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KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate passed a bill along party lines that would authorize law enforcement in the state to arrest immigrants who are here illegally and empower Iowa judges to order deportations. Under the bill it would become a state crime for a person to enter the state if they were already deported or refused entry into the U-S. Republican Senator Jeff Reichman, of Montrose, says the state must step in because the Biden administration has allowed record numbers of illegal border crossings. “They refuse to enforce the laws,” he says.
Democrats opposed the bill. They say immigration is a federal issue and it would be unconstitutional for the state to get involved with arresting and removing people from the country. Democratic Senator Janice Weiner of Iowa City says it would be unconstitutional for the state to take over enforcement of immigration laws. She says if G-O-P Senators want to change border policies they should lobby the state’s federal delegation to support the bipartisan deal that stalled in Congress.
“Get them to bring the compromise to the floor and vote for it,” she says. Republican supporters say lax border enforcement is a threat to Iowa. They blame it for the high levels of fentanyl and other drugs confiscated in traffic stops on Iowa interstates. The bill is similar to a Texas law the U-S Supreme Court has put on hold.
(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County officially has a new Recorder. Auditor Mandy Berg issued the Oath of Office to Kelly Mitchell. She succeeds long-time Adair County Recorder Janelle Schneider, who announced her intention to retire, in November 2023. Her appointment is to fill the vacancy until and unless she is elected in November.
The Board approved Township Clerk wages for two individuals, and acknowledged the receipt of three Manure Management Plan (MMP) updates. They also acted to approve Homestead and Military Disallowances. The Adair County Supervisors set their meeting on March 27th at 9-a.m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing on the proposed FY 25 Property Tax Levy. They then heard from Brenda Dudley, with Midwest Partnership, with regard to the Bonnie & Clyde Fun Run on April 20th. 2024 marks the 90th Anniversary of the duo’s infamous bank robbery in Stuart. Their actions served as the inspiration for a t-shirt memorializing the event.
Dudley said this year, in addition to the 5-mile run, they are adding a bike ride.
During their meeting on Tuesday, the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors agreed to allow the use of White Pole Road for the event and manage the traffic flow. Dudley said they’ve always had good cooperation for the event from area law enforcement, fire departments and other entities. It’s a good opportunity, she said, to bring visitors and shoppers to the area.
In other business, the Adair County Board of Supervisors authorized Board Chair Jerry Walker to sign: The contract and performance bond for the N-26 Lincoln Township Reinforced Concrete Box Culvert (RCB) Project, and N-19 Lincoln Township Bridge Project (Gus Construction in Anita – contractor for both projects), as well as a Right-Of-way contract for the N-17 Richland Township RCB Project ($2,266.56).
Sawyer Hansen, Assistant to Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman, was on-hand at the meeting to present those contracts, and report on Adair County Secondary Roads maintenance projects and activities.
Work on the N-24 Prussia and N-26 Lincoln Projects are expected to start as early as next week, weather permitting.
(Radio Iowa) – The state is holding a series of town hall meetings to discuss the condition of Iowa’s levees and other flood mitigation efforts. The meetings are being held by the Office of Levee Safety, within the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Mark Newhall heads the office, which was created by the legislature last year. Newhall says the town halls serve multiple purposes, but most importantly, he says, is to hear from people working and living in and around the levees. “Meet with the levee sponsors, their financial agents, the county emergency managers, and if they’re available — the people living and working behind the levees to get a better understanding of the challenges they’re facing,” Newhall says, “whether it’s a bureaucratic or a financial issue and to get a better read.”
A state study of the levee system in 2021 and 2022 helped identify trouble areas in need of repair along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Of the 115 segments assessed, Newhall says nearly 48% were rated unacceptable during U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ inspections.”A levee could either be rated acceptable, minimally acceptable, or unacceptable,” Newhall says, “so the fact that almost half of the levees we looked at were rated as unacceptable caught a lot of people’s attention.” He says the money aspect of the study was also eye-opening. “We dug into their financials over a five-year period from 2017 to 2021,” Newhall says, “and we found that over half of the districts we looked at, their average annual revenues were less than their average annual expenses.”
Newhall says part of the levee improvement program is developing a rating system to better identify the most at-risk areas. He says a program launched last year includes matching funds over the next five years to address maintenance and repairs. “The state of Iowa comes in with a 50% match to the local levee sponsor to help them address issues with their levees,” he says. “The way the program is designed is that we get $5 million annually through gaming revenues.”
Newhall says one advantage to the gaming revenues is that any unused dollars can be rolled over into the following year. The 16 town hall meetings started last month and will run through March. See the full schedule here:
DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI] – The 2024 Iowa State Fair Grandstand lineup is now complete. Rock band Greta Van Fleet and country star Brett Young will fill the final two remaining spots. Greta Van Fleet will take the stage on Sunday, Aug. 11, while Young will perform on Monday, Aug. 12. Tickets to both shows will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 8. You can find more information here.
