DES MOINES – Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) announced a public-private partnership with Recidiviz, a technology nonprofit using data to enhance public safety and improve outcomes. The partnership builds on the DOC’s already impressive record of reducing recidivism three years in a row as well as legislation passed last year to streamline government operations. Iowa joins 15 other states leveraging Recidiviz’s data and tools to improve the lives of people in prison and on community supervision.

“Together, we are ushering in a new era,” said Reynolds. “This partnership will build on the landmark alignment legislation we passed last year to streamline government operations in Iowa. Better data will improve consistency, efficiency and staff performance across the agency and across the state.”

“We’re harnessing the power of data to build a fairer and safer system,” said DOC Director Beth Skinner. “Through this collaboration, we’re continuing our work to transform our corrections system into a rehabilitation engine, enhancing public safety by getting people the support they need to reintegrate into our communities and build meaningful lives.”

Agency staff, elected officials, and communities need real-time data to improve the criminal justice system. But today, most criminal justice data is scattered, siloed and not actionable to decision-makers. Recidiviz stitches together disconnected databases to create a standardized, state-wide data layer. The nonprofit then builds technical tools that save staff time and improve agency operations. Using Recidiviz tools, leadership can view and monitor trends and better serve people in their custody and on supervision.

“Staff will have real-time data at their fingertips,” said DOC Deputy Director Sally Kreamer, who leads community supervision work. “Better data on clients’ needs and officer performance will ensure that there is consistency and efficiency statewide in community corrections.”

Probation and parole officers will get personalized dashboards showing live analytics about their caseloads, to help them better support their clients.

The partnership is currently focused on improving outcomes for the 40,000 people on supervision – including pretrial, probation and parole. By improving these outcomes, the DOC aims to improve population management within the broader system.

Recidviz Executive Director Clementine Jacoby added, “Recidiviz is thrilled to support the forward-thinking leadership and dedicated staff at the Iowa DOC. We know the tools we’ve deployed in 15 other states can support Iowa and help save corrections staff time, so that they can direct energy to people most in need.”

Recidiviz started as a volunteer project at Google to uncover how technology could standardize criminal justice data and improve the system nationwide.

Recidiviz became a standalone nonprofit in 2018. Today, the team develops an open-source software platform for corrections agencies, cleaning and connecting data from existing systems to provide a complete, timely, actionable picture of what is and is not working to agency leadership and line staff.

The group launched public data dashboards in both Pennsylvania and North Dakota that provide real-time visibility into statistics like the prison and parole populations, reasons for incarceration, parole success rates and racial disparities. In Idaho, its line staff tools identified that 5% of the people in the state’s parole program were already eligible for early release or a supervision-level downgrade; a figure like that for Iowa could identify thousands of people on the wrong level of supervision, leading to swift actions that increase efficiency and save the state money.

(Radio Iowa) – A Polk County District Court judge has ordered the state to delay the certification of Iowa ballots for this year’s election. A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) to give three Libertarian candidates a chance to argue they should be listed as candidates for the U-S House of Representatives.

Libertarians running in three of Iowa’s congressional districts were kicked off the ballot last week. A state panel agreed with Republicans in those congressional districts who said the Libertarian Party violated state law by holding caucuses and county conventions on the same day. First district candidate Nicholas Gluba of Lone Tree, third district candidate Marco Battaglia of Des Moines and fourth district candidate Charles Aldrich of Clarion are appealing that decision in court.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was the day Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate was to certify the list of candidates who’ve qualified for the ballot. Pate says he’ll wait until he gets direction from the court about the three Libertarians, but he’s certified the rest of Iowa’s 2024 General Election candidates.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three people were arrested recently on drug charges. Two of those individuals were arrested August 28th at around 11:30-a.m.: 46-year-old Lisa Rose Moyer, of Sidney (IA), was arrested for Possession of Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (Bond: $1,300). And, 53-year-old David Dean Balford,of Nebraska City, NE, was arrested for 2 counts Possession of Controlled Substance (Bond: $6,000). Both were arrested in the area of Deacon Road and Highway 34. And, 20-year-old Obbie Mariah Avirgin, of Omaha, NE, was arrested Monday night (Sept. 2nd) at the Harrison County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Failure To Appear on a charge of Possession of Controlled Substance/2nd Offense (Bond $2,000)

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports also:

William Robert William, of Saint Helen, MI, was arrested Aug. 31st for OWI/2nd offense (Bond: $2,000), and, 40-year-old Michael J. Mahoney, Sr, of Plattsmouth, NE, was arrested on that same date, for Disorderly Conduct ( Bond: $300).

Early Monday morning (Sept. 2nd), 56-year-old Joel Saucedo, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in Mills County for OWI/1st offense ( Bond: $1,000).

Authorities said also, a man from Emerson reported Monday morning, an incident of Theft in the 5th Degree in the vicinity of Edwards Street. Additional information was not provided.

DES MOINES – Three Iowa Libertarian candidates, blocked from the 2024 general election ballot last week, have won a court order to delay certification of the ballot while they challenge their omission. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, District Judge Michael Huppert granted a temporary injunction of ballot certification Tuesday after an expedited hearing. He found there was “a likelihood that the petitioners may prevail on the merits if afforded an opportunity for a full-blown presentation of the evidence and legal authorities.”

The Iowa Secretary of State’s office was expected to certify ballots Tuesday with candidates’ names for the November general election. Libertarian Party of Iowa congressional candidates in three Iowa districts — Nicholas Gluba in the 1st District, Marco Battaglia in the 3rd District and Charles Aldrich in the 4th District — were removed Aug. 28 from the ballot by the State Objection Panel in a 2-1 decision.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird, both Republicans, voted to remove the candidates, arguing that the state Libertarian Party had violated Iowa law by holding its precinct caucuses and county conventions on the same day, despite state law stating that delegates selected at caucuses do not officially begin their roles until the following day.

Auditor Rob Sand, the sole Democrat to hold statewide elected office in Iowa, voted in favor of keeping Libertarians on the ballot, stating that the panel did not have the authority to challenge a party’s convention process. He also argued the Republican objectors did not have standing to bring the complaint, as they did not participate in the Libertarian candidates’ nominating process. Judge Huppert wrote in the Tuesday decision that among the arguments made by the Libertarians challenging the decision, he found the most “potentially meritorious” challenge to be whether the Republican objectors’ complaint was appropriate, and if their objections were properly brought before the panel in accordance with Iowa Code on the subject.

The court decision came shortly after the three Libertarian candidates filed petitions in district court Friday asking for a judicial review the objections panel decision. The candidates also requested a temporary injunction ordering the pause of the Secretary of State’s Office certifying ballots until their challenge has been resolved as part of their petition. Ashley Hunt, the communications director for the Iowa Secretary of State’s office said that the office was not certifying any candidates or races Tuesday, while awaiting further clarification from the courts on the timeline for certification.

There is a deadline that requires ballots to be ready by Sept. 21 for overseas and military voters that will likely be part of discussions on how the challenges will proceed. Hunt said that the court’s quick turnaround for responding to the challenge means that the Secretary of State’s office is expecting to have a decision within the time constraints.

DES MOINES – A Polk County judge has temporarily blocked the state’s efforts to revoke the license of a car dealer convicted of a long series of misdemeanors related to his business. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports court records show that in 2022, Dayton Ericson, the owner of Ericson Auto in Ankeny, was convicted of three counts of fraudulent use of a vehicle registration – charges that Ericson says are tied to the fact that he had placed old, expired dealer plates on some of his vehicles.

In October 2023, those convictions led to the Iowa Department of Transportation sending Ericson a notice that it was revoking his dealership license. Ericson filed an appeal, but the DOT’s decision was upheld by an administrative law judge and then by the director of the agency.

Ericson is now seeking judicial review of that decision. Polk County District Court Judge Christopher Kemp recently issued an order that placed the revocation order on hold at least until a hearing on the matter can be held. Refusing to grant such a stay, Kemp ruled, “would place Ericson at significant risk of catastrophic irreparable injury.”

