(Atlantic, IA) – Officials with Vision Atlantic, a non-profit 501(c) organization, said Tuesday (Today), J & R Tax Service, owned by Cody Newman, Jan and Becky, has made a generous donation of $20,000 in support of Vision Atlantic’s transformative community development project, which includes a new housing development, child development center, and YMCA expansion.

“Our success has always been rooted in the support of this community,” expressed J & R Tax Service owner, Becky. “We believe every successful project takes a village, and this one will play a vital role in strengthening our local economy. Proper housing and expanded childcare are essential for a community to truly thrive.”

Vision Atlantic, through extensive research and surveying of the community and surrounding region, identified three areas that will help increase Atlantic’s population: expanded childcare, quality housing and quality of life amenities. Infrastructure for the 142 mixed unit Camblin Hills housing development and 300 capacity child development center is almost complete, with construction of 48 homes currently underway. Construction of the child development center and YMCA expansion is slated to begin in 2026.

Vision Atlantic has a fundraising goal of $39 million, which will be used to construct the YMCA expansion and child development center. To date, they have raised $34.1 million of that goal, thanks to an $8.6 million lead grant from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation and significant support from local donors. In addition to their grant support, the Lakin Foundation has created a separate investment fund of $23 million that will be used to construct homes in the Camblin Hills housing development. The capital will be used as a line of credit, and as the dollars are paid back, the Foundation will donate up to 5% of the interest paid back to Vision Atlantic, who will use those dollars to operate the child development center.

Vision Atlantic’s Project Committee is actively working to secure the remaining $4.9 million needed to meet their fundraising goal. If you are interested in helping transform Atlantic, whether it’s through monetary donations or acts of volunteerism, please contact Vision Atlantic at visionatlanticiowa@gmail.com. Visit www.visionatlantic.org and follow on Facebook for behind-the-scenes access to project updates and in-depth information of the project scope.

Vision Atlantic is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to empower growth, enhance lives, and build a thriving community together through the economic development of Atlantic, Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh says it’s time to find a solution to the five-year-long debate over a proposed carbon pipeline and Klimesh says his alternative will fix a flaw in state regulations. Klimesh led a subcommittee hearing this (Tuesday) morning on the House-passed bill that would ban the use of eminent domain for the project. It concluded with Klimesh discussing his own plan to widen the proposed route so Summit Carbon could go around landowners who don’t want the pipeline on their property.

“We are all concerned about their property rights. Everybody in the Senate is. Everybody in both chambers is and it’s time for us to find a solution, but find a solution that allows us to get ourselves and dig ourselves out of the box we have currently put ourselves in by over-regulating the noticed corridor.” Klimesh says current regulations forbid Summit from approaching other property owners who might sign easements. Landowners who’ve refused to sign contracts with Summit back the House bill that bans the use of eminent domain and they say under Klimesh’s bill, Summit could still seize some land. Marjorie Swan and her sister own two farms in Wright County that are in the pipeline’s current path.

“Landowners cannot enter into the negotiation process when the heavy hand of big government is tipping the scale in favor of multi-million dollar CO2 pipeline companies via threats of eminent domain,” Swan said. The ethanol industry and the Iowa Corn Growers Association back Klimesh’s plan and say without the pipeline in Iowa, they’ll lose money shipping corn to Nebraska ethanol plants because a carbon pipeline is now operating there. Union representatives say the pipeline will create thousands of valuable construction jobs and the House bill would endanger the project. Dylan Gramlich is a lobbyist for the Laborers’ International Union of North America which has members who specialize in key aspects of pipeline construction and hope to work on Summit’s project.

“For our trade alone, that breaks down to over 2 million man-and-woman hours on this project,” Gramlich said, “and that’s roughly the same amount that our members accrue in a full construction season.” Cynthia Hanson owns a farm in Shelby County that’s in the pipeline route and backs the House bill. “Labor jobs are important and I understand that and I don’t want you guys losing jobs, but farmers are businesses, too, and we have jobs,” she said. “…We want our land safe to do our jobs on.”

Once the Senate Commerce Committee meets to consider the House plan that would ban eminent domain for the pipeline, Klimesh intends to switch it out for his own proposal.

