LEWIS, Iowa – The Wallace Foundation will hold an educational event for the public, followed by its annual business meeting, on March 6 at the Armstrong Memorial Research and Demonstration Farm in Lewis. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by a welcome address from Mark Bentley, president of the Wallace Foundation. From 10 a.m. to noon, attendees will hear updates from two Iowa State University experts in nitrogen management and usage in Iowa.

Matt Helmers, professor and director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center (INRC) at ISU, will discuss what the center has observed regarding nitrates. Melissa Miller, project director of the INRC at ISU, will follow and share how to best manage nitrogen applications for maximum return, as well as new research on nitrogen management in Iowa from field trials conducted over the past several years.

The Wallace Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on research specific to farmers in Southwest Iowa and is actively looking for new members to set the direction of research to benefit farmers in the area. The annual business meeting of the Wallace Foundation will be held at 1 p.m.

The event is offered at no cost to attend and includes lunch by Downtowner Cafe and Catering. Attendees are asked to pre-register by March 2 to help with facility and meal planning. To register, email farm superintendent Matt Groves at mjgroves@iastate.edu or call him at 712-769-2402. The meeting will be held at the Wallace Foundation Learning and Outreach Center, located at 53020 Hitchcock Avenue, Lewis, Iowa 51544.

For more information, contact Aaron Saeugling at 712-254-0082 or clonz5@iastate.edu.

(Atlantic, IA)  – The Atlantic Police Department says nine people were arrested on various charges from Feb. 14th through the 23rd.

On the 14th, 24-year-old Benard McGee, of Atlantic, was arrested for Robbery in the 2nd and Theft in the 5th Degrees.

Three people were arrested by Atlantic Police on the 15th of this month: 45-year-old Matthew Steffen, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI/3rd or subsequent offense; 33-year-old Nathan Frazier, of Atlantic, was arrested for Violation of a No Contact Order; and, 39-year-old Ruben Eram, of Atlantic, was arrested for Harassment in the 2nd Degree.

The A-PD says 23-year-old Dayleen Ruben, of Atlantic, was arrested Feb. 16th for Simple Assault. The following day, 36-year-old Ryan Beach, of Atlantic, was arrested for: Going Armed with Intent; Assault while displaying a dangerous weapon; Possession of a controlled substance/1st offense (Marijuana), and Possession of drug paraphernalia.

On Feb. 18th, Officers with the Atlantic Police Department arrested 45-year-old Matthew Steffens, of Atlantic, on a warrant for Violation of Probation. On the 19th, 40-year-old Tony Mayo, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault/Display-use of a Weapon.And, 21-year-old Auni Nowell, of Atlantic, was arrested Feb. 23rd for Disorderly Conduct – Fighting/ Violent Behavior.

Two people were cited into court by Atlantic Police:

On Feb 10th, 41-year-old Elizabeth Jackson, of Atlantic, was charged with Lottery – Forgery or Theft of Tickets, and Lottery – Fraud, Coercion, or Tampering. And, on the 18th, 22-year-old Todd Schwab, of Atlantic, was charged with Simple Assault.

(Griswold, IA; Updated 2:04-p.m., 2/24/26) – Sheriff’s officials in Cass County (IA) have confirmed one person died during a residential structure fire early this (Tuesday) morning, at 68444 560th Street, east of Griswold.

In a statement, authorities say firefighters from Griswold, Lewis, and Cumberland responded to the at approximately 6:07 a.m. on February 24. Upon arrival, the home was fully engulfed and starting to collapse. After the fire was extinguished, responders located a deceased individual inside.

Photo submitted to KJAN News

The Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire. The victim’s name is being withheld pending an autopsy and notification of next of kin.

Other agencies assisting at the scene included Cass EMS, and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans on the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee have issued a report blasting the court system for concealing its misdirection of 25 million dollars’ worth of court fees and fines. It also criticizes State Auditor Rob Sand for failing to investigate the problem. Representative Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City who wrote the report, says court officials failed to fix a computer glitch that distributed the money incorrectly.

“When the judicial branch discovered a massive problem with public funds, they made a choice,” Thomson said. “They chose silence over transparency. They chose consultants who couldn’t audit over auditors who could. They chose three years of quiet fumbling over one honest phone call to this legislature.” The report recommends hiring a private firm to take over distributing court debt to more than a dozen entities — including cities, sheriffs’ departments and victim service organizations. Thomson says the court system has proven it cannot handle the job.

“The judicial branch holds Iowa attorneys to exacting standards, which they should. Handle client money wrong, you lose you license…Make excuses about how complicated it is, the courts don’t really want to hear,” Thomson said. “But when it’s their money, their systems, their mistake suddenly the rules are too complicated…Suddenly it’s somebody else’s fault. That’s not accountability. That’s arrogance.” Thomson says the State Auditor’s Office was notified about the court system errors in the fall of 2022 and failed to take action.

