Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports the Clarinda Police Department will begin “Operation Blessing 2019,” on November 25th. Brothers said the community project embodies the spirit of Christmas, by helping to make sure every child in Clarinda receives a gift on Christmas day. Retired Police Chief Joe Newton and retired 911 Communications Supervisor Diane Newton will be managing the program again this year.

Children, ages infant-through seventeen (17) may be signed up for involvement in the program by calling the police department records office during regular business hours at 712-542-2194, extension 203 (records office). The caller will be asked to provide the child’s name, age, sex, address and two gift requests per child. Names of children can be submitted beginning Monday, November 25th and will be accepted through Thursday, December 19th.

Cash donations in c/o of Operation Blessing 2019 can be delivered to Chief Brothers at the police department or mailed to the Clarinda Police Department, Attn: Operation Blessing, 200 South 15th Street, Clarinda, Iowa 51632. Cash donations will be used by the Clarinda Police Department to purchase gifts for the children. If you wish to purchase a specific gift for a child, please contact the Clarinda Police Department and ask to speak with Joe and Diane Newton regarding purchasing a specific requested gift item(s).

Families will be contacted by the Clarinda Police Department when the gift items are ready to be picked up. If a family is unable to pick up the gifts, uniformed officers of the Clarinda Police Department will deliver the gifts.

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office reports at at around 1:12-a.m. today (Saturday), Deputies responded to an altercation in the 400 block of Main Street in Bedford. Six individuals were arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct. Those arrested include: 22-year old Logan Stark, of Mount Ayr; 21-year old Lincoln Martin, of Diagonal; 22-year old Jacob Taylor, of Diagonal, 22-year old Hunter Russell, of Bedford, 22-year old Benjamin Hill, of Bedford, and 36-year old Casey Bann, also of Bedford. Bond was set at $300 for each person.

The Stuart Police Department reports that at around 9:30-a.m. Wednesday, Stuart Officers were dispatched to the West Central Redemption Center at 121 S. Division Street in Stuart, on the report of a theft suspect attempting to cash in pop cans.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office has released additional information on a two-vehicle accident that resutled in two fatalities.

The crash happened at approximately 1:23pm Friday in the area of Pioneer Trail and Humbolt Lane. Upon arrival Deputies located a 2017 Ford F-350 and a 1998 Honda CRV involved in the crash. The F-350 was being driven by 46-year-old Rollin Hansen of Council Bluffs eastbound on Pioneer Trail near the intersection with Humbolt Lane. The driver of the CRV has not been determined but the vehicle was westbound on Pioneer Trail near that same intersection. The vehicles collided near the intersection sending both vehicles into the south ditch and the CRV overturned.

One occupant of the CRV was identified at 17-year old Floyd Quick of Council Bluffs who along with another occupant who has not been identified were pronounced dead at the scene. The State Medical Examiner’s Office is working to identify the other occupant that was killed.

The investigation indicates that speed was a factor and that another vehicle was involved and failed to stop. If you have any information on this vehicle, please contact the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Investigations Division at 712-890-2288.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds has appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court a jury verdict that concluded former Gov. Terry Branstad discriminated against a former state commissioner because the official is gay.

A jury in July awarded former Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey $1.5 million, finding he was the victim of discrimination and retaliation when Branstad tried to force him to quit in 2011 and then cut his pay. Jurors found against Branstad, one of his staff members and the state.

Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett said Friday that Reynolds made the decision after consulting with attorneys. Branstad attorneys have argued the verdicts weren’t supported by substantial evidence and conflict with state law. Reynolds says she believes the additional legal costs will be minimal and winning the appeal would save taxpayers millions of dollars.

Godfrey’s attorney Roxanne Conlin says appealing is “deeply dumb” because the best outcome for the state is the Supreme Court orders a new trial.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say two people have been killed in a two-vehicle crash just southeast of Council Bluffs. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that the crash happened just before 1:30 p.m. Friday. Deputies sent the scene say a pickup truck and car had collided, and two people inside the car were pronounced dead at the scene.

Their names have not yet been released pending notification of family members. The occupants of the pickup were treated for minor injuries at the scene. The crash remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) — State Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has announced an alternative dispute resolution process with propane distributors. Naig says that could help ease the shipping issues created by the late harvest and cold weather. “They will start dispute resolution next week — which gets the shippers and the pipelines together. And we hope that will yield some increased supply as we head into the next week and into the following week,” according to Naig.

He says the late October the demand for propane in Iowa was three times higher than it normally is, and the demand hasn’t eased a lot. “Anything that we can do to put more propane in these pipelines will absolutely help resolve that,” Naig says. “We are very hopeful. It won’t be an immediate solution — but we are heading in the right direction and we appreciate the work that our governor and our senators and FERC to bring some resolution to this.”

The nationwide supply of propane has been good — but Naig and others say the issue has been getting enough shipped to Iowa as the demand dramatically increased.

(Radio Iowa) — Due to year-end budget constraints, some road repair crews are having to stop working on flood-damaged highways in southwest Iowa. While water remains in parts of Fremont County closest to the Missouri River, retreating floodwaters have wreaked havoc on the county’s secondary roads. County Engineer Dan Davis says the county has started making repairs, but funding remains an issue.

“It’s just been very slow,” Davis says. “We’ve done a few contract repairs on FEMA projects. Our crews have done a lot of repairs with local funds. By the end of September, we were over 50% of our budget, which shouldn’t happen until December, so we had to cut some of that off.” Davis says his department remains in a holding pattern on major repairs until the county’s coffers are replenished by the federal government for work that’s already been done.

“Now, we’re in the waiting mode of getting reimbursed by FEMA for those projects that were either contracted done or that our crews did,” he says. In the meantime, Davis says his crews have worked to keep up with regular maintenance on other county roads so the problem isn’t compounded next spring.  “We’re still doing some patching to finish up the year and the weather’s cooperating,” Davis says. “Hopefully, we’ll get that completed and we’ll try to get as much open as we can this year until the weather changes. Then, we’ll hit it in the spring and hopefully we’ll be back caught up with our reimbursements is the big thing.”

County officials recently closed J-10 or Waubonsie Avenue between Bartlett and the Loess Hills following its collapse due to undermining from floodwaters and repeated heavy equipment usage for levee repairs.

(Radio Iowa) — The legislature is NOT likely to make wholesale changes in the state’s tax credit system according to a panel of lawmakers who spoke today (Friday) at a meeting of the Iowa Taxpayers Association. Representative Dave Jacoby of Coralville, a Democrat, used a barnyard epithet — which we have edited — to share his opinion.

“I’ll admit this: there are people on both sides of the aisle that are chicken____ to review some of them because they help some of their communities and they afraid that they may not perform as well as they should,” Jacoby said. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says it took two decades to create a wide range of tax credits and legislators shouldn’t shy away from unraveling some of them.

“Eat a little humble pie here and actually think what’s best for a competitive tax code and for Iowa,” Dawson says. Dawson says some of the credits should remain, however, and Dawson points to the tax credit for restoration of historic properties, which he says is popular in rural areas. Dawson was not one of the small group of lawmakers who met three weeks ago to begin reviewing the dozens of credits available to Iowa taxpayers.

A lawmaker who WAS on the panel says the state will award 434 million dollars in credits in the current tax year.