(Atlantic, IA) – Officials with the Atlantic-based Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA), today (Friday), announced the organization was awarded a State Transit Assistance Special Project grant to help launch a pilot program to improve access to healthcare. SWITA is partnering with Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital and CHI Mercy Hospital to launch a new healthcare transportation program call SWI-Ride.

Once launched, the new program will aid transportation to and from scheduled medical appointments with healthcare providers at the two hospitals. The Iowa Department of Transportation has awarded a $50,000 State Transit Assistance Special Project grant to SWITA to help with scaling up the pilot program.

In a news release, Tara Slevin, President of the Jennie Edmundson Foundation, said “Reliable transportation is one of the most common—and most challenging—barriers our patients face when trying to access care. We see firsthand how difficult it can be for individuals to get to scheduled appointments, particularly when financial constraints limit their options. Our partnership with SWITA and CHI Mercy Hospital reflects a shared commitment to addressing that challenge. This State Transit Assistance grant, secured by SWITA, is an incredible step forward in helping bridge transportation gaps and expanding reliable access to care for patients across Pottawattamie and Mills Counties.”

Photo courtesy Chris Parks, SWIPCO Communications Coordinator

SWI-Ride seeks to provide a transportation option for patients that have barriers identified by healthcare partners to ensure they have access to their medical appointments. The launch is tentatively set for mid-February and will operate Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It will initially be limited to rides within Pottawattamie and Mills Counties. SWITA, Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital, and CHI Mercy Hospital are providing matching funds over and above the $50,000 state grant to start the program.

SWITA is based in Atlantic and has a vehicle hub in Council Bluffs which serves 8 counties in Southwest Iowa with over 100 vehicles and approximately 70 drivers. It is Iowa’s largest rural public transit service in terms of the total number of rides provided each year, averaging 550,000 rides annually and growing.

To find out more about SWITA and the services offered you can browse SWITA.com or call 800-842-8065 or 712-243-2518. Follow SWITA on Facebook for regular updates as well.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court rules a victim impact statement in Cerro Gordo County case was properly used to sentence a woman took money from her employer. Malorie Hallock pleaded guilty to stealing 120-thousand dollars during a nine-month period when she worked at Studio 65 Tattoo in Clear Lake. She agreed to a plea deal for a deferred judgment and promised to gradually pay back the money. The owner of Studio 65 Tattoo made a lengthy victim-impact statement at Hallock’s sentencing saying the embezzlement almost ruined her life, and caused her to be hospitalized for depression.

The owner said it was hard to accept that she would get off so easily after stealing so much. The judge said the impact statement was thoughtful and sentenced Hallock to an indefinite prison term not to exceed ten years.

Hallock said the court abused its discretion in the sentencing, but the Supreme Court ruled the judge is not bound by a sentencing recommendation and properly considered the impact statement.

(Red Oak, IA) – Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna reports the Montgomery County Courthouse elevator will be temporarily closed for a full modernization project starting Monday, February 2nd (2026). Work is expected to continue through the end of March. During work on the courthouse elevator, it will be out of service. If you need assistance please call 712-623-6625 to reach the appropriate department for support or to discuss available access options or email auditor@montgomerycountyia.gov.

For the Clerk of Court please call 712-623-4986.

The Montgomery County Courthouse Custodian says “Your patience and understanding are appreciated as we work to improve our facilities.”

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Democrats and Republicans will be holding Caucuses on Monday night, starting at 7 p.m. The meetings allow local candidates to meet with the party’s local voters and elect the precinct residents who’ll attend each party’s county conventions. Party platform ideas are also discussed. These mid-term Iowa Caucuses don’t get as much attention as the Caucuses that have kicked off presidential campaigns in the past. Iowa Republicans appear positioned to start the 2028 presidential election with the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses. Iowa Democrats were kicked out of the lead-off spot in 2024 — and have applied to national party leaders to regain an early voting contest in the next presidential election.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says no other state has the infrastructure and the history of giving long-shot candidates like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama a chance. “In our application we highlight the unique flexibility of our party-run Caucus process and like we have in past cycles we commit to exploring ways to grow participation and access,” Hart said. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: All options are on the table for Iowa Democrats in 2028.”

Hart says the national party must reconnect with rural voters and Iowa is the place where that can start. “If the Democratic Party wants to start winning big, sustainable majorities again, our candidates need to show that they can compete in states like Iowa,” Hart said.

A group of Democratic National Committee members are scheduled to meet this Saturday, January 31st to begin considering which cluster of states should be selected to hold the first voting events of the 2028 presidential campaign.

(Radio Iowa) – With the tax filing season now underway, a University of Iowa accounting professor suggests America adopt what’s being done in many European countries, where the government prepares your taxes for you — for free. Professor Ryan Wilson says our current electronic filing process is automated, so it wouldn’t be a great stretch for the I-R-S to go the next step and prepare our taxes, too. “The government already has most information that they need to pre-populate tax returns for most citizens,” Wilson says. “If individuals had more complex investments, they could always opt out of the pre-populated return and do their own taxes, but I think for the majority of Americans, it would just reduce anxiety, save a lot of time, and save a lot of money.”

