(Radio Iowa) – Senator Chuck Grassley is proposing new restrictions for U-S military officers who work on behalf of foreign governments when they retire. Grassley is hoping the plan gets inserted in the annual defense bill congress approves. “A lot of people in the defense department are looking for employment after the defense department,” Grassley says. “There’s a lot of pressure not to put in those restrictions.”

The annual National Defense Authorization Act is eligible for debate in the Senate. Grassley and Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced a plan last month to prohibit service members from negotiating for a job with a foreign government or a private contractor that works for a foreign government while they’re still on active duty. “We don’t want it to be a compromise of national security,” Grassley says. “That gives us a stronger argument in putting this prohibition in the legislation.”

The proposal also would require creation of a searchable database of retired military officers who work as consultants or contractors for foreign governments and how much they’re paid. Retired military officers must receive permission from their branch of the military, the secretary of state AND congress before accepting compensation from any foreign government, but there is no criminal or civil penalty for failing to do so.

(Corning, Iowa) –  The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports one person was injured by gunfire in rural Adams County, Tuesday. A DPS press release said shortly after 12:00-p.m. on July 4, 2023, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a shooting that occurred at 3140 210th Street. An initial investigation indicated a minor child was handling a firearm, when the weapon discharged. The age of the child was not released.

The bullet traveled through a bedroom wall into an adjacent room where shrapnel from the bullet struck 63-year-old Connie Standley in the face. Standley was transported to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines and was reported to be in critical condition.

The incident remains under investigation by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are among the thousands expected to attend this weekend’s Wingnuts Flying Circus airshow in the northwest Missouri town of Tarkio. Airshow Manager Brooks Hurst says the one-day event Saturday (July 8th) is dedicated to celebrating aviation and freedom. “A lot of people like seeing the general aviation planes as well. I mean, you know not only the performers in their fancy planes during the show, but you know, you get a lot of just plane old Cessnas and Pipers that the people like to see.”

The show starts at noon at the Gould Peterson Municipal Airport, which is located one mile east of Tarkio. The event that draws about five-thousand people from across the Midwest, and includes around 200 general aviation planes. “This airshow has several purposes. One of them is to get the general public interested in aviation, get kids flying. There’s nothing better than, you know, seeing a kid get his license and his first solo and, we love to get kids interested in aviation,” he says. “But then the other purpose that we try to do is to pay honor to our veterans for the sacrifices they’ve made.”

He says they hold it the second weekend of the month because that’s National Guard weekend.“So, a lot of times, when your neighbors and friends are doing their guard duty, they’re flying their Apaches out of Whiteman (Air Force Base) or B-2s or whatever, they do that on the second Saturday so it’s real easy for us to get them to come in. It’s real easy on the guard weekend for them to do that so that we can pay honor to our veterans and to our servicemen.”

Tarkio is in the far northwest corner of Missouri and is about a half hour south of Shenandoah.

(Radio Iowa) – About 200 people gathered in downtown Lake City this week for a groundbreaking for Dobson Pipe Organ Builders. The company is building a new facility at the site of the fire in June of 2021 that destroyed its workspace and the parts of an organ destined for Australia. John Panning, the president and owner of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, says the groundbreaking is a big milestone. “We never thought it would be two years before we were at this point, but with the pandemic and all the challenges of building costs and that, it took us a quite a while to get our plans together,” he says, “but the day is here and we’re delighted by the turnout, by the support of everyone here in Lake City and beyond.”

The fire destroyed many of the highly specialized tools the company’s artisans used to create their musical masterpieces. Panning, who has worked at the company since 1984, took over as president and owner in late 2020. He says the outpouring of support from around the globe kept them operating. “We’ve built some organs overseas and people know about us because the organ community is kind of small and tight knit,” Panning says. “Obviously local people knew about us and came out pretty magnificently to support us, but we had gifts of tools and money and support and prayers just from all over the country and even internationally. It was really unbelievable to witness.”

The Dobson team has been working out of several temporary spaces in Lake City since the fire and will continue to do so until the new shop is finished. Panning says they are fortunate to have that space as they continue to receive orders for new organs. “That was really the amazing thing afterward,” Panning says. “We didn’t even have a shop and people had the confidence in us to entrust us with work, so we’ve got work through the end of 2026 at this point, which is just incredibly gratifying.”

Construction on the new building is expected to be done by August 2024.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a regular session Thursday morning, at the Supervisors Chamber in the Courthouse, with all members present. Auditor Mark Maxwell says Board Chair Steve Kenkel reported that the Iowa Utilities Board will start the CO2 pipeline permitting process on August 22nd. Kenkel noted that there are currently seven counties involved in the pipeline intervention group. Pipeline information is being shared between counties regarding policies and procedures. Chairman Kenkel also congratulated all departments coming in under budgets for fiscal year 2023.

