(Corning, IA) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests:

On or about Wednesday, Jan, 21st, Adams County Sheriff’s Deputies executed a search warrant at 807 6th Street in Corning, and as a result of their investigation, arrested 68-year-old Phillip Bassett, of Corning.

Bassett

Bassett was arrested on the following charges: Distribution of a Controlled Substance to a person under the age of 18, and Ongoing Criminal Conduct (Both are Class-B felonies); Solicitation of Prostitution, Enticing a Minor under 16-years-old, and Grooming (All are Class-D felonies); and Keeping a premises for Controlled Substance Use (An Aggravated Misdemeanor). Bassett was transported to the Adams County Jail.

At around 12:26-a.m. today (Thursday), Sheriff’s Deputies in Adams County arrested 40-year-old Jose Huerta, of Clarinda, on an Adams County warrant for Violation of Probation. And, on or about Jan. 6th, 42-year-old David Yazell, of Corning, was arrested on an Adams County warrant for Failure to Appear.

Huerta

Yazell

“Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations, and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”

(Radio Iowa) – Corn production in Iowa and the nation was on an upward trajectory last year, but industry leaders say there’s now a problem with declining market demand. A new study produced for two Iowa agri-business groups predicts that demand gap will continue to grow. Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says an oversupply of corn will drag down prices for farmers unless something changes.

“As is usual, we’re outproducing our markets, and so, there’s really three paths forward,” Shaw says. “There’s the status quo where supply continues to go up faster than demand.” Mark Mueller, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and a fourth-generation farmer from Waverly, says he’s worried there won’t be a fifth generation on his family’s land.

Mueller says, “The bottom line is that we have high input prices, we have low commodity prices, and we’re producing more corn all the time. We need more places to move our corn.” The Iowa Corn Growers Association is pushing Congress to allow the year-round sale of E-15 nationwide. A new study for the group finds that would close the demand gap for corn by 2031. The study predicts new markets for corn, like sustainable aviation fuel, are needed for long-term profitability.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission has approved a new three-year contract for monitoring the water quality in the state’s lakes. D-N-R environmental specialist Dan Kendall says the contract continues the partnership with Iowa State University. “I-S-U will be collecting samples from 154 sites, and then the D-N-R will be collecting samples from an additional lake sites,” he says. They are testing for several things in the lakes, including phosphorus levels. Kendall as the data is used for the Clean Water Act water quality assessments report produced by the D-N-R every two years.  “This monitoring typically yields about 10-thosuand sampling results from over 600 sampling events for each year of this contract,” he says.

He says the Lake Restoration organizations uses the data from this program to prioritize their lakes in their restoration plan. The also use it to track the effectiveness of things like alum (aluminum sulfate) treatments in lake restoration efforts.  “Alum treatments are often used as a tool to reduce that internal load of phosphorus in a lake, and then that reduction of phosphorus and often lead to the reduction of phytoplankton overgrowth or algal bloom conditions in the lake,” he says. “So they were wanting to be able to track their efforts as they as they do these applications.” Kendall says I-S-U has a new tool that will help them in monitoring lake water quality.

“I-S-U has acquired a flow cam Cyano, which is essentially an automated imaging microscope that can differentiate between the different types of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria,” Kendall says. “And this new process will basically allow the lab to identify the samples faster as well as kind of in that time frame that that we really want to be able to see the information.” Kendall says this contract cost is more than one-point-seven million dollars ($1,741,679), a 20 percent increase. “This is due to several factors, one of which is we’re going from a two-year contract back to a three-year contract again,” he says. “And then some of the other factors contributing to this increase are staff and technician salary increases at I-S-U, increases in the cost of supplies and reagents for analysis, we’ve kind of seen a big jump there. And then increased transportation costs.”

Kendall was asked by a commissioner if working with public agencies and their increased salary costs is the best way to go. He says the legislature requires they work with public agencies and says it is a delicate balance of working with universities and continually trying to see what they can do to limit costs without reducing services.

(Radio Iowa) – As the U-S Supreme Court weighs the legality of President Trump’s tariffs, several farm groups say the administration’s trade policy will have harmful, long-lasting effects. Aaron Lehman is a farmer and president of the Iowa Farmers Union. “This chaotic tariff policy is not getting us any closer to fair trade,” Lehman says. “We are no closer to stopping product dumping, manipulative monetary policies, uneven labor and environmental standards, and unfair labeling restrictions.” Last April, Trump declared a national emergency posed by trade deficits and announced taxes on imports from nearly every U-S trading partner. Small businesses and a dozen states sued, and the case is being reviewed by the highest court.

