The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office says a man from Adams County was arrested Sunday morning. Brian Fitzgerald, of Prescott,was arrested in the 1200 block of Tennessee Ave., on a charge of OWI/1st offense. He was being held at the Taylor County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

The National Weather Service in Johnston says moderate snow is forecast to develop over portions of west-central to northern Iowa during the afternoon hours Tuesday and continue into early Wednesday morning. The greatest snowfall rates are likely to occur Tuesday evening. A rain/snow line is likely to set up from Waterloo to Des Moines to southwest portions of Iowa.

click to enlarge the graphic

Anything northwest of that line is likely to receive the accumulating snow. In addition to the snow, north winds of 25 to 35 mph are likely by Tuesday night and look to persist throughout the day Wednesday resulting in blowing snow and visibility restrictions. Hazardous travel is anticipated due to snow covered and slick roads along with the visibility restrictions.

If traveling Tuesday into Wednesday over portions of western and northern Iowa into Minnesota, please consider rescheduling.

The Cass County Democratic Party has arranged distribution sites for donated clothing and bed linens to those in need throughout the county. The articles were collected during their Winter Clothing Drive. The following are the locations, dates and time for the distribution:

• Wiota Fire Station: December 8 from 2-3 PM.
• Atlantic Elks Club: December 8 from 4 to 6 PM
• Anita City Hall: December 14 from 10-11:30 AM.
• St. Patrick’s Church in Massena: December 14 from 1-2:30 PM.
• Lewis Community Building: December 15 from 1-3 PM.
• Griswold Community Building: December 15 from 3:30-5 PM.
• Cumberland United Methodist Church: December 18 from 4-5 PM.

Party Chair Sherry Toelle says “Once again, Cass County has responded overwhelmingly to the call for donations and I thank everyone who donated in any way, whether it be by allowing us to put a drop-off box at their business or by making donations to the drive. It demonstrates a true community spirit. We will make a real effort to distribute the clothing and bed linens equally throughout the county. Times for the distribution are approximate since we don’t know the exact need in each community and we may have to take more or less time in one community than we thought. And, of course, winter weather may impact our deliveries.”

Although the Democratic Party is sponsoring the event, Toelle assured that it is a non-partisan event. “This is part of our mission–to give those who need it a hand up. Everyone needs help now and again. That is why we sponsor so many different drives each year. We are trying to help meet the needs of our community.”

One person was killed and two others, including a juvenile, were injured during a collision Saturday morning in Adams County. The Iowa State Patrol says a 2010 Freightliner semi driven by 26-year old Karmen Grabill, of Hamlin, was traveling north on Ginkgo Avenue at around 10:47-a.m., and a 2012 Chevy Traverse driven by 54-year old Wannita Olson, of Corning, was traveling west on Highway 34.

When Grabill failed to yield at the intersection stop/yield sign, the semi she was driving was struck by the SUV. Following the collision, the semi jackknifed and came to rest in the west ditch. The SUV came to rest north of the intersection on Gingko Avenue.

Grabill died at the scene. Olson and her 5-year old passenger, were injured. Olson was transported by Adams County Rescue to CHI Hospital in Corning. The juvenile was transported by LifeNet helicopter to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines.

Iowa 3rd District Democrat Congresswoman Cindy Axne, Saturday afternoon, addressed a handful of persons in the Atlantic High School Media Center, where she held her “Connect with your Congresswoman” event, one of 16 she’s holding, and are designed to “Protect our Democracy.” Axne spoke about Congress working on Health Care initiatives for Iowans and Americans across the country. Some of her own bills including working on physician shortages within our communities, or segments of the ACA (Affordable Care Act) that are preventing small communities from getting access to the health care they need and addressing those, by closing a loophole that requires a physician to be on-site for out patient therapeutic care that doesn’t require a physician. Axne says another physician should be able to provide that service.

Congresswoman Cindy Axne (Ric Hanson/photo 11/23/19)

To that end, she says she wrote a law to eliminate that regulatory oversight for Critical Access Hospitals and rural healthcare clinics. She said Congress is also working on “Big healthcare initiatives, including three key areas of a Prescription Drug Bill that will reduce the cost of prescription drugs within Medicare. One of the areas is to reduce the cost of prescription drugs within Medicare by negotiating prices for the most expensive drugs, of which there are currently more than 250. That would also ultimately reduce the price of the drug for everyone across the country. There is also a proposal in the bill to put a cap of $2,000 on how much persons with Medicare would have to pay for prescription drugs.  The third piece of the bill would put in-place a piece that says American will pay no more than 20% over what someone in another country pays for one of the drugs produced in the U-S. Right now, she says we pay anywhere from 4-6-10-times over than what other companies charge for the same kinds of drugs.

