(Radio Iowa) – A new report finds poll worker pay for the 2020 Primary and General Elections in at least one dozen counties was either not approved by the county’s board of supervisors or was higher than authorized. The review was launched after news reports that Scott County’s auditor had approved paying precinct election workers 15 dollars an hour. That exceeded the 10 dollar an hour rate approved by the Scott County Board of Supervisors. State Auditor Rob Sand’s office reviewed poll worker pay in Scott County and 15 other counties. The report cites seven counties for either paying poll workers more than had been approved by the county’s board of supervisors or providing something like unapproved small bonuses for working during a pandemic. Five of the 16 counties had no documentation of board of supervisors approval of election workers’ pay.

The state auditor’s report also indicates eight counties had discrepancies in calculating the number of hours or mileage reimbursements for poll workers in 2020. There’s a link to the 22 page report at Radio Iowa dot com. Under state law, temporary election workers are technically temporary STATE employees being paid by the counties. The state auditor’s report recommends that the secretary of state’s office develop new procedures to monitor poll worker pay. NONE of the discrepancies from 2020 that are cited in the report are subject to new fines the legislature approved in 2021 for election-related infractions.

Among the Counties in the state auditor’s review, was: Adams, Black Hawk, Boone, Cerro Gordo, Clayton, Des Moines, Dickinson, Harrison, Howard, Linn, Louisa, Polk, Pottawattamie, Poweshiek, Ringgold and Scott.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) -Two men from Florida who were wanted on multiple warrants from Iowa and elsewhere, were arrested this (Wednesday) morning after the vehicle they were in crashed during a pursuit. A man from Shelby County was injured during the incident. Iowa State Patrol Trooper/Public Resource Officer Ryan Devault told KJAN News the incident began at around 7:08-a.m., when a Trooper tried to initiate a traffic stop on a speeding 2022 Ford Explore with Florida license plates on Interstate 80 at mile marker 35.
The SUV accelerated at a high rate of speed, resulting in a pursuit.

The vehicle weaved and out of traffic during the chase. Stop sticks were used twice before the SUV went out of control on I-80 westbound at mile marker 7, and struck a 2013 GMC Terrain, driven by 67-year-old Donald Sorensen, of Portsmouth.

The injured Sorensen was transported to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs for treatment of minor, non life-threatening injuries. The suspects took off on foot. One of the subjects tried to enter a nearby assisted living facility, but the doors were locked. The arrested suspects were identified 26-year-old Victory Ogiste, from Fort Lauderdale, FL. And 28-year-old Xavier Najee, from Plantation, Florida. Both men had outstanding warrants. Ogiste’s warrants were from Black Hawk and Hamilton Counties, in Iowa. Najee had warrants out of North and South Carolina, Tennesse and Virginia. They will face additional charges following the incident in Pottawattamie County.

Traffic was backed-up for at least three-miles following the crash and during the investigation.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Traffic was backed-up for at least miles for a while, following a pursuit that reportedly began near Underwood, and ended with two suspects arrested this (Wednesday) morning. The chase ended on the eastern side of Council Bluffs at the seven mile-marker of Interstate 80 westbound, near Highway 6/Iowa Western Community College. Additional details are currently not available.

Photo from Trooper Ryan DeVault via Twitter

DOT traffic cams of where the pursuit ended (Via CB PD Facebook page)

(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation is hosting their 7th Biennial Lighted Halloween Campground, on October 22nd. The event takes place from 7-until 9-p.m., at Cold Springs Park in Lewis. The Lighted Halloween Campground is meant to be a great. non-scary, Family Friendly and FREE, drive into the night!

Prizes will be for the top three voted sites, and for some special categories. Prizes are donated by event sponsor, Cappel’s Ace Hardware. The LHC event will be cancelled if there is inclement weather.

(Ladora, Iowa) – A Trailways bus driver from Omaha faces OWI and possession of prescription drug charges, after his passengers reported he was driving erratically. The Iowa State Patrol says Floyd Tilmon, of Omaha,  was driving the bus westbound on Interstate 80 south of Ladora, Monday, when passengers on-board reported the vehicles was all over the road. The said also, the bus hit a semi and a passenger vehicle.

