(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report the arrest Tuesday, of a 24-year-old Glenwood man. William Ingels was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Child Endangerment. Ingels was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail, until seen by a magistrate judge.

(Radio Iowa) – An emotional moment in the Iowa Senate today (Wednesday) as Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver was honored with this year’s “Uncommon Public Service” award from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation. Whitver, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last spring, has been the top Republican in the senate since 2018. “The last year has been full of challenges for me, but almost daily someone asks how my family is doing. I tell them they’re praying for me. The kids are actually doing well. I’m thankful for every person that has been praying for us and helping us,” Whitver said. “…I’m honored and humbled to be recognized today and to be part of the Iowa Senate.”

Whitver’s parents, his wife and his mother in law stood beside him as he spoke. Senate President Amy Sinclair says the award recognizes people who have selflessly gone above and beyond their duty as a legislator.  “Even after a brain tumor diagnosis, he’s continued to serve with resilience and dedication,” she said. The award was established in 2007. Each year two state legislators are honored, one from the Senate and one from the House. This year’s award winner in the House is Representative Keenan Judge, a Democrat from Waukee. “It’s an honor to be standing here before you,” he said. “…I couldn’t be more humbled to tell you the truth, so thank you.”

Senator Jack Whitver (official photo)

Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann says Judge has shown an ability to navigate complex issues. “A respected bipartisan legislator, he has constantly and consistently championed policies that improve the lives of Iowans,” Kaufmann said, “while fostering civility and cooperation among colleagues on both sides of the aisle.” The annual award is inspired by remarks President Herbert Hoover delivered in 1948 about uncommon men who provide vital sparks of leadership for the country. Hoover is the only native Iowan to be elected president.

(Radio Iowa) – A statewide tornado drill was held at 10 a-m today (Wednesday) as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week. National Weather Service meteorologist Peter Rogers says if you weren’t able to participate this is an excellent opportunity to review your safety procedures and ensure you’re prepared. Rogers says we often talk about having an emergency kit on hand in the winter, but it’s also important in spring and summer as well. “What would you do if you happen to need to be at your home for multiple days, if you got cut off, or, God forbid, if you actually had to evacuate your home? What kind of what kind of belongings would you want to bring with you?,” he says.

“Obviously, food and water comes to the top of the mind, but then there’s a lot of other additional things that you’re probably going to want to have.” Rogers says it’s also important to coordinate with family members so you know each other’s whereabouts if a storm hits.  “Figure out where people are, what they need to do, where they need to go, and so those are all things that, again, would be a great thing to be discussing at this time of the year, before we get into the heart of severe weather season,” he says.

Rogers says plan now and you can avoid a lot of confusion and concern if severe weather does hit your home or neighborhood.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Auditor Mandy Berg reported to the Adair County Board of Supervisors this (Wednesday) morning, her office will be closed for one day next week.

Because the office will be closed Wednesday, the Supervisors agreed to move their regular weekly meeting (normally held on Wednesday), to Tuesday of next week. In other business, the Adair County Supervisors, during their brief session, approved a mowing contract with Mike Mangels for $25 per mowing, as needed. And, they approved Prussia Township clerk wages in the amount of $80 for Randy Christoffersen.

(Radio Iowa) – A newly-formed non-profit group is now working to help residents in a small northwest Iowa town rebuild their homes and lives after last year’s historic floods. The Hawarden United Foundation is a completely new concept for the community, according to board member Cy McMahon. “When the flood hit in June,” McMahon says, “we didn’t have any not-for-profit set up that was specifically designed to help the people of Hawarden in case of a disaster like this.” In the immediate aftermath of the flooding Big Sioux River, residents got help in the form of food and a place to stay, but the rebuilding effort is a long-term process. McMahon says many residents still need assistance.

