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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Mt. Ayr, Iowa) – The drivers of two vehicles that collided Monday morning in Ringgold County were transported to the hospital following the crash that took place west of Mount Ayr. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2012 Buick Enclave driven by 40-year-old Alemu Enguday Temesgen, of St. Joseph, Mo., was traveling north on Ringgold County Road P27, when the SUV ran a stop sign at the intersection with Highway 2.
The SUV struck a 2005 Dodge van on its passenger side, as the van was traveling east on Highway 2. The driver, 18-year-old William Allen O’Conner, of Clearfield, was transported by Ringgold County EMS to the hospital in Mt. Ayr. Temesgen was flown by Life Flight helicopter to a hospital in Kansas City.
The crash happened at around 8:27-a.m.
The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest on Monday afternoon of 24-year-old Christopher Floyd Birdtail of Red Oak on a charge of Domestic Assault while Displaying a Dangerous Weapon. Birdtail was arrested at 1:20 p.m. at 2400 N 8th Street in Red Oak and taken to the Montgomery County Jail. He was held on no bond until seen by a Magistrate.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Monday afternoon, held a Special Meeting at City Hall, along with a public hearing, with regard to an Ordinance No. 1012 New Ward Map[110851] Amending the City Code…”by dividing the City into Five Wards and Five Precincts, and Outlining and Describing each Ward and Precinct, and Repealing Ordinance #934,” the populations for which were determined by the 2020 Census.
After holding the first reading of the Ordinance, the Council voted 4-to 1 to waive the second and third readings. They then acted on approving the Ordinance, with Gerald Brink voting no and Dana Halder absent. (read more about the breakdown of the Ward map in the pdf link highlighted above)
The Ward map for the City of Atlantic.
Des Moines, Iowa (KCCI) Iowa — The Des Moines Police Department on Monday confirmed that a man wanted in the brutal assault of a woman in Des Moines in November has been captured.
Police had been looking for 25-year-old Ricardo Jeremiah Carroll since November. He was wanted in a brutal assault that lasted for several hours when a woman was “intentionally, punched, kicked, choked, and burned,“ police said.
Des Moines police said Monday that Carroll was arrested on a domestic violence charge in Boone County Saturday. He’s being held in the Boone County Jail on those charges and Des Moines police warrants.
In November, police said Carroll will be charged with attempted murder, and two counts of willful injury.
(Radio Iowa) – The president recently signed a bill into law that provides for a memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D-C honoring those who have fought in the Global War on Terrorism. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst pushed for the memorial along with New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan. “This has been a years-long effort, and I am so proud that I can now say that the effort will soon become a reality,” Ernst says.
Ernst is a combat veteran of the war — and says anyone from the National Guard, reserves, or regular military who has been a part of the battle has been impacted. “This will be a place of remembrance on the National Mall for those families that maybe lost a loved one in the war — and also for those who served — who gave up time with their families to go off to a foreign land fight for our nation’s values and to protect our freedom,” Ernst says.
She says this will be a permanent reminder for those who answered the call in the wake of 9/11 to serve in our nation’s longest war. “This is for all of them, for everything that they have given. This is for their families — this is for the Gold Star wives, and the Gold Star children who will grow up without a mother or father. It’s for America, and it is rightly being located on our National Mall alongside many other war memorials,” according to Ernst.
She says there are several steps left before the memorial can be built. She says the National Park Service will work with the Global War on Terrorism Foundation to find a location for the memorial and then they will work out a design, and the foundation will work to raise funds.
Ernst says the memorial will not use any tax dollars. She is hopeful everything will fall together in a couple of years to see ground broken for the new memorial.
(Radio Iowa) – The outbreak of dozens of tornadoes in Iowa and across the region last month was very unusual and one weather expert says it may be a sign of what lies ahead. Doug Kluck, climate services director for the Central Region of the National Weather Service, says massive and rare derecho storms like the one on December 15th may be connected to a changing climate. “The likelihood of tornadoes in December and January and other, if you will, off-season severe weather is and will be enhanced in the future,” Kluck says.
