(Radio Iowa) – A compromise plan to let all-terrain vehicles travel on more county and state highways has cleared the Iowa House. Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton says new safety measures are incorporated in his original plan. “At the end of the day, it comes down to personal responsibility and there’s only so much the government can do for you as far as babysitting,” Kaufmann says.

If the bill becomes law, A-T-Vs driving on local highways would have to be equipped with headlights, tail lights, turn signals and mirrors, plus the drivers would have to be at least 18 and have liability insurance. City officials would be able to prohibit A-T-Vs from driving within city limits. Representative Christina Bohannan of Iowa City says the bill also sets a 35 mile an hour speed limit for A-T-Vs driving on county or state highways.

“I think there are a lot of things in here that do improve safety, including for the counties that currently allow this,” Bohannan says. “I’m not saying it’s perfect, but I do think it makes some improvement.” Existing county ordinances designating where A-T-Vs may travel on local highways would remain in effect, but county boards of supervisors would have to get a local A-T-V club’s sign off if any changes are made in the future. Representative Dennis Cohoon of Burlington says that’s a loss of local control.

“Over two-thirds of the counties already have an ordinance,” Cohoon says. “…If that’s up to negotiation with any group, I’m sure they would feel like that they’re losing their control over being able to determine which roads are best, which roads are safest in their given areas.” Cohoon says A-T-Vs aren’t meant to be driven on highways and he was one of 29 House members to vote against the bill. There were 64 yes votes, though, sending the bill to the Senate for review.

(Radio Iowa) – A plan to revamp Iowa’s “Bottle Bill” has cleared its first hurdle in the Iowa Senate and key lawmakers vow this is the year they’ll approve changes in the system for redeeming the nickel deposits on cans and bottles. Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, said there’s “a growing pool” of deposits that are never paid back. “I’ve been here 10 years. The concept has been around for well over 40 years. Every year we have seen proposals, we’ve seen bills to fix the problem,” Rozenboom said. “In my view, those attempts never got to the heart of the problem and this bill is an attempt to do that.”

Rozenboom cites one estimate indicating the wholesale distributors of beer and pop keep as much as $48 million annually from unredeemed deposits. His bill would have that money routed to the state instead and deposited in the Taxpayer Relief Fund. “Getting rid of the private innovation and expanding government we don’t believe is the solution,” said David Adelman, a lobbyist for the Iowa Wholesale Beer Distributors Association.

Jon Murphy is a lobbyist for the Iowa Beverage Association which represents the distributors of non-alcoholic drinks. The group is instead proposing creation of a non-profit outside of state government that would manage the redemption system — and start charging the nickel deposit on bottles and cans of water, tea and sports drinks. “It’s important to our industry that we get the plastics back that we use for our bottles,” Murphy said. “…We believe that every bottle out there should come back and become another bottle.”

Rozenboom’s bill would let grocers opt out of accepting empty bottles and cans and paying the deposits. Former Senator Bill Dix is now a lobbyist for Fareway, which has objected to having customers bring dirty empties back inside grocery stores. “We also support the fact that it brings administration of the program into a state agency,” Dix said.

R.G. Schwarm is a lobbyist for Cleaner Iowa, a group that backs the Bottle Bill. The group opposes letting more than two-thousand grocery stores and convenience stores opt out of accepting empty cans and bottles and paying back the deposits. “There are approximately 60 redemption centers,” Schwarm said. “…We’re going to be removing 90% of the infrastructure and redemption opportunities for consumers.”

Rozenboom’s bill also raises the per container fee redemption centers get from one cent to two cents. Sheri Cunningham owns the redemption center in Pella and she told lawmakers she’s struggling to keep the business open. “If I close, 21 million containers are going to be out there and somebody else is going to have to find a way to redeem them,” she said.

Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, said tens of millions of dollars in deposit money isn’t being redeemed and it needs to be accounted for and perhaps used to open more redemption centers. “Iowans love the Bottle Bill,” Bolkcom said. “If we don’t get something done, it is going to fall apart. It is on life support here.”

Republican Senator Jason Schultz of Schleswig said negotiations among the grocers, retailers and wholesalers have failed to produce an agreement and it’s time for legislators to force the issue. “This is the best game in town we have right now,” Schultz said. Schultz helped guide the bill out of a subcommittee and all but guaranteed the bill would clear the full Senate Ways and Means Committee soon.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County, Monday afternoon, report a man was arrested Sunday, following a car fire in the 230 block of R Avenue.  Upon further investigation, 63-year-old Keith Dana Hansen, of Villisca, was charged with Public Intoxication.

