(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say much of Iowa can expect high temperatures in the 60s, 70s and even near 80 today (Thursday) and tomorrow, which will prompt some Iowans to pull out their kayaks and canoes. Sure, it’s spring, but Iowa D-N-R conservation officer Nate Carr says having warm air temperatures doesn’t necessarily mean warm water temperatures, so dress appropriately.

There’s a general rule that if the water and air temperatures combined don’t equal at least 120 degrees, anyone who ends up dumped in the water is at risk for hypothermia, and water temperatures are still quite chilly.

Carr says to pack extra clothes in a dry bag and always wear a life jacket.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Public Hearing was held Wednesday evening at the Atlantic High School, with regard to the proposed Property Tax Levy. Two women spoke to the board, opposing the proposed FY26 property tax rate of nearly $12.53/$1,000 assessed valuation. One of those who spoke, also appeared at last year’s property tax hearing. Barbara Stensvad is a property and business owner in Atlantic, and long-time resident.

Stensvad said the tax rate is too high for a declining Atlantic population.

The State’s population meanwhile, has been growing, according to Stensvad. She asked why then, is Atlantic’s population shrinking?

The other person who spoke was Lori Ulrich, who lives in rural Atlantic. She also mentioned the population decline in Cass County. Ulrich said her property taxes went up by 27-percent, and that she has “not heard good things about Vanguard (The company tasked by the Cass County Assessor’s Office with conducting property assessments), or other such companies, who she says “Own a lot, and [are] trying to take over everything.”

The proposed tax rate is up about a penny from last year. No action was taken on the proposed property tax rate following Wednesday’s public hearing.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A group of local outdoor enthusiasts aim to restore native prairie grasses and make improvements to various aspects of the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department sites. Long-time Atlantic Parks Advocate Frank Saddlemire spoke with the Parks and Rec Advisory Commission Wednesday evening. One of the projects he would like to see worked on, is the boat ramp from Lake number 2 at the Schildberg Recreation Area.

That area was included in a controlled burn Wednesday. Saddlemire said the second project he’s interested in seeing improved, is the Butterfly Gardens at the Schildberg Rec Area. The current Butterfly Garden is located in the middle of the park.

Frank Saddlemire (Yellow shirt) speaks with the Atlantic Parks & Rec Advisory Board (3-26-25; Ric Hanson-photo)

He says the only money involved in the project is re-bar, to secure the railroad ties into the ground. Signage could be included that mentions which group or organizations are responsible for maintaining the gardens. The third project Saddlemire is interested in, is returning Schildberg’s to a wildlife prairie, because “Conservation is education.” Frank said he’s spoken with Cass County Conservation Department Executive Director Micah Lee and Nick Thompson, Iowa Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist for Cass County, about wiping out the Brome Grass, burn the weeds off and seed it with native prairie grass.

The benefits include a larger variety of birds and insects.

He says it also saves the taxpayers money by saving time and using manpower for mowing.

He said it also benefits the City in the form of it being a tourism site. The Advisory Committee took the information Saddlemire presented under consideration.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal judge has blocked the state for the second time from enforcing a law that seeks to keep books with sexual content out of school libraries. Attorney Dan Novack says a broad ban on books with sex acts would deny students information. “If you want to do a history of the Clinton impeachment — this is cited in the opinion — you can’t. Yeah, what was he impeached over? Well, can’t say,” Novack says.

Penguin Random House joined other major publishing houses in arguing against the library restrictions. Supporters of the law like Attorney General Brenna Bird says it’s a critical law that ensures the books in K-12 schools are age-appropriate. The judge’s opinion says school library collections are already curated by local officials for age-appropriate reading. Novack says if a book depicts sex, the state could remove it without considering its literary value, which Novack says would deny students necessary information about the wider world. “If I’m a teacher, doesn’t matter how many students I connected that book to and found that it helped unlock something in them, a desire to learn, to read, to grow — doesn’t matter,” Novack says.

Attorney General Brenna Bird says she will keep on fighting to uphold the law that she says protects schoolchildren and parental rights.

