(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the attempted assassination of former President Trump cast major doubt on Secret Service policies and procedures.

“Obviously everything that I’ve heard, either the non-answers or what we know for a fact, it wasn’t handled as properly as it should have been,” Grassley said this morning.

Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned today, saying she takes full responsibility for the security lapse.

Grassley has posted messages on social media calling it a monumental security failure and he’s called on the Inspector General reviewing security measures at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania to provide regular updates to the public.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest report from the Iowa Association of Realtors shows home sales are down in Iowa, while the number of homes on the market is rising. The president of the Iowa Association of Realtors says the strong storms that hit the state in late spring and early summer likely dampened the market — and the group’s news release says sales took a slide in June.

There were 17 percent fewer homes sold last month compared to June of last year. There’s been a huge year-to-year jump of nearly 32 percent in the number of homes on the market. The Realtors say the slight decrease in interest rates and more available homes could spur late summer home sales.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The 75th Cass County Fair gets underway this Thursday, July 25th, in Atlantic. The Fair runs through July 30th, and concludes with the Livestock Auction at 8-a.m. Tuesday. In between now and then, there are lots of 4-H/FFA shows, inflatable carnival and many other activities for the whole family to enjoy. The Cass County Fair is always FREE: No entry fee, no charge to park, and no charge to view the exhibits and entertainment. There’s also great Fair food at the 4-H and FFA Foodstands, along with the Chuckwagon, each of which have a variety of delicious hot, and refreshingly cold, food and drinks to choose from.

Highlights include: The Little Miss & Mister, King & Queen Contests, on Thursday, as well as Senior Recognition and a Youth Dance; Mechanical Bull riding and a Bull Ride/Rodeo on Friday, as well as Mutton Busting; Saturday’s entertainment includes Youth Water Fights, and a Tractor Pull; There’s a Pedal Tractor Pull on Sunday, as well as a County Fair Church Service, 75th Fair Grounds Celebration Cake Special, Cow/Calf and Feeder Calf shows, and a Horse Fun Show.

Next Monday at the Cass County Fair, there’s a Beef Show at 8-a.m., Best of Iowa at 9-a.m., Rotary Watermelon Feed, Dairy Cattle Show, Building Awards, the Parade of Champions & Bucket of Junk Fundraising Auction, along with the Grand Champion Beef Selection.

See the full schedule HERE.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa law banning most abortions in Iowa will go into effect Monday at 8 a.m. A district court judge has filed the motion to dissolve the temporary injunction that has blocked the law for over a year. Last July, Governor Reynolds signed the law that forbids abortions in Iowa after fetal activity can be detected, which happens around the sixth week of a pregnancy. Attorneys for Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City immediately sued. A Polk County District Court judge issued the temporary order that kept the law from going into effect.

On June 28th of this year, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional, but court procedures required the district court to take the final step to have the law go into effect.

Governor Reynolds signed a similar law in 2018, but the state’s highest court — with a different set of justices than are on the court today — ruled Iowa women had a right to an abortion under the Iowa Constitution. Since then, Reynolds has appointed the four Iowa Supreme Court justices who agreed Iowa’s six week abortion ban is constitutional.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests occurred over the weekend.

On Saturday: 28-year-old Christian Andrew Guerra was arrested for Possession Controlled Substance (Bond: $1,000), and, 30-year-old Carlos Alberto Carcamo Mencia was arrested for OWI/2nd offense (Bond $2,000). Both are from Fremont, NE. They were arrested at a location on Bunge Avenue a little after 5-a.m., Saturday.

And, two people were arrested on drug charges Sunday evening, in Mills County: 29-year-old Devyn Mae Benack and 29-year-old Llewellyn Sidney Harmonson, Jr., both of Sanborn, IA, were charged with Possession of Controlled Substance and a Drug Tax Stamp Violation. Their bonds were set at $5,000 each. Their arrests took place at around 6-p.m. Sunday, on Hilman Road.

DES MOINES— Governor Kim Reynolds, together with Iowa’s entire congressional delegation, today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging him and the department to “utilize their existing statutory authorities to adjust their disaster programs to provide farmers, ranchers, and producers with the flexibility they need after a natural disaster to recover and rebuild.”

The letter comes after the state has endured three natural disasters in as many months, including two destructive tornado events and devastating floods in northwest Iowa, severely impacting rural areas and numerous farms.

The letter highlights the differences in flexibility between programs provided by the USDA and those offered by the federal Small Business Administration (SBA). Particularly, it calls out the USDA’s programs for not providing assistance for farmers commensurate with the SBA’s programs for small businesses.