2024 flooding in Spencer. (DOT photo)

“Our role as Hawarden United Foundation is taking cash donations, financial donations, and using those donations to help homeowners by building materials so that the volunteer groups can do the work and get more bang for their buck,” McMahon says. “So instead of having to pay a contractor for them to buy materials, we pay for the materials, and then we are having volunteer contractors, and so that has been a huge help.” He says the foundation has been working alongside World Renew to help homeowners rebuild. “It’s a volunteer group of skilled people who come in to help provide labor and expertise to fix up houses and all that the homeowners are responsible for, to come up with building materials that they use to help fix it up,” McMahon says. “Partnering with groups like that have made coming back possible.”

McMahon says anyone with home repair skills can still volunteer to help in the rebuilding effort. Donations can be made through the website Hawarden United Foundation-dot-com.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a bill that would lower the legal age for carrying a handgun in the state to 18. Under current law, people who do not have a professional permit must be at least 21 years old in order to possess a handgun. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says the bill upholds the U-S Constitution’s Second Amendment AND the amendment voters recently added to Iowa’s Constitution on the right to keep and bear arms. “Unlike other countries, our constitutions are designed to restrict the power of government as opposed to restricting people,” Holt said. “This is an important step in honoring the rights of our young adults by getting government out of the way.” A recent federal court ruling struck down Minnesota’s ban on 18, 19, and 20 year olds from possessing a pistol or revolver.

“The idea that young adults age 18 to 20 are not mature enough to own a handgun is being rejected by the courts,” Holt said. “The courts are ruling that young adults have the same right to keep and bear arms as older adults.” The bill passed on a 79 to 18 vote. Representative Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque who voted no, says she understands court decisions have set the stage for this type of legislation, but James says data about gun violence is a concern. “Death by gun is the second leading cause of death among children and teens,” James said. If the bill becomes law, 18, 19 and 20 year olds will still be barred from buying guns from federally-licensed gun dealers. Holt says that’s necessary because the National Instant Criminal Background Check System — called NICS — hasn’t caught up with a 2022 U-S Supreme Court ruling that expanded gun rights.

© Aristide Economopoulos/for NJ Monitor (Via the Iowa Capital Dispatch)

“This is a solution to respecting the rights of young adults to practice their Second Amendment rights,” Holt said, “while also working within the current restrictions in the NICS system.” The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board is holding a Native Landscaping Program next month. The program will be held in the Atlantic Public Library’s Community Room on April 5th, beginning at 11-a.m.

An additional session will be held at the Outdoor Educational Classroom (OEC), south of Massena, on April 5th, beginning at 2-p.m. Both programs are FREE, and all ages are welcome to attend. Conservation staff will be discussing different Native plants and how to incorporate them into your yard. Discover how to use native plants in your yard.

(Photo via raincampaign.org)

The OEC is located south of Massena. To get there, take Highway 148 south of Massena, turn left on Tucson Road and follow it East for about two miles, then turn right hand into the parking lot.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report a woman from Creston was arrested Tuesday afternoon, on an OWI charge. 50-year-old Amy Lynn Whitney was arrested at around 2-p.m., and charged with OWI/1st offense. She was transported to the Union County Jail, and later released after posting an allowed 10% of her $1,000 bond.

(Mondamin, Iowa/KCCI-TV)  — A community in western Iowa is rallying behind a Vietnam War veteran trying to get back on his feet after losing his home.  During last week’s blizzzard, Mondamin resident John Bell lost power to his home, and fired up a wood-burning stove to stay warm. Then his house caught fire. The 79-year-old Bell was able to escape with his dog, “Baby,” but lost everything else, including his books and photo albums from his tour in Vietnam, and letters from the buddies he served with.