Lehman says the bigger issue is Trump’s overall approach to trade policy. He says, “It’s wrong to use tariffs like we’re trying to change a light bulb with a hammer.” Lehman says the damage to trade partners and uncertainty makes it difficult to plan for the 2026 growing season, especially as production costs continue to outpace prices for corn and soybeans. “Farmers already have few choices in the marketplace,” Lehman says, “and a chaotic trade policy makes a bad situation even worse.”

He says the administration’s approach undermines decades of investments by farmers to build relationships with buyers overseas, many of whom may switch to suppliers in other countries. Lehman spoke during a press call organized by the group Tariffs Cost US.

(Oskaloosa, IA) – The Iowa State Patrol reports six people were injured in a crash in Mahaska County, Wednesday afternoon. The accident report indicates the crash happened just before 4-p.m., east of Oskaloosa, when a Ford Escape SUV facing eastbound and driven by a 15-year-old from Oskaloosa, stopped on Highway 92 near Patriot Avenue, as the driver was attempting to make a left turn into a driveway. The SUV was struck by an eastbound semi.

The impact caused the Ford Escape to cross the center-line of the road and strike a westbound Ford Edge SUV head-on. The injured, whose names were released, included the driver of the semi, 49-year-old Martin Neely, of Milan, MO; the driver of the Ford Edge, 33-year-old Brooke Thurman, of Brooklyn (IA); 48-year-old Claira Thurman, 26-year-old Jordan Thurman, along with an (unidentified) 13-year-old juvenile, all from Victor (IA), and the driver of the Ford Escape. All were taken by ambulance to Mahaska Health in Oskaloosa. All of the injured were wearing seat belts.

A report on their conditions was not available. The Patrol’s report did not say if any charges will be filed.

(Radio Iowa) – Two state senators are proposing an amendment to Iowa’s Constitution that would ban Iowa corporations from making donations to political candidates or political action committees. Senator Zach Wahls, a Democrat from Coralville who is running for the U.S. Senate, says it’s similar to a Montana initiative that sought to prohibit corporations from directly or indirectly contributing to candidates.

“Iowa’s democracy should belong to Iowans,” Wahls said, “not to corporate dark money and not to anonymous political spenders.” Senator David Sires, a Republican from Cedar Falls, says a PAC — allowed to conceal the names of its donors — spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to defeat him during his 2024 campaign for the state senate. “When donors are hidden, citizens can’t evaluate who’s trying to influence them,” Sires said. “Anonymous influence allows powerful influence to shape outcomes without public accountability.”

Earlier this month, Montana’s Supreme Court ruled the concept was unconstitutional and it’s unlikely to be considered in the Republican-led Iowa Legislature. In 2010, the U-S Supreme Court ruled corporate spending to support causes or candidates amounted to political speech that’s protected by the First Amendment of the U-S Constitution.

(Atlantic, IA) – The Atlantic City Council met in a regular session on Wednesday, Jan. 21st. Their first order of business was to act on passing a resolution “Authorizing and Approving a Certain Loan Agreement, Providing for the Issuance of General Obligation Corporate Purpose and Refunding Bonds, Series 2026A and Providing for the Levy of Taxes to Pay the Same.”

They subsequently passed a resolution “Authorizing and Approving a Certain Loan Agreement, Providing for the Issuance of Taxable General Obligation Corporate Purpose Bonds, Series 2026B and Providing for the Levy of taxes to pay the same.” City Administrator John Lund…

In other business, the Atlantic City Council passed a resolution to appoint Rich Tupper as Acting City Clerk. The action was necessary with the resignation of former City Clerk Laura McLean.

Tupper had served as the Deputy City Clerk prior to his appointment by the Council to the open position. The positions of City Clerk and Mayor are the only two positions that are required by the Code of Iowa in order for a city to exist, according to City Administrator John Lund.