The regional National Weather Service office in Kansas City is seeing other changes to the traditional storm track. Kluck says, “The center of tornado alley moving further east, out of the Great Plains and such and then, of course, simply the observation of severe weather in other parts of the year can lead one to that conclusion, to some degree.”
Parts of Iowa saw record high temperatures in the 70s prior to the storm’s arrival on December 15th and the warm air collided with a cold front, bringing exceptionally strong straight line winds and multiple damaging tornadoes. Minnesota recorded its first-ever December tornadoes that same day.
“Those conditions are very hard to put together in December and January, certainly in Minnesota but even in Iowa and Nebraska,” Kluck says. “The further south you go, the easier it is to put the combination of those variables together to create severe weather, but certainly not this far north.”
The derecho was Iowa’s second in two years and it spun off 43 tornadoes in the state, a single-day record, along with 18 twisters in Nebraska and six in Minnesota.
Des Moines – Governor Reynolds today (Monday) announced that the communities of Adel, Auburn, Boone, Britt, Carlisle, Chariton, Winneshiek County – Festina, Grandview, Hartford, Indianola, Lake Park, McGregor, Mount Ayr, Perry, Treynor and Wheatland have been awarded a total of $6.2 million in grants to advance water quality projects. The funding is made available through the Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Financial Assistance Program, which was created as a part of Senate File 512, the first legislation signed into law by Governor Reynolds in January 2018.
“Investing in water quality infrastructure within our state has been a top priority of my administration since day one,” said Gov. Reynolds. “The first bill I signed into law as Governor in 2018 created opportunities for communities to upgrade their water infrastructure and I’ve remained steadfast in my commitment to building upon that.”
The Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Financial Assistance Program receives a portion of the tax on metered water and had more than $6 million available for allocation in 2021. Grants will be awarded through the program on an annual basis through 2039.
The 2021 program received 18 applications requesting more than $6.5 million in water quality grants. A committee consisting of designees from the Iowa Finance Authority, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship judged the Wastewater and Drinking Water Financial Assistance Program applications based on the program’s priorities.
Priorities for grant awards include: Disadvantaged communities; Projects that will significantly improve water quality in their watershed; Projects that use alternative wastewater treatment technologies; Communities with the highest sewer or water rates; Projects that use technology to address nutrient reduction; and projects to address improvements to drinking water source waters.
The Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Financial Assistance Program has assisted a total of 33 communities through a total of nearly $9 million in water quality grants since the first awards were granted in 2019. The program is expected to have approximately $6 million in available funds in 2022 based on the portion of tax that will be allocated to the program.
2021 Wastewater and Drinking Water Financial Assistance Program Grant Awards
Grant Recipient | Grant Award | Total Estimated Project Cost | Project Description |
Adel | $300,000 | $17,370,000 | New Wastewater Treatment Facility |
Auburn | $100,000 | $175,000 | Water Treatment Improvements |
Boone | $200,000 | $1,948,500 | Wastewater Treatment Improvements – UV Disinfection System, etc. |
Britt | $500,000 | $9,028,500 | New Water Treatment Facility & Water Storage |
Carlisle | $500,000 | $3,900,000 | Water Distribution Improvements |
Chariton | $500,000 | $3,578,000 | Wastewater Treatment Improvements – UV Disinfection System; post aeration system improvements |
Winneshiek County – Festina | $300,000 | $899,700 | Wastewater Treatment Improvements |
Grandview | $500,000 | $3,732,500 | Wastewater Treatment Improvements – Submerged Attached Growth Reactor; UV Disinfection System |
Hartford | $500,000 | $3,300,000 | Wastewater Treatment Improvements – UV Disinfection System; NitrOx Reactor |
Indianola | $500,000 | $57,000,000 | New Wastewater Treatment Facility |
Lake Park | $300,000 | $7,100,000 | New Wastewater Treatment Facility |
McGregor | $500,000 | $9,458,795 | Water & Sewer Transmission Improvements |
Mount Ayr | $300,000 | $866,400 | Wastewater Transmission Improvements |
Perry | $500,000 | $30,349,479 | New Wastewater Treatment Facility |
Treynor | $300,000 | $4,871,522 | Wastewater Treatment Improvements – LemTec Polishing Reactor; UV Disinfection |
Wheatland | $400,000 | $1,107,200 | Wastewater Treatment Improvements – LemTec Polishing Reactor |
$6,200,000 | $154,685,596 |
(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, Monday, released a report on arrests and incidents from the past week. On Dec. 26th, 51-year-old Ronald Lynn Becker, of Carroll, was arrested at the Adair County Jail for Violation of a No Contact Order issued out of Carroll County, after the protected party with whom he had text message conversations with, in violation of the order, brought him glasses per his request. Becker remains in the Adair County Jail until his sentence is served.