According to court documents, Tilmon said he may have accidentally taken the wrong pill. Police said Tilmon was in possession of Zolpidem Tartrate pills, “which were not in the lawfully dispensed container by prescription.” He was arrested and transported to the Poweshiek County Jail. No injuries were reported. Trailways sent another driver and bus to pick up the passengers.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman from Montgomery County was arrested Tuesday afternoon on charges that include (Felony) Neglect of a Dependent Person, and Child Endangerment (Agg. Misdemeanor). Red Oak Police report 29-year-old Chantal Kaye Sperling, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 4:40-p.m., at a residence in the 700 block of Skyline Drive. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $10,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Graduates with an associate’s degree from an accounting program at one of Iowa’s 15 community colleges are now eligible to apply for some of the jobs in the state auditor’s office. State Auditor Rob Sand says Iowa has a shortage of people with four-year accounting degrees. “There are a ton of people out there who have a lot of intelligence and a lot of common sense who choose to get a two year degree instead of a four year degree. We shouldn’t discriminate against them,” Sand says. “We should welcome them into the office just like we would anywhere else.”

W.D. Isley, vice president of academic affairs at Des Moines Area Community College, says there are 365 students in DMACC’s accounting program and, once they graduate, they’ll be in high demand. “The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting strong job growth for accountants and auditors,” Isley says. “In fact, over the next decade, the bureau is projecting nearly 82,000 (employees) will be needed in the accounting and auditing field.” Will Bond, the chair of DMACC’s accounting department, says accounting practices for state and local governments were added to the curriculum a few years ago.

“So today, the graduates coming out will have that governmental accounting which will help position them for auditing jobs, such as this one,” he says. Mariah Mullins is president of DMACC’s Accounting Club and she’s already employed full-time as a property manager. “I’ve learned to, for lack of a better phrase, ‘speak money,'” Mullins says. “As long as equity and revenue and even things as simply as inventory are part of everyday life, an accountant has a job. The deeper I get into my education with accounting, the more opportunities I develop for myself.”

After one more semester, Mullins will finish her associate’s degree and she plans to apply for a job in the auditor’s office. “Yeah,” Mullins said, laughing along with a crowd gathered in the auditor’s office. “I don’t see why not.” The number of people working in accounting jobs in the United States has declined 17 percent since 2019. Sand says that means hiring and retaining staff difficult in the public and private sectors.

“What we see when we don’t have enough people in accounting is reports that are getting done more slowly and people who are doing the work who are carrying a bigger workload, who are more stressed,” Sand says. “That makes it harder for them to stay in the industry.” According to the American Institute of C-P-As, the number of students graduating with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting peaked in 2012 and, by 2018, had already dropped by seven percent.

(Radio Iowa) – The U.S. Supreme Court has heard more tha two hours of legal arguments over a California law that would impact Iowa farmers raise pigs. A California law approved in 2018 would require that bacon, ham and other pork products sold in that state come from operations that provide at least 24 square feet of space for every pregnant sow. The American Farm Bureau and the National Pork Producers Council sued to block the law. The groups say nearly all sows are kept in pens that do not comply with California’s standard.

Justice Neil Gorsuch asked whether it’s the job of the courts to balance the concerns of Iowa’s farmers against the moral concerns of Californians. Justice Samuel Alito suggested California was bullying other states because of its large population. The Biden Administration’s representative before the court told the justices California’s law is an unreasonable restriction on interstate commerce because it regulates animals that are not in California.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest today (Tuesday), of an Atlantic woman. 35-year-old Jenny Clark was arrested on warrants for Intent to Manufacture / Deliver a Controlled Substance and Involuntary Manslaughter.

Clark was transported to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and held. Sheriff Darby McLaren said any further information will come from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, and that he could not comment further on the case.

All criminal charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in the court of law.

(Radio Iowa) – Tyson CEO Donnie King was in Dakota Dunes this afternoon to address employees at that facility after the company announced they are closing the Dunes corporate headquarters in the next few months.

Workers must decide if they will move to Springdale, Arkansas to work at the company’s main headquarters or leave Tyson. Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott and chamber president Chris McGowan say they were not given access to speak with King about the decision.

Scott said at the end of Monday night’s Sioux City council meeting the move is tough for the Siouxland area.”It’s going to have a terrible impact. To lose 580 employees in this area is really tough to swallow,” he says.

Scott hopes the tri-state governors will try to intervene in Tyson’s decision. “I would like to think that we have three governors whose communities are going to be terribly, adversely affected by this — that they would get together, and go see the people at Tyson, write letters, do whatever,” Scott said. “But take the lead on this, because they are not going to listen to local communities, and it’s terribly important that we don’t lose those jobs.”

A Tyson statement says that details of what King told the employees at a 1:30 p.m. meeting would not be released. News media were not allowed access to the Tyson CEO during his visit.