Neighbors took him in. Bell is currently residing now set up in a motel in Harrison County. Those same neighbors also started a GoFundMe to help Bell get a permanent place to stay. As of today (Wednesday), a little more than $6,900 had been raised.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A newly filed lawsuit accuses Casey’s General Stores and an Iowa Board of Regents member of colluding with others as part of an illegal conspiracy to limit competition at convenience store fuel pumps. The lawsuit was filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by a JF Acquisitions, a North Carolina company that builds and installs gasoline pumps found at convenience stores. The defendants in the case are Seneca Companies, based in Des Moines; OWL Services, a Michigan corporation; and Trive Capital Management, a Texas private equity firm. Although the lawsuit claims Casey’s General Stores and Iowa Board of Regents member JC Risewick are involved in the alleged conspiracy, they are not named as defendants in the case. Risewick is the chief strategy officer for OWL Services and the former owner of Seneca, according to Board of Regents records.

While significant portions of JF Acquisitions’ court petition are redacted from public view without explanation, the company argues that Trive has been consolidating the gas-pump distribution and servicing industry throughout the United States. Trive is alleged to have created OWL Services, which the lawsuit calls “a rollup of several fuel-dispenser distribution, installation and service companies.” In 2024, the lawsuit claims, Trive quietly added an OWL competitor, Seneca, to its portfolio and never publicly announced the deal or informed regulators of it due to “obvious competition concerns.” This lack of disclosure extended to a state conflict-of-interest report filed by Risewick, the Iowa Board of Regents member, the lawsuit claims.

Risewick allegedly disclosed his affiliation with Seneca and OWL, but not with Trive — a “potentially relevant omission given the fact that the University of Iowa Foundation is a limited partner in multiple Trive funds,” the lawsuit claims. Following Trive’s acquisition of Seneca, the lawsuit claims, the defendants allegedly engaged in “exclusionary and predatory conduct” aimed at cementing their combined market power and diminishing competition in the fuel-dispenser distribution and servicing market in Iowa and southern Illinois. JF Acquisitions alleges it has been “the chief target” of these “anti-competitive measures.” Specifically, the lawsuit claims the defendants have tried to exclude JF Acquisitions from the market by “cutting it off from the customer, supplier, and employee relationships that are essential” for JF to do business in Iowa and Illinois.

This store on Des Moines’ Park Avenue is part of the Casey’s General Store chain. (Photo by Clark Kauffman/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

The defendants allegedly did this by entering into what JF Acquisitions calls “an unlawful conspiracy — including each of the defendants and Casey’s General Stores, one of JF’s most significant customers nationally and the largest convenience store chain in the Midwest region — pursuant to which Casey’s has agreed with defendants that it will all but entirely boycott JF” in Iowa and southern Illinois. The lawsuit also alleges the defendants have engaged in a “smear campaign” against JF Acquisitions that has included misrepresentations concerning the latter’s capacity to legally service stores in Iowa and Illinois. Seneca, the lawsuit claims, has also attempted to “intimidate its workforce” through the unreasonable enforcement of broad noncompete agreements with hourly workers who service gas pumps. In one instance, Seneca allegedly sued a former employee who sought employment with a competitor. The worker was then ordered to pay more than $70,000, although the man’s total wages amounted to only $31,000 per year.

The lawsuit alleges that as part of the purported conspiracy, Risewick wrote to one fuel-distribution company “in an effort to thwart JF’s entry into the market.” The lawsuit appears to then quote from the Risewick letter, but all of the relevant text is redacted from public view. As further evidence of Risewick’s alleged role in the matter, the lawsuit alleges Risewick is “a close personal friend of Darren Rebelez, the chairman and CEO of Casey’s.” On Feb. 28, 2024, Risewick emailed Rebelez, the lawsuit states, “and suggested (redacted).” The lawsuit also appears to quote from “private text messages,” including one from the head of procurement for Casey’s to Risewick — although, again, the actual content of the purported text message is redacted from the court filing. Risewick was appointed to the Iowa Board of Regents on June 21, 2022, by Gov. Kim Reynolds. His term expires on April 30, 2025.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for monopolization and conspiracy to restrain trade in violation of the federal laws known as the Sherman Act, as well as conspiracy to restrain and monopolize trade in violation of the Iowa Competition Law and tortuous interference with prospective business relationships in violation of state law. The defendants have yet to file a response to the lawsuit.