(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 7:30-p.m. Tuesday in Montgomery County, resulted in the arrest of a man wanted on a warrant. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 48-year-old Timothy Lee Hutchison, of Decatur City, was arrested in the 1700 block of Highway 34, on a Decatur County warrant for Violation of Probation. Hutchison was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond, pending extradition to Decatur County.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Legislature has approved up to eight MILLION dollars for the new Thrive Iowa program Governor Kim Reynolds proposed, to link people in need with faith-based and private sector groups that can help. It’s modeled after a similar program in Florida. In January, Reynolds said community support is just as important as government programs in helping Iowans get back and their feet and become self-sufficient.

“The good news is that many of these resources already exist across our state, from faith communities, to non-profits, and so many other wonderful organizations. They are doing life-changing work every single day,” Reynolds said. “Government’s role is not to replace these grassroots efforts, but to amplify and facilitate them.”

Republican Senator Mark Costello of Imogene says he’s not sure if the Iowa Department of Human Services will hire a company to run the Thrive Iowa program, although he says some of the eight MILLION dollars is for staff and developing an online system for requests and referrals. “It’s really the human element and using the navigators to assist Iowans that are in need. And it’s a closed loop referral system under HHS,” Costello says. “It’ll be statewide and connect the community provider to nonprofits.”

Senator Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat from Waukee, says the United Way already operates the 2-1-1 referral service for two MILLION dollars. “It doesn’t make sense to me to start a brand new program when the one we have right now, right here is already doing this work, especially when it’s going to cost up to $8 million for them to do the same thing,” Trone Garriott said. “That sounds like a really bad deal for Iowans.”

Trone Garriott says the extra eight MILLION dollars would have been better used feedy needy Iowa children this summer.

(Harlan, Iowa)- The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a special session at 9:00-a.m. Tuesday, April 23, 2024,  and held a Public Hearing for the 2025 Shelby County Budget. Having received no comments, verbal or written, the hearing was closed and the Board opened a Special Session, whereby they passed a Resolution (as show below), to adopt the Budget as proposed, along with the Shelby County Compensation Board’s recommendations.

RESOLUTION NO.  2024-19: ENTRY RECORD OF THE HEARING AND DETERMINATION OF THE COUNTY BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025

BE IT REMEMBERED, on the 23rd day of April 2024, A.D., at the hour of 9:00 A.M. of said day, the Board of Supervisors of Shelby County, Iowa, met for the hearing upon the county budget as filed with the Board.  There was present a quorum as required by law.

WHEREAS, the Board investigated and found that the notice of time and place of hearing had, according to law, and as directed by the Board, been published in the official county newspapers published in Shelby County and that affidavits of publication, therefore, are on file with the County Auditor.

THEREFORE, on said day, the budget was taken up and considered.  Present were interested parties and various department heads.  There were no other written or oral comments.  After discussion, the Chairman declared the hearing closed and the County Budget for Fiscal Year 2025 adopted, along with the Shelby County Compensation Board recommendations.

The above and foregoing resolution was adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Shelby County, Iowa, the vote thereon being as follows:    AYES: Kenkel,  Parkhurst. NAYES:  None  Abstain: Schaben

The meeting then adjourned.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Nishna Valley YMCA Executive Director Dan Haynes, today (Tuesday), issued a statement with regard another anonymous donation in support of operations at the Sunnyside Pool, in Atlantic. The donation will help to pay for five additional people to take the Lifeguarding Class, who plan to work at the YMCA, as well as a sign-on bonus to those who act quickly! The LifeGuard Classes begin next week.

(Radio Iowa) – Ground was broken this morning on Mason City’s Destination Iowa bike park project. City Administrator Aaron Burnett says a grassroots effort from a local organization turned into a state-funded project with help from a $4.5-million Destination Iowa grant.

Burnett says the bike park is specifically designed for off-road and mountain biking with features for all ages. The closest example of a facility like this is in Arkansas.

“A bike park is really a place where you can work on your skills, everything from a little kid just getting on a bike for the first year of their life and riding it around and going over some small bumps, all the way up to expert jumplines where you have a little more danger, but you are also getting air and experiencing that, working on your jumps, going over features,” Burnett says.

The Prairie Rock Trails Bike Park will be located on the southern edge of Lime Creek Nature Center and will link the 450-acre conservation area to Mason City’s new High Line Trail, the Riverwalk near Southbridge Mall and 20 miles of existing trails. Burnett says the bike park is the main feature of the city’s Destination Iowa grant, which includes the build-out of a trail system in the area.

“We’re building many miles of single-track trails here. We’ve got the bike park that we’re celebrating today with the groundbreaking, but we’ve already completed the High Line Trail,” he says. “The Riverwalk has been bid, and that will start construction this year.”

Alaina Santizo, of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, says Mason City’s application was part of a very competitive process in choosing award recipients for Destination Iowa grants.

“The county, city and these groups that really coalesced around one plan brought forward, but also the uniqueness of all,” Santizo says. “This is the first of its kind in our state and even in the Midwest, so it’s really exciting. During those COVID years, we really saw people just really craving those outdoor recreational opportunities and that’s just remained. The COVID days are past us now, but people still love doing some of that outdoor recreation.”

Photo by Bob Fisher, KRIB

Santizo praises the local efforts of Mason City and Clear Lake in recently receiving Destination Iowa grants for projects. This project fits into the program’s outdoor recreation awards, while the Clear Lake Surf District project received funding from the “placemaking” portion of the program.

