(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Tuesday evening, of a man from Hastings (IA). 29-year-old Dakota John Allen was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. Allen was being held in the Mills County Jail, on a $5,000 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – If your power went out at around 10:45-p.m. Tuesday, in Atlantic, you can blame a raccoon for truly keeping you in the dark. Atlantic Municipal Utilities General Manager Steve Tjepkes said the incident started in the area of the Atlantic School District’s Bus Barn.

Approximately 267 AMU customers were without power for a little over three-hours before electricity was restored.

The area affected included parts of 3rd Street Place to Olive Street, and south to about 10th Street, and as far east to Burger King. Adding to the fact the incident happened overnight, AMU crews had to contend with some gusty winds, but at least there wasn’t a thunderstorm, which can really present dangerous working conditions.

Tjepkes said AMU is taking steps to hopefully prevent such outages from occurring again, or at least limit the length of the outage.

He said AMU is happy their crews were able to get out and fix the problem, get the power restored, and return home safely.

(Griswold, Iowa) – Griswold School District patrons are getting some good news with regard to their property tax rate. Superintendent Dave Henrichs says the tax asking levy per thousand dollars assessed valuation, has declined again.

It’s the fifth- or sixth-year in a row they’ve been able to decrease the levy rate, according to Henrichs. Another positive is with regard to the District’s General Obligation Bond, which was originally taken out to construct the new Elementary Building.

With regard to the 2024-25 District Calendar, there was a reduction in two instructional days, which will coincide with two less days for the teachers’ contract.

The 2024-25 School Year in Griswold begins August 23rd, 2024, and will conclude May 23rd, 2025, providing there aren’t several snow days. Public hearings were held Monday on both the Budget and Calendar. There were no objections to either, therefore the Board passed each as presented.

In other business, the Griswold School Board approved renewal of a Transportation Director Sharing Agreement with the Atlantic School District, and a School Business Official (SBO) Sharing Agreement with the Riverside School District.

He said the agreements have been in-place for years, and has proven to have been a good working relationship with each respective district, fills the district’s needs, and also provides a little extra funding through Operational Sharing. Henrichs said also, Middle/High School Principal Stephanie Brady submitted her resignation, which the Board accepted, and is in effect at the end of the current school year.

Superintendent Henrichs reported that all teaching positions have been filled.And, he said the Board approved a 2024-25 shared Girls Wrestling Program with the Red Oak School District. The agreement began at the start of the current school year, and while the Griswold School Board approved the arrangement, there is a chance the Red Oak School District may elect not the renew it for the coming school year, if the Iowa Girl’s High School Athletic Association makes changes to wrestling classifications.

In their final order of business prior to a Closed Session, Monday evening, the Griswold School Board approved the list of 2024 graduates.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two people from Creston have been arrested on drug charges. According to the Creston Police Department, 53-year-old Lisa Kay Foster was arrested at her home in the 600 block of N. Pine Street in Creston, at around 11:10-p.m., Tuesday. Foster was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was cited and released on a Promise to Appear in court.

And, at around 12-a.m. today (Wednesday), 28-year-old Taran Paul Alexander Austin was arrested his residence in Creston. Austin was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He too, was cited and released on a Promise to Appear in court.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a regular session Tuesday morning (April 16, 2024). In his meeting minutes, Auditor/Board Secretary Mark Maxwell reports Geralyn Greer, Shelby County Recorder, was on hand to present the Supervisors the Recorders quarterly report; revenues are up in a year to year comparison. Also her office has been busy with tag renewals for recreational vehicles. Her office has also been receiving phone calls about fraud fears with property ownership. Procedures are in the works to make the system a more secure environment for property records.

The Supervisors, after their review, then considered and approved a job description to be used for the hiring of a permanent EMS coordinator for Shelby County. The sale of the Annex building owned by Shelby County was then discussed. The Board voted to place a deadline of June 3rd at 4:30, for submittal of any bids, and the minimum bid of $265,000 being used as a starting bid point for bidders. Each bid shall include a 10% down payment for acceptance of their bid.

Todd Valline of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Industry gave an update of events happening in the coming weeks. The preservation of the Shelby County Museum is taking place, the public is being asked to keep away from the area until completion. The Chamber is reaching out for new members as well as member renewals.

Secondary Roads Head, Chris Fredericksen, asked the Supervisors to approve a utilities permits for Marne Elkhorn telephone company. A motion to approve the application was passed unanimously. Next, a utility permit for Zayo Group was considered. Maxwell noted the permit for is simply pulling new wire through an existing conduit. That too, was approved as presented. Fredericksen then reported that the paving on County Road F24 is progressing nicely and the paving has reached the bridge, just west of Irwin. Fredericksen then gave thanks to the public for their cooperation in helping keep traffic off of the road while this project is taking place.

Finding it necessary to re-post a budget amendment for fiscal year 2024, the Board passed a Resolution setting May 21, 2024 at 9-a.m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing on the amendment as proposed. The proposed expenditures are attributed to Jail incarcerations and costs which are up sharply, property insurance increases, secondary roads construction projects, and water well grant expenditures. Mark Maxwell noted there is also over $80,000 in unexpected income for Shelby County, from numerous sources. And, the Sheriff has asked for expending some reserve Capital fund money and a $15,000 increase in spending for salaries.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A search warrant executed at around 1:50-a.m. today (Wednesday), in Red Oak, resulted in a woman’s arrest on drug and child endangerment charges. Red Oak Police conducted the search warrant on a residence in the 100 block of E. Nuckols Street, and arrested 40-year-old Jodie Michele Vanhouten, of Red Oak, on charges that include:

• Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (Simple Misdemeanor).
• Possession of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine (Serious Misdemeanor).
• 2 counts of Using a Juvenile to commit certain offenses – a Class C Felony.
• 2 counts of Child Endangerment – a Class D Felony.
• Unlawful Possession of Prescription Pills (Serious Misdemeanor), and
• 4 counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor (Simple Misdemeanor).