(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports 27-year-old Megan Elizabeth Bando, of Creston, was arrested Tuesday night, for OWI/1st offense. Bando was taken to the Union County Jail and later released after posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond.
WATERLOO, Iowa (KCRG) – Police say they’re investigating after possible human remains were found at the Waterloo Waste Treatment Plant. Officers were called to the plant, at 2550 Kenyon Avenue, at around 12:15 p.m. on Monday after the remains were found. Police said the remains will be taken to the Iowa Medical Examiner’s office for identification and cause of death.
No additional details have been released. The investigation remains ongoing.
CHARTER OAK, Iowa (KCAU) – Charter Oak residents were left displeased when they learned their post office was closed temporarily due to falling bricks from the neighboring building. Now, the city has made a move. At the Charter Oak city council meeting Monday night, the city made the decision to red tag the buildings, closing them off due to safety concerns.
Going forward, the city said it will stay in contact with the property owner in order to come to a suitable resolution for everyone. But now the city’s main concern is getting the town’s post office reopened.
With the town’s post office temporarily closed, residents have to travel to the neighboring town of Ricketts to get their mail.
(Radio Iowa) – Woodbury County Attorney James Loomis has cleared two Sioux City police officers in the fatal shooting of a man in the parking ramp of the Hard Rock Casino on January 8th. Loomis says 55-year-old Salvador Perez-Garcia of Sioux City wanted a confrontation with officers.”His violent aggression was planned and targeted at law enforcement. His attack on officers with the Sioux City Police Department placed those officers lives in immediate danger. The use of deadly force was justified to put an end to that immediate danger,” he says.
Loomis says Loomis says Perez-Garcia had been banned from the casino in June of 2023 because of thefts. Loomis says he was seen smoking was believed to be meth on a casino security camera before driving to the police station and then returning to the parking garage. He then rammed the car of an officer who was there on an unrelated matter. “The collision was violent enough to deploy the airbags of the officers patrol car and Mr. Perez Garcia’s pickup truck. The collision disabled the officers patrol car and shoved it into a concrete wall the officer was slightly injured and trapped inside his patrol car,” he says.
Loomis says Perez-Garcia rammed a second patrol car, and then came at officers with a chain that had a metal object on the end. “Mr. Perez Garcia attacked one officer by swinging his weapon wildly at him. The officer retreated. Another officer attempted to go hands on with Mr. Perez-Garcia to get him into custody, but Mr. Perez-Garcia attacked him with his weapon as well, causing him to retreat,” Loomis says. “The two officers who were attacked with the weapon responded by firing their handguns.”
Officers fired eleven rounds, and Perez-Garcia died at the scene. Police Chief Rex Mueller says the two officers have returned to duty. “It can’t be understated how difficult it is for officers to have to deal with this,” he says. “Nobody wants to enter a law enforcement career and have to take somebody else’s life. But you know, these officers did exactly what they were trained to do. And there’s a recovery process and we are watching out for them and caring for them, but I can’t say it’s an easy process.”
Mueller and Loomis both extended their condolences to Perz-Garcia’s family.
Eric Enslow
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council will be focusing on Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as an Essential Service, in the weeks to come. Councilwoman Elaine Otte said the City has been working with the County and the hospital on EMS [ambulance] services.
The Board of Supervisors has set the date for a public hearing on the matter, and “In support of that, we all need to perk our ears up, we need to make sure that when that goes on the ballot in November, that gets passed as an essential service, for Cass County and Atlantic to continue to have ambulance service.”
City Administrator John Lund said the EMS issue “Will be a big thing,” when he discusses the City’s Budget. “The City of Atlantic needs to vote ‘yes’ on this, because if this [referendum] does not pass with a 60% [majority], which would put the property tax levy on a much wider [spread out] amongst a much larger tax base than the City has…if that fails, the City Council next year will have two options, and they’re both horrible.”
He said “It’ll be astronomically high tax rates that we’ve never seen before, or the Council will be in the position of having to gut departments. And I’m not being like dramatic about that…if you have to come up with $200,000 for an ambulance service, and you don’t want to raise the taxes, that’s the only alternative you have. And, it could be $300,000 if we don’t get fully funded again from the Small Business Income Tax credit,” and other “headwinds,” such as a Commercial Property tax rollback.
Lund said “Nobody likes to vote to increase their own taxes,” but about one-third of the base in the County comes from Atlantic. Councilwoman Otte reminded the Council and public, Essential Service gives the County and Cities the ability to levy taxes that support an ambulance or EMS service. “We already have the right to do that for Police and Fire Departments, but ambulance services have never been considered an ‘essential service,’ so there was no way to get tax support for that.”
She said the legislature a few years ago made it possible for counties and cities would have the ability to do so, but it must be approved through a voter referendum. Mayor Grace Garrett said it will be very important for the City and County to educate the public and help them understand that this is another piece of providing an essential service to the community. Voters in Shelby County passed a referendum last November, approving a new tax to fund EMS. That decision puts EMS on the same level as police and fire services. Guthrie County is working on a similar proposal.
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