(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Police Chief Dave Erickson reports there were 10 arrests between Feb 6th and the 22nd.

On February 6th, 19-year-old Michael Gehling, and 26-year-old River Pecha-Nichols, both of Atlantic, were arrested for Burglary 3rd Degree, Theft 3rd and Criminal Mischief.

On Feb. 10th, 31-year-old Ashely Fuentes and 30-year-old Derrick Behlers, both of Atlantic, were arrested for in Theft 3rd. Both were subsequently cited into court and released at the scene.

On the 11th, 23-year-old Maxwell Low, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI/1st offense.

February 16th, Atlantic Police arrested 41-year-old Dawn Theisen, of Atlantic, on a Cass County Warrant for Failure to Appear. And, 19-year-old Maria Mullenberg, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. On the 17th, 38-year-old Mark Shaver, of Anderson, CA, was arrested in Atlantic for Assault causing Bodily Injury.

On the 22nd, 23-year-old Jovan Ochoa, of Guymon, OK, was arrested in Atlantic for Possession of Controlled Substance. And, 34-year-old Gleen Raymond, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI/1st offense.

With the exception of the two individuals who were cited on the Theft charges, the rest were booked into the Cass County Jail. As of last Thursday (The latest jail roster posting), four of the aforementioned individuals remained in the Cass County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Drought conditions are expected to expand across the region in 2022 and with — on average — mostly mild temperatures this winter, there is concern of another year ahead like 2012. That was a year of drought and extreme summer heat. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says there are similarities. “We are coming off La Ninas in two consecutive years. We did the same thing back in 2012. So, there’s that similarity,” Todey says. “There are other sea surface temperature differences that we note.”

Farmers shouldn’t start to worry too much, Todey says, as there are some contrasts as well between this year and a decade ago. “We had a very dry fall throughout parts of the Plains back in 2011 going into 2012, not quite as much in this time frame,” Todey says. “2012 really cranked up quickly by getting very warm and dry in the spring and right now we’re not necessarily seeing that same kind of crank-up yet.”

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for the Northern Plains into early summer.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Shelby County Auditor/Elections Commissioner Mark Maxwell reports, the Shelby County Board of Supervisors will meet in special session in the Auditors office Thursday, Feb 24th, beginning at 9-a.m.  The purpose of the meeting is to reset the public hearing date for the Maximum Levy Hearing.  The new hearing date will be March 7^th for the Max levy Hearing.  Publication issues necessitated the action.

Agenda items include: “Budget discussion, Discussion budget 2023 set maximum levy hearing, approve Public Notice publication, Resolution 2022-15, set a special meeting/ max levy hearing March 7th.”

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer, Tuesday, said his deputies arrested a woman Sunday on a warrant charging her with Domestic Abuse Assault. 37-year-old Melanie Joy Bowers, of Shenandoah, was arrested at the Page County Jail. She later posted a $1,000 bond, and was released pending further court proceedings.

Melanie Joy Bowers

*”A charge is merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”

(Radio Iowa) – The isolation of the pandemic torpedoed many types of gatherings and clubs, but F-F-A is bucking the trend. The organization dedicated to first-hand learning about the world of agriculture is seeing membership rise in Iowa. Scott Johnson, executive director of the Iowa F-F-A Association, says Iowa was recently recognized as one of only six states that saw member numbers go up during 2021. Johnson says, “I’ve extended compliments to our past state officers over the past couple of years, and others, for doing what they can to keep FFA and ag education and those opportunities relevant to students and keeping them connected to what we think is a valuable experience for them.”

He says F-F-A’s leaders in Iowa are striving to bring visibility to the program and to recruit new students to the ranks. “I think that’s paid off,” Johnson says. “This year, we’re trending towards a 10% increase in growth over last year, and like I said, last year wasn’t a decline in membership either, so to be on that track of growth of membership and growth of programs across the state is tremendous.”

There’s been keen interest in F-F-A since it was founded in 1928 and Johnson says it’s not just a big deal in rural schools. “Des Moines has had a program for years,” Johnson says. “Sioux City recently started a program. Ames has been on board with us now for a few years. Cedar Rapids Prairie is another newer program that would be from one of those larger school systems that are out there.”

This is F-F-A Week. There are more than 17-thousand members in 252 Iowa chapters.

(Radio Iowa) – There was a two-fer at the Capitol to celebrate Tuesday’s palindrome date. Representative Dustin Hite of New Sharon presented this closing argument on a piece of legislation.

The bill about procedures in criminal courts was not controversial and passed unanimously — but not before Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake put in his two cents worth.

