(Clarinda, Iowa) – (UPDATED] Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers today (Monday) said the weather forecast for Tuesday night through Wednesday afternoon indicates a probability of accumulating snowfall with blizzard conditions. The Clarinda Police Department would like to remind the citizens of Clarinda about the snow ordinance. The ordinance states no person shall park any motor vehicle or other apparatus upon any street of the city that will obstruct the removal of snow when there has been an accumulation of two inches or more of snow or ice. Any vehicle left parked on any street in violation of this ordinance may be impounded, and the registered owner of the vehicle will be subject to a $30.00 parking fine, and payment of all applicable towing and storage fees before the vehicle is released. The parking ban remains in effect until the snow ceases to fall and the snowplow operators have plowed the streets from curb to curb.

(Radio Iowa) – University of Northern Iowa administrators are asking legislators for the seed money for a Center for Civic Education. It’s not a building. U-N-I president Mark Nook says the university’s College of Education and departments of history, philosophy and political science have spent the past five years laying the academic groundwork. “It really is focused on promoting civic learning not only on our campus, but at other universities and colleges across the state; increasing civic education knowledge especially amongst K-12 teachers — both those learning on our campus, but also those that are already active teachers across the state,” Nook said, “and then providing public programming as well.” U-N-I is asking the legislature to provide a million dollars to launch that programming and hire a director for the center.

University of Northern Iowa president Mark Nook (UNI photo)

“In the end what we are planning to do is we are going to ask the director to be very aggressive in fundraising, especially with grants and things, and to operate this center in the future fully off of outside money,” Nook says. Nook reviewed the plans with a group of legislators last week and he mentioned that U-N-I is the repository for U-S Senator Chuck Grassley’s papers. “His papers when he was in the state House here but then all his House papers when he was in the (U.S.) House and we will be receiving all of his Senate papers once he retires from the senate. It’s four semi loads of papers coming our way in the future, ” Nook said. “…Those will be a great asset to this university as we talk about engaged citizens and educating citizens for a civic life.”

Grassley earned an undergraduate degree from U-N-I in 1955 and a masters degree in political science in 1956. He won a seat in the Iowa House in 1958 and has held elected office ever since. Grassley designated U-N-I as the home for his papers in 1988. Senator Tom Harkin donated his papers to Drake University in Des Moines and that’s where the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Civic Engagement is located.

(Radio Iowa) – Marshalltown High School will be the first in central Iowa to launch what’s being called Three Dimensional Education or 3-D-E this fall, becoming the fourth school in the state to incorporate the innovative program. It’s being implemented through Junior Achievement of Central Iowa, where Ryan Osborn is president. He says 3-D-E authentically connects high school education to the complexities of the real-world, while working with corporate partners. “First and foremost, it was an instructional model developed to answer high school engagement. There are a lot of studies out there that find less than half high schoolers are engaged in their learning,” Osborn says. “The second reason is really out of this need to align high school graduates with the type of skills they’re going to need once they get out to the workforce.”

Osborn says the competency-based approach helps students unlock and develop skills like creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving. The platform includes case studies for ninth through eleventh graders that culminates in a capstone experience senior year where students work as business consultants to real clients.  “They’re working on a case that might be a real-world problem at an existing business, kind of like what you’d see at business school in college, bringing it down to the high school level,” Osborn says. “For a five-week period, those math teachers, English, social studies — all the core subjects — are all talking about that same case.” The program is taught throughout the day, not as an after-school elective, and of the 375 students who will start 9th grade in Marshalltown next year, as many as 150 are now being recruited for the program.

“We definitely have plans to continue to grow the model here in central Iowa,” he says. “We’re talking with Des Moines and Waukee. They’re actually in the due diligence process now and hopefully, they would be able to launch in the fall of ’26. That’s really kind of our plan. We’re looking to grow it about one or two schools per year.” Osborn says the 3-D-E model is proven to decrease chronic absenteeism and increase a variety of student success metrics, including graduation rates, proficiency rates, and self-efficacy.

The program was founded by Junior Achievement in 2015 and has been implemented across 60 high schools nationally. Three other high schools in Iowa are already using the 3-D-E program: Alburnett High, and Prairie and Washington in Cedar Rapids.

(Iowa News Service) – It’s been about a month since a federal judge upheld a court ruling that blocks an Iowa immigration bill from taking effect. It’s the latest action in an ongoing effort by the state of Iowa to tighten its immigration laws. The Iowa Legislature passed Senate File 2340 last year – which would have created new crimes for people who were deported and re-enter the country illegally, including children, even if they have been authorized to be in the U.S.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa’s Communications Director Veronica Lorsen Fowler said the bill was unconstitutional, and would have set a dangerous precedent had the law gone into effect. “It hands over enforcement from the federal government to local law enforcement,” said Lorsen Fowler, “which might on the face of it sound likes it makes sense – except that immigration law is extremely complicated.”

