(Radio Iowa) – Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has kicked off the Iowa leg of her week-old presidential campaign, suggesting the G-O-P must be forward looking and solutions oriented to win back the White House in 2024.  “We need to make sure that we’ve got the energy, the power and the ability to bring more people in to see that our solutions are the right ones,” Haley said.

Haley spoke to over 300 people last (Monday) night in Urbandale. A man in the crowd noted Donald Trump won Iowa in the 2016 and 2020 General Elections, and asked Haley why Iowa Caucus goers should vote for her rather than someone like Trump. “Because I don’t think you have to be 80 years old to be in D.C. I really don’t,” Haley said, to cheers and applause. “Look, President Trump is my friend. He was the right president at the right time…As much as all the media and everybody wants to talk about the past, we’ve got to look forward. We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do for America. This is bigger than a person and we need to fight for that.”

Haley told the crowd she was proud to serve in Trump’s Administration as United Nations Ambassador. After someone in the crowd asked about the war in Ukraine, Haley expressed admiration for the people of Ukraine and support for sending U.S. military equipment and ammunition to the fight. “If we win this fight for freedom, it will send a signal to every enemy we have. If we lose this fight for freedom, Russia has said Poland and the Baltics are next and then we’ve got a world war,” Haley says. “A strong military doesn’t start wars. A strong military prevents wars. Our goal has to be to be strong enough that we prevent the next war.”

Haley is scheduled to hold a campaign event in Marion today (Tuesday). Last (Monday) night, Governor Kim Reynolds did not endorse Haley, but gave welcoming remarks at what was the first presidential campaign event in Iowa this year.  “Once again, the eyes of the country are on Iowa,” Reynolds said. “Iowa Republicans, you in this room are truly going to have the opportunity to kick off the 2024 presidential campaign and we’re excited about the opportunity to participate in the Iowa Caucuses.”

Haley, who may be competing with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the G-O-P’s presidential nomination, called Reynolds the best governor in the country.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – (UPDATED) A motion to request or recommend to the Atlantic City Council, an increase in the Hotel-Motel Tax died for lack of a second, during a meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board, Monday evening. The measure would have proposed increasing the Parks share of the tax from four-to seven-percent. It’s expected the Board will make it’s request or recommendation to the Council, at a later date, so that they can vote on whether or not the matter should be placed before the voters, in November. Ashley Hayes explained the current seven-percent tax is a COMBINATION of state, county and city sales tax rates (Local Option sales tax funds), with three-percent directed CADCO and the Chamber of Commerce.

That was passed about six-years ago, she said. Hayes said also, Atlantic is the lowest in the State, with regard to the Hotel-Motel Tax.

When it was passed in 2010 it was designated for “improving, repairing, operating and maintaining parks and recreation facilities and grounds for the city of Atlantic.” Since then, it has netted the Parks Department $463,199. Hayes crunched the numbers, and said if the Parks Department had received the full seven-percent of the tax instead of just four-percent, it would have generated $810,599 to be used for various parks projects.

A number of local hotel-motel owners expressed their opposition to raising the tax. None were opposed to the Splash Pad concept, but at the same time, they didn’t want to raise the tax on their guests if it was to be used specifically for the Splash Pad. That rumor, or misconception – that the tax increase was only for the Pad – according to Ali Pieken, with the Splash Pad Executive Committee, was news to her.

The City of Atlantic has already agreed to chip-in $50,000 for the Splash Pad, with the remainder to be accumulated through fundraising. Hayes acknowledged getting money from other sources, such as grants and fundraising, is not as simple as it sounds.

Ali Pieken presented to the Parks and Rec Board final renderings of the proposed Splash Pad Project from Crouch Recreation from Elk Horn, Nebraska, and Vortex Aquatic Play Solutions. The Board was overwhelmingly in support of using the renderings from Crouch Recreation as the impetus to move forward in garnering interest for fundraising. The difference between the two renderings was like night and day, even though both had most of the elements the Committee was hoping to add to the facility.

