(Radio Iowa) – A federal agency that regulates banks has issued civil fines against the former C-E-O of a Fairfield bank and a senior vice president who was responsible for about half of the bank’s portfolio of loans. According to a news release from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Jared Schultz made unauthorized loans to a business partner when he was a senior vice president for the First National Bank of Fairfield and loaned money to bank customers who bought cattle Schultz owned.

Schultz was also accused of inflating collateral statements and making unauthorized loans. The agency concluded that over a roughly 33 month period, the bank suffered one-point-two million dollars in losses due to Schultz’s actions. Schultz has been ordered to pay a 144-thousand dollar fine. Pat Hurley, the bank’s former president and C-E-O, has been ordered to pay a 16-thousand dollar fine for failing to ensure Schultz was engaged in safe and sound banking practices and avoiding conflicts of interest.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Democrats are calling on Republicans in the legislature to approve the second plan to establish new boundaries for congressional districts as well as districts for Iowa House and Senate seats. The redistricting plan was produced by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency and state law does not allow lawmakers to amend this second plan. Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn of Ames is also a member of the Iowa House.

“It’s vitally important that we keep our current process free of political interference, to ensure that all Iowans have a voice,” Wilburn says. “Iowans deserve fair redistricting…and, most importantly, without any added amendments.” If the Republican-led legislature rejects Plan two for redistricting in a special session next Thursday, lawmakers would be able to amend the third plan produced by the Legislative Services Agency. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says the agency addressed the concerns Republicans raised about the first plan and Plan two meets legal and constitutional requirements.

“Senate Democrats will vote for it and legislative Republicans should join us in voting for fair, non-partisan maps,” Wahls says. “…Approving this fair, non-partisan redistricting plan is in the best interest of both parties and, more importantly, it will be the best outcome for all Iowans.” House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights is calling on Republican lawmakers to ensure redistricting is the only subject legislators vote on next Thursday. Groups opposed to vaccine mandates are asking Republicans to pass a state law forbidding those kind of requirements and Konfrst says there are rumors a bill on the topic may be introduced next Thursday.

“That’s why we’re trying to make it as clear as possible that we believe Republican leadership should keep their word from the first session and ensure that all we do is focus on redistricting,” Konfrst says. “January’s not too far away. There’s plenty of time to talk about issues the legislature should or should not consider.” The 2022 Iowa legislative session is scheduled to start on January 10th. Democrats held an online news conference Thursday afternoon.

Republican legislative leaders issued written statements, thanking the Legislative Services Agency for the quick turn around on a second plan and saying they’re reviewing the maps to see if the districts are fair.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Transportation has been putting up new signs at intersections and interchanges on state highways to try and prevent more people from going the wrong way. D-O-T traffic safety engineer, Willey Sorenson, says it started with a study along Highway 30 near Ames around 10 years ago. It then expanded with the gathering of lots of information.

“So we kind of have started from nothing and grew a statewide database. And we ranked all 467 interchanges that we have in Iowa,” Sorenson says. They started with an intersection ranking guide from the University of Auburn that used crashes, volume of traffic, proximity to liquor stores, and the type of interchange. He says they added 9-1-1 wrong-way calls during the day that didn’t involve a crash.

“If you can measure the people who are going the wrong way during the daytime — it will help us find the hot spots of where they are going during the nighttime,” he explains. Sorenson also included G-P-S navigation in his data — as some drivers follow them to the word.

“I’ve actually documented a couple of locations where it will say ‘turn right in on thousand feet.’ Well, some drivers don’t necessarily know if that ramp is at 500 feet — they may turn down that ramp the wrong way. So, there’s a component of that,” according to Sorenson. He says around 90 percent of people realize they are going the wrong way and turn around within 500 to one thousand feet of making the mistake.

“We put out 62 cameras that actually have the ability to kind of detect a wrong-way driver and then record it and then send us an alert that documents it….so it has helped us to come up with some better numbers. And to see if the treatments that we did do work — because if they didn’t work — we need to do something else,” Sorenson says. He says the signs go along with pavement markings that are designed to make it very clear you are going the wrong way.

He says the signs are the same ones they’ve used in the past — but they are larger, more strategically placed, and aimed to catch a driver’s attention. The intersections on Highway 30 where you cross two lanes to get to the lanes on the other side going the opposite direction were some of the problem areas. Sorenson says these “grade level” crossings on other sections of highway also got new signage.

“The Iowa 60 corridor way up in northwest Iowa to Sioux City, the diagonal is one corridor, and then Highway 30 is in that grade, and Highway 163 on the east side of Des Moines, we did some signage enhancement there,” he says. Sorenson says they will go beyond signs if they find wrong-way drivers are still an issue. In one Highway 30 intersection, they put in an acceleration lane.

“We did all kinds of signage, but there were still people going the wrong way, so we kind of changed that environment, we built this acceleration lane.” Sorenson says. “We did that last year and I off the top of my head I think we have not had a wrong-way driver on that one since that. We were averaging one a month or every two months — I think that worked.” Sorenson says they will be around 50 percent complete getting the new wrong way markings and signs in by Thanksgiving.

(Harrison County,  Iowa) – In update to our earlier report on the death of a student with the Tri-Center School District, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, said 17-year-old Seth Pauley, of Persia, died at the scene of a single-vehicle accident that occurred at around 8-a.m., Wednesday, southeast of Persia.

Authorities say the teen was driving a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad-Cab pickup westbound on 315th Street near Winston Avenue, when the vehicle went out of control as it was traveling downhill toward the T-intersection with Winston Avenue. The pickup began swerving back and forth, leaving visible tire marks within the gravel on the roadway. The vehicle eventually rolled over and entered into the south ditch off of 315^th Street, just west of Winton Avenue.

Seth Pauley was ejected from the pickup, which came to rest on its wheels, pinning Pauley underneath the rear axle. He was extricated from underneath the vehicle and found to be unresponsive with no pulse. Life-saving measures were taken on scene without success.

The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Shelby County Rescue, Persia Rescue, Medivac, Minden Rescue, LifeNet Helicopter and Harrison County Medical Examiner.