Ericson said that if the DOT has its way, he’ll be put out of business. He acknowledged he has an extensive history of misdemeanor convictions related to vehicle registrations, storage of cars on his residential property in Des Moines, and parking dealership vehicles on city streets. Many of those cases, he said, stem from disputes with neighboring property owners.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she has a couple of names in mind, but is in no hurry to name a new lieutenant governor.  “I want to make sure I take the time and get the right person there,” Reynolds says. “…We want to make sure we take a look at who that might be and what we want them to focus on.” Reynolds spoke with reporters early this (Wednesday) morning, about 17 hours after Adam Gregg resigned as lieutenant governor to take a job in the private sector. “This is a very demanding job and it really requires a lot of sacrifices and so I understand him wanting to spend him wanting to spend more time with his family,” Reynolds says. “That makes a lot of sense and so I absolutely support him in his decision and what he’s going to do.”

The governor says Gregg told her last Friday he had the opportunity to become the next president and C-E-O of the Iowa Bankers Association. Reynolds says she and Gregg have kept a grueling schedule since May of 2017 when she became governor and he became lieutenant governor. “Let’s put this in perspective. That was seven, eight years ago, but his kids were barely in school and Jackson is starting high school — so think about that timeline,” Reynolds says. “I had the good fortune that my kids were grown.”

The governor says she and the now-former lieutenant governor have had a tough seven year stretch. “It’s not been easy,” Reynolds said. “We started with flooding and tornadoes and then we moved into COVID and then we moved into a derecho, then we went back and did a few more tornadoes…and flooding,” Reynolds says. “I mean, it’s 24/7 and non-stop and so I have a lot of respect for somebody that wants to step back and really focus on their family and just opportunities like this do not come up that often and so he just took all of that into account and made a decision for his family and so I appreciate that.”

Former Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg speaking at news conference on May 12, 2021. (RI file photo)

Reynolds was asked if she was surprised Gregg is leaving politics altogether and will not run to succeed her as governor. “There’s always the assumption when you bring in a lieutenant governor they’re going to be ready and willing to take that next step to serve as governor, but there’s never any guarantees that’s going to be the process,” Reynolds says. “And ultimately it’s going to be the people of Iowa who will decide who the next governor is going to be.”

Reynolds has not announced whether she intends to seek reelection in 2026. Reynolds has met with Senate President Amy Sinclair who is now first in the line of succession and would take over as governor if, for some reason, Reynolds is unable to fulfill her duties.

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand says a recently dismissed University of Iowa employee pocketed nearly a million dollars by using public equipment and public employees for his own business. Brian Busch was the manager of the Department of Physics and Astronomy Machine Shop. “He would have employees handle the work on university-owned machines while on the university’s clock,” Sand says, “but $943,000 worth of payments…ended up in his own bank accounts.” The Machine Shop fixed equipment and made parts for experiments, but the Physics Department also used the expensive tools and equipment in the Machine Shop to fulfill orders from other departments on campus.

“What it fundamentally came down to is at the end of the day Mr. Busch had public employees and public equipment doing work for him, instead of doing work for the university,” Sand says. Busch was placed on administrative leave in 2021 — but was not fired until last Wednesday when the auditor’s office presented its report to University of Iowa officials. Sand says keeping Busch on the university’s payroll for three years wouldn’t have been his choice. And Sand says there were warning signs. In 2019, the university had Busch repay over 35-hundred dollars for work done on campus for his own company.

“They did not do an internal review of conflict of interest policies or heighten review of Busch’s future transactions at the Machine Shop,” Sand says. “Busch had not noted the company, D3T, on the conflict of interest forms that he had been required to fill out with the university.” Sand’s office has been working with a federal agency that’s been investigating the allegations, as well as the Iowa City Police. Under state law, Sand says there are a few months left to sue Busch or file criminal charges in state court — and a couple of years before the federal statute of limitations expires.  “The whistleblowers in this case provided much of the information needed to investigate it, including text messages with Brian Busch that are detailed in our report and photographs,” Sand says. “The report is about 300 pages. This is a big one.”

According to the audit, Busch was having university staff do work for a company called Xometry, but directed Xometry’s payments into his personal bank account and an account linked to his business. The University of Iowa has issued a written statement, saying it is attempting to recoup the wages paid to Busch and two other employees while they were on paid leave. The statement begins by saying the University of Iowa is committed to managing its resources responsibly — and university officials say they requested a state audit and immediately took other steps when they first learned of the allegations against Busch.