In other business, the Atlantic Parks and Rec Board agreed to support a request from Frank Saddlemire, who was instrumental in designing, raising the money and building a very popular Disc Golf course to Sunnyside Park. Saddlemire will be allowed to write a grant for new signs at the course.

Saddlemire produced data that show how many people come to town for all-day tournaments and casual play. The data was “mined” through U-Disc, a scoring app. Attendance for Disc Golf has increased each year, except for the last, due to an increase in gas prices and people less willing to travel, he said.

The Atlantic Parks Board, Monday, announced plans for a Park Party, that will take place June 17th from 10-a.m. until 2-p.m., at Sunnyside Park. Additional details will be released in the months to come.

Des Moines, Iowa – Gov. Reynolds, Monday, signed SF 181 into law, a bill that clarifies the rollback calculation for residential and multi-residential property and delivers $127 million in property tax relief to Iowa homeowners.

(Will be updated)

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is calling for an end to the legal limits in Iowa law on the pay for top state administrators. The salary ranges for state agency directors and other top administrators have not been changed since 2008. The governor’s plan to shrink the number of state agencies to 16 includes a provision that would let Reynolds set the salaries for those 16 agency directors. Jacob Nicholson, the chief operating officer on the governor’s staff, says it’s a recruitment and retention issue.

“It’s very difficult to go out on a national search for instance right now and say: ‘Hey, we need someone to run our Department of Health and Human Services that oversees 4000 people. It’s a significant enterprise effort,'” Nicholson says, “‘and by the way we can only advertise this position for $154,000 a year.'” Nicholson says in some larger state agencies, there are 20 to 30 employees whose salaries are higher than the director who is their boss. The governor has provided bonuses in some of those situations.

“She’s forced to do that in order to recruit top talent into the state, in order to retain top talent into the state, but that process is just not transparent enough for our current governor,” Nicholson says. “She would like to be able to set her agency (directors) salaries and have that transparent for all to see.” Some Democrats like Representative Amy Nielson of North Liberty say they’re concerned the proposal removes all limits on the salaries of top agency directors.

“The governor could just go out and offer somebody — let’s just throw out some numbers — $300,000 to be the director of the Department of Human Services,” Nielsen says. That would be nearly twice the salary being paid to Iowa’s current H-H-S director. Nielsen says the salary guidelines for all state employees should be evaluated.

“So we are recruiting the best and the brightest, the top of the crop in all areas of the government,” Nielsen says. Zach Goodrich is executive director and legal counsel for the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. He says the board has been asking lawmakers to raise the salary for the position for several years.

“I am the third director in just a little over three years,” he says. “…I often joke that when I was hired, the salary played into the fact that the board ended up with a 25 year old as director, although I hope that’s not the only reason they ended up hiring me.”

A group of House members have started hosting public hearings this week on the government realignment plan Governor Reynolds submitted to the legislature.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Utilities Board has issued a schedule for the permit application process for Summit Carbon Solutions proposed carbon dioxide pipeline. The I-U-B order says it will hold a technical conference on March 15th at 10 a-m to discuss logistics for the hearing and to help those who want to file opposition or support of the pipeline can proceed.

The conference will discuss the schedule and provide information about how the I-U-B envisions the hearing will be conducted. Specific dates for the hearing will be determined at the technical conference. Summit is proposing approximately 687 miles of pipeline in Iowa.

For more information on the technical conference, go to iub.iowa.gov.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A public hearing for patrons of the Atlantic Community School District will be held 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, in the Atlantic High School Media Center. School District officials say the Board is considering extending the current Instructional Support Levy (ISL) for another five (5) years as allowed by Iowa Code. The ISL may be used for any general fund purpose. Notice was published on Feb. 8, 2023 in the Atlantic News Telegraph, that a hearing for the public to appear and present objections to, or arguments in favor of, any part of the Instructional Support Levy.

