(Radio Iowa) – The trapping season opens in Iowa Saturday with a D-N-R expert saying the prospects look good. Furbearer biologist Vince Evelsizer says some of the animals have managed the recent wet to dry weather swings better than others. “The more aquatic fur bear species like beavers, otters, mink and muskrats, they’re more affected by this extreme wet to dry to wet, intra-annual variation that we’re seeing more than ever in Iowa,” he says. “That’s hard on them for rearing litters and overwintering successfully.”

He says the bobcat, coyote and foxes, are less impacted by that, but it can impact their numbers to some extent when it gets really dry out. He says the price of fur is one thing that has trappers more motivated. “There’s a little bit of optimism because of reports of an increased demand and wild furs from more countries than have been at the table the past few years. So the demand is there a bit more than it has been the last few years,” Evelsizer says. But he says you are not going to make a fortune with fur in Iowa.

“Trapping is not a lucrative sport any longer. It’s something to do just out of sheer passion and a way to enjoy the outdoors and learn many things about reading animal sign and just seeing things go on out there while you’re out there,” he says. Evelsizer says it is a venture that doesn’t take a big investment to get started. “It’s one of those activities where you can keep it as simple as you want or as complex as you want,” Evelsizer says. “So generally, for a few hundred dollars you could get enough equipment to get a taste of trapping, If you wanted to get into it even more than you can spend even more.”

(DNR graphic)

Evelsizer says it’s also not hard to learn the basics. “There’s more ways than ever to get into trapping. Probably the number one way is to find a seasoned, experienced trapper that’s and you know that can kind of play a role as being a mentor,” he says. “Another option is to attend one of our beginner Trapper education events that are held annually around the state.” A change was made to the trapping law to try and get younger kids interested. “Youth trappers under age 16 can go trapping with a licensed adult now without having to pay for a youth for harvester license,” Evelsizer says.

He says you can find out more about trapping on the D-N-R’s website.

Windsor Heights, Iowa — Police in the Des Moines suburb of Windsor Heights are looking for a man who robbed a person following a a transaction through a Facebook Marketplace exchange. Investigators say a man met someone at a busy Walmart on 73rd Street for the exchange, Wednesday, when the person he was meeting robbed him of his iPhone.

Police say the victim of this incident did everything right to keep the transaction safe, which includes meeting in broad daylight in a public place, full of foot traffic. Regardless, the suspect displayed a weapon during the interaction by pulling up his shirt and showing the victim a gun was tucked inside his waistband. (Photos via the Windsor Heights PD Facebook page)

The suspect then took the phone and quickly headed for the doors. His face was picked up by security cameras and shared with the public as a person of interest. Anyone who recognizes him is urged to turn him in. Police recommend such transaction be conducted inside a police department, to dissuade any criminal intent involving a weapon.

If you have any information, please contact the Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa or email police@windorheights.org. You may remain anonymous.

CENTERVILLE, Iowa — A district court judge has ruled that the Centerville Community School District must pay more than $113,000 following a lawsuit arguing the district violated Iowa’s Open Meetings and Records Law. According to KCCI-TV, the lawsuit was filed by the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. In September, Appanoose County District Court Judge Mark Kruse ruled in the IFOIC’s favor, stating the district violated the law during a school board meeting on Feb. 3, 2023.

The district has now been ordered to pay $113,258.50 for the IFOIC’s attorneys’ fees and costs. Court documents detailing the judge’s ruling state the school board met on Feb. 3, 2023, to discuss a “Consideration of Employment Resignation Agreement” regarding Ryan Hodges.

Hodges is a former guidance counselor and baseball coach with the district. He was placed on administration leave during an internal investigation in December 2022.

During the Feb. 3 board meeting, court documents revealed the board voted unanimously to go into a closed session almost “immediately after” the meeting started. Those same documents report the closed session went on for about 30 minutes before the board switched back to open session, and unanimously approved a “resignation and release agreement” for Hodges.

