(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors have passed resolutions pertaining to a FY23-24 Budget Amendment and FY24-25 County Budget. (A link to the Budget Presentation can be found HERE.

Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert presented to the Board a 10-year, 28-E Agreement with Mills County, for the sharing of Portable Temporary Traffic Signals, which Mills County will pay for through a $60,000 Iowa Department of Transportation TSIP (Transportation Safety Improvement Program) grant.

Engineer Albert also updated the Board on current projects, including the L Avenue and 250^th Street Bridge projects.

She spoke also about the Highway 34 project that is currently underway. Construction crews, she said, have closed the southern half of the intersection of 34 and 4th Street, to prepare for the widening of Highway 34.

In other business, the Montgomery County Supervisors approved a merit increase of 63-cents per hour for Maintenance Director Dan Wright, and they set May 7^th at 8:45-a.m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing on vacating an unimproved alley in the unincorporated town of Stennett, between East Depot and Wayne Streets.

They also passed a resolution regarding elected officials compensation, with a 15% decrease in the Compensation Board recommendations as follows, effective July 1, 2024. Vice Chair Charla Schmid…

The Board’s next regular meeting is April 30^th at 8:30-a.m.

(Griswold, Iowa) – [UPDATED] Five people were overcome by the effects of natural gas this morning, in Griswold. A construction crew hit a gas line near the Griswold Care Center at around 8:45-a.m., prompting a call to MidAmerican Energy to shut the line off.  Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon told KJAN News, the patients affected were treated at the scene for light-headedness and nausea. None of the patients required transport to the hospital.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, by a vote of 4-to 1, passed a Resolution setting the Compensation Schedule for Elected Officials, as recommended by the Cass County Compensation Board. Supervisor Richter was the lone No vote. Their action followed a Public Hearing (during which there were no comments) on the proposed Fiscal year 2024-2025 Cass County Budget.

Board Chair Steve Baier read the resolution as passed:

The final salary adjustments for elected officials approved by the Supervisors, therefore, is as follows:

The Board then passed a Resolution Adopting the FY2025 County Budget and Certification of Taxes, and, following a Public Hearing, passed – by a vote of 4-to 1, a Resolution vacating a portion of Chicago Road west of 770^th Street, south of I-80 & north of Anita. Supervisor Mark O’Brien was the lone No vote.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports four people were arrested on separate charges, Monday. Late Monday morning, 48-year-old Timothy Linn Williams, of Creston, was arrested at his residence on a Union County Warrant for Maintaining a Drug House/and-or-Vehicle, Failure to affix Drug Tax Stamp, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Intent to Deliver Marijuana, and Possession of a Controlled Substance-Marijuana 1st Offense. Williams was taken to the Union County Jail and later released on $13,300 cash or surety bond.

Monday afternoon, 27-year-old Starla Murray, of Creston, was arrested on a charge of Theft in the 5th Degree. Murray was cited and released on Promise to Appear. And, 44-year-old Brenda Ellen Williams, of Creston, was arrested at her residence on a Union County Warrant for Keeping a premises or Vehicle for Controlled Substance, Failure to affix Drug Tax Stamp, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and 2 counts Possession of a Controlled Substance-Marijuana/2nd Offense. Williams was taken to the Union County Jail and later released on $14,300 cash or surety bond.

Monday evening, 45-year-old Brady Gale Richert, of Creston, was arrested on a Union County Warrant for Violation of No Contact/Protective Order-Contempt. Richert was taken to the Union County Jail and held without bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Farmers got the rain they’d been hoping for last week, but it cut down on the time they could be planting. The U-S-D-A crop report shows there were only three days suitable for fieldwork due to the weather. Corn planting hit 13 percent complete by the end of the week — up from four percent last week. That is three days ahead of last year and the five-year average. Eight percent of the bean crop is now in the ground, which is four days ahead of last year and six days ahead of the five-year average.

