits to $40 million per year and putting more money into housing tax credits. A new $5 million credit would be available to encourage production of sustainable aviation fuel.

During testimony at the legislature, Iowa Economic Development Authority director Debi Durham said some of the state’s current incentives were designed to compensate for Iowa not having competitive tax policies. “But you all have made us more competitive every session that you have, led by Governor Reynolds, when you get to the point of where we are with our corporate taxes…our personal income taxes, regulatory reform and all that,” Durham said, “it’s a totally different landscape.”

Christina Bateman of Atlantic told lawmakers she’s very concerned about the proposed repeal of the Endow Iowa program. She said the program’s tax credits helped the $75 million “Vision Atlantic” project focused on housing, child care and quality of life. “They encourage and ensure that our generational wealth stays in our community and is there to support our key entities into the future,” Bateman said. “They are there also to help us build these large capital projects, which would be impossible otherwise.”

Each year the Endow Iowa program awards up to six million dollars to non-profit foundations that use the money to provide tax credits to donors. Business groups have also expressed concerns about limiting the state tax credit for research activities.

(Radio Iowa) – After parts of Iowa saw near-record high temperatures in the 70s and 80s on Friday, the weekend wrapped up with snow in some areas on Sunday afternoon. Meteorologist Andrew Ansorge at the National Weather Service in Johnston, says snowfall amounts weren’t deep. “We saw a two-inch report over towards Fort Dodge,” Ansorge says, “and down here in Des Moines, we had a third of an inch at the airport.” He suggests Iowans keep a close eye on the forecast.

“We’re looking at another round of storms moving through the state Tuesday night into Wednesday,” Ansorge says, “and with that, the chance for large hail and damaging wind gusts.”

The forecast calls for partly sunny skies Thursday and Friday with the possibility of rain returning on Saturday.

(Burnsville, MN) – The staff of the Atlantic High School’s online publication, the “AHSNeedle,” was awarded the title of being a School Newspapers Online (SNO) Distinguished Site. According to SNO press release, before being awarded the title, the AHSneedle earned online digital badges in the area of: site excellence; story page design; writing; multimedia; coverage, and audience engagement. Representing what SNO sees as the six components of a modern news website, the six badges make up the SNO Distinguished Sites program.

Each year, SNO offers student journalism programs with outstanding online publications the opportunity to apply to become an SNO Distinguished Site. School Newspapers Online established the Distinguished Sites program to eliminate ambiguity and delineate standards of excellence for an online student news site. Last year, 74 schools earned all of the badges and the honor of being an SNO Distinguished Site.

View the AHSneedle at https:ahsneedle.com or see their stories on their social media partners.

To learn more about SNO, visit www.snosites.com.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Authorities in Red Oak report two people were arrested this (Monday) morning, following the execution of a search warrant on a residence in the 800 block of E. Reed Street, at around 4-a.m. Officials say:

• 40-year-old Aaron Lucas Allen, of Red Oak, was arrested for Violation of a Protection Order (Simple Misdemeanor); and on a Class-D Felony Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine-3rd offense, charge.
• 28-year-old Lydia Ann Hadland was arrested for Violation of a Protection Order, a Simple Misdemeanor.

Both subjects were being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Navy’s newest fast-attack submarine will be commissioned for duty later this week and it’ll formally enter service as the U-S-S Iowa, the third Navy vessel in history to be named after the Hawkeye State. Mat Tanner, a retired Navy Chief submariner and executive director of the U-S-S Iowa Commissioning Committee, says former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack will preside over Saturday’s event at Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut.

“Mrs. Vilsack, the ship’s sponsor, is going to announce the crew and the captain will bring the ship to life, and the captain will pass the order to man the rails, and the crew runs aboard,” Tanner says. “Everybody’s official. They raise the pennants and the flags, and sound the horn, and shoot some cannons, and all kinds of fun stuff.” During this event, Tanner says there won’t be a bottle of champagne smashed on the bow, as that was done by Mrs. Vilsack at the christening event in June of 2023. He’s expecting to see a lot of black-and-gold in the audience.