The judge’s ruling states that when testifying, the district superintendent testified that “the reason for the closed meeting was to discuss the professional competency of Ryan Hodges.” The judge notes in his ruling that after reading the board minutes, it was “difficult to find any consistent, or meaningful, discussion evaluating the professional competency of Mr. Hodges.” The judge went on to write, “The discussion in general terms centered around the terms of the resignation agreement, avoidance of lawsuits, the leak of the Level 2 report, and how to handle the fallout from the resignation that was expected.”

The judge has ordered the board to unseal the recording and transcripts from the closed session of the meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – Well over half a MILLION Iowans have already voted in this year’s election. Becky Bissell — president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors — says that’s about 25 percent of registered voters.  “We have been seeing some pretty good turnout for absentee voting,” Bissell says. “…That takes a bit of the pressure off of the polling places on election day and a little bit of the pressure off our poll workers.” Nearly a million ballots were cast before election day four years ago, as many Iowa voters opted for mail-in voting during the pandemic.

Bissell, who is the Adams County Auditor, says early voting in Iowa this year is similar to 2016. “For Adams County in 2020, we had about 1200 absentee voters,” Bissell says. “In 2016, we had about 900 and right now we’re on pace for that 900 mark.” The majority of ballots that have already been cast this year are from Iowans who went to their county auditor’s office or a satellite location to vote.

For those who requested an absentee ballot, got it in the mail, but haven’t mailed it back yet — Bissell has some advice. “I just can’t stress enough that if you requested an absentee ballot by mail, make sure you get those in. We no longer go off of the postmark on the envelope. You have to have it in to the auditor’s office by 8 p.m. on Election Day, so if you still have an absentee ballot, make sure you’re getting it turned back in,” Bissell says. “I think your best bet would be to hand deliver it back to the auditor’s office.”

Election workers may begin counting the early “absentee” votes at 7 a.m. on Election Day. That’s the same time all neighborhood precincts open for in-person voting. “We cannot release any results until 8 p.m. after the polls close on Election Day,” Bissell says, “so as soon as 8 p.m. rolls around, you could start to see some absentee results come in.” By 7 a.m. YESTERDAY (Thursday), over 517-thousand early votes had been cast in Iowa.

At some point TODAY (Friday), state officials will release an updated report on the number of registered voters in Iowa.

MORTON MILLS – On October 31 at 10:55 a.m., the Iowa Department of Natural Resources was notified of a potential cattle manure release into an unnamed tributary of Sevenmile Creek in Montgomery County.

Staff from the DNR Field Office in Atlantic responded to the site. Further investigation revealed recent precipitation created runoff from a small feedlot located at 1490 Spruce Avenue, northwest of Morton Mills. The runoff flowed across a vegetated area before entering the unnamed tributary, which flows into Sevenmile Creek.

The manure originated from a small feedlot owned by Duane Bergren, Jr. At the time of the investigation, no fish were observed in the tributary. There is very little flow in the stream, and there was no observed impact in Sevenmile Creek.

An unnamed tributary of Sevenmile Creek in Montgomery County.

Cleanup efforts have begun. Mr. Bergren was assisting with cleanup efforts by constructing earthen berms in the feedlot to prevent any further runoff to the tributary.

Samples have been collected and will be submitted to the State Hygienic Laboratory for analysis.

Any downstream users should take caution and avoid using water from Sevenmile Creek. The Iowa DNR will follow up for further assessment.

If you see dead or stressed fish at a lake or river, call the DNR’s 24-hour spill line at 515-725-8694 as soon as possible. Quick reporting can help DNR staff identify the cause of a fish kill and potentially stop a fish kill in progress.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is exploring ways to address a national decline in the number of hunters, and to prevent the drop from happening here. D-N-R wildlife biologist Matt Dollison says Iowa has seen its number of pheasant hunters -rise- by almost 20-thousand in the past few seasons, and they now number 83-thousand, but he says national hunter figures have been falling for decades.

