Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker is not ruling out the possibility a clear winner will fail to emerge after next year’s primaries and caucuses around the country — and delegates at the G-O-P’s 2016 national convention will have to pick the party’s White House nominee. “It’s possible. I mean, it’s a great field, a lot of great candidates…Sooner or later it will be easier to tell how many are not running in the Republican field than those that are,” Walker jokes.

Walker, who is the governor of Wisconsin, says he will not “speak ill” of his Republican competitors, but he’s telling audiences he’s a “doer” who can get the job done. “I just didn’t win three elections in four years in a blue state,” Walker says. “I won on the issues that people care about.” Walker’s most high-profile fight was his successful effort to roll back the collective bargaining rights of unions the represent government employees.

“Unions are just fine. What we did is we took on the big government union bosses and we put the power back firmly into the hands of the hardworking taxpayers,” Walker said. “That was good for the taxpayers. It was pro-worker.” Walker signed a “right to work” law in Wisconsin early this year. It forbids organized labor from forcing non-union workers to pay union dues or fees in a workplace where employees have voted to unionize. Walker is on a campaign swing through southwest Iowa today (Friday), with stops scheduled in five counties. He’ll be in Atlantic at the Masonic Lodge for a fundraising campaign, this evening.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is warning of a scam targeting Iowans involving the DCI. The Iowa DCI has received reports in the last two weeks from citizens receiving threatening phone calls from scammers posing to be DCI Agents.  The scammers claim there are active arrest warrants issued and demand money to avoid being arrested.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety, and all Divisions within DPS, will never ask for money nor make threats of this nature. If you receive a phone call similar to those mentioned above, you are asked to contact your local law enforcement and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office Hotline at (515) 281-5926 or (888) 777-4590.

Listed below are some helpful tips to prevent being targeted by fraudulent calls.

• If you get a call from someone who claims they are collecting money on behalf of the DPS—even if a caller ID device shows the DPS—hang up.
• The DPS does not demand immediate payment via prepaid debit cards.
• Do not provide or confirm personal information or financial information to anyone who calls.
• You do not need to report the scam if you receive a call. However, if you lost money through the scam, report it to your local police department or sheriff’s office.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Department of Veterans Affairs officials say funding of adult day care and other skilled and nonskilled services for Nebraska and western Iowa veterans has been bolstered by belt-tightening and will continue through Sept. 30, past the scheduled cutoff. The VA’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System said Friday that it will pay for all current authorizations for those services for eligible veterans enrolled in VA health care.

Because of funding shortfalls, the system had planned to stop paying for those services provided by community agencies as of Saturday. But the system says its fiscal management team found ways to control expenses so the system could continue paying for the services. In addition, President Barack Obama is expected to sign a new funding bill covering the VA shortfall.

Deputies in Cass County arrested a man from Shelby County Wednesday. Officials say 22-year old William Eugene Dunlap, Jr., 22, of Harlan, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Dunlap was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $5,000 bond.

The Department of Natural Resources says it’s checking on a manure spill from a hog farrowing operation that occurred in Adams County, Thursday afternoon. Officials say at about 3:45 p.m., manure backed up and ran out a pipe at a New Fashion Pork facility near Nodaway. The spill occurred during a routine transfer of manure from a barn to a storage lagoon.

Staff immediately shut off flow, but estimate 15,000 gallons may have been released. The manure flowed under a county road and across a pasture with some reaching a ditch that flows to the Middle Nodaway River.

Farm staff built a temporary dam with hay bales and dirt, quickly stopping the manure flow at the edge of the pasture by 5:20 p.m. when DNR staff arrived. The DNR collected water samples Thursday evening. Field tests in the ditch and a tributary to the river showed slightly elevated levels of ammonia and no signs of dead fish.

A contractor was working Friday to excavate manure and saturated soil from the pasture, expecting to complete cleanup by early morning. The DNR will monitor cleanup and consider appropriate enforcement action.

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) – The mother of a Grinnell College student slain nearly 23 years ago says she’s trying to remain optimistic that investigators will solve the case.
Twenty-one-year-old Tammy Jo Zywicki’s body was found in September 1992 near Springfield, Missouri, a month after her car was found in Illinois. She’d been driving back to the central Iowa school from her New Jersey home.

Tammy Jo Zywicki

Her mother, JoAnn Zywicki, told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that she’d been hopeful since enlisting the aid of the Philadelphia-based Vidocq Society, which is known for its interest in cold cases. But she says budget cuts are making it difficult for the investigation to progress in Illinois.

Illinois State Patrol Master Sgt. Jeff Padilla says the budget hasn’t been cut and that the Zywicki case remains a high priority.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Friday) approved a Federal Aid Agreement for a bridge replacement project on N-28, two-miles south of Highway 92, over a tributary to the West Nodaway River, near the Montgomery County line .