On Dec. 28th, 41-year-old Nicole Renee Lainhart, of Middletown, OH., was arrested on Interstate 80 in Adair County, by the Iowa State Patrol, after her SUV was seen speeding near mile-marker 92 eastbound. The vehicle was clocked on radar at 91 mph. When her vehicle was pulled over, the Trooper noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the SUV. A subsequent investigation resulted in a Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, charge. Lainhart was released later that evening from the Adair County Jail, on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.
Also arrested Dec. 28th by the Iowa State Patrol, was 54-year-old Eric Dwayne Pittman, of Clear Lake. He was taken into custody near Stuart, for Eluding, and Theft in the 1st Degree, for allegedly driving a stolen pickup truck. The vehicle, a Ford F350 was registered to a leasing company out of Nebraska, and was being tracked by GPS. When it was located at the I-80 rest area, the driver (Pittman) took-off westbound in the rest area parking lot, did a U-turn and began traveling eastbound.
The vehicle then went onto I-80 westbound heading in an easterly direction. The resulting pursuit reached speeds of up to 95 mph. In the process, the pickup narrowly missed colliding with several vehicles that were traveling westbound. The chase eventually crossed back into the eastbound lanes and continued east until it was near the Stuart exit, at which point it exited, ran a stop sign, and turned north onto County Road P-28. Pittman entered the Casey’s parking lot in Stuart and gave himself up. He told authorities he ran because he was warrants and was on a suspended release on a Theft in the 1st degree, charge. He was additionally charged with Driving While Suspended. Pittman remains in the Adair County Jail on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.
On Dec. 29th, 45-year-old Christopher Lee Lindberg, of Stuart, was arrested by Greenfield Police, for Violation of a No Contact Order, after he allegedly sent text messages to a protected female party. He was released from the Adair County Jail that same day on a $300 cash or surety bond.
And, as we previously reported, 57-year-old Charles Raymond Bradshaw, II, of Jefferson, was arrested Dec. 30th after he was shot in both arms by an Adair County Deputy, following a pursuit and the alleged firing and displaying of a weapon. A black .9mm handgun and a spent shell casing was found during a search of the vehicle, along with a substance believed to be meth.
Bradshaw had previously been convicted on a felony drug charges in Missouri. He remains in the Adair County Jail on a $10,000 cash/surety bond on the Adair County charges, plus $2,000 bond on charges out of Greene County. His Adair County charges include: Driving Under Suspension; Reckless Driving; Eluding with Injury, OWI, Drugs or participating in a Felony; Felon in control of a firearm; Speeding; Operating a vehicle without registration; Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Possession of a controlled substance/2nd offense.
(Griswold, Iowa) – The Griswold School Board will meet in a Special Session this Thursday, beginning at 7-p.m. Their meeting takes place in the Griswold High School Conference Room. The only item on the agenda, is the consideration of, and action to adopt, policies related to OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS), mandating COVID-19 vaccinations.
Des Moines, Iowa/KCCI — The Iowa Department of Public Health released the first new COVID-19 data of 2022. Positive tests have spiked since the last report, but hospitalizations are down slightly. IDPH reports 17,773 positive cases in the last seven days, up from 12,952 at the last report on Friday. That’s a 37% increase. The state’s 14-day positivity rate jumped from 11.9% to 13.5%.
There are 768 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa, down slightly from 773 on Friday. Of those hospitalized with the virus, 79.9% are unvaccinated, while 83.5% of those listed in intensive care with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
There have been 4,624,085 vaccine doses administered in Iowa, with 70.2% of Iowans 18 and older fully vaccinated and 79.9% of Iowans 12 and older with at least one dose.