“Back in the ’80s, we had about 9% of the population that was hunters and now they say it’s less than 4%, so we’ve lost a ton of hunters overall,” Dollison says. “It is nice to see a few more pheasant hunters taking advantage of the resource here in Iowa this past few years.” Dollison says several factors have likely contributed to the overall decline in hunter numbers nationwide.

“The high number that we had back in the ’80s was really driven by the Baby Boomers getting into hunting, so unfortunately, we’re losing a lot of them from the ranks of hunters,” Dollison says. “It seems like there’s a lot more activities for kids these days to be involved with and there’s way less free time for parents especially, and the kids also have more things to do themselves.”

Dollison says game populations and the availability of public land are also likely factors in the decline. That’s why he says positions like his exist — to manage habitats, spur population numbers in public areas, and to help organize hunting programs. He notes hunting-related expenses provide the bulk of the money for conservation efforts. “A huge portion of the funding for conservation comes from hunting license sales and hunter dollars in the form of excise tax on firearms and ammunition — 90% of the funding for conservation comes from that,” he says. “So, if hunters go away, we don’t have that anymore and that pays all of our salaries in the wildlife bureau, and our management budget is paid by that.”

The focus in the past was on hosting youth hunting events across the state, but Dollison says they’ve started turning to young adults in recent years.  “Now there’s a focus to encourage more adults to get into hunting, especially the 20-year-olds that are getting out of school, have available income and time, and aren’t loaded down yet by a bunch of kids and events to attend. The idea is to get those people into hunting, expose them to it, then they’ll eventually have kids, they’ll take their kids out, and then those kids will become hunters.”

Dollison encourages hunters to invite friends who are interested in outdoor recreation to go along, and to point them toward educational events in their area.

(Radio Iowa) – Secretary of State Paul Pate is being sued for directing election workers to challenge the ballots of over two-thousand people who he says got a driver’s license when they were legal residents, but may not be U-S citizens. The lawsuit has been filed in federal court on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens and a group of naturalized citizens. Orcun Selcuckor, a political science professor at Luther College in Decorah, is a native of Turkey. He became a U-S citizen in 2023 and then voted in two previous Iowa elections.

Selcuckor says he’s concerned about other Iowans who are new citizens and may not have the time to return to the county auditor’s office and prove they are citizens, as he did — or may be discouraged from voting altogether. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says she’ll defend the effort to ensure non-citizens do not vote.

The lawsuit alleges the secretary of state’s order discriminates against voters based on their natural origin and their status as naturalized citizens and violates a person’s constitutional right to vote. Secretary of State Pate says none of the people on his list are barred from voting since their voter registration has not been revoked and they will be able to vote if they show proof of citizenship.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is seeking approval from the Board of Regents for a purchase that would give it full ownership of a downtown Iowa City mall. The purchase would cover 45 percent of Old Capitol Town Center, which the school does not own, at a cost of nearly 21 million dollars. The mall is two blocks from the center of the main the U-I campus. The university has been using the portion of the building it owns for what it calls a U-I student and staff transaction hub.

The information for next week’s board meeting says the school would continue developing the mall spaces to serve student and operational needs. the university plans to continue to maintain the retail space to help offset the costs.

(Radio Iowa) – A Grinnell-based insurance company is asking Iowa’s insurance commissioner to approve a restructuring plan so it can sell stock. The company was founded in 1909 in Greenfield as the Iowa Farmers Reinsurance Association, it moved to Grinnell in 1938 and has been called Grinnell Mutual for the past six decades. It’s currently owned by policyholders, but Grinnell Mutual is asking state regulators to allow it to reorganize as a company owned by shareholders.

Iowa’s Insurance Commissioner held a hearing on the request yesterday (Wednesday). The Des Moines Register reports the company’s surplus has declined 31 percent since 2021, due to escalating insurance claims related to severe weather events.

Grinnell Mutual operates in 17 states and had over 700 employees.