She says, “The projects that both of those communities brought forward were extremely competitive, and so they scored well in our process, and we were pleased to be partners on both of those projects.”

The bike park is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2025.

(Radio Iowa) – The fines for trespassing in order to hunt deer will go up significantly July 1. The law — and the fines — have been expanded to include trespassing to hunt any wildlife. The trespasser can be arrested and officers will be able to confiscate animals from hunters who trespass on private property — and assess more fines based on how many animals the hunter has taken. Senator Tom Shipley, a Republican from Nodaway, said it’s “a big deal” in southwest Iowa.

“I think raising these penalties is very important to those people in areas where they have people coming in from all over the country just deciding it’s their ground to play on,” Shipley said. Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, is skeptical. “I didn’t hear any good arguments in committee or elsewhere that would necessitate us raising the fines for trespass,” Weiner said, “or that there have been really egregious instances.”

Senator Tom Shipley

Representative Monica Kurth, a Democrat from Davenport, said she doesn’t condone trespassing, but this law seems excessive. “If a farmer’s trying to rid his property of nuisance raccoons and crosses a property line to get after those varmints and happens to have three of those critters in his possession, he would suddenly be fined $500 for the trespass, plus $200 for each of those raccoons,” Kurth said, “making a grand total of $1100.”

Republican Representative Mike Vondran of Davenport said trespassing is trespassing and the law is needed. “The simple act of knocking on your neighbor’s door and asking permission to deal with critters and varmints is one thing versus just deciding to go out and take your weapon and cross over a fence line, cross into another property where you have no concept of who is where and what activity they might be undertaking at the time,” Vondran said, “so to some degree this is a large measure of safety as well.”

The governor signed the bill into law Friday. It raises the fine to $500 for a first offense of trespassing in order to hunt. It’s currently $265. The fine for a second violation would be a $1000.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Northern District Office reports a Red Oak woman, 49-year-old Ann Sulsberger,  pled guilty April 18, 2024, in federal court in Sioux City, to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

At the plea hearing, evidence showed that between April 2023 and May 2023 Sulsberger and others conspired to distribute over a pound of methamphetamine in the Woodbury and Monona County areas.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a pre-sentence report is prepared. Sulsberger remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Sulsberger faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $10,000,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick T. Greenwood and was investigated by Bureau of Indian Affairs, DEA Laboratory, Tri-State Drug Task Force based in Sioux City, Iowa, that consists of law enforcement personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration; Sioux City, Iowa, Police Department; Homeland Security Investigations; Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office; South Sioux City, Nebraska, Police Department; Nebraska State Patrol; Iowa National Guard; Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; United States Marshals Service; South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation; and Woodbury County Attorney’s Office.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report two arrests. 57-year-old Sherry Harvey, of Glenwood, was arrested today (Tuesday), for Theft. Her bond was set at $300, but Harvey was released on her Own Recognizance.

And, 31-year-old Antonia Hudson,  of Red Oak, was arrested in Glenwood on Sunday, for criminal mischief 4th degree. Hudson was released after posting a $1,000 bond.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak have arrested a man on a felony, Theft, charge. 29-year-old Tylor Daniel Fine, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at a residence in the 100 block of E. Nuckols Street at around 9:45-a.m. today (Tuesday). He was charged with Theft in the 2nd Degree [>$1,500 but < $10,000] (a Class-D Felony). Fine was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Libraries in Kossuth County are facing nearly $200,000 in budget cuts. Kossuth County Library Association president Lany Mitchell said that cut in county funding means each of the county’s 12 libraries will get about $7000 in county support during the next fiscal year. “A $7000 per year funding is literally a death knell for at least four of the libraries here,” Mitchell said. The Kossuth County Board of Supervisors met with area residents for nearly two hours Monday afternoon to hear their concerns. Library officials learned just last week that the county would be reducing their funding. Mitchell is director of the public library in the small community of Wesley.

“I believe (the library director in) Fenton said that even if she worked for free, that $7000 wouldn’t make the library operational for Fenton,” Mitchell said. “Seven grand doesn’t even keep the lights on and the internet paid for. I can’t stress enough how that’s going to be ugly for a lot of libraries.”

In the current fiscal year, Kossuth County provided over $270,000 for libraries in 12 communities. For several facilities, that county funding is the vast majority of the library’s budget. Cutting library hours is not an option for many, as state funding gets cut if a library isn’t open for at least 20 hours a week. The Kossuth County Supervisors made the decision to cut library funding at a budget workshop two months ago, but didn’t inform the county libraries. Supervisor Carter Nath said that decision was a mistake. “I will take as a portion of that responsibility making that decision on February 22 in a budget workshop that you were never notified,” Nath said, “and that was wrong.”

Photo courtesy of Public Library in Wesley, population 383.

Board Chairman Kyle Stecker said budget cuts would have to be made to restore funding for the county’s libraries. “I would personally support restoring library funding to the levels in the current budget in the form of a budget amendment after the fiscal year starts if we as a board can come up with an agreement in reductions to the secondary road budget to the tune of $200,000 plus for Fiscal Year ’25,” he said.

Kossuth County library leaders say that leaves them in limbo, not knowing whether the budget cut will be rescinded and they’ll be able to stay open.