Wilson says a program called ReadyReturn is already being used in nations including the U-K, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain, where the government prepares its citizens’ taxes. He says the program is simple and it’s successful. “They send you a completed return and if you’re in agreement with the return, then you can sign it and send it back,” Wilson says. “It’s different in each country, but there’s always a mechanism to challenge or try to correct something that you don’t agree with, but if you’re in agreement with what’s reported, in some countries, you can even just text back. You get a text from the government and if you text back ‘YES,’ then you’re done.”

Many Americans have a healthy skepticism of the federal government, but Wilson thinks people would come around to loving the concept of having the taxing task of tax preparation handled by Uncle Sam, especially if it’s free. “Oh, yeah, I do, I really do,” Wilson says. “I think that as long as you had the option to opt out, and that was perfectly legal, and you had a clear mechanism for challenging anything, I think people would look back in 10 years and wonder what in the world we’re doing, spending half of an afternoon or a whole day trying to trying to file your own return.”

There’s a large segment of the population that will question everything that comes from Washington D-C, and while those people may never trust the I-R-S to do their taxes for them, Wilson believes this is a winning idea. “You’d be able to verify all the information, since you have your own W-2s, you have all your tax documents from your employer, 10-99s and so on, so you should be able to cross-check what is on the pre-filed return,” Wilson says, “but yeah, I understand there could be some skepticism, I suppose.”

The deadline to file our federal tax returns is April 15th, while state taxes are due April 30th.

MURRAY, Iowa — A southern Iowa man has entered a written plea of not guilty, in connection with a deadly horse-drawn buggy crash that occurred Nov. 12, 2025, in Clarke County. 41-year-old Jacob Wright, of Grand River, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, failure to render aid, and leaving the scene of an accident. His trial is set for March 30^th.

The crash happened in a rural road near Murray. Officials say Wright’s vehicle struck the buggy from behind, causing the death of 16-year-old Elmer Borntrager, of Murray.

Police said Wright was driving on a suspended license when the accident happened. Wright was being held in jail on a $20,000 cash-only bond

ONAWA, Iowa  – A stand-off Thursday afternoon in Monona County eventually ended peacefully, with one person taken into custody. The incident took place at the Onawa grain elevator, where an unidentified man climbed an external ladder before blocking the ladder so no one could follow him. The standoff began at about 2:30pm.

Law enforcement officials tried for more than two-hours to communicate with the man through the use of a drone, but for most of that time, according to the Monona County Sheriff’s Office, the man gave only “nonverbal responses.” He climbed back down the ladder a little more than two-hours later, and was quickly taken into custody.

The Monona County Sheriff couldn’t say whether the man was considered to be a suspect in three recent arson investigations, including Wednesday’s incident which destroyed the more than 100-year-old grandstand on the Monona County Fairgrounds.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she is open to everything when it comes to settling on a proposal to set new limits on property tax growth. The governor and Republican leaders in the House and Senate have all announced their own property tax proposals this month. “Nobody should be drawing lines in the sand right now,” Reynolds said. “Everybody should be looking for common areas that we have — have that be the foundation to start from. You know, there are some similarities in all three bills. Find out what those are, and then let’s talk and figure out what makes sense.”

Property tax proposals backed by House Republicans were the subject of public hearings yesterday (Thursday). The plan would set a yearly two percent limit on local revenue growth for cities and counties and create a new 25-thousand dollar exemption for every residential property. Local government officials raised concerns about the one-size-fits-all approach.

Chelsea Hoye is a lobbyist for the Iowa League of Cities. “Laying a 2% cap on top of a broad new residential exemption creates a real risk that cities will be forced to reduce services, defer maintenance or delay critical investments their communities,” she said, “ultimately increasing costs and impacting quality of life.”

The president for Iowans for Tax Relief says the plans prioritize the needs of taxpayers. Some business groups warn the new 25-thousand dollar exemption for residential property may shift the tax burden on agricultural and business property owners.

(Red Oak, IA)- A traffic stop at around 5:20-p.m. Thursday in Montgomery County, resulted in the arrest of a woman from Red Oak. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 38-year-old Jennifer Holz was taken into custody for Driving While License Suspended, after her vehicle was pulled-over north of Stanton, at Highway 34 and Nature Avenue, in Montgomery County.

Holz was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on slightly more than $491 bond.

(Atlantic, IA) – One person was injured Thursday night in Atlantic, when a car struck a moped. The accident happened at around 10:22-p.m. on Highway 71, just south of E. 14th Street, on Atlantic’s southeast side. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2023 moped operated by 26-year-old Blaine Morse, of Atlantic, was southbound on Highway 71 near the 58.5 mile marker, when his moped was struck by a 2018 Chevy Malibu driven by 26-year-old Deitrich Engstrand, of Clarinda, as the car was also traveling southbound on the highway.

Morse was transported by Cass EMS to Cass Health in Atlantic. A report on his condition was not released. The accident  which resulted in the highway being closed in both directions for about two-hours –  remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at at the scene by Atlantic Police and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies.