(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday (today), approved two investigators for the Medical Examiner’s Office. Supervisor Steve Green said he spoke with Medical Examiner Dr. Elaine Berry about the assistants to her office.

Michelle Schroeder, MSN/BSN/RN will be returning to the area, while Andrea Stork, RN, is the Medical Examiner Assistant to be approved. Green pointed out the staff are necessary due to Dr. Berry’s schedule.

At some point, he said, she will probably retire after building-up her staff. In other business, Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall was asked how long it might be before her office reopens.

The Treasurer’s Office is currently closed while new staff training is being conducted. In the meantime, she says, if you have a driver’s license expiring or need to have one issued, you can go to another county. Taxes, and motor vehicle registrations can be handled online.

Marshall said she is advertising for a Deputy again since last week’s hire fell through. In his report to the Board, County Sanitarian Mike Stringham said houses aren’t selling quite as fast this year, so they haven’t handled a lot of transfer inspections (for septic systems).

Stringham said he will begin public (Municipal) pool inspections soon. And, with regard to drinking water well tests, the State had extra money to include arsenic and mangenese as part of the free tests. He said there are some areas where arsenic has been found.

Manganese is a trace mineral that is present in tiny amounts in the body. It is found mostly in bones, the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. Manganese helps the body form connective tissue, bones, blood clotting factors, and sex hormones. Arsenic is a natural component of the earth’s crust and is widely distributed throughout the environment in the air, water and land. It is highly toxic in its inorganic form.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – An investigation in Adair County that began June 9th with a reported crash and the recovery of a stolen vehicle, has resulted in the arrest of a man from Omaha. Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports that at 5:42 p.m., Monday (June 20) the Adair County Sheriff’s Office served two arrest warrants upon 25 year-old Luis Penaloza Garcia of Omaha, Nebraska upon his release from a Des Moines Hospital, Monday evening. The charges for which the two arrest warrants were issued, include: Burglary in the 2nd Degree; Theft in the 1 st Degree; Theft in the 2nd Degree; and Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. The total bond for all charges has been set at $70,000 CASH ONLY to the Court.

Original story:

Luis Penaloza Garcia

(Casey, Iowa) -A person (later identified as Luis Penaloza Garcia) who allegedly tried to break into a home in Adair County was shot by the occupant of the home, early Thursday morning (June 9). According to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, at around 3:18-a.m., the Adair County Communications Center received a cellular 911 call reporting a vehicle in the median of Interstate 80 near the Adair rest areas in Adair County. An Adair County sheriff’s deputy responded and shortly after his arrival, determined that the crashed vehicle had previously been reported as stolen to the Omaha Police Department. Officers from the Stuart Police Department and their K9 unit were summoned to assist in locating the driver of the stolen vehicle.

At approximately 4:30-a.m.,  the Adair County Communications Center received a cellular 911 call from a rural residence southwest of Casey, in Adair County. The occupant of the home reported that someone had tried to break into his home and that he, the occupant of the residence, had shot the suspected intruder (Penaloza Garcia). Officers searching for the driver of the stolen vehicle, who were in the immediate area, responded and administered first aid to the wounded Garcia. Adair Rescue and the Adair County Ambulance responded to the scene to provide additional medical aid. Penaloza Garcia had been transported by an Air-Ambulance to a Des Moines area hospital where he received treatment for multiple gun shot wounds.

It should be noted that a criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – As gas prices and inflation bound into record territory, Iowa U-S Senator Chuck Grassley is co-sponsoring a bill he says will provide relief and protections for our savings accounts. Grassley, a Republican, says the Middle-Class Savings and Investment Act would help lower- and middle-income Americans save as inflation outpaces any interest they might earn through targeted tax relief. “We need more incentive to save,” Grassley says. “If people save, they aren’t spending the money. That reduces the amount of money chasing too few goods. The other thing is, this inflation is making a miserable impact upon people’s savings.”

