(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Monday afternoon, arrested an man on a Shoplifting charge. 63-year-old Ronald Lee Hall, of Red Oak, was taken into custody for Theft in the 5th Degree at around 1:30-p.m. following an incident at the Red Oak Fareway Store. His bond was set at $300.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two people were injured during a collision Monday night at Cherry Street and College Drive, in Creston. According to Creston Police, a 2020 Subaru Ascent SUV driven by 60-year-old Timothy Moreland, of Afton, was traveling south on Cherry Street at around 10:15-p.m., and a 2005 Chevy pickup pulling a gooseneck trailer driven by 39-year-old Christopher Baker, of Creston, was traveling north in the southbound lane.

Moreland swerved into the northbound lane in an attempt to avoid a collision, but Baker swerved into the northbound lane. The vehicles collided head-on. Moreland was trapped inside his SUV and had to be extricated by Creston firefighters. Moreland was transported by EMS to the Creston hospital. Baker suffered minor facial injuries and denied treatment.

An investigation into the accident revealed there was an open container and a case of beer in the back seat of the pickup. Baker was cited for Open Container and Failure to Provide proof of insurance. He was also charged with OWI. Damage from the collision amounted to $30,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The debate over removing books from public school libraries and curriculum continues at the Iowa Capitol. The House Oversight Committee held a hearing last (Monday) night to quiz superintendents and school board presidents from six districts about the process for handling complaints. Republican Representative Phil Thompson of Boone questions why the graphic novel “Gender Queer” remains in a West Des Moines school library.

“There’s obscenity in the book and I think that’s really, honestly where you can look and say: ‘That isn’t age appropriate,'” Thompson says. West Des Moines School Board president Jeff Hicks says taken as a whole, the 265-page book has literary value. “You can’t take one picture, one image out of context and say the entire thing is obscene,” he said. Lisa Bartusek, executive director of the Iowa Association of School Boards, says when parents or district residents raise questions about books in the school library or that are to be read for a class, her association has a framework school boards may use that follows state law and Supreme Court opinions.

“As I’m sure you’ve heard, defining what communities want, parents don’t always agree on what we want for our kids,” Bartusek says, “and it’s hard work.” Two weeks ago, five members of a group called Moms for Liberty told members of the House Oversight Committee the school book review process is too slow and there are dozens of inappropriate books that should be removed from Iowa schools.

On Monday afternoon, House Democrats hosted a forum for parents and students who object to what they call book banning. Rebeka Schurz, a junior at Carlisle High School, says says she’s a more informed and empathetic person after reading one of the books Moms for Liberty wants removed from school libraries. “Our narrow minded politicians and intolerant groups like Moms for Liberty should not be controlling what I and my peers can and cannot read, what we can and cannot learn and, most importantly, what we can and cannot be,” she said.

Last (Monday) night’s House Oversight Committee hearing ended abruptly after a partisan squabble and officials from one of the six schools called to testify were never questioned.

(Radio Iowa) – Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has kicked off the Iowa leg of her week-old presidential campaign, suggesting the G-O-P must be forward looking and solutions oriented to win back the White House in 2024.  “We need to make sure that we’ve got the energy, the power and the ability to bring more people in to see that our solutions are the right ones,” Haley said.

Haley spoke to over 300 people last (Monday) night in Urbandale. A man in the crowd noted Donald Trump won Iowa in the 2016 and 2020 General Elections, and asked Haley why Iowa Caucus goers should vote for her rather than someone like Trump. “Because I don’t think you have to be 80 years old to be in D.C. I really don’t,” Haley said, to cheers and applause. “Look, President Trump is my friend. He was the right president at the right time…As much as all the media and everybody wants to talk about the past, we’ve got to look forward. We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do for America. This is bigger than a person and we need to fight for that.”

Haley told the crowd she was proud to serve in Trump’s Administration as United Nations Ambassador. After someone in the crowd asked about the war in Ukraine, Haley expressed admiration for the people of Ukraine and support for sending U.S. military equipment and ammunition to the fight. “If we win this fight for freedom, it will send a signal to every enemy we have. If we lose this fight for freedom, Russia has said Poland and the Baltics are next and then we’ve got a world war,” Haley says. “A strong military doesn’t start wars. A strong military prevents wars. Our goal has to be to be strong enough that we prevent the next war.”

Haley is scheduled to hold a campaign event in Marion today (Tuesday). Last (Monday) night, Governor Kim Reynolds did not endorse Haley, but gave welcoming remarks at what was the first presidential campaign event in Iowa this year.  “Once again, the eyes of the country are on Iowa,” Reynolds said. “Iowa Republicans, you in this room are truly going to have the opportunity to kick off the 2024 presidential campaign and we’re excited about the opportunity to participate in the Iowa Caucuses.”

