(Radio Iowa) – A state legislator riding on RAGBRAI has been charged with interference with official acts for refusing to move off a road. State Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, says he’s absolutely innocent of the charge.

According to a Sac County Deputy, there was a big party in the middle of a road in an unincorporated town about 16 miles southwest of Sac City Monday afternoon. The deputy said he approached Dickey and asked him to move — so the road could be opened to traffic — and Dickey said he wasn’t going to move and argued with the deputy. The deputy told Dickey he was risking arrest and Dickey told the deputy to arrest him.

Dickey’s attorney says Dickey and his RAGBRAI team took an alternate route that led them to the road that was blocked by several hundred people. Dickey’s attorney says there was a misunderstanding between Dickey and the deputy and Dickey was trying to get through the larger group and onto the bike trail.

Dickey was released from the Sac County Jail on a 300 dollar bond. A court hearing is scheduled August 8th. Interference with official acts is a simple misdemeanor and carries a sentence of up to 30 days in jail.

(Mondamin, Iowa) – A crash in a road construction zone on Interstate 29 Wednesday afternoon in Harrison County, left two people from Nebraska dead, another Nebraskan and a man from Missouri Valley, injured. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2012 Nissan Murano (SUV) driven by 57-year-old Tony C. Flowers, SR., of Omaha, was traveling northbound on I-29 a little before 4-p.m., when the SUV struck the rear of a 2019 Isuzu truck, driven by 39-year-old Michael L. Harper, JR., of Omaha. The crash happened in an area of the road where traffic was being reduced to one-lane.

The truck crew was putting out cones to guide traffic into the single-lane, when it was hit. Following the collision, both vehicles entered the median. Tony Flowers, SR., and 45-year-old Tamika J. Powell, of Omaha, died at the scene. Michael Harper, Jr.,  and 45-year-old Arron M. Scott, of Missouri Valley, were injured in the crash.

Harper was flown by Life Flight to the UNMC in Omaha. Scott was transported by Harrison County EMS to the hospital in Missouri Valley. The crash remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he opposes a bill that’s advanced in the U-S Senate which would create a code of ethics for U-S Supreme Court justices. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says the Democrat-backed bill passed the panel 11-to-10 last week on a party line vote.

Grassley says, “Republicans feel and I feel that the congressional branch of government shouldn’t be telling the judicial branch, run by the Supreme Court and the chief justice, how to run their branches.” Recent reports have questioned actions by several justices on the nation’s highest court, including Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor.

“Now there has been some things that aren’t just right,” Grassley says, “but I think that the Supreme Court has recognized that by putting out a new set of ethics regulations on March 7th.” The legislation before the Senate would enact new guidelines for Supreme Court justices, including a requirement that they disclose more of their financial dealings and recuse themselves from cases when there might be a conflict of interest.

Grassley says the high court’s leaders are demonstrating a desire to police themselves.  “I think it’s going to be a year or two before we know that’s taken care of some of the problems at the Supreme Court that’s been pointed out in recent reports,” Grassley says, “and no need to pass legislation, at least not at this point in time.”

The measure before the Senate needs some Republican support to advance further, and likely has little chance to win passage in the U-S House, where the G-O-P holds the majority.

(Radio Iowa) – Some residents in a northwest Iowa county are asking local officials to enact a moratorium on wind turbine construction in unincorporated areas of Dickinson County. Kristine Van Kleek lives in a rural area, outside of Milford. She spoke at Tuesday’s meeting of the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors.

“We’ve been informed that a wind developer will be submitting their application within the next month and that their application will be evaluated based on the 2009 ordinance,” Van Kleek said. “The research data clearly shows that the current ordinance is not sufficient to protect the health, safety or well being of the residents of Dickinson County.”

Van Kleek says a moratorium should prohibit Dickinson County supervisors from receiving, reviewing or approving any application for a wind turbine development. “Sioux County currently has a moratorium that was placed in 2022 while they were revising their ordinance,” Van Kleek said.

A large crowd gathered for the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting this week as Van Kleek outlined the proposal. The chairman of the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors says the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission is currently reviewing the request.

(Radio Iowa) – A Fort Dodge man accused of killing his newborn daughter in November 2022 and then disposing of her body has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. According to the Fort Dodge Messenger, Brandon Thoma pleaded guilty to child endangerment resulting in death and abuse of a corpse. He and the mother of the child, Taylor Blaha, were charged following an investigation into the disappearance of that baby.

Taylor Blaha, Brandon Thoma. (KFVD photo)

Court documents say the two drowned the child in a bathtub. Thoma had been charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. Blaha’s first-degree murder trial is set to begin in September.