(Atlantic & Southwest Iowa) – Numerous area fire departments were kept busy Wednesday, battling ditch, grass or field fires. Locally, the Atlantic Fire Department responded to two grass fires on Wednesday. Fire Chief Tom Cappel says one of the fires crews from Atlantic fought, occurred early Wednesday afternoon in the area of 644th Street and Jackson Road.The blaze erupted from a brush pile.

A second fire was reported later that afternoon west of the Atlantic Airport, off of Highland Road. That blaze began as a controlled burn of prairie grass, but grew out of control as the result of strong southerly winds that caused flames to jump the road and ignite a nearby farm field.

Chief Cappel issued a reminder to residents who may be planning a controlled burn, to notify their local fire department beforehand.

Earlier in the day, the Atlantic Fire Department conducted its own controlled burn at the Schildberg Recreation Area.

Elsewhere in southwest Iowa, the Creston Fire Department, with mutual aid provided by six other area departments, battled controlled burn that got out of hand at around 2:30-p.m. Wednesday, northwest of Creston. The flames spread to one shed and threatened another.  A large junk pile behind that structure was fully engulfed in flames. Altogether, about 400-acres was scorched in the blaze.

Other fires were reported late Wednesday afternoon along the interstate in Cass and Adair Counties. Red Oak Fire were battle two fires when they were called to the scene of a car engulfed in flames at around 4-p.m. Wednesday. There were no injuries, but the car was a total loss.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman from Villisca was arrested Wednesday evening, in Villisca. 29-year-old Angelica Johnson was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense, and Child Endangerment. Johnson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Handling a cell phone while driving will soon be illegal in Iowa. The Iowa House has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill to ban the use of electronic devices while driving, unless the device is in “hands free” or “voice activated” mode. The Senate passed the bill last week and Wednesday’s 89-to-11 vote in the House sends the bill to the governor. In January, Governor Kim Reynolds used the annual “Condition of the State” address to call on lawmakers to take action. “Let’s finally pass legislation that requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road and away from the phones,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds met a woman in Spencer last summer who discussed the issue with the governor. “Two years ago, Roland Taylor was killed by a distracted driver. Of the nine minutes the driver was in his car that evening, he spent seven on his phone,” Reynolds said. “I met Roland’s wife, Gwen, and daughters Angie and Lisa, last summer. They shared with me that they don’t want another family to go through what they’ve been through.” The governor told Radio Iowa meeting that family is what prompted her to make this issue one of the top priorities in her annual speech to legislators.

“And I said it’s time for me just to stand up there are and really challenge the legislature to get this done,” Reynolds told Radio Iowa, “and get this across the finish line.” The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau began calling for this law in 2015 — when Terry Branstad was Iowa’s governor. Branstad repeatedly said the state’s ban on texting while driving wasn’t sufficient.”If all we do is say: ‘You can’t text and drive,’ how do you prove that somebody was texting?” Branstad asked. “They could be looking at this device in their hands and say: ‘Well, I wasn’t texting,’ and so you can’t get a conviction.”

Over the past decade, law enforcement, bicyclists and other advocates have repeatedly called on lawmakers to crack down on distracted driving. Senator Mark Lofgren, a Republican from Muscatine, has talked seeing drivers distracted by their smart phones while he’s out for a run.  “It’s dangerous out there,” Lofgren says. “The last few years, as I run through intersections and everything, you have to be really careful.” Lofgren led debate in 2023 as the senate passed the bill, only to have it stall in the House. Republican Representative Ann Meyer of Fort Dodge led House debate Wednesday.

“Thanks to everyone who’s worked on this bill over the years, especially thanks to the families,” Meyer said. “Telling your story is very difficult, but it has made a difference. I do believe this legislation will save lives.” Berta Pearson of Mount Pleasant is one of the people who drove to the Iowa Capitol to urge legislators to act. In 2022, her 20 year old grandson was setting up a construction zone on the Mississippi River bridge at Burlington when he was hit and killed by a driver checking the Snapchat app on her cell phone.

