(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday evening acted on a number of different matters, including paying recognition to a Scout, and two librarians. Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett recognized Michael Hocamp for having achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. The Mayor spoke of how Michael rose through the Scout ranks.

Eagle Scout Michael Hocamp (2/19/25 – Ric Hanson photo)

Hocamp earned his Eagle Scout badge in November, 2024. The Mayor mentioned less than 6% of all Boy Scouts achieve this rank, which is the highest that can be achieved in the organization. It takes 21 badges to be make Eagle Scout. Hocamp has 49. She said over the years, other young men have come before the Council and were recognized for their Eagle Scout achievement, which exemplifies their commitment to service.

She said his Eagle project was a kayak launch with a ramp and section of dock at Lake Icaria, which was completed in April, 2024. Mayor Garrett and the Council also recognized Diane McFadden for her 36 years of service at the Atlantic Public Library. She is an Adult Services Librarian.

She is known for her excellent customer service. And, Sondra Marnin was recognized for her 10 years of service to the Atlantic Public Library. She started as a clerk and became a Youth Assistant Librarian in 2023.

Diane McFadden

In other business, the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed the Third & Final Reading of an Ordinance “Amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Atlantic,

Sondra Marnin

Iowa, by Amending Chapter 165, Zoning Regulations.” And, they adopted the following Resolutions:

• • “Setting the date for a Public Hearing for the Proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy for Fiscal Year 2026 as March 26, 2025, at 5:00 P.M.”
  •  “Approving the Proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy for FY 2026.”
  • “Designating the Distribution of Sales Tax Revenues to Various Funds for Specific Purposes.”
  • “Setting the Date for a Public Hearing on a Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Solid Waste Management Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder in a Principal Amount not to exceed $90,000,” and, they passed a Resolution
  • “Setting the Date for Public Hearing on Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder.”

The meeting concluded with a closed session for Collective Bargaining purposes.

(Atlantic, Iowa) –  Video camera systems are everywhere these days, from the car dashboard to home video doorbells, businesses and street corners, along the Interstate and just about anywhere an incident can occur. Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue, Wednesday, told the Atlantic City Council, he’s been working on a project for well over a year, to establish a camera system that would be placed at the entrances into the City.

The cameras will not be used for speed enforcement, according to Chief Hogue.

Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue (2-20-25) Ric Hanson photo

Chief Hogue says having the system would help with recovering stolen vehicles from Atlantic, using a network of cameras he would have access to throughout the area. Hogue said the success of the cameras have been proven in other jurisdictions, like State Center. The camera system at the City entrances is what he calls “Phase 1.”

A specific location for six cameras has not yet been established. AMU, Chief Hogue said, would make sure the cameras have power. The system would cost $14,500 per year, for five-years.

The cost drops to about $550 per camera after the five-years, and at that point the City would own the cameras. Chief Hogue told KJAN the cameras likely won’t be installed until the weather warms-up.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Wednesday night, arrested a man from Emerson on an OWI charge. Authorities say 39-year-old Delton Lyden was taken into custody a little after 8-p.m. in the 100 block of W. Coolbaugh Street. Lyden was charged with OWI/2nd offense. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – A bill that would shield pesticide companies from label-related lawsuits, provided the company adhered to federal label regulations, advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Senate Study Bill 1051 passed 11-7, with opposing senators arguing the bill protects companies rather than Iowans.  Sen. Mike Bousselot, who chaired the bill’s subcommittee, said the bill was a “common sense” piece of legislation.

“It is the simple premise that someone should not be allowed to sue someone else … for failing any duty to warn, when that manufacturer followed every federal rule and regulation required to warn,” Bousselot said. Similar legislation has cropped up in states across the country, and is pushed by the Modern Ag Alliance, a grouping of agriculture groups and Bayer, a biotech company and manufacturer of the common pesticide, RoundUp.

Iowans protest a Senate bill on Feb. 10, 2024, that would shield pesticide companies from certain lawsuits. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Bayer has spent more $10 billion on lawsuits, across the county, with plaintiffs claiming the product failed to warn them that the chemical glyphosate was a carcinogen. Bayer and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides, hold that glyphosate is not cancer causing.

The bill advances to the Senate floor. Sens. Bisignano, Quirmbach, Mark Lofgren, Janet Petersen, Jeff Taylor, Cherielynn Westrich and Janice Weiner voted no.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A bill that would require parents’ permission for a kid to use social media in the state of Iowa advanced out of its House subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon. KCCI reports  HF 278 would require a social media platform to obtain parental permission before allowing a person under the age of 18 to create an account. It would also give parents the authority to revoke that permission at any time.

