(Atlantic, Iowa) – Citing issues related to Police staffing, especially on the day shift, Atlantic City Administrator John Lund is expected to request the City Council, Wednesday afternoon, pass a Resolution “Adjusting Overtime Pay for Sergeants and Assistant Police Chief for the Period of Feb. 16, 2023 through March 17, 2023. Lund says “The Atlantic Police Department has undergone an extended period of staffing difficulties, with the day shift having been particularly impacted.”

“Our Police Chief, Assistant Police Chief, Sergeants and Officers,” Lund says, “have had to cancel vacations, cut short scheduled vacations, and add 12-hours shifts on scheduled days off, after having worked three 12-hour shifts in a row, in order to maintain our minimum level of coverage of two officers on the streets, per shift.” John Lund says normally, the City offers traditional compensation time at 1 1/2 times the regular hourly rate for all hours worked outside their scheduled hours or on a scheduled day off, or all hours in excess of 104 in a seventeen day period. “However,” he said, “This compensatory time is functionally useless, as officers are not even getting their scheduled days off, or pre-planned vacactions.” He says “Taking random days off using compensatory time is off the table.”

Lund says along with the Mayor, he and Police Chief Devin Hogue have moved to address the issue, decisively mitigate the situation and bolster morale, and to prevent the further erosion of staffing levels, by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Union for the officers (AFSCME). “The MOU” he says, “allows for a period of double pay to replace the traditional time and a half Overtime in the form of compensatory time, for the period of Feb. 16, 2023 through March 17, 2023, for those officers working the day shift of 6-a.m. to 6-p.m.” And, while the MOU addresses the day shift union officers, it does not address the Sergeants and Assistant Police Chief that work outside of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“The resolution will see to it our non-union supervisors are offered the same benefits that the unionized officers receive,” Lund said. He noted also, that Chief Hogue has been taking on a lot of the shifts, “including a 15-day work marathon with zero financial benefit and no compensatory time.” Lund adds, “I will continue to work with [the] Mayor on how we can rectify this situation.” And, while traditionally, resolutions such as the one proposed would typically go through the Personnel and Finance Committee, Lund says “There are legal and personnel issues involved that are inappropriate for discussion in a public meeting.”

The issue, he said, needs to be addressed immediately.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, along with other law enforcement agencies in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro area, including those in Douglas and Sarpy Counties, moved to full digital radio encryption. The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, said law enforcement radio channels were moved to full encryption on February 27, 2023 at/about 2:00pm. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, including their dispatch center and the agencies they serve, made the switch for several reasons. Officials say “We’re doing so in conjunction with other area agencies to increase safety for our deputies, officers, and citizens involved in incidents to which we respond.”

Encrypted communications prevent criminal elements from knowing when and where first-responders are dispatched. They also help to ensure that the personal information of persons contacted by deputies and officers is protected from public disclosure. Authorities say “We understand that our radio traffic is used for lawful purposes both by members of the media and by private citizens. In order to maintain transparency while balancing the needs of public safety, radio traffic on primary dispatch channels is now available via a Broadcastify audio stream after a 30-minute delay.

The unedited audio feed can be found in the link below. It should begin appearing in “police scanner” apps as soon as those apps update their lists.

https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/39895

In order to protect personally-identifiable information, radio channels designated for informational use, e.g., checking warrants, missing persons, and driver’s license information, will not be made available.

(Radio Iowa) –  The Master Gardener Program through Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is reporting significant growth in 2022. Alicia Herzog, the program’s coordinator, says more than 440 people were trained statewide last year, which is an increase of 41-percent from the year before. The program was offered twice last year, in the summer and fall, instead of just once, which accounts for the jump in numbers. The program is also reporting more than 100-thousand volunteer hours logged last year by nearly 18-hundred volunteers. Herzog says Master Gardeners in Iowa provided more than two-point-two million dollars in services during 2022. It’s much more than just growing flowers and vegetables. She calls Master Gardeners “educational stewards” for their communities, as they offer seminars, consult with community groups and help educate and inform the public about access to healthy food.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa is renovating a portion of its technology center to accommodate its new nursing program. U-N-I’s Michael Hager says the majority of the work is on classrooms in the third floor where they are building simulation labs that he says are an integral component to the curriculum. The budget for the first phase of the Innovative Teaching and Technology Center for Nursing is five million dollars and he says an unusually large percentage of that budget is dealing with the furniture and equipment — because of the cost lab equipment is a higher compared to most academic programs. U-N-I hopes to help with the shortage of nurses in the state with the new nursing program anticipated to start in Fall 2024. The Board of Regents gave approval for U-N-I to move ahead at its meeting last week.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report two drug-related took place Monday evening. Officers arrested 22-year-old Jacob Christopher Cashatt, of Red Oak, for Possession with the Intent to Deliver/Methamphetamine – a Class B Felony, Possession of a Controlled Substance/Cocaine – 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Cashatt was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail. And, 46-year-old Michael Lee LaFollette, of Red Oak, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance – 1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

The Red Oak Police Department was assisted during the arrests by the Montgomery County K9 Unit.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Members of the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Board will meet at Noon today (Feb. 28th), in a Special Session in the City Council’s Chambers at City Hall. On their agenda is action on a request from the Figgins Family to install memorial benches along the Bull Creek Pathway, and Consideration of a recommendation to the City Council, that an increase in the Hotel/Motel Tax from 4-percent to 7-percent be placed on the November 2023 ballot.

