The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DUNKERTON,Iowa (AP) — A former police chief of a small town in eastern Iowa, has pleaded guilty to charges that she collected pay for hours she didn’t work. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Katherine Krieger entered the pleas Monday to theft and felonious misconduct in office. She was chief in Dunkerton, a town of about 830 residents around 100 miles northeast of Des Moines. Prosecutors say Krieger collected pay for hours in Dunkerton when she was working another law enforcement job and for training and meetings she never attended last spring. Court records say she received $3,000 in unearned pay.

Audubon County Attorney Sarah Jennings reports Judge Jeffrey Larson, Tuesday, sentenced 33-year old Jacky Ray Walters, of Brayton, to an indeterminate prison term not to exceed seven years. Last July, Walters was found to be in possession of methamphetamine. He was originally charged with intent to deliver. In a separate incident, he assaulted a female, which was his second domestic assault conviction. Jennings said Walters made inappropriate contact with a witness related to those cases attempting to influence testimony, which gave rise to the witness tampering conviction.

Jacky Walters

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Walters pleaded guilty to a Class-D Felony charge of Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp; Domestic Abuse Assault, Second Offense (an Aggravated Misdemeanor); and Witness Tampering (also an Aggravated Misdemeanor). In exchange for Walters’ guilty pleas, Jennings said the State agreed to drop the habitual offender enhancement. The court immediately issued an order remanding Walters to the custody of the Department of Corrections.

Jennings said her Office wants to thank the Sheriff’s Department and others, for their critical contributions in the case.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A May 4 sentencing is scheduled for an Iowa City man who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking two teenage girls. The Gazette reports that Arrion West Jr. entered two guilty pleas Monday in U.S. District Court. West admitted in a plea agreement that he recruited a 15-year-old and arranged for her to have sex with men in October and November last year. And he admitted recruiting a 17-year-old through a dating app in January 2018 and advertising her as an escort on various websites. West also admitted to renting rooms for the sex acts at various Iowa City motels.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowans are encouraged to skip the elevator today (Wednesday) and opt for the stairwell instead as part of National Take The Stairs Day. Heather Johnson, a development manager at the American Lung Association of Iowa, says dozens of students and others at the Des Moines Area Community College fitness center in Ankeny will be taking the stairs — all day long. “They are going to have students, faculty and community members on their four stair step machines throughout the entire day from 5 AM until the facility closes at 10 PM,” Johnson says. “They are going to be recording the amount of steps.”

Stair climbing requires eight to 11 calories of energy per minute, so the daylong effort is expected to burn more than 40-thousand calories combined. “The point of National Take The Stairs Day is to promote health and fitness,” Johnson says. “We know that stair climbing burns two to three times more calories than any other exercise and it’s really great for your heart and your lungs.” Johnson says making little changes in our daily lives can help to make a big difference in our health. This day promoting exercise comes at the ideal time, when Iowans are in the midst of winter. “Being active is more difficult because it’s hard to go outside,” Johnson says. “Taking the stairs on the way to your office every day or when you go to the mall, places where you could avoid it, taking the stairs instead is a great way to stay healthy day-to-day in your everyday activities, and that’s really what Take The Stairs Day is all about.”

Most of our smartphones have an app that counts steps or stairs, or an app can typically be downloaded for free.

On the web at: https://www.lung.org/about-us/local-associations/iowa.html

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County, Tuesday night, arrested a Red Oak man on a valid Page County warrant for Theft in 2nd Degree. 29-year old Corey James Dolph was taken into custody at around 9:20-p.m., and transported to the Montgomery County Jail. His cash-only bond was set at $5,000.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Ankeny leaders are taking steps to form the city’s first human rights commission and bring the Des Moines suburb into compliance with state law. The Des Moines Register reports that City Council members on Monday discussed a draft ordinance for a commission that would include five volunteer members. Iowa requires cities with more than 29,000 people to have such a human rights agency. Ankeny’s population passed that mark more than 15 years ago and now stands at around 65,000. City Administrator David Jones said city officials learned of the oversight only a few months ago.

FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — The frenetic chase for momentum in Iowa is underway among Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination. Candidates such as Pete Buttigieg point to large crowds showing up for his campaign events in small towns. Others note late spikes in fundraising as proof they are gathering enthusiasm less than a month before the leadoff nominating contest. Energy could allow one of a cluster at the top in Iowa to break away in the final month or help another work his or her way into the pack. Just as easily, the look of momentum can paint a target on a candidate’s back and send him or her limping out of Iowa next month.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republican legislative leaders say they aren’t planning to hold oversight committee meetings about problems at an Iowa care center for people with intellectual disabilities. Incoming House Speaker Pat Grassley says lawmakers are waiting to hear results of federal and state investigations into Glenwood Resource Center issues before acting. Grassley says House leaders were told last year by Iowa human services officials there was no need for an investigation. The federal inquiry announced in November appears focused on whether the state violated federal rights of residents through unnecessary experiments. Lawmakers and Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke about the issue Tuesday during the AP’s annual legislative forum.

MIDDLE AMANA, Iowa (AP) — A private utility providing water to 850 customers in east-central Iowa’s Amana Colonies has stopped using three wells because tests show a nitrate level above federal safety standards. The Amana Society Service Co. instead is using water from three other wells that have tested as safe. The Gazette reports that the company has warned customers to avoid giving tap water to infants or nursing mothers. Nitrate in drinking water has been linked to blue-baby syndrome. Officials don’t know why the nitrate levels rose in late fall. Spring usually is the season for elevated nitrate as melting snow washes fertilizer off farm fields.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republican legislative leaders say they aren’t planning to hold oversight committee meetings about problems at an Iowa care center for people with intellectual disabilities. Incoming House Speaker Pat Grassley says lawmakers are waiting to hear results of federal and state investigations into Glenwood Resource Center issues before acting.

