(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests:

On Thursday (Aug. 8th), 37-year-old Clayton Shane Geick, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Sarpy County, NE, Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond at the Mills County Jail was set at $20,000.

There were two arrests on Aug. 6th, in Mills County:

Tarus Mae Delores Hayes, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Mills County Jail, for Public Intoxication. Her bond was set at $300; and, 48-year-old Lisa Marie Elliott, of Malvern, was arrested for Harassment in the 1st Degree, and Public Intoxication.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Deputy Auditor Sheri Karns, today (Monday), said three additional candidates have filed their nomination papers in advance of the November 5th General Election. As previously mentioned, Linda L. Pelzer filed last month for one of three seats on the Cass County Hospital Board Trustees.  Since then, Leanne Pellett has also filed. Both currently serve on the Board. Candidates running for that Board may file their papers any time.

Delmar South has filed nomination papers to serve as Union Township Trustee (1 seat open), and Marcy J. Dorsey has filed to run for one of four seats on the Cass County Agricultural Extension Council. Dorsey currently serves on the Council on as a Secretary.

As a reminder:   the filing period for candidates for Non-party political organization (NPPO) and Non-Affiliated persons for the upcoming General Election to be held November 5, 2024, are as follows:

• Non-Party candidates and Township Trustees- August 5^th-August 28th
• Soil & Water Commissioners and Agricultural Extension-August 5^th – August 28th
• Hospital Board of Trustees- Anytime with a deadline of Wednesday August 28^th.

County positions open are:

1. Board Of Supervisors District 1, District 4 & District 5
2. County Auditor
3. County Sheriff
4. Edna Township Trustee
5. Union Township Trustee
6. Soil & Water Commissioners (3)
7. Hospital Board of Trustees (3)
8. Ag-Extension (4)

For more information and for the number of signatures required for each office, please contact the Auditor’s office at 712-243-4570

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Connections Area Agency on Aging and USAging in Washington, D.C. have been awarded the 2024 Immunization Neighborhood Champion Award by the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit (NAIIS) for their work through the Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC). The NAIIS Immunization Excellence Awards recognize the extraordinary contributions of individuals and organizations towards improved vaccination rates within their communities during the past year.

Connections Area Agency on Aging is a founding member of the ADVC, which works with Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and other community-based organizations (CBOs) nationwide with a network of over 1,400 partner organizations to increase the number of older adults and people with disabilities who receive COVID-19 and Influenza (flu) vaccines.

The ADVC is led by USAging, which represents and supports the national network of AAAs and advocates for the Title VI Native American Aging Programs that help older adults and people with disabilities live with optimal health, well-being, independence and dignity in their homes and communities.

Since May 2023, Connections Area Agency on Aging and other ADVC partners have administered more than 378,000 COVID-19 and flu vaccines. Approximately 11 percent were given to people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine for the first time. Additionally, ADVC partners have administered 112,000 RSV, shingles, pneumococcal and other vaccines. They also provided 441,000 supportive services such as transportation to vaccine clinics, assistance with appointments and information and referral to aging and disability resources.

In Iowa, through a collaboration with local public health organizations, Hy-Vee stores, Connections Area Agency on Aging, and Area Agencies on Aging statewide, we administered a total of 1,931 flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. Additionally, in 2023, the ADVC partnership facilitated the administration of 1,772 other vaccines, including those for pneumococcal disease, shingles, RSV, and more. Connections Area Agency on Aging’s CEO Kelly Butts-Elston says “We are proud to be a grantee for this important initiative. It’s been an honor and privilege to participate in a program that has done so much for the health and well being of older Iowans.”

USAging CEO Sandy Markwood says “It’s an incredible honor for USAging’s ADVC to be recognized with this award by the NAIIS. It’s a testament to the power of this collaborative and the critical role that AAAs, CILs and CBOs play in promoting life-saving vaccinations which are a centerpiece of health and healthy aging for all of us.”

The ADVC also works with more than 20 national partners with expertise in areas such as autism, LBGTQ+ issues and ethnically diverse older adults to best serve people with different or unique needs. USAging’s ADVC is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through USAging as part of a financial assistance award to USAging totaling $74,999,835 with 100-percent funding by ACL/HHS.

(Radio Iowa) – Ryan Melton, the Democrat running in Iowa’s fourth congressional district, says Republicans like his opponent, Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull, it’s ridiculous to identify immigration as the top concern of voters. “The amount of scapegoating and vilification of our immigrant friends here in Iowa is absolutely immoral and shameful,” Melton says. Melton says there is no invasion and immigrants are giving new life to places like Hawarden, Storm Lake, Marshalltown, Denison and Carroll. “There are parents that are willing to walk thousands of miles out of war torn countries and drug riddled countries in order to give their kids a better life and then people like Randy Feenstra try to create false narrative about them,” Melton says. “We should want people who are willing to put their lives on the line to give their kids a better life.”

Melton says the hollowing out of rural Iowa is the issue that comes up over and over as he speaks with voters in the 36 counties that make up the fourth congressional district. He says low paying jobs, attacks on public education and a lack of access to health care and child care are the root causes. “These stressors stacking on top of each other, one after another for a young person deciding whether to stay here or whether to leave and eventually the list gets burdensome enough that the list makes the decision for them,” Melton says. “If you can’t find child care in your state, you can’t build your family here.”

Melton made his comments during an appearance on The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Feenstra declined the Register’s invitation to speak at the same spot on the fairgrounds. Melton ran against Feenstra in 2022 and lost by 37 percent in a district with a sizable voter registration edge for Republicans.

(Radio Iowa) – Christina Bohannan of Iowa City, the Democrat running in Iowa’s first congressional district, says immigration is something people from all parties care about it. “We hear this a lot,” Bohannan said this weekend. “People want to secure the border and we should secure the border.” Bohannan, who’s running a second time against Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Davenport. said Miller-Meeks and other Republicans played politics with the issue this year by rejecting a bipartisan border security that was backed by the union that represents Border Security agents.

“The strictest border security bill that our country has ever seen,” Bohannan said. “…Rather than do anything about it, Representative Miller-Meeks and U.S. House Republicans wanted to keep playing politics with it, they wanted to keep using it as a campaign issue. If that is not the best example of putting party over country, I don’t know what is.” Bohannan also is criticizing Miller-Meeks for voting against the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill three years ago.

First district congressional candidate Christina Bohannan speaking on August 10, 2024. (RI photo)

“An infrastructure bill that’s fixing our roads, bridges, dams, locks here in southeast Iowa and creating hundreds of great paying jobs in the process. How can you vote against fixing the damned roads?” Bohannan asks. “…Senator Chuck Grassley helped negotiate that infrastructure bill and voted for it because he knew how great is was going to be for Iowa.” Grassley was the only Republican in Iowa’s congressional delegation to vote for it.

Bohannan made her comments during a speech on the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Miller-Meeks declined the paper’s invitation to speak at the venue.

WAUKEE, Iowa [KCCI] – Waukee police have identified the person who was found dead after being pulled from a pond last week. Police responded around 3:30 p.m. Aug. 8 to a report of a drowning in the 2500 block of Grand Prairie Parkway.

According to the Waukee Fire Department, two boys were fishing on the pond and lost their pole. When a man who had been working in the area went into the water to retrieve the pole, he started to struggle and the boys called 911.

The man, now identified as Keith Bychinski, 31, of Earlham, was pulled from the water hours later.