Axne says the non-partisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates the bill would save billions of dollars. Axne said also they’ve working to move the USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada) Trade Agreement. Rural Atlantic farmer/resident Denise O’Brien took issue with that, saying it’s not any different than NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement). She said “I’ve worked on that bit in the 1990’s and I’ve worked on it all the way through, and yes, it is important but…the tariff’s [and, Axne chipped-in the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) waivers]…that push is a false narrative. There’s not a lot of difference [between the USMCA and NAFTA], and Canada hasn’t claimed it yet either.”

Axne said the things that have hurt our economy the most, is the trade war with China, and the RFS. She said “It’s just real easy for folks to say that the democratic majority House is not bringing up the USMCA. That’s a lie.) She says she will keep pushing for it because it’s important to our State. She warned if the trade war continues and there’s no wiggle room on the RFS, “We will continue to see commodity prices at all-time lows, and markets close.” She said the Japan deal looks good for us, but we’re losing a lot of market share with China that we won’t get back.

Axne spoke a child who attended the event with her mother, about how she’s working to help young people get a better education and prepare for the future. She said that includes putting money in our public school systems, Pell Grants for those who don’t want to attend a 4-year college and might want to study a trade with that type of assistance. The man she defeated in the last election, former 3rd District Congressman David Young, said during a recent visit to the KJAN Studios, that Axne’s record hasn’t been good for Iowa, and that she has “High expectations for herself, but low deliverables.” Axne said (in reference to Young) “Show me some facts.”

She said “That says nothing. The reason that he has nothing to say is because my record has been really good for Iowa. I’d love to see what he’s got to prove that, because from what I can see, all he’s tried to do is tie me to some big socialist narrative, with some folks out in New York.” She says “Please take a look at my record…I currently hold a much better percent of bipartisan votes [in the House] than he ever did.”

Rescue crews from Menlo and Stuart responded Friday night to a single-vehicle injury accident in Guthrie County, Friday night. The accident happened at around 9:45-p.m. near the intersection of 130th Street and Poplar Avenue.

Photo from the Stuart F.D. Facebook page.

According to reports, the driver of an SUV lost control of the vehicle, which entered a ditch. The unidentified driver and their passenger suffered non-life threatening injuries, and were transported by Menlo Rescue to Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.

The Iowa State Patrol and Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene. The accident remained under investigation.

KEOSAUQUA, Iowa (AP) — State officials in Iowa have confirmed that chronic wasting disease has been found in captive whitetail deer on two separate farms in Van Buren County in southeastern Iowa. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship confirmed the cases Friday in a news release. Both farms have been quarantined while the department works to trace potential exposures and contain the disease.

The disease attacks the brains of deer and elk and is always fatal. No human cases have ever been recorded. The fatal disease first appeared in a wild deer herd in Iowa in 2013.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced it will award $6.6 million in airport infrastructure grants to the Ainsworth Regional Airport in western Nebraska and another $5.5 million to two airports in Iowa. The grants are part of a $485 million federal grant program for airports across the country.

The Ainsworth grant will go to rehabilitate an apron, a runway and a taxiway at the airport. In Iowa, the Mason City Municipal Airport will receive $3 million to reconstruct a taxiway, and Newton Municipal-Earl Johnson Field will receive $2.5 million to reconstruct a taxiway.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is endorsing Joe Biden, saying his personal losses give him the “the capacity to comfort” and “the need to heal” a divided nation. During a rally in Des Moines on Saturday, Vilsack says the former vice president is best able to win the upper Midwest, key to Democrats in 2020.

Vilsack says the deaths of Biden’s first wife and infant daughter decades ago and his older son’s death from cancer in 2015 make him “a man with empathy, and a man who has the heart of a president.” Vilsack, a former U.S. secretary of agriculture, served with Biden in the Obama administration.

Biden, the early favorite for Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, has gradually slipped behind Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa grandmother convicted of the 1992 killing of her former boyfriend has been sentenced to 50 years in prison, which was the maximum allowed. The Muscatine Journal reports that 56-year-old Annette Cahill showed no emotion when she was sentenced Friday. Following a mistrial earlier this year, Cahill was convicted in September of second-degree murder in the baseball bat beating death of 22-year-old bartender Corey Wieneke. Her attorney says she plans to appeal.

Police have said Cahill had been in an intimate relationship with Wieneke and that had a heated argument about his involvement with another woman. Wieneke was found dead on the floor of his bedroom in rural West Liberty in October 1992. The case against Cahill relied on testimony from a woman who said she was 9 years old when she overheard Cahill confess to killing Wieneke.