“We have to do something,” she said. “We can’t let more kids die just because somebody thought they needed to be on that silly phone.” In December, over two-dozen organizations formed an “End Distracted Driving” coalition. The executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition says the 30 states that have adopted so-called “hands free” laws have seen a significant drop in accidents and fatalities caused by distracted drivers. Iowa D-O-T records show distracted driving crashes have increased by 43 percent over the past decade.

Representatives who voted no on the bill include: Chad Behn of Boone, Brooke Boden of Indianola, Mark Cisneros of Muscatine, Jason Gearhart of Strawberry Point, Bill Gustoff, Heather Hora of Washington, Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton, Rick Olson of Des Moines, Skyler Wheeler of Hull, Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley, John Wills of Spirit Lake.

(Radio Iowa) – Attorney General Brenna Bird says a northeast Iowa sheriff violated state law by saying in a Facebook post that his office would not cooperate with detainer requests from federal immigration officials.

On February 4th, Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx — a Republican — said his office would assist with immigration-related warrants issued by a court, but not with detainers which he said are not vetted by a judge. Governor Reynolds asked the attorney general to investigate. Late Wednesday afternoon, Bird announced she had determined the sheriff’s statement violated Iowa law by discouraging enforcement of state and federal immigration laws.

Bird provided the sheriff with a statement of retraction and gave him until 5 p.m. to post it online. She warned failing to do so means his county would lose all state funding. Two hours after that deadline, the statement had not been posted. About an hour before Bird’s announcement, Republicans in the Iowa House passed a bill making it a felony for any law enforcement officer, including an elected sheriff, to fail to enforce immigration laws.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has — again — approved legislation that would provide new protections for landowners along the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline route. Representative Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, says the overwhelming majority of Iowans oppose the project.

“Parts of the government of Iowa seem to refuse to recognize reality and at some point, it starts to look like corruption,” Thomson said. “…I think the right thing will be done. I hope it’s sooner rather than later.” The package includes new restrictions on the use of eminent domain to seize land for an expansion of the pipeline and it calls for Summit to reimburse landowners who cannot get insurance because the pipeline runs through their property.

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says he’s proud the House has been standing up for property owners. “I have to say that the pride has been replaced with disappointment by the fact that members of the senate have not listened to the cries of our citizens to stand up for the Constitution, to tell Summit and Bruce Rastetter and the lobby that the fundamental private property rights of Iowans are not for sale,” he said, “not now and not ever.”

Bruce Rastetter is the founder and owner of Summit Carbon Solutions. One Democrat who voted for the package suggested it will not become law because Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and key Republicans in the Senate support the pipeline project. The head of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says he’s confident cooler heads will prevail in the senate, the pipeline will be built and demand for corn will increase by billions of bushels.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa chapter of the American Red Cross gave out four Heroes of the Heartland awards Tuesday. Red Cross spokesperson Emily Holley says they get nominations throughout the year. “These are everyday Iowans who’ve done something heroic. So maybe they saved a life. Maybe they, you know, worked to make a difference in their community. Maybe they helped somebody in a significant way,” she says. “But these are our folks who are incredibly deserving individuals.” The Des Moines Blank Children’s Hospital Advocacy and Outreach program is one of the winners.

“Right after the devastating tornado hit Greenfield, they provided, they actually came down to Greenfield and provided free car seats and pack and plays so that infants and young children would be would have safe places to sleep, safe transportation while their their families figured out the rest,” Holley says. She says they did the same thing following the flooding in Northwest Iowa.

ther award recipients were David Tollander of Hudson for his efforts to save his best friend’s life on a fishing trip in northeast Iowa, Sharlett Patterson of West Des Moine for her use of C-P-R and an A-E-D to save a shopper who experienced a cardiac arrest, Honor Flight of Sac City/Fort Dodge for their of 15 years flying hundreds of Iowa veterans to see monuments and memorials in Washington,DC at no charge.

Nominations for 2026 may be made available through Iowa Red Cross Heroes of the Heartland website.