The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission toured the site of the proposed new casino near Jefferson Thursday morning, then held a public hearing on the Green County project. Commission chair, Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny, says hearing from the community helps in their decision. “It’s an important part of the process that we go through, is to have these public hearings and to let people on both sides of the issue give their input,” Lamberti says Wild Rose Entertainment is proposing a 40-million-dollar casino resort with restaurants, a conference center and hotel.. He says the commission has a goal when listening to the comments.

“We really focus on the criteria that we use in hearing from those people,” Lamberti says. The commission will make a final decision on awarding a gambling license for the project at its meeting on June 12th in Burlington. The commission denied a license for a casino proposal for Cedar Rapids at its April meeting. Lamberti said after that meeting that the vote against the Cedar Rapids casino would not impact the decision on the Greene County casino as they are in two different types of markets.

(Radio Iowa)

The two perceived front-runners in the race for the Iowa Republican Party’s U.S. Senate nomination refused to fire on one another last night during the final televised forum before next Tuesday’s primary. Candidates Joni Ernst and Mark Jacobs didn’t even mention one another by name. Instead, they repeatedly mentioned Bruce Braley, the only Democrat seeking Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat. One of the forum’s moderators directly asked Jacobs to describe his differences with Ernst, who leads in recent polls.

“With me you have a battle-tested business leader who has solved big financial problems,” Jacobs said. “Congressman Braley has supported higher levels of spending and increased government budgets. I’ve fixed a big fiscal mess.” Ernst said she is the only candidate in the race with a voting record, from her four years as a state senator. “There’s a clear contrast between Bruce Braley and myself and the first is that he has supported one of the largest tax increases in United States history,” Ernst said. “Here in Iowa, I have supported the largest tax decrease or tax cut.”

The other three candidates in the race mostly shied away from direct conflict, too. Sam Clovis described himself as the only candidate with national security experience and he touted his current role as an economics professor at Morningside College. “I think the people of Iowa deserve choices,” Clovis said. “…I don’t think there’s anyone in this race that will contrast more definitely from Bruce Braley than me.” Matt Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor, touted his call for repealing the Renewable Fuels Standard which requires a certain amount of ethanol to be produced each year.

“I took a lot of heat for that from special interests, but you know what? It’s the right thing to do,” Whitaker said. “It’s the conservative philosophy that…we believe in was Republicans.” Scott Schaben, a car sales manager from Ames, did chide some of his opponents for just giving “lip service” to certain issues, but he did not name names. “I provide pragmatic and feasible solutions,” Schaben said. Three of the candidates openly criticized one of former Republican President George W. Bush’s signature foreign policy decisions. Whitaker said the U.S. should not have gone into Iraq.

“Probably among these five, I would probably be the least likely to use our military and probably spend the least amount on the military,” Whitaker said. “It’s probably marginally less, but it is probably, among these five, I would do the least in that.” Jacobs agreed. “I don’t support the idea of going in and trying to force a regime change. I think that was a mistake, in hindsight,” Jacobs said. Moderator Kevin Cooney pressed Jacobs to comment on the other war begun during Bush’s presidency. “Afghanistan?” Cooney asked. Jacobs replied: “Afghanistan: same thing.” Schaben said he hated to be an “arm chair quarterback,” but Schaben said Bush got “bad intel” about Iraq.

“It’s something that our troops have to live with for the rest of their lives,” Schaben said. “And not only do our troops have to live with it, we as citizens of the United States have to live with that on the world stage.” Ernst, a unit commander in the Iowa National Guard, said “actionable intelligence” is important and she said the U.S. was “justified” in the decision to go into Afghanistan. “I served in Iraq and I’m not going to speculate on that,” Ernst said. “I think that would do a disservice to the men and women that I served with.”

Clovis also said he didn’t want to “discredit” the service of U.S. troops by commenting on the Iraq war. “I do think Afghanistan was justified and we should have gone in, got rid of the Taliban and the al Qaida and then come home,” Clovis said.

Last night’s forum was broadcast live on the Des Moines-based C-B-S affiliate K-C-C-I television during prime time.

(Radio Iowa)

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman says the Auditor’s Officer will be closed Monday, June 2nd, from 10:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. for the funeral service of Dennis Oathoudt. Those persons planning to vote absentee at the Cass County Auditor’s office on Monday, June 2nd may vote between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 10:30 A.M. or between the hours of 1:00 P.M. and 4:30 P.M.

A reminder also, that the Cass County Auditor’s Office will be open Saturday (May 31st) from 9-am to 5-pm for absentee voting and other election business.

Police in Council Bluffs late Thursday evening released additional details concerning a stand-off that occurred earlier in the day. Sgt. Chad Meyers said at 11:10-a.m., members of the Southern Iowa Fugitive Task Force were attempting to serve a felony arrest warrant on 39-year old Daniel E. Hannon, at 2126 6th Avenue. As members of the Task Force made initial contact with Hannon the residence, a single shot was fired by one of the Task Force members. Hannon then retreated back into the house at that address.

Due to the shot being fired, and Hannon’s arrest history, the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Emergency Services Team was activated, along with a team of Crisis/Hostage Negotiators . As the Negotiators were speaking with Hannon inside the home, he indicated that a female was inside with him and she would be coming out. The female then exited the home, uninjured.

At 12:15-p.m, Hannon exited out the front door and was taken into custody without further incident and transported to a local hospital, where he was treated for a wound to his upper right arm. The member of the Southern Iowa Fugative Task Force that fired the shot is a member of the U. S. Marshals Service assigned to the Southern District of Iowa. The Council Bluffs Police Department will be conducting the investigation into the shooting.

The Superintendent of the Glenwood Community School District says a Glenwood High School teacher resigned last week after being the subject of an internal investigation. Superintendent Devin Embray told the Daily NonPareil Russell Crouch, a social studies teacher, was placed on paid administrative leave on May 19th

Cass County Zoning Administrator Rich Hansen reported to the Board of Supervisors, Thursday, a business north of Atlantic is requesting a change of zoning for their property on North Olive Street, to keep up with growing business demands.

Hansen says the request from the Farm Service Cooperative (FSC), who wants to expand their operations 4.6-acres to the north. The move will help the company grow its agronomy and chemical sales on the site. Plans call for a scale, office and agronomy buildings.

Hansen says the Zoning Board is expected to hear their proposal on June 12th. The Zoning Board’s recommendation stemming from that meeting on the proposed rezoning request, will be sent to the Supervisors for final action.

Residents of a neighborhood in Council Bluffs were told to leave late this (Thursday) morning as personnel with several law enforcement agencies converged on a home and were involved in a brief stand-off. Omaha television station KETV reports residents in the vicinity of 21st Street and 6th Avenue in Council Bluffs, were asked to leave their homes at around 11:30-a.m.

Council Bluffs police, Pottawattamie County sheriff’s deputies and Iowa State Patrol troopers were all at the scene with their guns drawn at around 12:15-p.m. One male subject was taken into custody moments later.

Additional details are currently not available.

Officials with the Cass County Health System (CCHS) report nurse Heather Foresman, was the recipient of the Cass County Health System 2014 Health Careers Scholarship. Todd Hudspeth, CEO, presented the award to Heather, an RN who currently works at Cass County Memorial Hospital.

Todd Hudspeth, CEO, presented the award to Heather Foresman.

Heather is pursuing her Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Frontier University in Kentucky. Through a combined educational program she will also become licensed as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Nurse Midwife. Heather received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Iowa in 2011. Prior to that, she earned her RN and LPN certifications from Iowa Western Community College.