Following the Hearing, Wednesday, the Atlantic School Board will convene a Special Meeting for the following discussion and action items:

Discuss Items:

• Food Service Update by Natalie Ritter
• Strategic Plan Update

Action items:

• Resolution – Continue participation in the (ISL)
• Contract Recommendations for: Naela Thornton, 7th Grade ESL Teacher, & Kenneth Christensen, Washington School Day Custodian.

The Board will conclude the meeting with a reminder about upcoming date, including their next regular Board Meeting 5:30-p.m on March 8th, and a March 22nd Board Work Session (which may be rescheduled due to Spring Break).

(Radio Iowa) – Traffic was down on the state roadways in the last month of 2022. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson tracks the numbers. “Overall our traffic in December was down seven percent compared to our pre-pandemic December and it was down across all systems,” Anderson says. Recent lower traffic volumes have been attributed to higher gas prices — but he says this time it looks like winter is to blame.

“We do attribute that to the severe weather we had the end of December and the impact on travel on our public roadways.” he says. “And that is reflected that we do have preliminary January numbers which are showing traffic is now four above the pre-pandemic January — so we do think that is just a blip due to winter weather.” Anderson made his comments during the recent Iowa Transportation Commission meeting.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Two people from Polk County were arrested on drug charges, Saturday night, following a traffic stop, in Adair. An Adair Police Officer stopped the vehicle for having expired license tags. Upon further investigation, the driver, 21-year-old Marissa Jean Bonds, of Des Moines, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense – Marijuana. And, 22-year-old Trayvon Damontas Patrick Taylor, of Des Moines, was arrested for PCS/2nd offense – Marijuana. Inside the suitcase in the vehicle, the Officer found 226 grams of marijuana. Bonds and Taylor were transported to the Adair County Jail in Greenfield. Bonds was released with a citation. Taylor was released on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

Two men were arrested on separate assault charges last week, in Adair County: 67-year-old Dennis Gene Killion, of Orient, was arrested Thursday at a residence in Orient, and 55-year-old Charles Henry Elings, III, of Adair, was arrested Feb. 13th in Adair. Both were arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault with Bodily Injury. Elings was released the next day on his Own Recognizance. Killion was released the following day on a $1,000 c/s bond.

And, 39-year-old Brian Charles Shannon, of Greenfield, was arrested Feb. 14th on a Dallas County warrant. He was turned over to Dallas County Deputies.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports a man from Greenfield was arrested following an incident that took place Friday morning. The Sheriff says at 8:42 a.m., Friday, the Adair County Sheriff’s Office received a cellular 911 call from an individual who stated that his white 2011 Chevrolet pickup had just been stolen from the Casey’s General Store in Fontanelle. The Fontanelle Police Department and the Adair County Sheriff’s Office responded, gathered the available information and relayed that information to assisting agencies. Of particular concern, was that a loaded handgun was inside of the pickup at the time of the theft.

At 9:35 a.m., an Adair County deputy observed the vehicle traveling west on 310 th Street from the Orient curve. The deputy activated his emergency lights and a short pursuit ensued, before the suspect pulled over. The suspect immediately put his hands outside of the window and fully complied throughout the duration of his arrest. The suspect was identified as 19 year old Xachariah Hinson, of Greenfield. Hinson was charged with: Theft in the first Degree, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Criminal Mischief in the Third Degree, and Eluding. He was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $20,000 cash or surety bond.

The Adair County Sheriff would like to remind the public to be conscious of the fact that incidents like this can happen in a matter of just seconds and that they do happen in small towns and in the rural areas. Additionally, there have been many recent advancements in various methods to secure firearms in vehicles.

Multiple agencies assisted in searching for the stolen vehicle, including: the IowaState Patrol, Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division of the Iowa DOT, the Adair Police Department and the Adams, Cass and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Offices.

Disclaimer: “It should be noted a criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”