(Radio Iowa) – A new study by the Iowa Food Bank Association finds more than 27-million pounds of food was “rescued” last year by the six Feeding America food banks that serve Iowa. Annette Hacker, spokeswoman for the Des Moines-based Food Bank of Iowa, says an astounding amount of food is wasted and chucked into landfills daily, so they work with grocery and convenience stores, manufacturers, growers and restaurants to rescue that food and get it to people who need it. “It might be a pasta manufacturer who says, ‘These pasta noodles are just an eighth of an inch shorter than we normally make to put on the shelf and sell, so we’re going to donate this pasta,'” Hacker says. “It might be a dairy that says, ‘This particular batch of cottage cheese had slightly less salt in it than meets our standards,’ but it’s still perfectly good.”

A report from the U-S-D-A says up to 40-percent of the U-S food supply is wasted every year, so Hacker says food banks rely on retail rescue to meet the growing, record need for food assistance.  “We have recently had pallet after pallet of Triscuits marked organic, but guess what? They weren’t organic,” Hacker says. “So that was a great volunteer project, to go through every Triscuit box and mark out the word ‘organic,’ still perfectly good, fresh crackers inside that box, but they were not able to be sold because they were not labeled correctly.” Hacker says food banks strive to divert perfectly good food from landfills and get it onto dinner tables for Iowans who face food insecurity.

Food rescue visit at Catholic Charities in Des Moines, Iowa on February 7, 2024.

“Food Bank of Iowa distributes more than 22-and-a-half million pounds of food every year, so our portion, a little over seven-million pounds, about a third of what we’re distributing is food that has been rescued from retailers, manufacturers, grocery stores,” Hacker says. “It’s absolutely critical. Food rescue is the reason food banking began in the first place.” Many Iowans will throw out food just because it’s past the “best by” date on the label, which Hacker says is something that’s largely misunderstood.

“There really are no such things as expiration dates, except for baby formula and baby food,” she says. “Other than that, the dates that you see on food are often either a ‘sell by,’ a ‘best by’, or a ‘use by’ date and those dates speak to optimal quality, not food safety.” Hacker says food banks adhere to very strict guidelines for food handling, temperature and storage of rescued food.

foodbankiowa.org

(Radio Iowa) – Teens as young as 14 and a half could get a permit to drive to and from work if a bill headed to the governor becomes law. It would be similar to school permits that let 14 and 15 year olds legally drive to and from school as well as to school activities. If the bill becomes law, any teen under the age of 16 with a permit for work, school or farm work who’s caught driving elsewhere would lose their driving privileges for three months — and when they turn 16 they won’t be able to get an intermediate permit for three months.

Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, led development of the bill.  “Some real teeth to the permits to highly discourage youth from operating on these permits outside of their allowed designations,” Dickey says. A 14 or 15 year old with one of these “special minors restricted licenses” would only be able to drive an hour before work or a school event and get home within an hour of their work shift or the end of the school activity. Once they’re at work, they won’t be able to drive. Dickey says that means they cannot be asked to be delivery drivers.

“Mechanisms put in place to make the roads safer for the people and these youth,” Dickey says, “so they’re not driving to the mall or to a friend’s house, but they’re driving within the certain criteria that’s in the permit.” Teens under the age of 16 who have a permit for farm work will have a little more driving freedom as current rules are preserved, letting them drive to pick up parts, for example. Senator Todd Taylor, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says having young teens drive for work early in the morning or late at night isn’t a good idea.

“We are talking about 14 and a half year olds driving,” Taylor said. “That’s kind of my problem with it. Some are ready, sure. Some are not ready.” Representative Mary Madison, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says letting inexperienced drivers drive themselves to work increases the likelihood they’ll be involved in an accident. “Child driving is not the solution to our workforce shortage,” Madison said, “and it never will be.”