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Ankeny man was sentenced Monday (January 26, 2026), to a six-month term of probation for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. According to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, 82-year-old Joseph Thomas Lamb drove his vehicle into a flock of Canada Geese on State Street in Ankeny around 6:30 am on June 10, 2025. Lamb stopped to let a flock of nine Canada Geese cross in front of his vehicle. When the geese were in the middle of his lane, he accelerated into the geese, killing one of the geese. In addition to a six-month term of probation, Lamb was ordered to pay a $2000 fine.

The Canada Goose is a migratory bird protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service maintains a list of birds protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act are punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine of up to $15,000, and a term of supervised release of not more than one year.

United States Attorney David C. Waterman of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Ankeny Police Department investigated the case.

If you believe you have information related to a wildlife crime that violates federal law, please reach out to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

You may also submit a wildlife crime report to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) using the Turn in Poachers (TIP) online form or call the TIP Hotline at 1-800-532-2020.

(Red Oak, IA) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County met this (Tuesday) morning, during their regular weekly session at the courthouse, in Red Oak. During the meeting, they heard a Quarterly report from Richard Mullen of Resilient Recovery Counseling, a Villisca-based recovery treatment approach.

Here’s a bit of what he said to say, with regard to their Integrated Resource Recovery Teams (IRRT) services.

Mullen said the team approach is designed to help anyone whose life has been impacted by a substance abuse or opioid disorder.

The services often feature clinical therapy, vocational training, peer support, and family involvement to help individuals gain stability and purpose. In her report to the Board, Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert presented a resolution for the board to approve, awarding the construction of a Low Water Crossing on 210th Street, to Nelson & Rock Contracting.

Supervisor Mark Peterson reads from a portion of the resolution that was approved by the Board….

Karen Albert said the late start date for the project is April 1st. Albert also gave the Board a very brief, weekly report on Secondary Roads Department maintenance and activities.

Under New Business on their agenda, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors discussed and them approved changes to the County Personnel Handbook. County Auditor Jill Ozuna…

 

(Creston, IA) – A Union County man was arrested Monday evening on an assault charge. The Creston Police Department reports 38-year-old Wesley Gene Keeler, Jr., of Creston, was arrested at around 5:25-p.m. in the vicinity of Adams and Elm Streets, in Creston. Keeler was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault – Strangulation with Bodily Injury.

He was taken to Union County Jail. Keeler was being held without bond until making an appearance before a magistrate.

(Guthrie Center, IA) – The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, said no injuries were reported to drivers whose vehicles collided with deer last week. Both collisions occurred on Thursday. The first happened at around 12:35-p.m., as a van driven by 73-year-old Denis R. James, of Guthrie Center, was traveling east on Highway 44. The impact caused an estimated $4,000 damage to the 2019 Chrysler Pacifica James was driving.

The second accident happened at around 6-p.m. Thursday, when an SUV driven by 33-year-old Katelyn Olive, of Guthrie Center, struck a deer as the vehicle was westbound on Highway 44. The Sheriff’s Department estimated the 2017 Nissan Rogue sustained $1,800 damage.

(Radio Iowa) – Residents of nine communities hit by historic flooding in northwest Iowa in 2024 are still waiting for FEMA to buyout 267 homes, totaling more than 53 million dollars. Almost half are in Rock Valley, but 41 are in Spencer where City Administrator Kevin Robinson says he’s frustrated.  “Every deadline that we’ve thrown out there when we think things would be accomplished seems to get moved farther out,” he says. Mayor Robinson, says FEMA has been good to work with, but the buyouts for more than 40 homes were requested more than a year ago.

“People continue to pay mortgages and property insurance on these properties, and so we’ve been fighting and advocating for them with the federal government and FEMA to get this done as fast as possible,” he says. FEMA spokesperson Michael Cappannari says the cost analysis continues, but approval takes time. “It never comes fast enough. But just know that we are doing everything we can to get these projects reviewed and approved as quickly as we can,” he says.

