(Radio Iowa) – The blizzard this week saw thousands of people left without electricity and trigger a big response from the state’s largest utility company. MidAmerican spokesman Geoff Greenwood says they had some 97 utility crews and another 61 tree crews who responded. “When we have such a large response, it’s kind of an orchestra, and we do have a conductor who is overseeing all of the operations, but then we have people in the field as well who are coordinating with our control center,” Greenwood says. He says they also have field coordinators who help get crews in place. “Making sure that they’re at the right location, making sure that lines are not energized so we can work safely on those lines, and then making sure that they’ve got the right equipment and personnel,” he says. “And then once we get that repair, we coordinate back with the control room to let them know that circuit is okay to turn back on again, and then that’s what the control room coordinates as well.”

Greenwood says the crews work long hours in tough situations, so it’s important to get them in the right place. “We are also making sure that they are getting breaks and that they’re getting food water and rest and just making sure that everybody is working safely and is okay,” he says. Greenwood says they brought in several crews from other states to help with this response.

Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative Facebook page photo (3-20-25)

“In situations where we have crews coming in from outside of our service area, we are making sure that they are briefed on the situation, that they know where to go and what needs to be assessed and repaired, and then we’re making sure that they have adequate food and water resources and that they’ve also got a place to sleep,” Greenwood says.

He says crews from Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Nebraska, and Wisconsin came to Iowa to help with this storm.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The case of a Pottawattamie County man charged connection with the death of a woman struck by a UTV, will head to trial in mid-May.  As previously reported, 83-year-old Sandra Madron, of Oakland, was struck by a UTV that was operating on a sidewalk in Oakland, at around 4:30-p.m. on Dec. 26, 2024.  An investigation determined 84-year-old Gene Fritz, of Oakland, was heading home from a bar after having a couple of beers, and authorities say as was often the case for him, he drove on the sidewalk because, as he explained to Deputies, he can’t see well. Fritz said also, he “drives very slow.” He acknowledged he didn’t see Madron until his UTV struck her. He told authorities “she must have been wearing dark clothing.

Deputies found the woman laying on her left side, with a member of the Oakland Rescue Squad providing assistance at the scene. She died from her injuries at Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs.

Deputies conducted a traffic investigation and asked Fritz to undergo field sobriety tests due to his admission of drinking alcohol and being involved in the accident. Fritz complied with the tests and a preliminary breath test (PBT). His daughter-in-law told KJAN that Mr. Fritz passed both tests (That information was not included in the Sheriff’s report or any subsequent updates).

Deputies also discovered that Fritz did not have a valid driver’s license and that the UTV was not registered for roadway use. Fritz was released to his son, while the UTV was impounded. He was  charged last month with Homicide by Vehicle/Reckless Driving. Fritz posted a $10,000 bond and was released.

His jury trial is set to begin May 13th at 9:30-a.m.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report a man was arrested on drug charges Thursday night. Authorities say 18-year-old Isaac Allen Johnson, of Red Oak, was taken into custody around 8:15-p.m. in the 2400 block of N. 8th Street, on charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana-1st offense – A Serious Misdemeanor, and Possession  of Drug Paraphernalia – A Simple Misdemeanor. Johnson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) -Governor Kim Reynolds was at the White House Thursday as President Trump signed an executive order calling for the U.S. Department of Education to be dismantled. Reynolds called the event “historic” and she posted a message on social media thanking Trump for his leadership and commitment to education freedom.

Reynolds also wrote an opinion piece for a Washington, D.C. publication called The Hill. She announced Iowa is the first state to submit a plan to have federal education dollars delivered as a block grant. Reynolds said state officials would be able to tie federal block grant funding to student outcomes. The money’s currently divided among nine programs. Reynolds says it amounts to small dollar investments that fail to move the needle for Iowa students or teachers.

The president of the Iowa State Education Association says the U-S Department of Education was created to ensure every student has access to education and the agency’s demise puts students at risk. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says the executive order puts rural schools and special education programs at risk.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a bill supporters say could make it easier to prosecute human traffickers and another that would make human smuggling a state crime. Legislators cited a lawsuit recently filed by six Guatemalans who say they were recruited to work at an egg processing facility in Clarion, then threatened with a gun and with deportation for complaining about overtime work and their pay. Republican Representative Mark Thompson of Clarion says it happened in his county and it’s time to hammer those who exploit vulnerable people.

“We owe it to the people who are less fortunate, we owe it to our law enforcement, we owe it to our county attorneys and our prosecutors to give the tools to, again, hammer these people,” Thompson said. The House unanimously passed the bill which removes the requirement an ongoing relationship must be present for someone to be charged with human trafficking. The other bill, which passed on a 75 to 14 vote, would make it a state crime to hide or shelter someone who is violating federal immigration laws and take something of value — like money — to help them enter or stay in the U-S.

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison guided a similar bill through the House last year, but senators did not consider it. “Law enforcement has told me that this legislation would provide more tools in the fight not just to prosecute those who are engaged in human smuggling, but also those bad actors engaged in concealing those here illegally in order to coerce them into what amounts to slave labor whether it be on farms or in manufacturing facilities,” Holt said.

Representative Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, says there are concerns the bill is written too broadly and Iowans offering food or shelter to victims of human smuggling might be charged with a crime.  “Inadvertently penalizing service providers who are trying to provide aid to vulnerable people based out of their religious or humanitarian convictions,” James said. Despite those concerns, James voted for the bill.

(Radio Iowa) – A bonobo ape who gained fame for understanding how to communicate with humans through symbols has died. Kanzi lived at what had been the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines that was later taken over by the Ape Institute. Kanzi judged food at the Iowa State Fair and also learned how to play Minecraft.

