(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of Iowa veterans, including a retired sailor who’s more than a century old, will take part in this week’s special honor flight to Washington D-C. Ron Newsum, coordinator for the Brushy Creek Honor Flight, says the veterans will be flying on a chartered jet from the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

“We’re taking about 162 or 163 people on it of which there’s going to be about 140 veterans,” he says, “the balance being staff and that type of thing.” This will be the 23rd honor flight for the organization which is dedicated to serving veterans in 30 northern and central Iowa counties. They are scheduled to depart shortly after 6 A-M tomorrow (Wednesday).

“We have one World War Two veteran who’s a 102-year-old Navy veteran going,” Newsum says. “We’ve got about seven Korean War veterans, and the balance is Vietnam veterans and peacetime veterans.” The delegation will arrive at Dulles International Airport at mid-morning to tour the war memorials and the sights of Washington, D-C by bus. They will also visit Arlington National Cemetery for the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The veterans will return home late Wednesday night.

(Radio Iowa) – Opponents of carbon pipelines are asking the state’s new utility regulators to take their objections to heart. The three-member Iowa Utilities Board convened this (Tuesday) morning, the first meeting for new members Eric Helland and Sarah Martz. Julie Glade of Cedar Falls says her family’s farm in Wright County would be impacted by the Summit pipeline.

“I’d like to start by welcoming our two new board members. Thank you for stepping up to the job,” Glade said. “…I urge you each to represent the 78% of Iowans who oppose the use of eminent domain for private carbon capture pipelines.” Beth Klahsen’s family farm near Arlington is along the Navigator route. Klahsen says she’s trusting regulators to do the right thing. “I do not envy the position you guys are in this time,” she said. “I do think the whole matter got pushed off to you because our elected officials didn’t want to go on the record either way. Our legislature failed to pass any sort of bill this past session to help.”

Denise Kleppe owns a century farm that’s on the Wolfe pipeline route. “I wouldn’t want to be in your position with this decision hanging on your shoulders,” Kleppe said, “but again you wouldn’t want to be in my situation where your legacy is being threatened by multi-billion dollar global corporations.” Mark Maher, a farmer from Imogene, says the Summit pipeline route would be too close to his home and grain bin complex.

“If you do grant something to do forward, make them uphold and respect the county ordinances that the board of supervisors, our elected representatives, have in place,” he said. Craig Woodward owns land in Cerro Gordo County that might be impacted by the Summit pipeline. Woodward tried to ask questions of the new regulators, but veteran board member Joshua Byrnes reminded Woodward that the board cannot comment on a pending case.

“There’s no question that the gravity of your decisions will be intense. What are your thoughts? How would you make a high quality decision?” Byrnes said: “You know the board is not responding to any comments today on a contested case.” Woodward said: “Well, I said I wanted to change things up a little bit,” and the audience laughed as Byrnes replied: “I appreciate you’re trying.” Governor Kim Reynolds appointed two new members to the board last month. Their terms started last week.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report the arrest at around 9:50-a.m. today (Tuesday), of 67-year-old Sheryl Lynne Franzen, from Red Oak. Franzen was taken into custody for Theft in the 5th Degree. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

A businessman from Texas who’s launched a campaign for the G-O-P’s 2024 nomination for president is visiting Iowa this week. Ryan Binkley is also a pastor and co-founder of Create Church in a suburb of Dallas. “The Lord really placed it in my heart really about eight years ago. I really started hearing a message in my heart about what’s needed in our country,” Binkley says, “and today I see our country really in the biggest crisis I think that it’s been in the last 30-40 years and I see a great need for us to unify our country so we can tackle some of the biggest problems we have and I believe now’s the time.” Binkley says one of the biggest obstacles the country faces is an unwillingness between the left and right to compromise.

“We need leaders that will do more than just talk unity,” Binkley says. “I remember when President Biden ran, he was making statements about unifying our country, but he never gave us anything that we can unify on, so it’s going to take a lot more than talk. We’re going to actually have to do it.” Binkley considers the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border to be the cause of many of America’s biggest problems.”Obviously we have a huge crisis with crime, but now the drugs that are coming in,” Binkley says. “…Opioids are the number one killer of young people age 18-25 and it’s about 200-300 young people a day that are dying and the politicians are just watching it happen and this is where unity comes in on this. I really think it’s going to take both parties to unify on this issue.”

Ryan Binkley. (Binkley campaign photo)

Binkley says Republicans have a great opportunity to connect with college students who are facing a weak job market and a tough economy. “Inflationary spending, the kind of things that we do with our monetary and fiscal policy today is not a long term win for them,” Binkley says, “and I think we have a great chance now to begin to speak to them (about) what freedom looks like, what smaller government looks like, what it means to their pocketbook, what is means to job opportunities.”

Binkley is the C-E-O of a business consulting firm with 400 employees. He also founded a non-profit called “The Way to Freedom” last July. Its website says the country needs leaders with integrity and lists freeing the economy and solving immigration as top goals.

(Omaha, NE) – Officials with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) have announced the winners of the 2023 BBB Student of Integrity Scholarships. The scholarships were created to promote ethics and integrity among young people so they may be motivated to continue incorporating moral values into every aspect of their lives. Public, private and home-schooled high school seniors from BBB’s service area were invited to apply.

BBB President and CEO Jim Hegarty said “These students personify the best aspects of ethical behavior in their personal choices and actions. They serve as role models for others to emulate. These students are receiving these scholarships because of their commitment to honesty and accountability inside and outside of the classroom. The Better Business Bureau and its Foundation are proud to honor these amazing young adults with these scholarships.”

2023 BBB Students of Integrity Scholarship Recipients from Metro Omaha/Southwest Iowa include:

• Megan Wells will be graduating from East Mills High School in Malvern, Iowa. She will attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney and plans to pursue the Speech Pathology program with an emphasis of study on communication disorders.
• Trista Swain will be graduating from Griswold High School in Griswold, Iowa. She will attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha and plans to pursue a degree in Molecular and Biomedical Sciences. Swain hopes to become a medical doctor and an anesthesiologist one day.