(Radio Iowa) – A large crowd gathered today (Friday) in the Independence high school gym for the funeral of an Iowa State Trooper who was shot to death a week ago during a stand-off with an armed man in Grundy Center. For more than half an hour, officers from all over the country saluted as they filed by Sergeant Jim Smith’s flag-draped casket. Paul Heppner, interim pastor at Smith’s church in Jesup, spoke of the trooper’s faith to start the service. “He’s been a blessing to us and it’s difficult for us to let him go,” Heppner said.

ISP Sgt. Jim Smith

Hepner called Smith “the real deal.” “Jim had integrated God’s word into every part of his life and Jim’s internal compass pointed directly to honesty, integrity and love,” Heppner said. “See, Jim wasn’t putting on an act. It was his inner purity that made him unique.” John Noll, the worship leader at Smith’s church, delivered a closing prayer. “Friends, family, those he service with, those who he worshipped with — we all miss Jim and our hearts and our minds struggle to understand why this happened,” Noll said. “…We thank you for his life, his example of serving and we are forever grateful and forever better people for having known him.”

Colonel Nathan Fulk, chief of the Iowa State Patrol, called Smith a selfless leader. “Jim’s priorities were faith, family and his commitment to public service and his community,” Fulk said. It’s been 85 years since an Iowa State Trooper has been shot to death while on duty.  “During a time in history when we wonder with conflict and adversity and challenge, we can doubt the support we have in society,” Fulk said. “However the outpouring of support for the city of Independence has been truly amazing. You’ve reminded us why we love working, living and serving in the State of Iowa.”

As is customary, a final radio call for Smith was played to conclude the service.

Smith, who was 51, leaves behind a wife, a daughter and a son. Smith’s family has established a memorial fund to finance a scholarship in his name.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne is co-sponsor of a pay equity bill that cleared the U.S. House Thursday. Axne says it would provide women new tools to fight wage discrimination in their workplace. “More than five decades after we passed the Equal Pay Act, we’re still only making 82 cents for every dollar earned by a man,” Axne says. And she says that pay gap is even wider for Black and Latino women. Axne says data shows women, especially working moms, were pushed out of the workforce during the pandemic and the bill addresses some of the loopholes that preserve the gap between what women and men earn.

“The ability to retaliate against employees who discuss their wages — those are the types of things that would be closed with this,” Axne says. The bill would eliminate barriers to class action lawsuits over wage disparities and it would limit how much information businesses can seek about what a job prospect is earning at their current job. Half of women who work — even those who are married — say they are the primary breadwinner in their household.

“This is not just a women’s issue,” Axne says. “This is a family issue and this is an economic issue.” The bill passed the House with a bipartisan majority and awaits action in the U.S. Senate.

(Radio Iowa)  – Iowa’s unemployment rate for March was the same as it was in February — three-point-seven percent. The number of Iowans receiving unemployment benefits increased slightly in March, just as the total number of people working in Iowa grew by about 32-hundred.

According to Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s hospitality industry has hired four-thousand people since December, mostly for work in restaurants and hotels.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a Shenandoah man being held in the Pott. County Jail, was served Thursday, with a warrant for possession of drug paraphernalia and eluding a police officer. 39-year-old Alfred Vernon Mutchler, Jr., was then returned to the custody of Corrections staff. A man from Carson was arrested Thursday morning, for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. 21-year-old Riley Wayne French was taken into custody at around 10:15-a.m. at a residence in the 44,000 block of Highway 92.

Wednesday morning, Pott. County deputies arrested 30-year old Alyssa La Rae Brown, following a traffic stop on I-80 eastbound, in Council Bluffs. Brown was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, and was later released.

There were several prisoner transfers from other jail facilities to the Pottawattamie County Jail, these past few days. Included among them was:

• 27-year-old Joseph Andrew Riesberg, of Council Bluffs, who was transported from the Montgomery County Jail to the Pottawattamie County Jail to address a warrant for Burglary 3^rd Degree, Criminal Mischief 4^th and Theft 4^th.
• 45-year-old Michelle Marie Vincent, was transported from the Douglas County Jail to the Pottawattamie County Jail to address a warrant for Child Endangerment, Abandonment.
• 36-year-old Brandon Earl Amos, of Omaha, NE, was transported from the Douglas County Jail to the Pottawattamie County Jail to address a warrant for Harassment 2^nd Degree and Operating While Intoxicated 1^st Offense.
• 46-year-old Raul Tamayer, of Lakota, was transported from the Kossuth County Jail to the Pottawattamie County Jail to address a warrant for Harassment 1^st Degree.
• and, 38-year-old Matthew Joseph Ramirez, of Omaha, Ne, was transported from the Douglas County Jail to the Pottawattamie County Jail to address a warrant for Violation of Probation.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Friday, said a man from El Centro, CA., was arrested April 9th, for Theft in the 2nd Degree (for property with a value of $1,500 to $10,000), and Possession of a Controlled Substance. 26-year-old Donovan Joseph Menvielle remained in the Cass County Jail as of Friday, on bond amounting to $6,000. And, authorities say 29-year-old Shialea Kay Cozad, of Anita, was arrested April 12th, for Driving while barred. Cozad was transported to the Cass County Jail and later released on her own recognizance