The pre-commissioning unit (PCU) Iowa (SSN 797) arrives for the first time at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, December 19, 2024. The future USS Iowa was delivered to Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 4 from General Dynamics Electric Boat shipbuilding facility down river after recently completing a series of at-sea testing. The fast-attack submarine PCU Iowa and crew operate under SUBRON 4 and its primary mission is to provide fast-attack submarines that are ready, prepared, and committed to meet the unique challenges of undersea combat and deployed operations in unforgiving environments across the globe. (U.S. Navy photo by John Narewski)

“We’re looking at approximately 800 to 900 folks from Iowa, almost 2,000 people total, definitely going to be a very nice crowd,” Tanner says. “We’re also going to have some watch parties going on in Iowa. I think we have 27 or 28 watch parties throughout the state. You can get to that link at our web page at SSN797.com.” Officials say the three-billion dollar submarine will have a crew of about 140, including enlisted personnel and officers. The nuclear-powered Iowa is 377-feet long and was delivered to the U-S Navy in late December. It’s at this commissioning when the Navy accepts a new ship into the fleet, and it becomes a United States Ship (USS) for the first time. It’s unclear how soon before the sub will tackle its first mission, which could be virtually anywhere in the world.

“She’s been out to sea for the last couple months, doing some training and testing,” Tanner says. “She’ll be in for a little bit, and then she’s going to head out. We don’t know a full schedule yet, but obviously, we’re the ‘silent service’ for a reason, so we won’t pass that out, but yes, she’s probably going to go back out, but not directly, not right away.” The submarine can generate its own power and fresh water and will carry a 90-day supply of food. In this era of tens of thousands of federal jobs being slashed in order to save millions of dollars, some critics may question the need for a three-billion dollar submarine, but Tanner says DOGE won’t be dogging this warship.

“The submarines and the submarine force is one of those military factors that the other countries that could be our adversaries have no idea where we are, and that’s the beautiful thing about it,” he says, “that they’re always constantly worried about, ‘where’s the submarines at?’ The current administration has made it very clear that the submarine force is not in any danger of losing any funding.” Tanner calls the submarine the “tip of the spear” in our nation’s defense.

Saturday’s East Coast ceremony is scheduled to start at 9 A-M/Central. The previous U-S-S Iowa was a battleship in service from 1943 to 1990. It saw action during World War II, the Korean War, and the Gulf War.

(Radio Iowa) – This is the final week you can play the Mega Millions lotto game before it undergoes a remake. Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says the final drawing in the old system is Friday night, and then the game moves to a new format. “We expect that changeover to happen here in Iowa in the overnight-slash night time hours once the Lottery statewide gaming system has completed the software update to activate the changes in the game,” she says. The price of one play goes from two to five dollars.  “The jackpot in the revamped Mega Millions game will start at 50 million dollars, so there will be bigger prizes that follow nine of the game’s prize levels, and the multiplier will be built into all plays,” Neubauer says.

The multiplier is a number you now have to pay another dollar for under the current game. Each ticket in the new game will automatically have a multiplier number of two, three, four, five or ten added to the ticket. “That represents the amount any non- jackpot prize the player wins on the play will be multiplied. The multiplier will be randomly assigned and automatically included in each play,” she says. Neubauer says another feature of the new game ensures that anyone winning a prize will win more than the amount they paid for the ticket. “There will be no break even prizes in the game,” Neubauer says. “The smallest amount a player can win in the redesigned game is ten dollars, that’s twice the purchase price.”

Neubauer says the new game costs more to play, but the reward is increased for all prizes. “With the built in multiplier, the amount that a player can win at the initial eight prize levels in the game will have a big range, and that’s from ten dollars all the way up to ten million dollars and that’s an intrigue that we think players will like about the new game,” she says. Operators and participants in the nationwide games are hoping the changes will spur more interest.

The Iowa Lottery reported last week that sales of Mega Million are down more then 21 percent and Powerball sales are down nearly 54 percent so far this fiscal year compared to last year.