(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Police Department reports one person suffered non-life threatening injuries during a collision this (Thursday) morning, at 7th and Locust Streets. The accident occurred at around 7:20-a.m., as a vehicle driven by Sidney Petty, of Atlantic, was traveling north on Locust and approaching 7th Street (Highway 6), and a vehicle driven by Forrest Yoshida, of Atlantic, was traveling west on 7th.

Photos courtesy of the Atlantic Police Dept.

When Petty failed to stop at the posted stop sign, the vehicle struck the westbound vehicle driven by Yoshida. A passenger in the Yoshida vehicle was transported to Cass Health to be checked-out and treated for injuries. Sidney Petty was cited for Failure to Obey a Stop Sign. Damage from the collision amounted to $45,000 altogether.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Capitol is packed with protesters as the Iowa legislature is poised to debate legislation to remove gender identity from the state’s Civil Rights Act. A 90-minute public hearing got underway at 9:30 a.m. and Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison who is the bill’s floor manager in the House, opened with a note of caution. “A lot of passion on this issue, but again, good order and discipline need to be maintained so everyone has the opportunity to have their voices heard,” Holt says. “Anyone that does disrupt the proceedings will be escorted from the room.”

Ryan Benn, legal counsel for The Family Leader, was first to testify. “Clearly, there are circumstances when it is necessary and right to differentiate between a real woman and a man masquerading as a woman,” Benn says. “It’s common sense. A man has no place in a bathroom or a locker room with my wife or my daughters, and taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for so called gender transition surgeries.”

Law enforcement officers are at the ready if protests get out of hand. (Radio Iowa photo)

V Fixmer-Oraiz, a member of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors who is a transgender Iowan, says the role of government is to protect the rights of all citizens. “Never would I have imagined standing before you in opposition to a bill designed to remove civil rights protections for a group of people, my people who regularly experience discrimination based on gender identity,” Fixmer-Oraiz says. “By striking gender identity from the State Civil Rights Act, you are condoning inequality and discrimination in housing, education and employment.”

The House and Senate are likely to pass the bill sometime today.

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S House budget blueprint that won approval this week calls for cutting federal spending on Medicaid by about 880-BILLION dollars over the next decade, but Second District Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says that should -not- translate to Medicaid recipients seeing cuts in payments. “The bill that we passed this week is simply a budget resolution that lays out instructions for committees. I think it’s important to note also, we don’t want to cut benefits. We want to protect the most vulnerable,” Hinson says. “There’s a lot of fear mongering around these bills, and I want to make sure that programs like Medicaid can continue to serve our most vulnerable, and that they are not rife with waste, fraud and abuse.”

Medicaid provides health coverage to almost 80-million low-income Americans. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says their goal is to focus on problem areas in various agencies, and not on hurting those who rely on federal assistance. “We do have hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud in many of these programs, so, I think we can all agree able-bodied adults should be working if they’re receiving benefits,” Hinson says. “The White House has made it clear, we’re not going to be touching benefits, but we’re going to be addressing ways where we can protect the traditional Medicaid populations and make sure that these programs can continue to exist.” There are critics who fear the budget plan will mean another delay to the Farm Bill, but during a conference call with Iowa reporters today (Thursday), Hinson says she remains optimistic.

“My whole point in supporting the budget resolution this week is to make sure we’re providing savings for taxpayers and protecting tax cuts for taxpayers, which also helps to support our agricultural producers and our farmers,” Hinson says. “So, we’ll be working through that with the Agriculture Committee in the coming weeks as we work through that budget resolution.” In addition, Hinson is co-sponsoring a bi-partisan bill called the S-B-A Disaster Transparency Act. She says it will hold the U-S Small Business Administration more accountable for how funds are distributed following disasters to help homeowners and small businesses to rebuild and recover.

“In Iowa, we are no strangers to natural disasters,” she says. “Ensuring transparency standards are in place across federal disaster relief accounts will enhance our preparedness for Iowans and all Americans.” During the stress of disaster recovery, Hinson says the last things anyone needs are “confusing, bureaucratic roadblocks.” She says the legislation will “streamline recovery efforts through the SBA, ensuring more Americans can access critical relief funds when they need them most.”

Earlier this week, Hinson released a statement saying she voted yes on the House G-O-P’s budget resolution so Congress can make good on President Trump’s America First agenda to secure the border, unleash American energy and prevent tax increases.

(Mount Ayr, Iowa) – The Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Mount Ayr was arrested a few days after an investigation began into a complaint filed on Feb. 14th, about an alleged incident of sexual abuse. Authorities say 19-year-old Kameron James Miller faces a Class-C Felony charge of Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree and a Class-B Felony charge of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree. Following a preliminary hearing in his case on Feb. 24th, Miller posted bond and was released. A No Contact Order remains in place to protect the alleged victim.

*Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (KCRG) – The stands at an eastern Iowa high school basketball game were filled with purple shirts and ribbons Wednesday night in memory of a teen who died in a crash, Tuesday. KCRG-TV reports purple was Kelli Schmitz’s favorite color. The 14-year-old from Jesup died after being taken to the hospital following the crash on Poyner Road in Black Hawk County. On Wednesday, the Don Bosco boy’s basketball team asked fans to wear purple as they faced Maquoketa Valley in a post season game in Independence.

Kelli’s cheerleader uniform sat on an empty chair. She was the one and only cheerleader for both the boy’s and girl’s basketball teams at Don Bosco, in Gilbertville. Kelli’s older brother is a senior on the Don Bosco basketball team.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for her family. It has already raised more than $28,000. The money will help cover funeral and memorial costs.

DES MOINES—Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Wednesday, announced lawsuits against Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip, Iowa’s two largest cryptocurrency ATM operators, over their failures that allowed Iowans to transfer millions of dollars to scammers through their kiosks. The announcement was made during a press conference at the Iowa Bankers Association in Johnston.

Bird said “Con artists are evil and will stop at nothing to steal everything you have,” said Attorney General Bird. “We already know that they target older Iowans, but now it seems that they even hunt through obituaries to target widows. They convince these older women that they need help, and then send their victims to crypto ATMs. And the crypto ATM companies take a cut of the profits. It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal. I’m fighting to get Iowans their money back and force the crypto ATM companies to make big changes. No Iowan should get ripped off like this.”

IA AG Brenna Bird press conference, 2-26-25

In October 2023, the Iowa Attorney General’s office launched a first-of-its-kind investigation into cryptocurrency ATM companies. The office subpoenaed 14 total crypto ATM companies for a list of Iowans who had sent money through their kiosks. The office then contacted those Iowans by phone and email. It also investigated complaints, police reports, and self-reported scams. The investigation revealed that hundreds of Iowans sent more than $20 million through Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip ATMs in a less than 3-year period. The majority of scam victims were over the age of 60.

The investigation also exposed how cryptocurrency ATMs profit off of Iowans getting scammed. Bitcoin Depot takes a 23% cut of the money Iowans send through the machines, and CoinFlip claims 21%.

The lawsuits allege that both Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip profit directly from Iowa scam victims by imposing excessive, and often hidden, transaction fees. It also alleges that Bitcoin Depot deceives Iowans about its refund policy. Attorney General Bird is suing both companies for violating the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. The investigation into crypto ATM companies is ongoing.

If you or someone you know has been targeted by a crypto ATM scam, contact the Iowa Attorney General’s office at 1-888-777-4590 or file a complaint online: https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/for-consumers/file-a-consumer-complaint.

After Bird’s press conference Coinflip released a statement that said:

We don’t believe these allegations reflect or align with CoinFlip’s strong compliance and consumer protection practices, which we look forward to defending. We never want to see anyone get scammed, so we work to protect customers with blockchain analytics to stop fraud, visible consumer warnings, and education campaigns. Thousands of Americans count on the freedom to use crypto kiosks every day for legitimate transactions, and protecting these consumers as they use kiosks to access digital currency is an important way to support our country’s national crypto innovation goals.

Dana Callahan, Coinflip Spokesperson

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa House subcommittee moved forward a bill on Wednesday afternoon that would limit foods that can be purchased through the supplemental nutrition assistance program. WHO-TV reports The bill advanced by a vote along party lines, 2 to 1. It provides a list of eligible foods for SNAP recipients: real eggs, real meat, real dairy, bread and grains, all fruits and vegetables, all cereals which includes granola, peanut butter and nuts, pasta, rice, and legumes and all items in the most current women, infants, and children approved foods list.

A lobbyist for the Iowa Hunger Coalition says more than 60& of SNAP participants said the cost of healthier foods is a barrier to them having a healthy diet each month. There were also concerns about grocery stores having to abide by the reduced lists, as employees would have to confirm the items being purchased through the SNAP program would lineup with state law.

One portion of the bill that everyone seems to agrees with, is the double up food bucks’ program. The bill adds an appropriation of $1 million to expand access for Iowans to get fresh fruits and vegetables.  But a majority of public comment on the bill were against the bill as a whole due to the changes to SNAP.

There could be changes to the list in the future, but the bill was advanced to keep the conversation ongoing as next week is the first massive deadline for Iowa lawmakers.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A bill that would expand coverage for firefighters with cancer advanced out of its Senate subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon. KCCI-TV in Des Moines reports SF 272 would expand the definition of cancer to include more than just the 14 presumed cancers currently covered by the state of Iowa.

It would also allocate $1,000,000 in state funding to cover cancer screening costs for first responders. The bill passed unanimously out of its Senate subcommittee hearing.

A similar bill passed the Iowa House unanimously in 2024, but it died in the Iowa Senate.