(Cass County, Iowa) – Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh reports 2022 mobile food pantries have been scheduled for Atlantic and Anita. A mobile pantry is a traveling food pantry that delivers food directly to families in need for a one-day distribution. Mobile food pantries are available free of charge. Anyone in need is welcome, and no documentation is required. People from surrounding towns and communities are welcome. Visitors are asked to stay in their vehicles, with the trunk open, for loading of food items by volunteers.

The Mobile Food Pantry schedule is as follows:

In Anita, at the Anita Food Pantry (208 Chestnut Street, Anita IA 50020)….March 23, June 22, August 24, October 19; Time: 4:30-6:30 PM

In Atlantic, at the Cass County Community Center (805 W. 10th St., Atlantic, IA 50022)….March 9, June 8, August 10, September 14, December 14; Time: 4:00-6:00 PM

Mobile pantry dates, times, and locations are subject to change. For the latest information on mobile pantries, local food, farmers markets, and food access, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page @CassCountyLocalFood or contact Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at bhoegh@iastate.edu or 712-249-5870.

(Palo Alto County, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports an Emmetsburg Man was charged with 1st Degree Murder, in connection to Palo Alto County 2020 Homicide Case.

Authorities say on the evening of February 28, 2022, members of the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office along with Agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation arrested 22-year old Brice Patrick Colling, of Emmetsburg. Colling was arrested without incident.  He was charged with Murder in the First Degree in connection with the July 22, 2020 murder of Rollin (RJ) Bontrager, in rural Palo Alto County.

Patrick Colling

Allan Michael Schwidder, formerly of Emmetsburg was previously arrested, charged and plead to 2nd degree murder on March 12, 2021 for his role in the death of Bontrager.

Officials say “The case has and continues to be, investigated by the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Emmet County Sheriff’s Office, Emmetsburg Police Department, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.”

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says fellow Republican Governor Kim Reynolds is the ideal choice to give the G-O-P response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address tonight (Monday). Grassley says Reynolds is “an outstanding person to give this reaction” to the president’s message on behalf of the party. “Just think how she has run the state of Iowa, fighting the virus, keeping the economy going,” Grassley says. “Contrast that with the Democratic governors of California and New York that shut down the economy to fight the virus.”

The State of the Union Address is typically a very partisan display, with members of the president’s party standing and applauding, while members of the other party sit in silence. Grassley says there are at least two things Biden could talk about that would make him get out of his seat and clap. “That he’s willing to tackle in a bipartisan way the high cost of prescription drugs,” Grassley says.

The Build Back Better plan included a Democratic plan for dealing with expensive meds, and Grassley says now that it’s dead, perhaps the president will announce an effort both parties can work on together to benefit the American people. Grassley says Biden could also shift gears and discuss an agricultural issue that’s especially important to livestock producers and consumers. “He’s talked twice about a cattle bill, not necessarily Grassley’s cattle bill, but that we’ve got to get fairness for our family farmers and make sure that they can market their products.”

Late last year, Grassley co-sponsored a compromise plan that would give independent cattle producers more clues about what meatpackers are paying for cattle raised under private contracts.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill designed to shut down bars that are a public safety nuisance more quickly has cleared the Iowa House. Republican Representative Ross Paustian, of Walcott, says the bill is a response to incidents in Davenport, Des Moines and Council Bluffs. “The incident in Davenport that I’m most familiar with is a bar in downtown Davenport where they had shots fired. They had several fights, but over a three year period from 2017 to 2019 they had 2031 calls for service and extra patrols,” Paustian says. “The bar only closed after the landlord terminated the lease.”

The bill establishes a legal process for city and county officials to immediately get a district court order to yank a bar’s liquor license if there have been frequent riots, fights or gunfire at the business. Losing that liquor license effectively closes the bar. Representative Cindy Winckler, a Democrat from Davenport, says across the border in Illinois, local officials can suspend a bar’s liquor license indefinitely. “In many cases, if their license has been suspended in Illinois, they just come over to Iowa knowing that it’s a much more different situation to have bad actors, who happen to have a liquor license, to have that license suspended,” Winckler says.

Under current rules, an Iowa bar owner may appeal to the state Alcoholic Beverages Division if a city or county revokes their liquor license and the bar stays open during that appeal process. The bill to change that passed on a 74 to 19 vote and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

The Glenwood Police Department reports three women were arrested on drug charges early this (Tuesday) morning:

• 43-year-old Heidi Divis, of Omaha, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. (Cash/surety bond, $300)
• 56-year-old Stephanie Hightshoe, of Nebraska City, NE., was arrested for three counts of Introducing intoxicants or drugs into an institution, and Poss. of drug paraphernalia. (C/S bond, $15,300).
• and, 32-year-old Elizabeth Evans, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for a Controlled Substance violation. (C/S bond, $10,000)

In other news, Glenwood Police say a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage that was legally parked on Coolidge Street, sustained damage from an unknown vehicle, sometime between 12-p.m. Sunday and 2-a.m., Monday. The parked car was struck on the driver’s side. The damage amounted to an estimated $1,700.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has unanimously approved a bill designed to let licensed professionals cut hair in far more locations. The bill also would let cosmetologists have mobile salons-on-wheels. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says it follows the 2020 law that legalized mobile barber shops. “Removing the last of our own restrictions. allowing the industry to operate under its own practices and having its own governing board,” Schultz says. “We can always come back if something happens, but I have a feeling that this is the final stroke in the modernization of the industry from the state perspective.”

