(Radio Iowa) – A special investigation by the state auditor’s office of accounts from the City of Delhi in northeast Iowa has found thousands of dollars worth of questionable and improper spending. State Auditor Rob Sand says it amounts to over 80-thousand dollars. “For the city of Delhi, that’s about $400 per household. This was largely money under the control of Lori Tucker, the former city clerk there,” Sand said. “Two-thirds of the improper disbursements were in the form of excess wages, unused vacation, longevity payments and (for) a Health…Savings Account.”

The investigation found a former maintenance worker got about 13-thousand dollars in excess payments for health benefits as well. Sand says auditors found receipts for about 475 dollars worth of purchases with Delhi’s credit card for improper expenses, like food and clothing.  “Another $6500 in credit card purchases could not be supported at all,” Sand says. “This is another example of why it is so important for government entities to have policies in place and procedures in place that allow for and encourage proper oversight of your tax dollars. It’s also important that then they follow these policies and procedures to try to help minimize the risk of things like this happening.”

The special investigation of Delhi’s finances during Tucker’s tenure as city clerk has been forwarded to law enforcement. Tucker resigned as Delhi’s city clerk in January of 2022. Sand says one day the following month, Tucker was back in city hall. “We’re unable to determine what exactly was going on…There were conversations and things happening inside the city clerk’s office, but no camera in that location specifically,” Sand said. “We do know that Mrs. Tucker used the City of Delhi computer to update files for the city 48 times and we also know that when she departed, the computer had been encrypted with software that would wipe all the data from it if someone tried to access the computer.”

The state auditor says as of today (Tuesday), it’s his understanding that Lori Tucker is still the city clerk in Ryan and Sand says his office is nearly done with its investigation of the city finances in Ryan.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, today (Tuesday), released a report on arrests conducted during the month of July. Beginning with the most recent arrests:

7/30/2024: Lane Michael Long, Age 21, Harlan, IA. Long was arrested after a traffic stop on 6th St. Long was
transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with OWI- 1st offense, Driving under Suspension, and
Failure to Provide Financial Liability.

7/27/2024: Randy Block, Age 59, Denison, IA. Block was arrested following a traffic stop on HWY 59. Block was
transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Driving while Suspended, Failure to Provide Proof
of Financial Liability, and Fraudulent use of Registration; Tegan Ryan Steinkuehler, Age 18, Harlan, IA. Steinkuehler was arrested following a call for service. Steinkuehler was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Public Intoxication and Going Armed with Intent.

7/25/2024: Cody Alan Lile, Age 42, Harlan, IA. Lile was arrested following a traffic stop on 7th St. Lile was transported
to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance- Marijuana 3rd/Subsequent Offense, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Prohibited Acts, and Improper Rear Lamps.

7/21/2024: Jeremy Loyd Jolley, Age 42, Harlan, IA. Jolley was arrested after a call for service. Jolley was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Domestic Abuse Assault- 3rd Subsequent Offense

7/14/2024: Michael John Gantt, Age 54, Delaware, OH. Gantt was arrested after a traffic stop on HWY 59. Gantt was
transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance- Marijuana/2nd offense, Possession of a Controlled Substance- Methamphetamine 2nd offense, Prohibited Acts, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Fail to Illuminate rear plate, Failure to affix Drug Tax Stamp, and Speeding.

7/13/2024: Nicholas Kane Taylor, Age 21, Monticello, AR. Taylor was arrested after a call for service. Taylor was
transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Public Intoxication.

7/12/2024: Brian Daniel Green, Age 31, Harlan, IA. Green was arrested after a traffic stop on Cyclone Ave. Green was
transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with OWI- 1st offense, Operating Vehicle with Expired License, Operating Non- Registered Vehicle, and Use of Electronic Communication Device.

7/10/2024: Emma Jo Rossell, Age 20, Harlan, IA. Rossell was arrested after a call for service. Rossell was transported
to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Domestic Abuse Assault 1st offense, and Assault – Simple; Brent Allan Sorensen, Age 54, Harlan, IA. Sorensen was arrested after a call for service. Sorensen was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

7/07/2024: Breanna Mae Loran Laugen, Age 28, Harlan, IA. Laugen was arrested after a traffic stop on Veterans Blvd. Laugen was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with OWI 1st Offense.

7/06/2024: Benjamin Louis Kroger, Age 31, Harlan, IA. Kroger was arrested after a traffic stop on Chatburn Ave. Kroger was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with OWI 2nd Offense.

7/03/2024: Guillermo Dominic Hernandez, Age 25, Harlan, IA. Hernandez was arrested after a traffic stop on Willow St. Hernandez was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Interference with Official Acts and Driving while License Suspended; Jeremy Lynn Petersen, Age 43, Elk Horn, IA. Petersen was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant and transported to the Shelby County Jail; Kristopher Eugene Dunlap, Age 28, Council Bluffs. IA. Dunlap was arrested after a traffic stop on HWY 59. Dunlap was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Driving while Barred.

7/02/2024: Joseph Daniel Scybert, Age 45, Harlan, IA. Scybert was arrested after a call for service. Scybert was
transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with False Imprisonment and Domestic Abuse 1st
Offense.

Note: Criminal charges are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless
proven guilty in a court of law.

(Radio Iowa) – Waterloo residents are gathering signatures to put a $165-million bond question on the ballot to consolidate the West and East high schools at what’s now Central Middle School. Middle schoolers would move to the current West and East high buildings.

Shelly Smith is leading the petition effort and opposes the plan. The school board approved using state funds so residents won’t see a tax increase, but even so, Smith says the project’s price is too high.

“We’ve been using that allocation to make property repairs and maintenance repairs to our existing buildings,” Smith says. “So while it’s not costing us more, it is taking away resources that we’ve already got planned and budgeted.”

Board members supporting the plan says updates are needed and high schoolers will have easier access to the Career Center that’s located at Central Middle School.

Smith says the massive project won’t address the challenges the district is struggling with.

“How is this helping our student achievements, our student proficiency, because our students are not proficient with reading and writing,” Smith says. “How is it helping with attendance and prevent dropouts and how is it helping with graduation rates? How do we improve the education our students are receiving? A building won’t do that.”

Organizers have until August 12th to gather about 24-hundred signatures to either have an election or the school board can withdraw the approved plan.

(Meghan McKinney, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) -A northwest Iowa hospital will close in September. O’Brien County Economic Development director Kianna Johnson says the closure of MercyOne Medical Center in Primghar is devastating news.  “You hate to lose a business like that. They employ 45 people between the clinics and the hospital and those are jobs we don’t want to lose,” Johnson says. “…We don’t want to lose those services for the people of O’Brien County.”

A MercyOne clinic will remain open in Primghar, but MercyOne clinics in nearby Sutherland and Paulina will be closed. Johnson says community leaders in the county met last week. “It was a really good meeting to work through what we know and how we can move forward,” Johnson says. “We need to talk about the building in Primghar and those services, to try and keep them in the community.” Johnson says she’s reached out to the South Dakota based system that operates facilities in northwest Iowa in hopes Sanford Health might take over the hospital in Primghar.

Sanford operates over 380 facilities in seven states. Primghar has had a hospital since 1914. In 2000, Mercy Hospital in Sioux City acquired the Primghar hospital and it was rebranded as a MercyOne facility in early 2019. The last hospital to close in Iowa was in Keokuk — in October of 2022. A Michigan-based company bought the hospital in 2023 and plans to open it later this year as a rural emergency hospital. Patients will be stabilized at the facility in Keokuk, then transferred elsewhere.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna reports the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors may be in attendance at a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Wednesday evening. The meeting takes place 5:30-p.m., Aug. 7th, at the Engineer’s Office (406 W. 4th St.), in Red Oak.

Ozuna says there is a possibility of a quorum, but no official county business will be acted upon by the Board of Supervisors, during that time.

(Winterset, Iowa) – The Winterset Police Department reports the body of a local man missing since Jan. 18th, 2024, was discovered inside of a vehicle that was submerged in a Howard County, Arkansas lake, August 4th. Authorities say with the assistance of a dive team, a Ford Taurus with Iowa license plates was recovered from Gillham Lake,  a 1,370-acre reservoir, located in Howard and Polk Counties, in Arkansas. Inside the vehicle, was the body of 25-year-old Joshua Graham-Caskey, from Winterset.

Graham-Caskey went missing following a 9-1-1 call he placed to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center. He and his vehicle were last seen on video at a gas station in Mena, Arkansas, on January 19th, 2024. The car was found about 30-minutes south of Mena. The Howard County, AR Sheriff’s Department said there was no evidence of foul play.