That’s Representative Rick Olson of Des Moines. His two bits were that it was a simple bill and Hite had described it accurately. Yesterday’s date was a palindrome worldwide, for counties that list the month first and for those that put the date first in the numeric sequence.

The last universal palindrome date was more than a decade ago, on the 11th of November — or 11-11-11.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today (Wednesday) in a case that could lead the court to overturn a 2018 ruling on abortion. Last year, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law that requires a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, but the law never went into effect due to a legal challenge. That challenged cited a 2018 ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court. The court ruled back then that Iowa women had a fundamental right to an abortion under the STATE constitution.

The make-up of the court has changed significantly since 2018, though. A majority of the justices have been appointed by Governor Kim Reynolds and her attorneys will argue today that the state’s highest court should overturn its previous ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling on abortion restrictions this summer. If the nation’s highest court upholds that Mississippi law, Roe v Wade — the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide — could be overturned. It means the legal fights over abortion would then be waged in state courts.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs report four men and a woman were arrested Tuesday for their alleged role in a home invasion. Authorities say at around 12:23 pm., officers responded to a reported home invasion in the area of 118 South 7th street, in Council Bluffs. Officers were informed that four men broke into an apartment belonging to woman, and assaulted a man who was in the home. They then allegedly stole property from inside the residence.

Jess Willard Pfarr

Gage L. Rose

Kendrick G. Arredondo-Beltran

Frank T. Stewart, Jr.

Officers were told that the four males fled the area in a white 4-door Pontiac sedan driven by a female. The vehicle and its occupants were located in the 2400 block of 9th Avenue and detained without incident. All occupants of the vehicle were transported to Criminal Investigations to speak to detectives and later all were charged and booked into corrections on Robbery 2nd and Burglary 2nd charges.

The suspects were identified as:

• 20-year-old Kendrick G. Arredondo-Beltran, of Bellevue, NE.
• 29-year-old Jess Willard Pfarr, of Council Bluffs
• 20-year-old Gage L. Rose, of Council Bluffs
• 30-year-old Frank T. Stewart, Jr., of Council Bluffs
• and the owner of the white Pontiac, Valerie M. Claar, of Council Bluffs. (Photo not available)

The male victim was treated at the scene and released with minor injuries from the assault. No other citizens were injured during the home invasion. Anyone with any information that was in the area at the time of the incident is encouraged to contact this Division at 712-328-4728 or they may call Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

(Radio Iowa) – A southeast Iowa school board has approved a shift to a four-day school week, starting in August. Joel Pedersen is the superintendent of the Cardinal Community School District, which is based in Eldon. “I’m certainly excited,” Pedersen says. “I’m also understanding of some of the concerns that are still there and we need to work through those.” The school board vote was unanimous, with one board member absent.

Pedersen says while he understands some families are apprehensive about the adjusted schedule, school staff were surveyed and 95 percent support the move to a four-day week. “We want to be there,” Pedersen says. “We don’t want it to be something that derails some of the positives of the four-day school week because we think we haven’t even tapped all the opportunities.” Pedersen believes the new schedule will help with teacher retention.

“Different generations value different things,” Pedersen says. “You look at some of the younger teachers. They talk a lot about time and time being more important than necessarily money.” Cardinal will be the fourth school district in Iowa to have a four-day school week when the 2022-23 school year begins. WACO, Mormon Trail, and Moulten-Udell are the other three. Pedersen predicts the shortened week will be more widespread in the future.

“I think you’ll see this move across Iowa,” Pedersen says. “I think you’re going to see lots and lots of schools across Iowa do this.” Before the pandemic, 662 U.S. school districts were on four-days-a-week schedules and that number has increased, particularly in rural areas of the country.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has unanimously voted to deregulate businesses that offer what’s advertised as a less painful way to shape eyebrows. It’s called threading. A piece of cotton thread is wound through the eyebrow and then pulled to remove individual hairs. In Iowa, a person has to get a state license to do that.

“Under current law, threading is a practice of cosmetology that requires 2100 hours before licensure or esthetics that requires 600 hours before licensure, ” Senator Chris Cournoyer, a Republican from LeClaire said. “Even under these requirements, threading is not a practice with specific coursework or training. This bill deregulates threading and allows the free market to regulate the performance of this service.”

A West Des Moines business called the Perfect Brow Bar sued the state of Iowa in January over the licensing requirements. Eyebrow threading dates back thousands of years was part of the pre-marriage rituals for women in some cultures. Threading businesses have been popping up in shopping malls and it’s being offered in salons and spas as an alternative to waxing and tweezing eyebrows.