Deputies also arrested 30-year-old Jesse Allen Luft, Sunday. He was taken into custody in Elliott, for Violation of a Protective Order.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Legislative Services Agency, in conjunction with the Cass County Auditor’s Office and the Secretary of State’s office, have finalized the redistricting for Cass County.  These changes are to take effect as of today (Monday).  The Board of Supervisors will officially adopt them during their March 22^nd board meeting.

The City of Atlantic will also have to officially adopt the new wards.  Polling places will be announced at the next Supervisors Meeting and voter cards will be sent to all voters in Cass County stating where they will be voting and what districts they are in. The PDF maps of the newly redrawn districts through the links below:

Atlantic Wards 2022

Atlantic Supervisor Districts 2022

Cass County Precincts 2022

Supervisor Districts 2022

Voters with questions may feel free to reach out to the Cass County Auditor’s Office.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Last week, John Hartkopf announced he would be filing papers to run for re-election on the Cass County Board of Supervisors in District 3. Today (Monday), he made the move official, by submitting his nomination papers with the required number of signatures, according to the Cass County Auditor’s Office.

Candidates interesting in having their names on the ballot for the June 7, 2022 Primary, must have their nomination papers submitted by March 28th.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports three arrests took place last week. Thursday night (March 10), 28-year-old Bruce Austin Garrels, of Stratford, Iowa, was arrested in Greenfield, for Violation of Probation. Garrels was being held in the Adair County Jail, without bond.

Last Tuesday (March 8), Greenfield Police arrested 20-year-old Jesse Slade Brees, of Greenfield, following a domestic disturbance involving Brees’ ex-girlfriend, and a male, who was the victim of Brees’ alleged assault. Brees was charged with Assault causing bodily injury. He was released the following day on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

And, on March 7th, 48-year-old Christina Lea Fontenot, of Brenham, TX., was arrested in Adair on a charge of Domestic Abuse assault, after she threw a coat at her boyfriend from Adair, hitting him in the face and body, but causing no injuries. The incident happened at around 1:14-p.m., during an argument. Fontenot was released later that same day on a $300 cash/surety bond.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Auditor Mandy Berg, today (Monday), wants persons who need to access the Adair County website to know, that they should directly enter the County’s URL, www.adaircounty.iowa.gov,  into your web browser’s address bar.  DO NOT search for the Adair County website through a search engine (Google, Bing, etc.)  and click on the link.  These links may redirect you to a malicious site.  If you have any questions, please contact the Adair County Auditor’s office at (641) 743-2546.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped to three-point-seven percent in January. The rate was down from the revised December rate of three-point-nine percent. Iowa Workforce Development says the leisure and hospitality industries added the most jobs in January — up 25-hundred. I-W-D says the industry saw a loss of 800 jobs in December — but has generally trended up steadily since COVID quarantines ended. Most gains were within accommodations and food services, which are up 65-hundred jobs since August. The state unemployment rate one year ago in January was four-point-four percent. The U-S unemployment rate in January increased to four percent.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, said 55-year-old Dale Clifford Greedy, of Sidney (IA), was arrested on I-29, mile marker 40, at around 2:25-a.m. Sunday. Greedy was charged with OWI/3rd offense, Driving While Barred,and Operating a vehicle without the Ignition Interlock. Bond was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Supply chain issues continue to impact businesses in Iowa, including the Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain. Chief financial officer, Steve Bramlage, talked about the issue during a recent conference call on their third-quarter results. “While supply chain challenges have improved since the second quarter — notably in cups — the company still experienced disruption within prepared food and dispensed beverage,” Bramlage said.

He says supply shortages continue for one item in particular. “Bakery items — specifically our popular glazed donuts — continue to be in acute short supply as our vendor partners experience COVID-related disruptions,” he said. Bramlage says the supplies they are able to get for their prepared food are costing more — and the company has passed some of the cost on to customers. “The merchandise team was able to partially offset the cost increases with a round of proactive menu price increases and a more significant round of increases is scheduled for mid-March,” Bramlage said.

The company says its inside sales improved in its third-quarter as traffic into stores continues to improve.