The Supervisors then discussed the appointment of the County Budget Director, Taryn Knapp for fiscal year 2024, and acted on approving the appointment. During the scheduled reports portion of the Shelby County Supervisors meeting:

Alex Londo, EMA Director, noted that a reorganization of a grant process has resulted in EMPG funds being received in fiscal year 2023 and that those funds as well as fiscal year 2024 funds will be received this year. Londo said that his EMA Board was pleased with the result of the recent joint EMA/Board of Supervisors meeting and would like to continue these meetings. Londo said informational meetings have been held and more are scheduled concerning the Emergency Medical Services public measure proposed for this November 7th ballot.

Austin Staley, Shelby County IT Director, said the switch from an outside IT vendor to County IT has been completed and minimal contact with the outside provider is now needed. Issues facing his department were presented and new policies are being crafted for Supervisor review.

Kyle Lindberg, Shelby County Jail Director, informed the Supervisors that this has been a very busy year and a recent State of Iowa inspection garnered high marks for the Jail. Many new State requirements have the need to be completed in the coming years and budgeting for these requirements were forewarned. Insurance coverage for unexpected medical costs at the jail were discussed and budgeting for that expenditure will also be discussed at budget time.

Neil Gross, Shelby County Sheriff, said his office is now fully staffed and the transition of absorbing the police duties in the City of Harlan is going very well. Training for most of the new officers will be completed by the end of the month. There is a new K-9 absorbed by the Sheriffs Department from the City of Harlan. Gross also noted that Chad Butler has been promoted from Sergeant to Captain and that deputies Nate Pigsley and Jake Hoss were promoted to Sergeant.

Lindberg and Gross were asked to present funding requests to the Supervisors for the spending of opioid mitigation funds. Kyle Lindberg Shelby County Jail Director presented his Department report additionally he asked for amending the Jail budget to spend $ 6,000 in opioid funds in fiscal year 2024 and the Sheriffs Department estimated $5,950.00.

In other business, Policy revisions relating to Bituminous Roads were discussed and approved. Copies of the policy are available at the Shelby County Engineer’s office. The Supervisors then discussed and passed a new Partnership Agreement for Private Improvement of Secondary Roads that would allow Performance Grading to make improvements to secondary roads under guidelines set by Shelby County. Copies of the agreement are also available, at the engineers office. Brandon Burmeister, Shelby County Engineer, recommended Jay Ring to be appointed the Entry Level Driver Trainer for Shelby County. He said the position will save money by not having to send new drivers to schooling to learn the driving skills needed at secondary roads. The appointment was approved.

Auditor Maxwell reported that the new election equipment has been ordered. And the scheduled timeline for the upcoming City/School election this November is being prepared by his department. The addition of an IT administrator will be a huge step forward for Shelby County with the maintenance of election IT duties. The tax certifications are completed, and the tax billing process will be started soon. The Auditor’s office is responsible for assigning the tax levies for every taxing district in Shelby County. This includes 11 cities, seven school districts, three community colleges, 16 townships and 5 county wide tax authorities. There are 48 different combinations of levies in Shelby County, depending on where the property is located.

Maxwell noted that recent inquiries into the Shelby County EMA being able to submit a separate levy to Shelby County property tax payers, were sent to an attorney for information. It was proposed the cost of the expenditure be split equally between EMA funds and Shelby County funds. A motion to that effect was passed by the Board. They also passed a Resolution to hold a Public Hearing at 9-a.m. on August 1st, with regard to an amendment of the Fiscal Year 2024 Shelby County Budget.

The proposed expenditure departments include Election for expenditure capital saved over the years for new equipment $60,000.00. Sheriff’s department to expend $843,838.00 for expenses to be reimbursed by the City of Harlan for Public Safety Services and reallocation of the IT departments expenditures within the department that will not affect the total expenditures planned for that department in fiscal year 2024. Also ARPA grants still due to applications totaling $250,000.00 are still outstanding and may be awarded this fiscal year. The ARPA dollars are not Shelby County Property tax dollars, but a grant from the federal government. Also included in the amendment is an additional $200,000 added for income and expenses in the Public Health Department. All County Public Health expenses are grant income and not property tax dollars. Mark Maxwell says there isn’t a way to estimate exactly what expenditures on public health grants in any given year. Also $44,000 will be amended for spending of opioid settlement funds received by Shelby County.

The final order of business for the Board before they adjourned, Thursday, was the approval of an annual Liquor License renewal, for the Corley Community Club.