(Radio Iowa) – An investigation by the State Auditor’s Office has found the former city clerk in Promise City used the small town’s money to pay almost 10-thousand dollars worth of her own utility bills and to make 17-thousand dollars worth of improper purchases at Walmart. Promise City is in south central Iowa and, according to the 2020 Census, it has 88 residents. The special investigation covered years that Debra Eccleston was the city clerk.

The report identifies more than 59-thousand dollars in improper and unsupported spending. Auditors concluded Eccleston’s approved salary during the period was about 13-thousand dollars, but cancelled checks indicate she was paid about twice that. According to the investigation by the state auditor’s office. Eccelston used city money to buy books and food at Walmart. Promise City doesn’t have a library, but the report notes Eccelston ran a coffee shop and book store in Centerville. Auditors reviewed Alliant Energy records and determined Eccelston used Promise City money to pay utility bills for her Centerville business and her own residence.

Promise City officials asked for the investigation after Eccelston resigned and the newly-hired city clerk raised concerns after reviewing cancelled checks and accounting records.

(Radio Iowa) – A trial date has been set for the two Fairfield teens accused in last month’s murder of Fairfield High School Spanish teacher Nohema Graber. A pre -trial date of March 21st has been set with actual trial scheduled for April 19th for Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale. Last week, Miller and Goodale attorneys appeared in court to argue for a reduction of their $1 million bonds to $100,000. With the state asking if the bond can remain at $1 million or be raised to $2 million.

Prosecutors say the families are not capable of monitoring the teens as the crime was committed while the 16-year-olds were living at home. Judge Joel Yates has not yet made his decision on the bond review hearing but has stated we should get his decision sometime within the week.

(Jamaica, Iowa) – The first day of December, Wednesday, included some excitement in Guthrie County. The Sheriff’s Office reports Deputy Kent Gries was on patrol on Highway 141 south of Jamaica, at around 3-p.m., when he saw a 1995 Kawasaki ZX750-L motorcycle traveling east on the highway at 70-mph in a 55-mph zone. When the Deputy turned his vehicle around and began to initiate a traffic stop, the motorcycle was already nearly out of sight, continuing to travel eastbound toward Dallas County.

With the Deputy in pursuit, lights and siren activated, the operator of the cycle refused to yield. The machine entered Dawson (In Dallas County) and proceeded eastbound on the Racoon River Bicycle Trail, at a high rate of speed. With the Deputy still in pursuit, the cycle continued traveling at a high rate of speed for about two-miles. It then turned south on F Avenue for about one-half mile, and then west onto Highway 141. The chase eventually re-entered Dawson and then northbound out of town on D Avenue, with speeds at times at 120-mph. The cycle crossed into Greene County on V Avenue. It finally stopped at V Avenue and 305th Street, southwest of Rippey.

Altogether, the chase went on for about 15-miles and around 10-minutes. The operator of the cycle, 43-year-old Curtis Alan Moorhead, of Jamaica, was taken into custody for Eluding. Authorities learned through a speedometer app on his phone, that the highest speed recorded was 147-mph. Moorhead admitted to traveling that fast.

In addition to the Eluding – speed 25 mph (or more) over the limit, Moorhead had three licenses suspensions in effect, plus a suspension for non-payment of child support. He had his initial appearance with the Magistrate this (Thursday) morning, where his cash or surety bond was set at $2,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Attorney General’s office recently announced the end of a project using federal money to clear a major backlog of untested sexual assault kits. The director of the A-G’s Crime Victims Assistance Division, Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, says the work will continue to process all sexual assault kits. “Kits before April of 2015 were eligible for testing, not any that were developed afterward. So, we want to go and find out where those kits are,” she says. Murphy says they now have more resources to look at the kits that are out there. “The legislature did help us this year in allowing us to create a full sexual assault response unit,” she says.

Murphy says they have a sexual assault crimes investigator who has been working on the project and also training law enforcement and medical personnel. “We will soon have a sexual assault forensics response coordinator to join in that — to focus on the forensic side of things — the kits, the sexual assault nurse examiners, the medical facilities, and continuing the best practice of a multidisciplinary response,” according to Murphy.

Murphy says they have made great progress in addressing this issue — but still have a bigger goal. “We always say that until every victim has an advocate, until every medical facility has access to a trained sexual-assault nurse examiner when a victim presents. And if we can continue to improve the law enforcement investigation and prosecution with respect to understanding the trauma-informed work with victims — those are always our big goals,” Murphy says.

Murphy says anyone who has been sexually assault can call 24/7 to the Iowa Crime Victims Helpline at 1-800-770-1650 or text “IOWAHELP” to 20121.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Here’s a reminder from the Station Where Your Friends are: A longstanding tradition has returned to Cass County…the annual Festival of Trees is underway now through Sunday, in Atlantic.The multi-day event, sponsored by the Cass County Chapter of the American Cancer Society, takes place at the Catholic Parish Center,105 West 5th Street in Atlantic.

This year’s event features 57 trees, decorated in a variety of themes ranging from cooking to local grown produce, and cupcakes to dolls, and even a grinch themed balloon Christmas tree. Other highlights include a tree constructed of coffee and beverage cups, an upside-down tree, several memorial trees and a step ladder tree.

Along with the trees, there will be 7 holiday themed displays including a seven-foot gold lion, a display of homemade satin and sequined boxes, an 8 ft x 4 ft  x 8 ft church with stained glass windows, an ice cream and cookies display and an 80 square foot operational Christmas train and village display.

Cookies and beverages are available for you to enjoy as they walk through the displays, or sit and reconnect with friends. The event will also feature musical performances by local artists from 1 to 3 pm on Saturday and soup served to attendees on Sunday. The local BPO Does will also be hosting a Cookie Walk upstairs on Saturday from 9 am – noon.

In addition to helping spread holiday cheer, the festival serves as a fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. Admission to the festival is a free will donation, and raffle tickets are also sold for attendees to win a chance at a variety of seasonal home and gift items. A special feature for this year’s raffle is a quilt hand-made by local youth Paige Baier, in addition to watercolor paintings, Creighton basketball game tickets, seasonal wreaths, holiday wall hangings and table decor, and even a Christmas tree decorated with Hallmark collectible ornaments! A match of all raffle proceeds up to a thousand dollars will be provided by Royal Neighbors of America.

New this year, a separate raffle is being held for a vintage, life-sized mechanical Santa. This Santa, most recently housed at the now-closed Coca-Cola museum in downtown Atlantic, has graced many downtown windows as early as the 1950s. This raffle kicked off at the 2021 Coca-Cola Days celebration in Atlantic, and Santa has been traveling to storefronts around the downtown ever since. Tickets for this unique raffle can be purchased at any time prior to the drawing on December 5th- either at the Atlantic Chamber, or at Festival of Trees where he will be on display.

Trees and displays will be open to the public for viewing on the following schedule: Thursday, December 2nd from 10:00 A.M to 8:00 P.M., Friday, December 3rd from 10:00 A.M. to 6:30 P.M., Saturday, December 4th from 10:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M., and Sunday, December 5th from 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.

(Des Moines) — MidAmerican Energy officials say they are investigating the cause of a power outage affecting thousands of area residents Wednesday morning. Spokesman Geoff Greenwood, said customers in portions of six counties lost electricity at around 9 a.m.

Persons served by substations in the Red Oak, Griswold and Emerson areas, or about 6,000 customers, were affected. Power was restored in two stages, with everyone back online by around 10:00-a.m.

Greenwood said the cause of the outage had not immediately been determined.

(Radio Iowa)- This month’s updated voter registration data shows in two of Iowa’s new congressional districts, independent voters outnumber those who register as Democrats or Republicans. The new first congressional district which covers counties in southeast through central Iowa has more than 200,000 independent voters, about 195,000 Democrats and Republicans are the third voting block, with about 172,000 registered voters. Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa plans to run for reelection in the district.

Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion plans to seek reelection in the new second congressional district which sits in the northeast quadrant of the state. It has 197,000 registered independent voters as of December 1, 2021. The tally of Democrats is about 10,000 behind that and Republicans account for a little under a third of all voters in the district.

The new third district starts in central Iowa and flows down to the Missouri border. Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 17,000 in the new third district and it is the only district where independent voters are the third largest voting block. This is the district where Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, plans to seek reelection.

The new fourth district in western and northern Iowa has a large voter registration edge for Republicans and it’s where Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull is running for reelection. There are 87,000 more Republicans than Democrats and independent voters are the second largest group in the new fourth district.

National studies show up to three-quarters of voters who register as independents rarely split their ballots and routinely vote for candidates of one of the country’s two major political parties.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Dec. 2, 2021) — Officials with The Wellmark Foundation say they have provided 29 Iowa organizations with their Small Matching Assets to Community Health (MATCH) grant awards. Those organizations were notified in August of their pending awards, and had 12 weeks to secure the required matching funds. Small MATCH grant recipients were able to use a combination of in-kind donations, services, and cash in order to receive their award from The Wellmark Foundation. All the funded projects will help individuals, families and communities achieve better health through built environment initiatives that encourage physical activity or access to and consumption of nutritious foods. Mary Lawyer, The Wellmark Foundation executive director says “The projects these organizations are implementing will enhance the quality of life and the overall well-being of citizens in their communities for several generations.”

Among the organizations receiving a Small MATCH grant award, is:

• (In Ringgold County) – Diagonal Community Development Corporation, $25,000 for the Diagonal Walkable Community Initiative.
• (In Mills County) – The Glenwood Rams Parent Teacher Association, $25,000, for the NE Elementary Inclusive Playground Project.

To learn more about these and the other projects, visit Wellmark.com/Foundation. Since its inception in 1991, The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $39 million in grant funding to communities across Iowa and South Dakota.