Vanhouten was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $10,000 bond. Red Oak Police were assisted by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Montgomery County Communications Center.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The Iowa Senate passed a bill Tuesday requiring Iowa schools to adopt new social studies and civics education standards to include a more focused coverage of events and subjects in U.S. history.

House File 2545 passed on a 33-14 vote and was sent to the Senate. It calls for the Iowa Department of Education director to conduct a review of Iowa school curriculum, education standards and high school graduation rates and give recommendations to the governor and General Assembly by July 1, 2025. The bill still includes this goal, but was amended on the floor to include another subject: history and social studies education.

Some of language in the amendment came from House File 2330, a bill passed by the Iowa House in February but not taken up by the Senate. The original House bill would have mandated that history curriculum included subjects like the “history and meaning of the United States flag and national anthem,” “exemplary figures in western civilization, the United States, and the state of Iowa” including Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as well as documents like the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation.

The Senate amendment includes similar provisions, requiring that “exemplary figures and important events” from western civilization, U.S. and Iowa history are covered, as well as the model of the U.S. state and federal government “in comparison to alternative forms of government, and the crimes against humanity that have occurred under communist regimes since 1917.”

The bill directs the Iowa Board of Education to conduct a review and revision of the state’s social studies standards to include these subjects for students in grades 1 through 12 in a relevant and age-appropriate manner. These standards would be adopted by Dec. 31, 2025.

Democrats in the Senate argued that the bill was overly prescriptive of schools. The bill goes back to the House for consideration.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa State Fair and the Iowa Lottery have teamed up for a State Fair themed scratch ticket. Iowa Lottery C-E-O Matt Strawn says it’s the first ticket specifically targeting the annual event. “A five dollar ticket where you can win a 50-thousand dollar top prize up to 50-thousand dollars on the ticket alone,” he says. “I suspect that’ll buy a corn-dog or two out here come August.” There’s a second chance as those with losing scratch tickets will be able to enter them to be part of a “Fair Fever” promotion on August 8th. “Twenty people will be out there on a live game show on the Grand Concourse on opening day of the fair and those 20 Iowans, those 20 Iowa Lottery players, are going to have the opportunity to compete for a guaranteed one million dollars in prizes,” Strawn says.

The final contestant in the game show will have a chance to the grand prize. “We’ll also — right out there in a live lottery game show — will have the opportunity to compete for a five million dollar prize,” he says. And that last contestant will go away with a minimum prize of 500-thousand dollars. Iowa State Fair C-E-O, Jeremy Parsons, says the pairing with the Lottery’s statewide reach may bring more people to the fairgrounds. “That’s our hope. You know one of the great things that the Iowa Lottery does really is they blanket the entire state in terms of their media coverage they get to all corners of the state,” he says.

Iowa State Fair CEO Jeremy Parsons talks about the new ticket as Lottery CEO Matt Strawn watches. (Radio Iowa photo)

Parsons says it could make those who’ve never visited the State Fair to give it a look. “We really think we’ll probably get the Iowa State Fair top of mind maybe more than ever this summer,” Parsons says.

The Iowa Lottery and the Iowa State Fair do have a vast history, as the first every scratch tickets began selling on August 22nd, 1985 on the fairgrounds. Proceeds from the Iowa Lottery have been used through the years to fund upgrades to the various facilities at the Fair, including the 1997 grandstand renovation.

(Iowa News Service) – The chair of the Federal Trade Commission will be in rural Iowa this weekend to hear from farmers and other residents about the proposed sale of Iowa Fertilizer to Koch Industries. The sale is pending FTC approval. Iowa spent $500 million to build an Iowa Fertilizer factory in Waverly to create competition in an already consolidated industry. Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, said he plans to tell FTC Chair Linda Khan a sale to Koch Industries would backtrack on any competitive progress the state has made.
“Our concern is that an industry that already lacks competition and has all sorts of monopoly problems would only get worse if this sale is allowed to go through,” Lehman explained.

Koch and other corporate ag conglomerates have said consolidating allows them to provide better products to farmers more efficiently. The hearing is set for Saturday on Main Street in Nevada. In addition to reducing competition for fertilizer, Lehman argued the sale would increase prices for farmers, and ultimately mean higher food prices for Iowans. He wants Khan to hear stories firsthand, from the people on the ground in Nevada. “We know that we might not be able to have a dialogue with the people who are investigating this situation, because they need to be impartial,” Lehman acknowledged. “But our farmers need to tell their story about how the industry is already in a monopoly state.”

Some 18 other ag organizations have joined the Iowa Farmers Union calling on the FTC and the Justice Department to investigate the proposed sale.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Two women from Villisca were arrested last Saturday night, on Theft charges. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 23-year-old Hannah Marie Leigh and 19-year-old Hallie Nevaeh Straw, were each charged with Theft in the 5th Degree. The women were transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond, each.