Representative Elinor Levin, a Democrat from Iowa City, says letting 14 and 15 year old drive to and from work as well as school will increase the number of very inexperienced drivers on the road.  “In Iowa, our teen drivers are already among the youngest and the least experienced in the U.S.,” Levin says, “with independent driving allowed at 14 and a half and no minimum hours of supervised driving practice.”

Representative Brent Siegrist, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says the proposed 25 mile radius for each trip made by young drivers going to work or school makes sense. “Having less veteran drivers drive has some risks with it, but I don’t that its enough that we shouldn’t provide this opportunity for our students to get to school activities, work activates or farm activities,” Siegrist says.

A temporary 10-member conference committee was convened to resolve an impasse between House and Senate Republicans on some sections of the bill and the committee’s agreement won final legislative approval at 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

(Atlantic, Iowa) [updated 4/23] – The Atlantic Community School District has scheduled a Public Hearing on the proposed 2024-25 Certified Budget. The hearing kick’s-off the School Board’s meeting at 5:30-p.m., on Wednesday, April 24th in the High School Media Center. During the hearing, the Board will accept objections/comments on the budget. Action on passing the budget and a Resolution levying a tax for FY 2024-25, for the future optional redemption of General Obligation School Bonds, will take place later on in the meeting.

During the Board’s meeting on April 10th, ACSD Director of Finance Lisa Jones, said she had some revised numbers with regard to the proposed property tax levy (rate) of $12.51/$1,000 valuation, which was down from 12.91524 announced during the March 27^th meeting. Last year, it was $13.00/$1,000.

In other business, the School Board in Atlantic will act on the resignation of Jesse McCann, HS Special Education teacher (at the end of the 23-24 school year), and approving contract recommendations for:

• Taylor Vargason, Elementary Special Education Teacher
• Lindsey Roberts, ELL Teacher
• Cayleigh McBee, HS Student Council Sponsor
• Alexandra Griffen-Uren, HS English Language Arts Teacher
• Jesse McCann, HS School Student Support Coordinator contract.

The full agenda can be seen here: PUBLIC AGENDA 04242024

DES MOINES, Iowa — [KCCI] – Authorities have identified the Des Moines teen who died in a motorcycle crash over the weekend.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a call just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday reporting a crash near Northeast 118th Avenue west of the South Skunk River. Authorities say two juveniles were riding off-road motorcycles when the accident happened.

Zachary Brennecke

When emergency responders got there, they said they found a juvenile male with critical injuries. The victim, identified as 16-year-old Zachary Brennecke, of Des Moines, died at the scene.

DES MOINES, Iowa – National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is Saturday, April 27, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) encourages Iowans to clean out their medicine cabinets and safely dispose of unused and unneeded medications.

Local law enforcement agencies and pharmacies are teaming up to collect leftover prescription and over-the-counter drugs for this special one-day event held each spring and fall. The fall collection, held in October, netted over 5,550 pounds of old medicine from Iowans. To date, Iowans have safely disposed of over 101 tons of unused medications at these events.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs while educating the public about the potential for dangerous misuse of opioid pain relievers and other drugs.

“I encourage all Iowans to include their medicine cabinets in their spring-cleaning routine,” says Susie Sher, Bureau Chief of ODCP. “Properly disposing of unused medication can help prevent drug diversion, misuse, and overdose. Each of us can make a difference in this effort.”

Iowans can take excess medications to one of Iowa’s Prescription Drug Take Back locations, including nearly 400 permanent pharmacy and law enforcement center sites available on a year-round basis. For Iowa Take Back details, including education information and collection sites, visit: https://odcp.iowa.gov/programs/prescription-drug-take-backs.

Saturday’s National Prescription Drug Take Back events will operate from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at designated sites across Iowa. As part of the national Prescription Drug Take Back program, the DEA also allows the collection of vaping devices and e-cigarettes from individuals if batteries are first removed from the devices. For more information or to find a site near you, visit https://www.dea.gov/takebackday.

Iowans needing help for drug using behaviors or mental health concerns can go to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Service’s YourLifeIowa.org.