The agreement stipulates the County will comply with all Federal requirements that enable to the County to receive money for projects, which in this case amounts to 80-percent of the bridge cost. The bridge is expected to cost $600,000.

The Board also adopted a “Resolution to revise [the] Cass County Five-Year Program,” by advancing a bridge project on Akron Road, over a tributary of Crooked Creek, in Grant Township. Bridge #347 is on the Cass-Audubon County line. Audubon County will reimburse Cass County for half the project cost. The Resolution moves the project and costs from the 2016 Fiscal year to the 2017 Fiscal Year.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors also approved a request by Marker to put gravel on a Level B – or, dirt – road, that serves as access for the Griswold Golf Course, on the south side, one-mile north of Highway 92. The rock will cost about $10,000, but Marker says the County is in the position to make that happen.

A bridge that normally makes the Golf Course accessible, will be replaced beginning next Monday (August 3rd). The project is expected to be mostly complete by mid-November. The alternate road mean while, will remain Level B.

A ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening was held this (Friday) morning in Atlantic, for the Buck Creek Dog Park, located on the northwest side of the Schildberg Recreation Area.

Parks & Rec Board President Stuart Dusenberry cuts the ribbon for the Buck Creek Dog Park

Local dignitaries, park staff, Street Department personnel, the Dog Park Committee, Parks and Rec Board members, and members of the public gathered for the event, which, according to Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones has been in the works for about four-years, ever since his daughter came to him asking why Atlantic doesn’t have a facility similar to her town, in Nebraska.

Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring says he got the ball rolling by asking Dr. Keith Leonard (retired) from Atlantic Animal Health Center (currently owned by The Hoffman Family, and Dr. Victora with the Cass County Animal Clinic,if they would be willing to place collection jars at their businesses, to garner interest and funds for the facility.

After the Parks and Rec Department publicly announced plans for the Dog Park, Herring says a member of the community stepped forward with a substantial donation. Kevin and Christi Garrett put up $1,000 as seed money.

A huge chunk of money for the fencing came from the Cass County Community Foundation, which provided a grant amounting to $10,000, or nearly two-thirds of the cost.

Eagle Scouts Cain Page (Left) & Eric Wieser (right). Parks & Rec Director Roger Herring (Center)

And, two young men with the Eagle Scouts contributed time and labor toward the project, including Eric Wieser, who built and installed the exercise and agility equipment at the park. Cain Page, who built cantilevered sunshades and benches. Steve Livengood, of Atlantic also contributed a substantial amount of his time and effort toward the project.

Herring thanked everyone who donated their time, effort and of course contributions toward making the Buck Creek Dog Park a facility Atlantic can be proud of.

A half dozen people delivered more than five-thousand petition signatures to the governor’s office Thursday afternoon, urging Governor Terry Branstad to keep the two remaining state-run Mental Health Institutes open. Branstad closed the Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant this year and Aubreeanna Dolan, of West Des Moines organized the online petition drive.

“The resources are not out there for these individuals that are in these homes,” she says. Legislators passed a bipartisan compromise that would have temporarily restored services at the Clarinda Mental Health Institute for frail elderly patients who are mentally ill. The plan also called for reopening the Mount Pleasant facility for treatment of patients with the dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse. Branstad vetoed those proposals and has not ruled out closing the remaining two Mental Health Institutes. Dolan says the mental health care system cannot stand the loss.

“I know several individuals that have gotten services from these institutions and it’s saved their lives,” Dolan says. Dolan points to a recent Pew Charitable Trust report which ranked Iowa 47th among the states for the percentage of the state budget spent on mental health services. The state president of the AFSCME union and 20 state legislators have filed a lawsuit challenging Governor Branstad’s closure of the Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant. Fewer than 200 mentally ill patients are cared for in the state hospitals in Cherokee and Independence.

(Radio Iowa)

A woman from Marne was cited for Failure to Maintain Control and Failure to Yield one-half of the roadway, following a collision Thursday afternoon on Highway 83, near Walnut.  Lt. Rob Ambrose, with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department, told KJAN News 26-year old Heidi Johnson, of Marne, was traveling east at around 2:18-p.m., when the 2013 Nissan Rouge (a crossover-style SUV) she was driving, crossed the center line of the road into part of the westbound lane. The SUV collided with a westbound 2002 Chrysler, driven by 26-year old Samantha Walters, of Atlantic.

Walters suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported by Walnut Rescue to Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan, for treatment. Johnson refused medical treatment at the scene. Damage from the crash amounted to approximately $24,000.