(Washington, D-C) – The USDA recently announced the latest round of loans and loan guarantees designed to build and improve rural electric infrastructure throughout the country. Rod Bain reports:

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston, Wednesday night, arrested 40-year-old Alicia Ellen Lovell, of Creston. Lovell was taken into custody at around 9:40-p.m. at 806 Laurel Street, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd of subsequent offense. She posted a $5,000 cash or surety bond before being released.

(Harlan, Iowa) – During their meeting Tuesday morning in Harlan, Steve Kenkel, Chairman of Shelby County Board of Supervisors announced that after 12 years on the Board of Supervisors he has decided not to run for supervisor again in the upcoming primary in June. In other news from the meeting, in his minutes of the session, Board Secretary/Shelby County Auditor Mark Maxwell, said the Supervisors approved the appointments of Denny Gross, Darrin Haake, and Robbie Bissen, to the Board of Adjustment, and an FY25 3-percent cost-of-living wage increase for all non-union employees, as well as for the employees qualified to receive the increase. All of those employees are eligible for a 1% increase in pay on January 1st, 2025, if they have the merit pay increase approved by their Department Head.

Shelby County GIS director Mark Maxwell asked the Supervisors for, and was granted permission to, sign documents approving the flights and associated costs for aerial photography used by the Assessor and Shelby County as well as other individuals and organizations that use the online photographs of Shelby County property. The new contract is again for six years and include a $204.76 a year increase in costs for the six-year duration of the contract.

The Supervisors then considered a resolution setting the Tax levy Hearing for fiscal Year 2025. The hearing was set for 9-a.m. April 1st, in the Supervisor’s Chambers at the Courthouse in Harlan. A public hearing will also be held at 9-a.m. on April 2nd, with regard to the Annex Building, which was initially purchased and renovated as additional Shelby County office space, housing the County funded Community Services, Juvenile Court, Sheriff’s department storage and County Attorney. The technology and the reorganization of those departments has left the building mostly vacated by Shelby County departments.  The hearing is to receive public input on the proposed disposition of the parcel containing the Annex.

In other business, Secondary Roads Engineer Chris Fredericksen, reported that the rock piles are being replenished and that adding rock or blading to roads at this time with dry conditions would worsen conditions. Moisture is needed, Fredericksen said, before regular maintenance of those types are resumed in full. Fredericksen also asked and recommended approval for a utility permit by the local Rural Water Association, the work would not cross the right of way but all be done in a ditch. The request was approved as presented.

(Urbandale, Iowa) – The Iowa Board of Regents could increase University parking rates and violations/sanctions for the upcoming year for the University of Iowa, Northern Iowa University and Iowa State University. Action on the issue is scheduled for the April Board meeting.

The University of Iowa last approved increases for permits in FY 2016. On average, rates will increase $2.30/month for faculty/staff permits, $1.50/month for student permits, and $9.00 for citations. No hourly rate increases are proposed.

Iowa State University’s parking system, including the Memorial Union parking ramp, would, on average, see a 3-percent increase in annual and an academic-year basis. Hourly rates are unchanged for FY24.

The University of Northern Iowa‘s proposal has no change in the meter rates over FY24, and a general increase of 2.5% for most other parking fees, except for Resident Hall preferred (an 8.1% increase), and a Student Temporary parking fee increase of 4%.

Additional revenue generated from the proposed rate increases, effective August 1, 2024, would be used to help: (1) fund reserves used for parking lot repair and renewal; and (2) cover inflationary costs.

DALLAS COUNTY, Iowa [KCCI] — Dallas County prosecutors have reached a plea agreement with a Johnston woman accused of neglecting dozens of horses on her property. According to court records, Linda Kilbourne intends to plead guilty in a written plea. The records do not indicate the specific charge Kilbourne will be pleading guilty to.

Kilbourne was initially charged in November with livestock neglect causing serious injury or death, a serious misdemeanor, as well as 47 counts of simple misdemeanor livestock neglect. The simple misdemeanor charges are on hold while the serious misdemeanor case is resolved.

Kilbourne must submit her written guilty plea by March 28.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa State Patrol said the daily death rate on Iowa’s roads for 2023 was 20% higher than the 5-year average.

Last year, the state of Iowa teamed up with several other states to try and reduce the number of fatalities, but the Iowa State Patrol says it hasn’t worked. State Trooper Bob Conrad said they were seeing more people not just speeding, but hitting the triple digits. The state patrol has had numerous social media posts showing cars it pulled over going in excess of 100-mph, like a car just outside Dubuque clocked at 115-mph, or a driver in Johnson County who was traveling at 123-mph. In the first two months of the year, the patrol has written 117 tickets to drivers going more than 100-mph, and a speed that’s leading to deaths.

Trooper Conrad said it boiled down to distracted driving; people not noticing how fast they’re going. With warmer weather approaching, the Trooper worries about how many more people won’t be able to make it home safely.

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI] — A former Des Moines news anchor has lost an age discrimination lawsuit after an eight-day trial in Polk County District Court. Sonya Heitshusen had been at WHO-TV for 17 years when, she says, she was denied an on-air contract in 2020. In August 2021, she filed an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against WHO-TV and its parent company, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., challenging what she called a widespread practice of removing older, female staffers from the air because of their looks. Station news director Rod Peterson and general manager Bobby Totsch were also named in the suit.

Nexstar, however, characterized Heitshusen’s firing as a reduction in its workforce. The lawsuit went to trial in Polk County last week, with the jury returning a verdict in favor of the defendants on Wednesday afternoon. It’s unclear if she will appeal the verdict.

Heitshusen is currently the public information officer for the Iowa Auditor of State.

[Updated] (Radio Iowa) – Iowans could pay extra for a license plate that bears the message “don’t tread on me” if a bill that’s cleared the Iowa House becomes law. The new specialty license plate would feature the image of the Gadsden Flag, with its coiled rattlesnake on the left side of the plate. Representative Jeff Shipley of Birmingham is among the 60 Republicans who voted for the bill. “Giving the Gadsden flag the respect it deserves as a symbol which memorializes our American history and the fight that we had to fight to get our liberty,” Shipley said. The Gadsden Flag design dates back to the Revolutionary War. The snake on the flag features 13 rattles that represent the 13 colonies that revolted against Great Britain.

“I can’t think of anywhere in the world where individual rights, individual sovereignty has been more cherished and respected than here in the great State of Iowa,” Shipley said, “so I think having this display on our license plate will be another great addition to the right fabric of our state.” The fees from these specialty plates would be distributed as grants to groups that promote education and training about the right to keep and bear arms. Democratas like Representative Dave Jacoby, of Coralville, say that means the money will go to the National Rifle Association. “The bill itself diverts tax dollars from a 500% fee increase to a private organization with political agendas,” Jacoby said.

Democrats unsuccessfully proposed a series of alternatives to finance things like children’s mental health services or anti-discrimination programs instead. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst.  “There are problems in this state, there are issues this state is facing,” Konfrst said, “and we are spending time on a new license plate to fund the NRA.” Shipley, the only lawmaker to speak in favor of the bill during House debate, says the plate recognizes the right to keep and bear arms is a sacred value. “There are a lot of men and women who support the Second Amendment, practice the Second Amendment, exercise their freedom,” Shipley said, “and those people tend to contribute to the public safety we enjoy as Iowans.”

The bill now goes to the Iowa Senate, where a similar bill was introduced last year. About a dozen states sell Gadsden Flag specialty license plates, including Missouri and Kansas. The Gadsden Flag design dates back to the Revolutionary War. The snake on the flag features 13 rattles that represent the 13 colonies that revolted against Great Britain.

 DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI]  — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says President Joe Biden “has been a disaster for our country” and that she is endorsing former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Reynolds made the announcement Wednesday on her X (formerly known as Twitter) account. She had previously endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of the Iowa Republican Caucus.

Trump had criticized Reynolds in 2023 after she did not endorse him, and again when she endorsed Ron DeSantis saying “it will be the end of her political career.”

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Court of Appeals is upholding discipline imposed on a University of Northern Iowa professor for plagiarism. A university investigation committee found communication and media professor Gayle Pohl committed plagiarism in a book chapter she published in 2017. The committee rejected the possibility that problems in her writing were honest errors. It recommended five sanctions that included prohibiting her from applying for promotion to full professor. Pohl asked for a judicial review on a variety of claims, including allegations of bias and a lack of substantial evidence.

The Court of Appeals upheld the U-N-I committee’s findings, saying its decision making, and resulting discipline against Pohl was not illogical, unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion.