(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County held a brief, regular weekly session today (Tuesday, May 23). The Board approved a request for the use of the courthouse lawn for a Bible reading event to be held on July 13, 2023, from 8-a.m. to 8-p.m. The Board has approved a similar request for at least the past couple of years. The event is generally held state-wide, and has drawn up to 80 or more participants at some sites.

The Board also approving claims payable for Wed., May 24, 2023, in the amount of $495,604.49. In her report to the Montgomery County Supervisors, County Engineer Karen Albert said they continue to haul road rock throughout the County.

She was asked to update the Board about H-34 project, east of Red Oak, and if it will be worked on during this next fiscal year.

She said they’re hoping material prices will be lower by the time bid-letting rolls around.

Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert addresses the County Supervisors (3/23/23)

The next meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors takes place 8:30-a.m. Tuesday, May 30, 2023.

(Johnston, Iowa) – Hy-Vee stores in Johnston, Ames and Perry were evacuated Monday evening, following anonymous calls about a bomb threat. A sweep of the stores determined the threats were not credible. Similar threats were also received at Hy-Vee stores in Illinois. Police said Hy-Vee Security personnel are aware of the threat.

On May 7th, a fake bomb threat was called into a Council Bluffs supermarket. According to the Council Bluffs Police Department, an unknown man called the Hy-Vee at Madison Avenue in  Council Bluffs, claiming a bomb was in the back of the store. Officers responded and searched the entire building. A secondary search was also conducted, with no bomb or device was found. Detectives were investigating the origins of the phone call.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Connections Area Agency on Aging is looking for new members to join the organization’s Advisory Council. The Council meets bimonthly on the second Thursday from 10:00a.m.-12:00p.m at our regional offices in Council Bluffs, Creston, or Sioux City, or by zoom.  Officials say the advisory council helps to manage and guide Connections Area Agency on Aging’s work in the twenty-county region including Adair, Adams, Cass, Clarke, Cherokee, Decatur, Fremont, Harrison, Ida, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor, Union, and Woodbury counties.

Currently there are vacancies in most counties. If you are interested in learning more contact Aubury Krueger-Kutchara at 800-432-9209 ext 8132 or akrueger@connectionsaaa.org

Connections Area Agency is one of six Area Agencies on Aging in Iowa, and part of a nationwide network. With a mission of enhancing the quality of life for elders in 20 counties through education, planning and coordination of services, Connections Area Agency on Aging is the premier agency for assisting elders, caregivers, and their families to access the information and services needed for independence and life transitions. Offices are in Council Bluffs, Creston and Sioux City.

For more information, contact Connections AAA at 800-432-9209 or at www.connectionsaaa.org

Coralville, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections, Monday, said 75-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Hannah was pronounced dead due to natural causes at 6:47 a.m. on Friday, May 19, 2023 at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center.

Hannah had been serving a 25-year maximum term for the crime of Sex Abuse – 2nd Degree from Kossuth County. His sentence began on June 3, 2015.

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand says a bill sent to the governor that would limit the auditor’s access to some confidential information could lead to a lot of extra time in court. “If the governor signs the bill then we’re going to have to see how it’s applied and what it is that they do to prevent our access to records — and at that point and every point thereafter we’ll be trying to figure out whether or not there’s a challenge on a constitutional basis that’s worth bringing,” Sand says.

Sand, who is the only Democrat holding a statewide office, spoke to the Sioux City Rotary Club and later held a town hall in Onawa. He says the bill has been a hot topic. “I think there’s actually a pretty surprising level of knowledge but a surprising level of concern about it and I’m gonna keep talking about it until every Iowan in the state knows exactly what it is and what it does,” he says.

Sand says if the governor signs the bill the state auditor would need to get approval from a three-member panel to take a state agency to court. The auditor, the department being audited and the governor would each appoint someone to the panel. Sand says they would let everyone know which agency is trying to “hide” information. “That’s again one of the things where I think that I’m not sure that the people who are advocating this bill have really thought through it,” Sand says. “Because if they deny us access to records we have a legal and ethical obligation to disclose that and then everyone is going to be left wondering what it is that they’re hiding.”

Rob-Sand.-(KSCJ-photo)

He says taxpayers should be concerned about the potential information the panel could allow to stay hidden. “Corruption and waste at the government level is your tax dollars. This is our government. And the idea that people in trust and power in those positions would use that power to reduce oversight of themselves and make it so they could sweep things under the rug is, I think an affront to our Constitution the idea of self governance but also to your pocketbook,” Sand says.

Governor Kim Reynolds has not commented on the bill.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Two men were arrested on separate warrants Monday, in Red Oak. According to Red Oak Police, 45-year-old Chad Michael Hill, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:50-p.m., on an active Mills County warrant for Driving While Barred. Hill was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash-only bond.

And, a little after 7-p.m. Monday, 52-year-old Richard Bryan Jenkins, of Red Oak, was arrested on an active Montgomery County warrant for Failure to Appear on an Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drug, charge. Jenkins was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.