“They deferred to the judicial branch to fix its own mess,” Thomson said. “…When we asked Auditor Sand about this he told us it was ‘fundamentally not an audit issue.’ $25 million send to the wrong accounts and the state auditor says it’s not an audit issue. If it’s not an audit issue, I don’t know what is.” The report recommends hiring a private auditing firm to trace every dollar of court fees and fines over the three year period to identity when the errors started and when they were fixed. Thomson — who is chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee — says he’s not sure the problem has been completely solved.

“I have no reason to think that there’s a particular malicious person who stole the money, but until we have traceability on the funds, I’m concerned about it,” Thomson said. “We’re going to keep chasing it.”

The six Republicans on the House Oversight Committee approved Thomson’s report. The four Democrats on the panel voted against it, citing a concern about hiring a private company to start handling court fees and fines. Neither the court system nor Sand’s office have responded to Radio Iowa’s request for comment on the report.

(Radio Iowa) – More than 20-thousand-500 F-F-A members in Iowa are marking the accomplishments of ag education as part of National F-F-A Week. Webster City High School student Megan Van Deer says she loves working with animals. “I want to go to school for veterinary,” Van Deer says, “and so just being part of the FFA program kind of helped me get more interested and stay along with it.”

Bridge Berninghaus joined the same Webster City F-F-A chapter for a host of reasons. “I think it’s a great program to get involved in,” Berninghaus says. “You get to meet new people, help others in the community, build more leadership, and have a great time.” Alyson McCarty is a vocational agriculture instructor at Webster City High School. In her native Connecticut, the F-F-A program varies from the one in Iowa, with much less emphasis on corn, soybeans, hogs and cattle.

“We have kids that are growing fish in their high school classrooms or looking at forestry, pine trees, cut flowers in greenhouses,” McCarty says. “It looks a little bit different, but they’re still learning the same: leadership, communication, all those skills.”

There are over one-million F-F-A members nationwide. The organization was started in 1928 to introduce youth to agriculture in the classroom. Members, in their blue jackets, are involved from grapefruit sales during the holidays, participating at county fairs, and driving tractors and farm machinery from their farm homes to their classrooms.

(Cass County, IA) – Griswold Fire & Rescue responded to a residential structure fire early this (Tuesday) morning east of Griswold. The blaze was reported by a person driving in the area at around 6:08-a.m. When firefighters arrived, the home near 560th & Tucson Road was fully engulfed in flames. Mutual aid was requested and received from the Lewis & Cumberland Fire Departments. Cass EMS and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies were also on the scene. 

Griswold Fire Chief J.C. Wyman said he didn’t know early this morning if anyone was inside the home. No firefighters were injured. The cause of the blaze remained under investigation. Additional information remained unavailable at mid-day today (Tuesday).

Photo submitted to KJAN News

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in an eastern Iowa case involving alcohol sales to minors. Two minors were able to buy alcohol at Beecher Liquor in Dubuque during a police compliance check in 2022. The owner of Beecher Liquor agreed to the 500 dollar fine for the first violation, but appealed the 15-hundred dollar fine and 30 day license suspension for the second violation. He says the law requires the increased penalty if a second violation happens within two years of the first, and since the two violations occurred on the same day five minutes apart they should be considered one.

The Supreme Court denied the appeal, ruling there is no minimum time passage requirement in the code between violations. Justice Dana Oxley wrote a dissenting opinion. She says the code is not meant to punish the number of alcohol sales involved in a particular violation. It is meant to punish persistent conduct more severely only after a licensee has previously been convicted or found in violation and the second enhanced penalty should be dismissed.

Justices Susan Christensen, Mathew McDermott joined the dissent to make it a 4-3 ruling.

(Creston, IA) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says crews have been removing trees on the east side of the 12 Mile Lake Wildlife Area (east of Creston), in order to restore high quality, grassland habitat improving water quality for the lake and benefiting grassland wildlife. Josh Rusk with the Iowa DNR, says “The grassland has been threatened by invasive bush honeysuckle, autumn olive and eastern red cedar, which outcompetes the grassland, creating nothing but bare ground underneath, resulting in increased runoff to the lake.”

The most recent clearing is visible from the boat ramp. The DNR plans to follow up with a prescribed burn this spring. “It’s been a gradual, multi-year project that has a way to go,” he said. “We plan to burn the tree piles, restack, and burn again. Once we get the tree and brush skeletons cleaned up we will convert cool season grasses to native grasses and wildflowers.” A similar restoration effort is also happening on the west side of the lake. “In most, but not all cases, we are not cutting bur oaks and black oaks. The larger tracts of oak hickory woodland will continue to be managed as woodland,” Rusk said.

“We are already seeing an increasing number grassland wildlife, and the bird hunters have responded with the growing pheasant and quail numbers. The area will still support deer populations as they will use the high-quality grasslands and brushy ditches,” he said. Once completed, the restoration will benefit many grasslands and shrubland obligate birds, such as Henslow’s sparrow, bobolink, eastern meadowlark, field sparrow, loggerhead shrike, and indigo bunting. These birds are part of the fastest declining groups of species in North America.

“The restored grassland will lead to better water quality which also means better drinking water and better fishing in the lake,” he said. “It’s a win for everyone.”