Cappannari says once the funding goes through, the homes will be torn down and replaced with green space, which could include parks and ballfields.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report ranks Iowa as the 17th healthiest state in the nation. The United Health Foundation has issued its “America’s Health Rankings” report for 36 years, looking at 99 different measures of health in this year’s edition. United Healthcare chief medical officer Ravi Johar says Iowa did well overall across many categories. “There’s a very low prevalence of non-medical drug use,” Johar says. “There’s high prevalence of high school completion. People don’t think education can play a factor in their health, but it certainly can.” Even though Iowa ranked high overall, Johar says the state falls short in some important categories.

“The biggest one is the high prevalence of excessive drinking, it’s actually number 48 out of 50 in the country,” he says. “They have, not a housing shortage at all, but the number of homes with lead is number 45 in the country.” Johar says Iowa also ranked very low in H-P-V vaccination rates, had a high prevalence of obesity, and Iowa saw a 22-percent increase in depression cases reported in adults between 2019 and 2024.

https://assets.americashealthrankings.org/ahr_2025annualreport-statesummaries_all.pdf

(IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH)-  An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced a bill Monday that would make it a crime to engage in any acts attempting to alter the weather. Senate Study Bill 3010 bans “geoengineering” activities for acts intending to “manipulate or alter the weather.” The legislation specifically points to activities like “cloud seeding,” “weather engineering” and “polluting atmospheric activity” — meaning the deliberate discharge of materials, including chemical substances, electromagnetic fields or pulses, sound waves or light pollution — with the intention to alter weather.

The measure would create a Class D criminal felony for people engaging in these activities, punishable by up to five years of incarceration and fines between $1,025 and $10,245. The bill states each day a person commits a violation of this ban counts as a separate offense. It also specifies that if an entity is suspected of committing “geoengineering” activities, the Iowa Department of Public Safety is directed to issue a cease and desist letter.

The measure is similar to a bill advanced through the Iowa House committee process during the 2025 session, House File 927. The two measures have slightly different language, with the House language prohibiting specifically “intentional emission of air contaminants into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of sunlight.” The House measure would not impose criminal penalties, but would have required the Environmental Protection Commission to adopt emergency rules related to air quality that would address these practices.

Sen. Charlie McClintock, R-Alburnett, who introduced the Senate bill, said the measure was “the most compact version and the most reasonable version we could put together” to address some constituents’ concerns about cloud seeding and other alleged weather-altering methods. Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Fairfield, told senators at the subcommittee meeting he appreciated the measure being brought forward, and said he believed it was important for the state to establish rules on how these practices can take place.

Shipley said currently, “if I wanted to say, deploy a cloud seeding program over Van Buren County, there’s nothing in law, to my knowledge that’s currently preventing me from doing that, or any sort of regulation of oversight of that sort of activity.” He pointed to a 2025 law signed Florida as an example of what could be brought up in Iowa.

One of the main drivers of conversations on geoengineering and related practices is the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory, which posits some aircraft are spraying certain chemicals that impact weather patterns as well as people’s health and fertility. Advocates with groups like the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers spoke against the bill, saying the proposal is referencing and validating “pseudoscience” instead of addressing real environmental concerns.

One confirmed practice referenced in the bill is cloud seeding, where certain particles, like silver iodide crystals and salt, are added to existing clouds in order to cause rain or snow to fall that would not occur naturally. While there are not reports of the widespread use of cloud seeding in Iowa, this practice has been used in several western states to address drought or minimize hail damage.

Grayson Gee with the Rainmaker Technology Corporation, a U.S.-based cloud seeding startup, spoke in opposition to the inclusion of cloud seeding in the measure targeted at geoengineering practices. Gee said cloud seeding has been “researched, regulated and transparently conducted in the United States for over 70 years,” and that it does not change weather patterns outside of encouraging precipitation.

He said other proposed technologies related to geoengineering, like solar radiation modification or other stratospheric aerosol injection, are not well-studied or researched and have the potential to cause serious harm. Gee said it was important to distinguish between these ideas, which he called “conspiratorial and, frankly, somewhat concerning,” and existing practices like cloud seeding.

The measure was passed out of subcommittee unanimously. Sen. Izaah Knox, D-Des Moines, said he supported the bill moving forward as “there needs to be more conversation about this,” though he was not sure the current language is the correct approach. McClintock said there are still many steps before the bill would become law, but said he believed lawmakers are moving with “due diligence” to address Iowans’ concerns on the issue.