On a related note to Tupper’s appointment as Acting City Clerk, the Council moved to update the authorized signatories for city checks and payables. They also passed a resolution approving a new Professional Services Agreement with (former City Clerk) Barb Barrick to Temporarily Provide City Clerk Consulting Services for the City of Atlantic. Councilman Jeremy Butler…

During the Council’s meeting one March 19, 2025, they agreed to enter into a consulting agreement with Barrick to assist the new City Clerk with orientation and duties specific to serving as a City Clerk in the State of Iowa. That agreement included bank reconciliation services for FY 2025 and was completed successfully within the required time-frame.

Key components of the new agreement include:

• $1,000 per fiscal month reconciled
• $1,000 for entry of the FY 2027 Budget into gWorks and the State of Iowa online budget forms
• $125 per hour for City Clerk mentoring services (same rate as the original contract)
• Continuation of the contract if both parties agree that additional assistance is necessary, eliminating the need for amendments or extensions

The Council also passed a resolution assessing unpaid fees and costs to property taxes, with regard to the clean-up by city crews of nuisance properties and related costs. For property owners facing an assessment for their unpaid fees, the City will mail them a notice, including a copy of the resolution, and the specific assessment amount. Affected property owners will have the right to object, or request a hearing within 10-days from the date of notice.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a bill that would prevent Summit Carbon from using eminent domain authority to seize land along its proposed pipeline route. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says people who don’t want the pipeline on their property should have the right to say no.

“It affects their business. It affects their lives,” Holt said, “and they were there first.” The bill is similar to a law in South Dakota and it passed the Iowa House on a 64-to-28 vote. Republican Representative Chad Ingels, a farmer from Randalia, says the bill would block construction of the carbon pipeline, a project he says would be a public good because it would boost the bottom line for farmers who sell their corn to make ethanol.

“Having better markets for our products is not only in my family’s best interest, it’s my neighbor’s best interest, it’s in a farmer in southwest Iowa’s best interest,” Ingels said. “…It’s in the best interest of our state to have young people willing to come back and farm.” Republican Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant says the Iowa and U-S Constitutions require that laws apply equally to all those impacted and that’s why he can’t support the bill.

“What this bill does is create two separate regulatory schemes depending on what’s going through the pipeline if you say to one pipeline company…and their gas pipelines, ‘You can use the eminent domain,’ but then tell another pipeline that’s running a different kind of gas, ‘You can’t.'” Holt says the carbon pipeline may be beneficial to some, but it doesn’t serve a public purpose. “I think we all want economic development, but not at the expense of the constitutionally protected rights of our fellow citizens,” Holt said.

“…The precedent we will set if we allow private property to be seized for a private economic development project will reverberate for decades to come and could render property rights safeguards in our constitution meaningless for our children and our children’s children.”  This bill now goes to the Senate and is among a handful of pipeline-related proposals the House has passed over the past five years.

House debate on Wednesday afternoon lasted only half an hour for a bill that was just two pages long. The Republican leader in the Iowa Senate has proposed an alternative that would let the pipeline corridor so Summit could go around landowners who’ve refused to grant the company an easement on their property.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, has introduced a bill he says would keep American welfare benefits from being sent out of the country. “To codify what Trump did to ban welfare recipients from sending money abroad. I mean, think about what happened over the last several months, nine billion dollars of fraud in Minnesota. You know, this is our taxpayer dollars,” he says. Feenstra says his “No American Benefits Abroad Act” is being considered by a House committee. He says Democrats in Minnesota are to blame for allowing the fraud.

“And to me it’s different from night and day. I mean, you have liberal progressive running that state in Minnesota and you got true conservatives here in Iowa. I mean, it’s just apples and oranges. And that’s what happens when you have liberal progressives running your state,” Feenstra says. Feenstra is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and has joined chair Jason Smith and Republican members of the committee in sending a letter to the acting I-R-S commissioner Scott Bessent to urge stronger oversight and accountability of the nation’s nonprofit sector.

“If someone has money to send to a foreign country, they should not be on welfare in the first place, and they surely should not be sending in abroad. And that’s what we’re trying to stop,” Feenstra says. Feenstra says he was disturbed along with many Iowans by the headlines of the rampant taxpayer fraud in Minnesota.

The Ways and Means Committee has referred 11 nonprofit to the I-R-S through its investigations of fraud, terrorism ties and foreign influences, which found that stolen funds may have been wired to regions of Somalia with links to an Islamic terrorist group. Feenstra is running for the republican nomination to be governor.