The Ape Institute says his cause of death is unknown, but it had been treating him for heart disease. He was 44 years old.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were arrested on drug charges last Saturday (March 15th):

38-year-old Tony Lee Mack and 61-year-old Kimberly Joyce Register, both of Atlantic, were each charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Mack was also taken into custody on three Cass County warrants. Both subjects were booked into the Cass County Jail and held.

On March 14th, 31-year-old Dillon Lee Foote, of Griswold, was arrested in Cass County for OWI/2nd Offense.

And, on March 16th, 32-year-old Cesar Carmona Bobadilla, of Omaha, NE, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense.

Foote and Bobadilla were transported to the Cass County Jail, booked-in, and later released on bond.

DES MOINES—Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate announced today (Thursday) that his office has completed additional audits of Iowa’s voter registration lists and identified 277 confirmed non-citizens who have voted or are registered to vote. After gaining access to the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) program, the agency compared its data with the self-reported non-citizen data received from the Iowa Department of Transportation last fall. Access to the SAVE program has allowed the Iowa Secretary of State’s office to significantly reduce the former estimate of 2,186 potential non-citizens to 277 confirmed non-citizens. That is approximately 12% of the 2,186 individuals.

Further review found that 35 non-citizens cast ballots that were ultimately counted in the 2024 General Election and 5 non-citizens attempted to cast ballots that were rejected.

• 18 non-citizens cast normal ballots at the polls on Election Day; these votes were counted.
• 15 non-citizens returned absentee ballots; these votes were counted.
• 2 non-citizens cast provisional ballots at the polls on Election Day; these votes were counted.
• 2 non-citizens returned absentee ballots that were rejected by the Absentee and Special Voters Precinct (ASVP) boards.
• 3 non-citizens voted provisional ballots on Election Day that were rejected by the ASVP boards.
• 22 non-citizens registered to vote in 2024 but did not vote.

All of these non-citizens will be turned over to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and Iowa Department of Public Safety for investigation and next steps. The Iowa Legislature is currently considering proposals from the Secretary of State’s office on voter list maintenance. This legislation allows the office to verify citizenship at the point of registration. Pate says “The federal government reviewed our data and verified the citizenship status but refused to share who the non-citizens were. Only eligible Iowa voters should participate in Iowa elections. We are working with the Iowa legislature on solutions to verify citizenship at registration rather than as ballots are cast, and we’re confident both chambers will recognize the importance of this legislation. Our proposed solutions will be crucial next steps in confidently balancing voter participation with election integrity.”

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field office in Des Moines reviewed the set of 2,186 self-reported non-citizens last fall and confirmed with the Iowa Secretary of State’s office that approximately 12% of those individuals were non-citizens. The Washington, D.C. office later denied the Iowa Secretary of State’s office access to that clarifying data. Secretary Pate issued directives to affected counties to require potential non-citizens to cast provisional ballots and later provide documentary proof of citizenship for the ballots to be accepted.

In addition to legislative proposals, Secretary Pate is pursuing legal action against USCIS. The lawsuit asks the federal government to provide valuable information that would streamline citizenship verification and allow election officials to compare voter registration lists with the SAVE program data using social security numbers.

“Maintaining election integrity is a team sport, and we need cooperation from multiple agencies, including the federal government,” said Secretary Pate. “We are hopeful that between our legislative proposals and this lawsuit, we will have the tools we need to verify voter eligibility during the voter registration processes, allowing us to ensure in the future, only eligible Iowa voters are participating in Iowa elections.”

(Radio Iowa) – Utility crews continue working to restore the power across the state following Wednesday’s blizzard. MidAmerican Energy company spokesman Geoff Greenwood says this was one of the bigger storms to impact the system. “I would say our peak was about 33-thousand customers. But keep in mind that even as we restored customers, there were others who were losing power. So it was a number that changed every hour,” he says. There were more than 50-thousand total customers who lost power in the storm. Western and northwest Iowa saw the most damage and Greenwood says the Interstate 29 corridor between Sergeant Bluff and Missouri Valley got clobbered.

“There is particularly extensive damage in that area due to this storm. So overnight, we’ve brought in some additional outside crews, and we have sent in a lot of extra equipment and materials as well, because that is going to be a Herculean task to restore our system in that area,” he says. The interstate was shut down for several hours after power lines fell onto the roadway. Greenwood says the changing precipitation as the storm blew through caused problems when combined with the wind.”The high winds, in addition to the accumulation of ice and heavy wet snow on top of the lines. In some cases, it just weighted it down. But in other cases, the high winds caused the lines to bounce. And they bounced violently, which we call galloping that snapped lines. It took down power poles, and in several cases, they were cascading power poles that went down,” Greenwood says. Greenwood says they sent line and tree crews out to clear trees and replace the poles.

“Overnight, we sent materials to western Iowa. We have inventory throughout our service area, so if we need something moved, we can do that, and we have done that, and we are continuing to send materials and crews that way to address those issues,” he says. Greenwood says they staged in the area before the storm and also called in help from others states. The storm made it difficult to quickly get to work in some areas. “We had crews that couldn’t get out to where they needed to go because the roads were impassable. We have had some situations where utility trucks were stuck and it took some time for us to be able to access certain areas,” Greenwood says. “And so in some cases, we had to wait till daylight hours to be able to understand and assess what had happened, so we could start making plans to fix it.”

MidAmerican was showing some 29-hundred customers still without power at noon today (Thursday), with more than one thousand in Council Bluffs and almost 14-hundred in the Sioux City area.