Haley, who may be competing with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the G-O-P’s presidential nomination, called Reynolds the best governor in the country.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – (UPDATED) A motion to request or recommend to the Atlantic City Council, an increase in the Hotel-Motel Tax died for lack of a second, during a meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board, Monday evening. The measure would have proposed increasing the Parks share of the tax from four-to seven-percent. It’s expected the Board will make it’s request or recommendation to the Council, at a later date, so that they can vote on whether or not the matter should be placed before the voters, in November. Ashley Hayes explained the current seven-percent tax is a COMBINATION of state, county and city sales tax rates (Local Option sales tax funds), with three-percent directed CADCO and the Chamber of Commerce.

That was passed about six-years ago, she said. Hayes said also, Atlantic is the lowest in the State, with regard to the Hotel-Motel Tax.

When it was passed in 2010 it was designated for “improving, repairing, operating and maintaining parks and recreation facilities and grounds for the city of Atlantic.” Since then, it has netted the Parks Department $463,199. Hayes crunched the numbers, and said if the Parks Department had received the full seven-percent of the tax instead of just four-percent, it would have generated $810,599 to be used for various parks projects.

A number of local hotel-motel owners expressed their opposition to raising the tax. None were opposed to the Splash Pad concept, but at the same time, they didn’t want to raise the tax on their guests if it was to be used specifically for the Splash Pad. That rumor, or misconception – that the tax increase was only for the Pad – according to Ali Pieken, with the Splash Pad Executive Committee, was news to her.

The City of Atlantic has already agreed to chip-in $50,000 for the Splash Pad, with the remainder to be accumulated through fundraising. Hayes acknowledged getting money from other sources, such as grants and fundraising, is not as simple as it sounds.

Ali Pieken presented to the Parks and Rec Board final renderings of the proposed Splash Pad Project from Crouch Recreation from Elk Horn, Nebraska, and Vortex Aquatic Play Solutions. The Board was overwhelmingly in support of using the renderings from Crouch Recreation as the impetus to move forward in garnering interest for fundraising. The difference between the two renderings was like night and day, even though both had most of the elements the Committee was hoping to add to the facility.

In other business, the Atlantic Parks and Rec Board agreed to support a request from Frank Saddlemire, who was instrumental in designing, raising the money and building a very popular Disc Golf course to Sunnyside Park. Saddlemire will be allowed to write a grant for new signs at the course.

Saddlemire produced data that show how many people come to town for all-day tournaments and casual play. The data was “mined” through U-Disc, a scoring app. Attendance for Disc Golf has increased each year, except for the last, due to an increase in gas prices and people less willing to travel, he said.

The Atlantic Parks Board, Monday, announced plans for a Park Party, that will take place June 17th from 10-a.m. until 2-p.m., at Sunnyside Park. Additional details will be released in the months to come.

Des Moines, Iowa – Gov. Reynolds, Monday, signed SF 181 into law, a bill that clarifies the rollback calculation for residential and multi-residential property and delivers $127 million in property tax relief to Iowa homeowners.

(Will be updated)

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is calling for an end to the legal limits in Iowa law on the pay for top state administrators. The salary ranges for state agency directors and other top administrators have not been changed since 2008. The governor’s plan to shrink the number of state agencies to 16 includes a provision that would let Reynolds set the salaries for those 16 agency directors. Jacob Nicholson, the chief operating officer on the governor’s staff, says it’s a recruitment and retention issue.

“It’s very difficult to go out on a national search for instance right now and say: ‘Hey, we need someone to run our Department of Health and Human Services that oversees 4000 people. It’s a significant enterprise effort,'” Nicholson says, “‘and by the way we can only advertise this position for $154,000 a year.'” Nicholson says in some larger state agencies, there are 20 to 30 employees whose salaries are higher than the director who is their boss. The governor has provided bonuses in some of those situations.

“She’s forced to do that in order to recruit top talent into the state, in order to retain top talent into the state, but that process is just not transparent enough for our current governor,” Nicholson says. “She would like to be able to set her agency (directors) salaries and have that transparent for all to see.” Some Democrats like Representative Amy Nielson of North Liberty say they’re concerned the proposal removes all limits on the salaries of top agency directors.

“The governor could just go out and offer somebody — let’s just throw out some numbers — $300,000 to be the director of the Department of Human Services,” Nielsen says. That would be nearly twice the salary being paid to Iowa’s current H-H-S director. Nielsen says the salary guidelines for all state employees should be evaluated.

“So we are recruiting the best and the brightest, the top of the crop in all areas of the government,” Nielsen says. Zach Goodrich is executive director and legal counsel for the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. He says the board has been asking lawmakers to raise the salary for the position for several years.

“I am the third director in just a little over three years,” he says. “…I often joke that when I was hired, the salary played into the fact that the board ended up with a 25 year old as director, although I hope that’s not the only reason they ended up hiring me.”

A group of House members have started hosting public hearings this week on the government realignment plan Governor Reynolds submitted to the legislature.