With regard to the two memorial park benches, Ed and Lois Figgins are requesting they be installed for their sons, across the creek from their house.

The Board will also discuss creating an informational brochure for the Hotel/Motel Tax, and the splash pad.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report a man from Red Oak was arrested Sunday morning on Arson & other charges. 19-year-old Jayden Alexander Briggs was taken into custody at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on charges that include Arson in the 2nd Degree, and two counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. Briggs was being held on bond amounting to $10,000.

Early Friday morning, 40-year-old Anthony Tobias Taylor, of Mitchell, NE, was arrested in Mills County, on an out-of-county/out-of-state warrant. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

And, at around 10:45-a.m. on Feb. 23rd, 27-year-old David Gene Barrett II, of Glenwood, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Possession of Controlled Substance and Interference with Official Acts. His bond was set at $4,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Union workers marched through the Iowa Capitol Monday, rallying against a bill to expand the hours and places teenagers may work in Iowa. The bill would let teens work longer hours at night and work in places where they are not allowed to work today. The bill would give two top state officials the power to issue waivers, so teenagers could do more jobs in food processing plants or manufacturing facilities. Iowa Federation of Labor president Charlie Wishman is accusing Republican lawmakers of trying to use kids for cheap labor.

“Our kids, we see their dreams. You all see profit,” Wishman said, “That’s why you’re doing this. Our kids are not for sale.” Sandy Conway, a member of the United Steelworks Union, is an ultrasonic inspector at Arconic in Riverdale. “Everything in our plant gets moved by a fork truck, a crane, a vacuum or hooks,” she said. “It’s no place for 14 or 15 year old kids to be.” Jesse Case is secretary treasurer of Cedar Rapids based Teamsters Local 238.

“We don’t need more kids working in factories and packing plants,” Case said. “We need to pay higher wages for their parents, so their kids don’t have to work in factories and packing plants.” The Republican chair of the Senate Workforce Committee says he’s working on changes to the bill, but hasn’t revealed what those changes may be.

(Iowa DNR News) – A bypass was reported in the city of Mount Ayr Monday morning from the Pasture lift station east of 105 Deerview Lane.

Sewage overflow from the station was expected to have begun around 6 a.m. Monday and was discovered shortly after. The bypass ended around 7:30 a.m.

An estimated 1,250 and 1,500 gallons were diverted into the Middle Fork Grand River. Lime will be spread on the ground.

Residents should keep children and pets away from the area.

(Radio Iowa) – Members of the Iowa House are considering extending a tax break for the Knoxville Raceway. In 2018, the Iowa legislature approved a $1.8 million sales tax rebate for the track. Jason Reed, general manager for the Knoxville Raceway, says state government red tape has kept the track from claiming the money.

“We got the bill passed and then there was some confusion on the rules on how it was going to be paid. We thought we were on the right road several different times where they told us, ‘Fill out these papers, send them in and you’ll get your money,’ but we ended up just getting denied in those two or three years in there and then COVID right after that,” Reed says. “We kept improving stuff. We thought we were going to be getting money back, but we weren’t getting it.”

Reed says it took three years for the Department of Revenue’s rules for the rebate to be functional. “A little over $700,000 that we’d done improvements to turn in, and then we were denied on,” Reed says.

The projects ranged from new restrooms to making the facility more handicapped accessible. Republican Representative Brook Boden of Indianola and two other members of a House subcommittee have advanced a bill that would extend the tax break until 2030. “When we wrote this and we decided to help Knoxville, we had great intent and I think it still has great intent,” Boden says. “We want to do what’s right and make that right with Knoxville and their community.”

Boden says the tax break supports a small community that hosts a big event. There are about 30,000 fans in the stands for four straight days of the Knoxville Nationals in August, plus there are big crowds in the 10 days of qualifying races leading up to the nationals.

“The Knoxville community grows by four or five times during that time frame,” Reed says.

The Knoxville Raceway is on the Marion County Fairgrounds. Weekly stock car racing began in 1954, but a few years later lighter weight sprint cars began racing on the track. The first Knoxville Nationals were held in 1961.