The letter reads in part:

“The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) disaster assistance programs offer vital, flexible support in difficult times to small businesses. We understand that these programs are limited to non-agricultural small businesses, with USDA providing access to complementary programs, such as the Emergency Loan Program, that are intended and specifically designed to assist agricultural producers like farmers and ranchers. While USDA and SBA coordinate to ensure these programs effectively reach rural small businesses, we continue to hear from disaster victims that the terms available to borrowers within the USDA programs are less favorable compared to those at SBA, which offer a greater amount of flexibility with interest, balance, and payment terms. Similar to our request today, the SBA provided much of this flexibility in 2022 and 2023 by utilizing administrative authorities.

“As Iowans begin to recover from the many disasters that have impacted them, the historical and continued lack of fairness in what rural communities are offered by USDA is having a meaningful and substantial impact. Consideration should be given to these communities, which are integral to feeding America and the world, by granting them the same or similar terms through USDA as those that are provided to less rural areas through SBA. USDA can do this through its existing statutory authorities, which provide it with the ability to make all loans repayable at such times as the Secretary may determine, and broad authority to set interest rates at a level prescribed by the Secretary, but not in excess of 8 percent per annum. We encourage you to utilize these existing authorities to defer payment on disaster loans for a full year and reduce interest rates to zero during that deferment. This would provide much-needed parity to farmers as they rebuild their agricultural operations.”

The letter is signed by Governor Reynolds along with Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, Congressmen Randy Feenstra and Zach Nunn, and Congresswomen Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

The letter can be read in its entirety on the governor’s website.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors met this (Tuesday) morning in Guthrie Center. The Board, by a vote of 4-to-1, accepted the Payroll reports from July 23, 2024. Supervisor Mike Dickson said he thought there were too many overtime hours. He said “I don’t think we need that much.” He said also, “There’s one department that has it all.” Vice Chair Maggie Armstrong …

It was noted that the Board used to get explanations for why there was overtime for the next payroll period, but that has been lacking in recent times.

In other business, the Guthrie County Supervisors agreed to move forward with EMS discussions, including getting a better grip on what the actual 9-1-1 calls as opposed to calls for transport. Guthrie County Health Services Director Jotham Arber said the service providers send their information to the State, but the data itself is not broken down into emergent transfers, transports to hospitals, etc. The Board wants to know what money from the proposed levy for EMS as an essential service will be used for, with regard to how each entity uses their funds.

Guthrie County BOS mtg., 7/23/24

The process of making EMS an essential service would mean citizens of Guthrie County would pay a 75-cent levy per $1,000/assessed valuation. The language for the measure that will be on the ballot in November was introduced last week, for the first time.

There’s still some tweaking to be done before the final description of how the levy will be used is printed on the ballot for voters to approve. The measure needs 60% voter approval in order to be passed.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department today (Tuesday) released the name of a man on a motorcycle who died Saturday, after the cycle collided with the passenger side of  a truck. 38-year-old Rodney Worley, of Council Bluffs, was injured during the crash that happened a little after 3-p.m., July 20th, at the intersection of S. 17th and 2nd Avenue, in Council Bluffs.

Worley was to transported to UNMC where he died from his injuries. The driver of the truck was identified as 39-year-old Todd Hays, of Council Bluffs. He was not injured. The collision remained under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Traffic Unit. It is still unknown if drugs or alcohol were factors in the incident.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors held a brief meeting this (Tuesday) morning (July 23, 2024)). For those who may have wanted to view the meeting via Zoom, Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna explained “Zoom was not functional this morning due to the Crowdstrike update issue from Microsoft. We will be working with IT this week to get that resolved.”

She said also, during the Board’s session:

West Township resident Jan Norris commented on the eminent domain resolution, and thanked those who helped the city with RAGBRAI.
During the Supervisor updates portion of the meeting: Charla Schmid said she attended the interviews for the Red Oak City administrator and attended the Floodplain workshop. Peterson attended the Montgomery County Conservation meeting.
Claims were approved unanimously with a correction in the amount of $112,370.75,
and, the Resolution 2024-30 A resolution objecting to the Iowa Utilities Board’s authority to enact eminent domain authority within Montgomery County for privately owned and operated carbon dioxide pipeless was approved unanimously.
Agenda items to be discussed next week include: Kristina Paradise with Snyder & Associates will be provide any updates on the pipeline.

Adjourned at 8:48 a.m.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a large fish kill in northeast Iowa. The D-N-R says the fish kill was first identified in Crane Creek in Bremer County near the town of Readlyn. A news release says the creek has been significantly impacted, with dead fish being seen nearly 20 miles downstream, near Dunkerton in Black Hawk County.

The D-N-R gives an intersection near Readlyn where the problem may have originated but did not identify the source.