(Radio Iowa) – Reynolds has ordered the state agency that controls wholesale liquor sales in Iowa to pull vodka made in Russia from the for-sale list. Governors in New Hampshire and other states have also pulled Russian-made vodkas with brand names like Green Mark and Russian Standard from state liquor store shelves. Iowa is one of 17 states that control the sale of alcohol at the wholesales level. Reynolds says barring the sale of Russian-made liquor in Iowa demonstrates Iowa’s solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom against Putin’s tyranny.

Reynolds is also calling for ending Iowa’s “Sister State” relationship with the Stavropol region in Russia. Former Governor Terry Branstad helped established that relationship as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began a series of political and economic reforms. Gorbachev was born in Stavropol and Branstad led an Iowa delegation to the region in 1987. Reynolds also is calling on the Iowa Sister States organization to enhance its relationship with the Cherkasy province, which is in central Ukraine.

(Radio Iowa) – The chair of Calhoun County Democrats is urging the state party to take a stand against land seizures for the carbon pipelines being proposed in Iowa. Emma Schmit is a member of the Iowa Democratic Party’s State Central Committee. “Come out and support rural Iowa. We’ve seen Democrats continuously lose votes and this would be a huge opportunity to finally start moving that needle back,” she says. “Instead, we’re choosing to just sleep on the issue and ignore it.”

This weekend, Schmit proposed that the Iowa Democratic Party’s governing board pass a resolution opposing development and construction of carbon pipelines, but it was tabled. “The debate was cut off almost instantaneously before we could even explain why it’s so critical that the Democratic Party speak out in support of the impacted landowners and the communities that are going to be threatened by these pipelines,” Schmit says.

The Iowa Democratic Party’s 2018 platform supports carbon sequestration, but opposes eminent domain abuse. Schmit says there will be efforts this weekend at county conventions to try to ensure the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2022 Platform includes a plank opposing carbon pipelines, but Scmit says no one reads the platform and a statement now from the party’s governing board would be more effective. “In 2017, we saw resolutions about supporting the folks up at Standing Rock,” Schmit says.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opposed construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Schmit is an Iowa-based organizer for Food and Water Watch, an environmental group that recently hosted an anti-pipeline rally at the Capitol. Pipeline developers say it’s wrong to change state regulations in the middle of the project and say they have gained hundreds of voluntary easements from Iowa landowners.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors held their regular weekly meeting today (Monday), instead of their normal, Tuesday. The Board held a Public Hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 Maximum Property Tax Dollars, during which there were no comments made.

Superintendent Steve Baier said the increases amount to 2.98% in General County Services and two-percent for rural County Services.

Afterward, the Supervisors set March 15^th as the date for a Public Hearing on the FY 2023 Cass County Budget. The Board received word from County Engineer Trent Wolken, that rock prices have increased 10-percent ($1.50 per ton), since their last purchase in December.

The Board approved an application from, and appointment of, Curtis Bierbaum of rural Griswold, to the Condemnation in Eminent Domain Board, serving the Owner-Operators of Agricultural Property. Board Chair Steve Baier…

The Supervisors acted also on appointing Doreen South as a Deputy in the Auditor’s Office, with no change in her rate of compensation, effective March 1, 2022. South currently serves as a Clerk in the Auditor’s Office. Deputy Auditor Sheri Karns…

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors passed the renewal of a 28-E agreement for a multi-county agreement regarding the Juvenile Detention Center (located near Council Bluffs), and Emergency Services.

They also approved a 28-E agreement for the ISAC (Iowa State Association of Counties) Group Benefits Program (effective 7/1/22).

(Radio Iowa) – Des Moines police have released the name of the woman who was murdered over the weekend. Officers were called to an apartment complex on the city’s south side early Saturday morning, on a report of a woman who was unconscious and not breathing. They found the body of 35-year-old Randi Light, who was suffering from what police say was significant traumatic injury from stabbing. Paramedics couldn’t revive her. Light’s live-in boyfriend, 33-year-old Clarence Reed, was arrested at the scene on a charge of first-degree murder. It’s Des Moines’ second homicide this year.

DES MOINES – The candidate filing period for state and federal offices in the 2022 primary and general elections begins/began today (Monday), February 28 and runs through Friday, March 18 at 5 p.m. Candidates must file their nominating petitions and affidavits of candidacy with the Office of Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, either in the Capitol Building or in the Lucas Office Building.

An updated list of candidates whose papers have been received and accepted will be published to the Iowa Secretary of States’ website at the end of each day and will also be updated periodically. That page is available here and will also be accessible from the home page of the Secretary of State’s website, https://sos.iowa.gov/.

Information about petition and filing requirements are available in the Candidate’s Guide, available here for the primary, and here for the general election.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The latest addition to the Atlantic Police force will be sworn-in Wednesday evening, by Mayor Grace Garrett. Officer Jimmy James will receive and recite the Oath of Office. He replaces Officer Dustin Gelner, who left to serve with the Iowa State Patrol. City Administrator John Lund says this was the second of four openings for the Atlantic Police Department, a full third of the department. Officer James previously served as a Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy, and is returning to Atlantic from Polk County.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will hold a Public Hearing for the FY 2023 Maximum Property Tax Dollars for Certain Levies, followed by a Resolution on setting the Maximum Property Tax Dollars for those levies. John Lund says “The City’s proposed debt service levy of $4 is completely hidden from [the published] notice. On the property tax statements of properties where no changes in assessed or taxable value have occurred, the City will show an increase of 2.92%, not the 3.86% shown on the notice.” Lund says also, “While 2.92% is the increase in dollars generated, it is not going to be reflective of the impact on the property taxes levied against individual properties. There is no way to know, what the impact will be in the year-to-year impact on individual taxpayers.”

The Council will act also, on a Resolution “Adopting the Preliminary FY 2023 Budget,” and setting the date of March 16th for Adopt the FY 2023 Budget. John Lund says “A few non-substantive changes were made to correct unbalanced transfers,” resulting in an updated budget for FY23 that totals a little more $14.7-million, which is a decrease from FY 2022 of 1.78%, or $266,800. The bottom line, according to Administrator Lund, is the “The City’s combined property tax levy shall remain at the level set in the FY 2021 and FY 2022 Budget.”

The final order of regular business for the Council, Wednesday, is action on a Resolution setting March 16, 2022, as the date for a public hearing on adopting the FY 2023 10-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The Council’s meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., and is broadcast live on the City’s cable channel.