(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is accusing seven key federal agencies of “dragging their feet” on upgrading their systems against cyber attacks. Grassley, a Republican, says it may be putting our national security at risk, along with the personal data of an untold number of Iowans. “We’ve had studies made on what agencies ought to be doing,” Grassley says, “and then we find out after years, they haven’t followed up and protected the American people the way they should.”

Keeping Americans safe is “job one” for the federal government, and Grassley says Congress needs to know how those agencies are working to bolster critical infrastructure defense, or “whether they’re asleep at the switch.” “It’s a matter of accountability,” Grassley says, “the extent to which cyber attacks might affect our national security, steal our military secrets, even stealing our most advanced war materiel.”

Grassley is singling out the E-P-A as well as the U-S Departments of: Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Treasury and Transportation. On a related matter, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called Monday for action on legislation that would restrict TikTok. Grassley says it’s clear that social media platform needs to be more closely regulated. Grassley says, “I’m committed to making sure that the privacy of our teenagers, well, there may be people older than teenagers, but I think most of the people I hear from are teenagers about this issue, that it’d be protected and not this privacy information being sold to some company in China.”

Sen. Grassley

Grassley says he would support the House bill that passed last month which would force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the app or face being banned across the U.S. He says changes to that legislation may be pending in another Senate version of the bill.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisor’s, today (Tuesday), reminded citizens of the County about electronic recycling, which takes place Wednesday (April 10^th), from 4-until 6-p.m., at the Fairgrounds, in Red Oak. Supervisor Donna Robinson said it’s a regular event, with some new features this year.

New this year, residents may bring old vehicle their tires in for recycling. Two high school seniors are in charge of that aspect of the event.

Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert updated the Board on Secondary Roads Department activities.

In other business, the Board approved additional square footage for the tuckpointing project, with regard to the West elevation of the courthouse. Maintenance Director Dan Wright…

The additional work is estimated at $40,948, for a total project cost of $423,217. The Board approved the added work, and a quote to spray the Law Enforcement Center lawn to keep down the dandelions and other weeds. Auditor Jill Ozuna presented to the Board results of the FY 2022 Montgomery County Audit.

Ozuna said Auditor of State Rob Sand’s office found five findings related to receipt and expenditure of taxpayer funds. She said those are items that counties tend to get “dinged” for every year.

Supervisor Donna Robinson said with regard to the Board’s “Fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight to the County’s operations and financial transactions,” she feels, they have and are continuing to conduct due diligence in that aspect of their duties.

A copy of the Audit Report is available in the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office, or on the Auditor of State’s website. The next meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, is April 16^th at 8:30-a.m.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a Nebraska man was arrested Monday evening on an Out-of-County/Out-0f-State warrant. Authorities say 29-year-old Kody Allen Gregg, of Nehawka, NE, was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – April 9, 2024 – Today, the Iowa Transportation Commission approved $9,869,044 in total funding for ten statewide Transportation Alternatives Set-aside Program projects.

This program supports projects that will have a statewide or multi-regional impact, expand the state’s multi-modal transportation system, enhance tourism, and provides safe routes to school. The majority of Transportation Alternatives Set-aside program funding is distributed to Iowa’s metropolitan planning organizations and regional planning affiliations for the selection of local projects. The Commission awards Transportation Alternatives Set-aside projects annually. Approximately 20 percent of funding is targeted to safe routes to school projects. Funding is available to cities, counties, school districts, or other eligible organizations through an annual application-based program.

The projects and approved funding amounts are listed below.