Social media platforms would also be required to give parents a means of access to the account so they can see posts and messages and limit the amount of time spent on the app. Several people spoke at the hearing, including Max Pringle. Pringle is a father of five from Indianola who said he supports the bill, but he has some concerns about data privacy.

Rep. Samantha Fett (R-Carlisle) said she and her colleagues listened to those concerns Wednesday. All three members of the House subcommittee, two Republicans and one Democrat, voted to advance the bill. It now heads to a full committee hearing.

(Radio Iowa) – A proposed constitutional amendment would do away with a voter-approved fund for conservation and outdoor recreation projects — and direct part of any future sales tax increase to property tax relief. Sixty-three percent of Iowa voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2010 that created the fund, but it has no money because it’s only to be filled if the state sales tax is raised. Mike Shannon, a biologist with Ducks Unlimited, opposes elimination of the fund.

“The Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund is not about water quality,” he said. “I mean, it’s about quality of life for Iowans.” Brett Hayes, a farmer from Mills County, supports the proposed amendment because it shifts the focus on property taxes. “Property taxes for farmers are a cost of doing business that keeps going up even when the farm economy’s struggling,” he said.

The proposed constitutional amendment is co-sponsored by 17 of the 34 Republicans in the Iowa Senate. It would have to be approved by the Senate and the House by 2026, and then again sometime in 2027 or 2028 before it could go before voters in 2028.

(Radio Iowa) – A recent Iowa State University graduate says after starting his dream job at the U-S-D-A’s National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in December, he is among the federal employees who were laid off last Friday. Logan Conner had worked at the U-S-D-A lab on the Ames campus for two and a half years and was named student employee of the year in 2022. He’s filed an appeal, through government’s Merit System Protection Board, to try to get his job back.

“We were doing a lot of different research on ways to mitigate nutrient runoff without affecting yield,” he said. “There have been numerous people who have been laid off because of this decision. There is research that isn’t going to be able to be done.” Conner spoke during a news conference organized by the Iowa Democratic Party. Terri Wollenberg, another speaker at the online forum, worked in the reception area at a Veterans Affairs office in Cedar Rapids that provides mental health services to veterans. She is joining a class action lawsuit to challenge her firing.

“I’m a 32 year veteran of both the Navy and Army and I just got a start in the federal workforce,” she said. “I don’t have a job, so what do I have to lose?”

The U-S Department of Agriculture announced this week it plans to rescind the firings of several people working on the federal government’s response to the current outbreak of bird flu in poultry and cattle.

(Radio Iowa) – The chairman of the Lee County Board of Supervisors — cited for public intoxicated during a board meeting this week — says he didn’t realize at the time he was drinking from a can of diet soda he’d mixed with bourbon night before.

According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, there were signs and odors of intoxication before chairman Tom Schultz left Tuesday’s board meeting to seek medical attention. In a statement to K-T-V-O T-V, Schultz says he felt dizzy and disoriented, had some tests done at the hospital, then left because he was feeling better. Schultz says he told officers who arrived at his home to get off his property and, while trying to reach the police chief who lives nearby, Schultz was stopped on the sidewalk and asked to take a breath test.

Schultz says he was shocked by the result and went back to the hospital for a second test. Schultz says it dawned on him then that he’d grabbed his nightcap from a basement refrigerator and had been drinking from a can of diet soda and bourbon during meetings that day.

(Iowa News Service) – With wintertime cold still gripping much of the nation, health experts are offering ways to overcome seasonal depression, which can accompany bitter temperatures and long, dark days. Lows in Iowa are forecast to be below zero for the rest of the week. A recent survey found 40% of Americans reported their mood worsens during the dark, cold winter months.

Dr. Rhonda Randall, chief medical officer and executive vice president of UnitedHealthcare Employer and Individual, said the gray days and bitter cold can have a direct effect on Iowans’ mental health. “We’re seeing increased suicides and drug overdose in our country,” Randall noted. “It really is important to recognize when you’re feeling blue and it’s persistent, when to seek help and get an assessment by a trained medical professional.”

Randall recommended spending time around friends to help overcome seasonal affective disorder and added it is important to connect with a mental health care provider, often accessible now by telehealth. Sometimes, the family doctor will do. Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can get help by texting or calling the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Randall acknowledged seasonal depression is not new and suggested some time-tested ways to get ahead of it. “The first is getting access to some true sunshine,” Randall advised. “30 to 60 minutes outside every day. Whatever it is that you do outside during the hours that the sun is up.”

The days are getting longer but Iowa still only gets about 10 hours of daylight each day in February.