A Shelby County resident will be honored at the Iowa State Fair this week. Steve Leinen,  of Panama, has been selected as “Iowan of the Day” at this year’s Iowa State Fair. The Iowan of the Day program is sponsored by the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation and selects 10 lucky Iowa residents who are nominated by others for the award. The Foundation receives hundreds of nominations each year. Every Iowan of the Day gets his/her special day at the State Fair. Leinen’s day at the fair is Friday. Leinen says he was nominated by Lois Kramer.

“She nominated me and I didn’t really know the program existed and called me one night and told me you have been nominated for Iowan of the Day. It has a lot of perks to go with it.” Leinen and three of his guests will get the royal treatment on Friday. He said “We get four free passes to the fair along with a parking pass up close and get in early. We get a golf cart to drive around, cash to spend and four tickets to the concert that night. The highlight of the day is getting on the Bill Riley talent stage to get the award. It is a pretty special deal.”

Leinen will  share the award with his wife, adding “That’s the reason I am today because of her. We work as a team on any volunteering that we do and the award is somewhat based on that so she deserves it just as much as I do.” The Leinens serve on the Harlan Community Booster Club, Panama Athletic Association, the Panama Fire Department and Steve is Secretary on the Shelby County Cattlemen Board. Steve Leinen says on the night he found out he won, he originally thought he was suppose to help the Kramers with redecorating work.

He said “Dave and Lois invited us to their house to supposedly look at some landscaping. It happened on the day they tore down their kitchen wall and I thought I was going to be asked to help as she had a stack of papers in front of her. All of sudden she started telling me about what she did and she showed me a bunch of pictures that she had sent in. So I was surprised.”

As Iowan of the Day, Leinen received a free night stay for this (Thursday) evening at the Marriott before starting his day at the Fair Friday.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

A traffic stop early this (Thursday) morning in Lenox, lead to the arrest of a Central Iowa man. Lenox Police pulled over a vehicle driving erratically on Brooks Avenue, at around 12:30-a.m.  When the officer approached the vehicle, he could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. A subsequent search of the vehicle located drug paraphernalia and marijuana.

Trever John Wiebenga

The driver, 22-year old Trever John Wiebenga, of Dexter, was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was transported to the Taylor County Sheriffs office for processing. The vehicle was impounded.

w/ Ric Hanson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – At least three people in two states will split the $448 million Powerball jackpot. Lottery officials say two winning tickets were sold in New Jersey and one was sold in Minnesota.  Minnesota lottery officials say that state’s winning Powerball jackpot ticket was sold in Anoka County.

New Jersey lottery officials say one of the winning tickets in that state was purchased at a Super Stop & Shop store in South Brunswick. The other one was bought at an Acme Markets store in Little Egg Harbor.  Phil Weber, the director of the Acme store, says he’s just happy that, in his words, “someone’s life is changing for the positive.”

No winners have come forward yet.  The winning numbers drawn Wednesday night were 05, 25, 30, 58, 59 and Powerball 32.

The Iowa State Patrol and deputies with the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Department are on the scene of a motorcycle accident this morning. Details are limited at this time, but we do know the crash occurred on White Pole Road (Highway 6). We’ll have more on this story when information becomes available.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The City of Atlantic’s Personnel and Finance Committee will meet this evening in the Council’s Chambers, at City Hall. During the session, which begins at 5:15, the Committee will discuss the City’s interest in the former Sitel building at 1206 Southwest 7th Street, for a possible use as City Hall and/or the Police Department.

In the Fall of 2011, Cass County began in the process of looking for a new facility to house an expanded 9-1-1/ Communications Center, and had explored the possibility of combining such a facility with the Iowa State Patrol, but that concept soon fell by the way side.

Officials say finding more space in the courthouse or on the grounds of the facility has become a necessity, as the current 9-1-1/Communications Center has outgrown its current location, and, because new technology will take up more space and require the use of additional personnel to operate it. Combining the City of Atlantic and Cass County County Emergency Communications operations is one of the options being considered.

The Personnel and Finance Committee is also expected to discuss making changes to the building permit fee charged by the City of Atlantic.

The Atlantic City Council Wednesday evening decided to hold-off on approving a request by the Cass County Fair Board, for the abatement of a building permit fee pertaining to the construction of a new Cattle Barn on the Cass County Fairgrounds. Mayor Dave Jones said the matter would come before the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee this (Thursday) evening at City Hall (beginning at 5:15), because there are some “loopholes” in the current City Ordinances that create an unfair pricing system for building permit fees that need to be addressed prior to the Council acting on abating a fee for the Cattle Barn. The current ordinance would require the non-profit Fair Board to pay a nearly $3,100 fee for a permit to construct the barn.

Mayor Jones says when the Ordinances were updated they passed a simple 30-cents per square foot building permit. The theory was that for a 10-thousand square foot building, the permit fee would be $3,000. The same principal applies to the construction of a building metal carport, which Zoning Administrator John Lund, the Mayor, and others, considers to be “exorbitant.”

Councilman Steve Livengood said he was on the Committee that established the prices for a building permit fee. Livengood said the decision to base the fee on square footage was not an easy one to make, but they wanted to ensure poorly constructed structures were being erected. He said it’s inequitable and they are currently looking for better ideas. Livengood said also he’s “Still a huge advocate of ‘If you pay the government some money, you should get something for it.'” Livengood said — referring to Atlantic’s Building Permit fee — “Quite honestly, you really don’t get much for a building permit, so you shouldn’t have to pay a lot for it, either.”

In other business, the Council set August 21st at 5:30-p.m. as the date and time for a public hearing the proposed Code of Ordinances. City Administrator Doug Harris said the Code was re-codified over the past 18-months, and is the first time that’s been done in 10-years. The new Code incorporates State and Legislative changes, changes made as part of the Model Code recommended by the Iowa Municipal League, and those made by the City itself.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

A western Iowa woman who serves as the auditor for Monona County, has plead not guilty to drug charges. 27-year old Brooke Ann Kuhlmann entered her plea in front of the judge on Tuesday. And while her case is on-hold pending the outcome of a District Court case, according to the Omaha World-Herald, the Monona County attorney has recommended a review of the County’s financial records.
Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety said in a statement last week, that Kuhlmann scheduled a methamphetamine buy and pickup from an undercover Iowa State Patrol officer on Monday who had seized a dealer’s cell phone the day before.
After the drug purchase, Onawa police initiated a traffic stop and took Kuhlmann into custody for questioning. She was arrested and charged with possessing methamphetamine, a serious misdemeanor, and possessing drug paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor. She was subsequently released from custody, and remains free on a $1,000 signature bond. Kuhlmann, a Democrat, is serving her second term as auditor.