State regulations currently require salons to be in fixed locations. The bill passed by the Senate says professional hair cutters in Iowa would no longer be restricted to cutting hair in a cosmetology school or a licensed barbershop or salon. Bill backers originally envisioned the change would let customers get their hair cut at their own homes. Last year, a law change let cosmetologists style hair in a wedding venue without getting a temporary license to do so.

(Bayard, Iowa) – A water boil advisory was issued Monday, for the Guthrie County town of Bayard. According to officials with the Bayard Water Supply, crews began conducting maintenance on the water treatment plant, Monday. The City is recommending the use of bottled water or alternative sources for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth and food preparation. Bayard Water Supply will notify the public when the boil advisory ends.

(Radio Iowa) – As we start the month of March, many Iowans are looking ahead to spring. Despite this week’s unseasonably warm weather, a prediction from the Farmers’ Almanac indicates winter will be holding on a little longer. Managing editor Sandi Duncan says we shouldn’t expect to be sporting shorts and t-shirts anytime soon. “Spring officially arrives on the calendar on March 20th, but it looks like it’s going to take a little time for it to warm up,” Duncan says. “However, overall it doesn’t look too extreme. We’re seeing pretty much average temperatures and normal precipitation in your neck of the woods.”

But, Duncan says to keep those boots and snow shovels handy as there is the possibility of a blizzard late in April. “So just when everyone thinks winter is long gone, Mother Nature might throw us all a curve ball,” she says. The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting that once spring-like temperatures do settle in, we are likely to see slightly warmer-than-normal temperatures here in the Midwest.

“It’s going to be a little warmer in the northern half of the country — which includes your area — than it is in the South,” she says. “So some people might refer to this spring as a backward type of spring, but overall the Farmers’ Almanac is showing your area is going to have pretty much average temperatures. Starting off slightly cool, going back and forth and the possibility of a big storm at the end of April.”

Looking ahead, Duncan says much of the upper Midwest will experience a sizzling summer. The Almanac’s forecasts extend out from six to 16 months and they’re based on a formula established two centuries ago. “It was set on a bunch of rules that we’ve altered slightly but we still consider a lot of the rules that our founding editor in 1818, we still follow them,” Duncan says. “They are rules that talk about sunspot activity, tidal action, the Moon, the position of the planets. They apply them to different weather conditions and they’ve been doing a pretty good job for us.”

She says those who follow the publication’s long-range outlooks say they’re 80 to 85% accurate.

The Council Bluffs Police Department reports a collision between a truck and a motorcycle Monday afternoon resulted in life-threatening injuries to the motorcyclist. The accident happened at around 4:45-p.m., at the intersection of S. 24th Street and Veteran’s Memorial Highway (Vets).

A preliminary investigation revealed that the 2006 Harley Davidson operated by 51-year-old Richard Davenport, of Omaha, was eastbound on Vets Hwy when a 2016 Ford F-150 driven by 41-year old Jacob Eyberg, of Council Bluffs, made a left turn in front of the cycle.

Davenport was transported to an area trauma center in critical condition. Eyberg was not injured.  The crash was under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Traffic Unit.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has unanimously voted to get rid of the exit exam college graduates must pass in order to get a teaching license in Iowa. Representative Tom Moore, a Republican from Griswold, was a teacher for 33 years. He’s been trying to get rid of this test for new teachers since 2015.

“These exams they have been forced to take to gain a license have no bearing on their abilities, their knowledge or their ability to become a quality teacher,” Moore says. “In fact, it simply was a barrier for some and an added expense for all.” A decade ago, Governor Terry Branstad asked legislators to require both an ENTRANCE exam for college students entering Iowa teacher preparation programs and an EXIT exam before graduates could be licensed to teach in Iowa. The bill gets rid of both requirements.

“I think it’s important that we get this done for our students that we have right now in the teacher prep institutions and I think it’s important that we, here in the House…go to our senators and say: ‘We’ve got to have this,'” Moore said, pounding his desk as he spoke, “‘…so that we can combat this teacher shortage that we have.” In the past decade, lawmakers made entrance exams for college teaching courses optional and lowered the passing grade for the test required for a teaching license.

College graduates who fail that test also have been able to teach for up to a year, as they re-take the test to try for a passing score. Representative Sue Cahill, a Democrat, is a teacher in Marshalltown. At the start of this school year, Cahill unexpectedly was assigned to be substitute teacher in a second grade classroom for nine weeks after a rookie teacher learned she hadn’t passed her proficiency test.

“This young lady who had a year of successful teaching is waiting for us to pass this bill,” Cahill says. “She is back as a long-term sub in that classroom, but our superintendent even mentioned that if this bill passes, he’s going to have that contract ready for her to sign that very day.” Cahill says students aren’t judged on one piece of data and teachers shouldn’t be either. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.