Grassley says many people are watching their savings erode while facing taxes on gains that may not be keeping pace with inflation. That creates what he calls “a perverse incentive to spend now” instead of saving, which further fuels inflation. “We’ve had savers’ incentives going way back to 2001 and 2003 when I was chairman of the Finance Committee,” Grassley says, “so inflation is those limits when you can save and not pay tax on it, or get a credit for saving a certain amount.” Grassley says the legislation will ensure that those who are hurting the most from inflation aren’t further burdened by taxes.  “Those dollar figures that were set 20 years ago are hurt by inflation, so we’re raising them so more people can take advantage of it,” Grassley says. “My middle income savings bill will help families through tax relief, as well as helping them save more for the future.”

Grassley says key elements of the bill include: Excluding a reasonable amount of interest income from being subject to tax ($600 for married couples, $300 for individuals; more than doubling the size of the zero percent (lowest) tax bracket for long-term capital gains and qualified dividends; eliminating the marriage penalty which subjects some income to an additional 3.8 percent tax, and indexing its income threshold to inflation; increasing the maximum “savers credit” anyone can get for contributing to qualified retirement accounts and expanding the availability of that credit to more taxpayers.

(Audubon, Iowa) – An Audubon Community School District Building Project has hit a snag. Superintendent Eric Trager said he couldn’t legally comment on all the specifics because of pending litigation against the General Contractor, who Trager says “Backed-out” on the project about two and a-half weeks ago.

He said it’s unclear right now, how far this might set the project completion timeline back.

He said Camblin Mechanical out of Atlantic and Nelson Electric out of Carroll, are “doing such a great job and are ahead of schedule” on their part of the project.

In any case, a delay in getting a General Contractor isn’t expected t affect the start of school year, on August 23rd.

In other business, Superintendent Trager said the Audubon School Board approved six Summer Launch Program contracts.

And, the Board, he says, hired Gary Keller, who will come back to teach vocal music until a permanent replacement is found for a late resignation, and, Brad Kirchhoff will serve as the Assistant Wrestling Coach next year.

(Radio Iowa) – The leader of the group pushing for a casino license for Cedar Rapids says they aren’t giving up. Linn County Gaming Association board president Anne Parmley says the group had hoped the governor wouldn’t sign the bill that puts licenses on hold. “Well, I think it would have been pessimistic not to hold out hope. So yes, we held out a little hope, but figured this probably be the outcome,” she says. The bill the governor signed Friday freezes the casino licenses at 19 for the next two years. Parmley’s group had artist renderings of the facility done and was preparing for the license approval process to start. “How we look at it now is we have to wait two years and work over those two years to ensure that things move forward in two years, so we can build that facility out and start gaining the benefits for Linn County,” Parmley says.

Parmley says they’ll continue working on their plan and keep supporters up-to-date. “Standing in front of city council letting them know what’s going on, as well as the supervisors, those groups have been incredibly supportive of this effort and will continue to be active with them in understanding what’s going to happen,” Parmley says. ” I think this gives developers more time to just kind of moved the whole concept, location and all that forward.” The Republican leader in the Iowa Senate, Jack Whitver, said “gaming fatigue” led lawmakers to the temporary moratorium as they want to see how things shake out. Parmley says the gambling competition with the border states of Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois is one of the things that could be an impact in the next two years.

And the concern will remain about how a Cedar Rapids casino impacts existing casinos. She expects another study to look at that issue. “And I think that study would both look at cannibalization as well as you know, within the state but across the borders, and really given us better information to look at as far as what that exactly means these days,” she says. Parmley says the moratorium is disappointing — but they have to move forward. “You kind of have to figure out what’s in your control. And right now, the two-year delay is not in our control. So we just have to push forward and we’re really excited about what’s possible,” according to Parmley. “The city is very much behind, pushing forward, despite the delay, and getting really excited about what that side of the river could look like with this facility.”

The license moratorium will expire in July of 2024.