Safe routes to school project awards:

• Iowa Safe Routes Partnership (Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments) – $258,108
• Safe Routes to School & Recreational Trails Phase I (Logan) – $652,212
• 3rd Street Sidewalk Extension Project (Anamosa) – $650,000
• Washington Avenue Safe Routes to School (Grinnell) – $581,891

All other project awards:

• Bentonsport Pedestrian Bridge Rehabilitation (Van Buren County Conservation Board) – $1,612,000
• Clear Creek Trail (Johnson County Conservation Board) – $1,800,000
• Grant Street South Realignment (Bondurant) – $500,000
• Hickman Interchange Bicycle/Pedestrian Facilities (Clive) – $800,000
• Iowa River’s Edge Trail Surfacing and South Fork Bridge Replacement (Hardin County Conservation Board) – $2,000,000
• Mississippi River Trail Eagle Ridge Road to May Street (LeClaire) – $1,014,833

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — [KCCI] Police say two teenagers stole expensive bottles of cologne and then triggered a high-speed police chase. That chase ended on a busy Des Moines freeway exit ramp. It started Sunday night at Jordan Creek Town Center Von Maur department store. And it didn’t stop until West Des Moines police, Des Moines police, and the Iowa State Patrol chased and arrested the teens.

The call came into West Des Moines police at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday. Two 17-year-olds ran off with two bottles of Versace and Coach cologne worth about $200. But police say the report of a fight with Von Maur security staff put them on alert. A short time later, an off-duty police officer spotted the suspects’ car near the Mid-American Rec Plex, and the chase began.

It ran through West Des Moines and then headed to the freeway and into Des Moines at speeds as high as 95 mph. Eventually, the Iowa State Patrol boxed the car in on the 42nd Street off-ramp. It was closed for several hours Sunday night. Police say they later learned the teens did not fight with the Van Maur security staff. And they can’t understand why the suspects would run.

Police say the two 17-year-olds were charged with theft and were taken to juvenile detention.

Algna, Iowa — One person died in a large, northern Iowa fire Sunday morning. According to the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office, the fire was reported just before 4:30 a.m. at an acreage in rural Titonka. A female caller told dispatch she was woken up by the power going out in her house, and she could see the glow of fire at their workshop outbuilding west of the house. The woman also told dispatch she didn’t know where her husband was and that he had been out in the workshop earlier in the night.

The workshop building was fully engulfed in flames when crews from Titonka, Kossuth County and Bancroft arrived. 45-year-old Brian Leroy Janssen was found dead inside the building.

Janssen’s remains will be taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for autopsy to determine the cause of death. The State Fire Marshall’s Office is assisting in the investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office press release

DES MOINES, Iowa — [KCCI] A Waukee man accused in a wire fraud and money laundering scheme is now in custody. The FBI had been looking for 51-year-old William Jack Berg, since late March. Investigators say he used his position as a financial adviser to defraud more than a dozen clients, using more than $1.5 million of his clients’ money for his own personal benefit.

The FBI received a tip on Berg’s location and he was arrested without incident by the Shawnee, Kansas, Police Department on April 4.

Original post on March 30th:

OMAHA, Neb.  – The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Omaha field office is seeking the public’s help in locating an Iowa man wanted for alleged money laundering and wire fraud. The office says William Jack “Bill” Berg, 51, is wanted for allegedly defrauding over a dozen client investors in a scheme that resulted in the loss of over $1.5 million. It’s alleged that the victim investors provided Berg, a financial advisor in the Des Moines metro area, with funds for investment — only for Berg to use those funds for his own benefit. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Berg on March 19. He most recently lived in the Waukee and Adel areas and is suspected to have been in the Des Moines area as recently as Monday (March 25th).

William Jack Berg, (AKA Bill Berg) – FBI Photo

Berg is described as 5′11″, 195 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI’s Omaha field office at (402) 493-8688.

(Walnut, Iowa) – Two barns and their contents were destroyed in a fire, Monday afternoon, north of Walnut. The structures were lost when a grass fire near mile marker 48 along Interstate 80, spread north to a farm. The fire was reported at around 2:10-p.m., and was brought under control about an hour later.

Firefighters were able to prevent the flames from spreading to the home. The cause of the fire was not known. No injuries were reported.

A local farmer helped in the effort to contain the blaze, using a tractor and disk. Walnut Fire was assisted at the scene by crews from the Atlantic, Avoca, Elk Horn, Harlan, and Marne fire departments.