Lorsen Fowler says if the bill had become law, it would have conflicted with federal rules regarding enforcement of immigration laws. Iowa is among a handful of states trying to strengthen immigration policies. Border enforcement was among President Donald Trump’s campaign pledges. Lorsen Fowler said the judge putting the law on hold means Iowa’s immigrant families don’t have to live in fear. She said in the bigger picture, that’s good for the communities where they live.

Iowa state of United States flag textile cloth fabric waving on the top sunrise mist fog

“Various law enforcement officials have said if the goal is to keep our communities safer, this law does not do that,” said Lorsen Fowler. “And in fact, it does the opposite – because when you create fear in an immigrant community, when there are crimes, nobody will talk.”

She explained that immigrants are afraid of being deported if they reach out to law enforcement. With Senate File 2340 on hold, she added, that fear is lifted.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Two public hearings, and a presentation on the 2025 downtown street improvement plan are part of what’s on the agenda for Wednesday’s City Council meeting, in Atlantic. The meeting begins at 5:30-p.m. in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall.

First-up is a Public hearing on a proposal to “Enter into a General Obligation Corporate Purpose Loan Agreement” for $4.2-million dollars. The Council passed a resolution on Feb. 19th setting the hearing date for the Series 2024B G.O. Essential Purposes” bonds. The hearing is part of the process needed prior to issuing G.O. debt, or debt backed by property taxes. The hearing will be followed by action on passing a resolution to take “additional action” on the proposal as presented.  (Read more about the proposal here: City+Council+Agenda+Packet+03-05-2025-compressed)

The second public hearing is with regard to a “Proposal to enter into a General Obligation Solid Waste Management Loan Agreement.” The hearing will be followed by action on passing a resolution allowing the City to pay its share of the per-capita Cass County Landfill fee of $12 per resident, for a total of $84,344/annually, payable in four equal installments over the course of the fiscal year. Basically, it’s a renewal of an agreement that’s been in-place for quite some time.

The Council will then receive a presentation from City Engineer Dave Sturm, with regard to the final plans and specifications for the 2025 Downtown Street Improvement Project. The project includes the following sections of the downtown area in Atlantic, and have been in the City’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for many years: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Streets, from Poplar Street to Walnut Street, and Chestnut Street, from the Depot Station to 7th Street. The engineer’s total cost of those projects is estimated to be nearly $1.8-million. More information on when the projects are expected to begin and end, will be presented at the meeting, Wednesday.

The final order of business for the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, is action on passing a resolution”Authorizing bid letting and setting a public hearing” as 5:30-p.m. April 2nd, 2025 in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. The Code of Iowa requires competitive bids for horizontal infrastructure projects that are expected to exceed $62,000.

And, in his regular report to the Council, City Administrator John Lund is expected to address the “Inaccuracies [in the] Property Tax Levy Notice” for this Fiscal Year, as well as discuss with the Council proposed hours for the Sunnyside Pool in Atlantic.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak issued a written warning to the driver of a pickup truck, Friday afternoon, following a property damage accident. Authorities say 25-year-old Andrew Wilkinson, of Red Oak, was backing out of a driveway in the 1200 block of E. Cherry Street, at around 2:40-p.m., when his 2024 Chevy pickup struck a 1997 Ford pickup, that was legally parked on Cherry Street.

Damage to the Ford was estimated by police at $1,500. Wilkinson was issued a warning for Improper Backing.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Friday afternoon, arrested 29-year-old Andrew Michael Brammer, of Red Oak, on an Assault charge. Brammer was arrested at around 4:50-p.m. in the 400 block of E. Market Street, for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense – a Simple Misdemeanor. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending an initial court appearance.

(Marshalltown, Iowa) – The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office reports the body of an ice fisherman was recovered from a lake near Ferguson, Friday night. 64-year-old Timothy Eggers, of State Center, was recovered from the lake at around 8:30-p.m.  He was transported to a local hospital where he was later pronounced deceased.

Deputies had been called out to Green Castle Lake in Ferguson to help find a fisherman. When first responders arrived, they found Eggers partially submerged and unresponsive. The Marshalltown Fire Department began a cold-water rescue and the man was brought to shore and then taken to the hospital.

A preliminary investigation pointed to ice conditions on the lake as a contributing factor to the accident.

(Worth County, Iowa) – A single-vehicle crash early Saturday morning in northern Iowa claimed the life of a teenage passenger in the vehicle. The 20-year-old driver was injured in the crash.  According  to the Iowa State Patrol, 16-year-old Adyen Steele, of Saint Ansgar, died, when the 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix he was in, went out of control as it was eastbound on 410th Street, and struck a power pole before coming to rest in a ditch. The accident happened at around 6:40-a.m., just west of Kensett.

The driver of the car, Blair Hansen, also of Saint Ansgar, was injured and flown by helicopter to a Mason City hospital.  Both of the vehicle’s occupants were wearing their seat belts. The crash remained under investigation.

The accident marked the third separate crash over the past week that claimed the lives of two other teenagers. 16-year-old Logan Baldwin, of Webster City, died Friday morning when the tractor he was driving was hit from behind by a car, in Hamilton County. And, 19-year-old Jase Wilms, of New Market died in a fiery crash Feb. 23rd, in Page County.