Grassley says House leaders were told last year by Iowa human services officials there was no need for an investigation. The federal inquiry announced in November appears focused on whether the state violated federal rights of residents through unnecessary experiments. Lawmakers and Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke about the issue Tuesday during the AP’s annual legislative forum.

Officials with the Cass County Health System today (Tuesday) announced the arrival of the first baby of 2020. Lenoxx Lee arrived January 3, 2020. The CCHS Obstetrics team presented the family with a 2020 embroidered baby blanket and a year’s supply of diapers.

Pictured are CCHS nurses Judi Petersen and Tabetha Smith, mom Sierra holding Lenoxx, and grandma Amy holding big brother Monixx.

Thurman, Iowa – William and Sara Blackburn, from Long Grove, Ill., donated 151 acres in northwest Fremont County to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that will be used to create the Blackburn Wildlife Management Area and Blackburn Unit of Waubonsie State Park. The donation is valued at more than $515,000. Blackburn traces his family history to southwest Iowa and was looking to buy property in the area when this parcel became available. After acquisition in 2003, he began working to turn his vision for the property into reality.

blackburn-property-stone-benches (IA DNR photo)

The family began hauling away junk and old machinery, and removed about 200 cedar trees and acres of tree of heaven and honeysuckle that were invading the native timber. They researched what prairie plants would likely have been on the area during settlement and searched for those seeds to include as part of the mix used for a 35-acre prairie restoration. They improved the oak timber, installed roads, trails and erosion control, and developed an open-air picnic shelter and performance pavilion, with adjoining boardwalk leading to a viewing platform. The family’s investment totaled more than $300,000.

In more recent years, the Blackburn property has become a popular nature preserve for the family and community, and site for weddings, graduation parties, and a biennial music festival, a charity affair that has helped serve tornado victims, a local library and, last fall, flood victims of Fremont County. It was Blackburn’s wish that everyone could enjoy this property in the Loess Hills that has meant so much to generations of his family. Whether visitors come in October when the leaves are a shock of reds, oranges and yellows, or in June when the prairie is alight with wild flowers and alive with bees and butterflies, Blackburn said his goal was to spark visitors’ interest in the Hills.

“I want them to say ‘Wow! I had no idea this natural beauty was right here in my back yard! We have to come back!’ I want folks to realize this is something rare enough, enchanting enough to take care of, not just for their own use, but for their children, their children’s children, and all who come after them,” he said. The 72-acre parcel containing the shelter-pavilion, stone viewing benches, and other facilities—roughly the southwest half of the donated grounds– will become the Blackburn Unit of Waubonsie State Park. “It’s a natural gem that’s been well managed,” said Matt Moles, park manager at Waubonsie State Park who will manage the park portion of the donation. “It’s definitely a place that people will enjoy.”

Moles said the plan is continue to maintain the high-quality natural landscape, hiking trails and open-air shelter. A local fundraising effort and assistance from Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) allowed the park to receive a new pit latrine prior to ownership being transferred. The area does not currently have water or campsites. “Mr. Blackburn has held charity music festivals here and we are interested in continuing that tradition,” Moles said. The 79-acre undeveloped parcel to the northeast will become the Blackburn Wildlife Management Area and managed by the Nishnabotna Wildlife Unit.

“This is a really nice piece of Loess Hills timber with high quality prairie reconstruction on the edges,” said Matt Dollison, wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR who will be managing the new wildlife area. “The Blackburns did a great job of using a quality mix of native local ecotype plants to reestablish the prairie, and fire to manage it. They’ve also been vigilant in keeping unwanted invasive species off the property.” The impact on existing and future natural resources is much greater than the value of the donation. The location is important as the Blackburn parcel links a newly acquired 200-acre Wiedel tract to its north and west with the 350-acre Green Hollow Wildlife Area. This resulting 700-acre wildlife area and park abound with turkey, deer, and a wide variety of birds, along with other wildlife.

More than a dozen threatened or endangered species have been have documented on the two areas, including the regal fritillary butterfly, the western worm snake, the plains pocket mouse, the great plains skink – a lizard found in few places in southwest Iowa, including Waubonsie State Park, plains spadefoot toad, six-lined racerunner and more. “That’s a big deal,” Moles said. “This is some of the best, most cared for prairie that I’ve ever seen. And the views from the prairie ridges are phenomenal. It has some of the best oak woodland in the area that would be a great place for viewing wildlife.” The addition of the Blackburn donation will significantly increase the footprint and permanently protect the habitat necessary for these species, and more, to survive.

“I firmly believe that the Loess Hills is a rare gem, a jewel, that we must protect,” Blackburn said. A land donation to the Iowa DNR of this size does not happen often. The most recent comparison occurred in 2013 when the Larson brothers donated nearly 150 acres in Humboldt County. The INHF played an important role in helping this donation happen. “For years we’ve helped Bill explore ways that this special place could be permanently protected, so it is exciting to see this happen,” said INHF Vice President Anita O’Gara. “We thank the DNR, the Blackburns and local volunteers for their diligence and patience in bringing together the ideas and resources that have protected this land for all to experience and appreciate. We were continually inspired by the Blackburns’ deep commitment to this vision for the land and the future.”

The land donation was completed in early December.