(Radio Iowa) — The debate over requiring an Iowa license plate on the front AND rear of vehicles has been revived in the 2019 legislature. The House has voted to let antique or classic vehicles — that are least 25 years old — to go without a front license plate. Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant says the House plan also directs the Iowa D-O-T and Department of Public Safety to study the issue.

“The purpose of this study is to address law enforcement’s concerns for public safety as well as to address the ever-increasing amount of life safety technology being placed in the front bumper by auto manufacturers,” Lohse says.

Representative Andy McKean of Anamosa is skeptical of eliminating the front license plate requirement. “Now I’m perfectly willing to take a look at what recommendations are made, but I don’t think we can minimize the public safety importance of having proper identification at the front of the car,” McKean says. “It’s made a big difference in many cases for public safety concerns.”

The bill passed the House on a 96-to-one vote. However, 34 members of the Iowa Senate voted for a different approach to this issue two weeks ago.. The Senate plan would forbid police from pulling a vehicle over solely because it lacks a front license plate. The Senate proposal also would let auto owners skip putting a license plate on the front of the vehicle if it requires drilling holes or using glue to get the plate on the front bumper. Iowa is among the 31 states that require plates on the front AND rear of vehicles. Most sports cars and high-priced, luxury vehicles don’t have a spot for a front plate.

(Radio Iowa) — Two presidential candidates were out campaigning in Iowa today (Thursday) — both U.S. Senators — are criticizing Attorney General William Barr’s decision to hold a news conference two hours before releasing the Mueller report to the public. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar spoke with reporters in the Iowa capitol.  “I am very concerned about how the attorney general has rolled this out,” Klobuchar said. “He is supposed to be the people’s attorney, not the president’s attorney.”

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says the attorney general’s news conference was “a complete farce” and an “embarassing display of propaganda” on behalf of the president. “What’s so disturbing is that Attorney General Barr insists that he somehow characterize this report first, create a narrative and put a frame around it,” Gillibrand says.

Gillibrand made her comments Thursday morning during an interview with Radio Iowa. Klobuchar says she hopes the Mueller report helps spur passage of a bill she’s co-sponsored that will require back-up paper ballots and audits of the 2020 election results.  “In the words of the president’s own National Security Director Dan Coats, ‘The Russians are simply getting bolder,'” Klobuchar says. “What I hope this report will do is illuminate all of the very illegal things the Russians did to try to influence our election.”

Klobuchar says the Russians tried to hack into election equipment as well as the propaganda they posted online to try to inflame political divisions in this country.   “Those are the things that we’ve got to focus on,” Klobuchar says. “And I know there’s going to be a lot of talk about obstruction and I’m going to read it very carefully to see the differences of opinion, but I want you not to let go of the importance of our next election, that we don’t have this happen again.”

Senator Gillibrand says the whole purpose of having the special counsel was to have an independent investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 election. “Hopefully we’ll get to see the truth,” Gillibrand says. “Congress is entitled to an unredacted report. We review confidential and privileged information all the time, so we deserve an unredacted report and if the redactions are too fulsome, I hope we subpoena the report, unredacted.”

It appears just a few members of congress will get to see the report in full, without sections blacked out. Klobuchar says she hopes, as a member of the Senate Judiciary, that she gets to see it in full.  “But the most important thing is that Bob Mueller come before congress, so the public can see him answer questions,” Klobuchar says, “so that we can get to the bottom of why there is this difference in his interpretation of the law and the attorney general of the United States.”

Neither of Iowa’s U.S. senators have commented on the release of the Mueller report SINCE IT WAS MADE PUBLIC. Senator Chuck Grassley said earlier today he favors releasing as much of the Mueller report as possible, but not grand jury testimony or any information that would endanger national security. Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer, a Democrat from Dubuque, said in a written statement that making the report public has been “essential to ensure that the best interests of every American rise above partisanship.” Finkenauer said congress must secure and defend U.S. elections from foreign influence.

(Radio Iowa) — A hearing in Glenwood Wednesday focused on the Corps of Engineers management of the Missouri River leading up to the flooding on the Missouri River. Michael Stenzel of Hamburg was on hand to listen as the land he farms with his dad remains flooded. “As of right now, we’ve probably got a hundred acres out of the three-thousand that is not covered by water,” Stenzel says.

He says their closest ground to the river is a quarter of a mile away, but they see issues because the Corps water releases put the river at such a high level. He says when the river is run at a high level, they constantly fight seepage into the nearby farmland. Stenzel is the president of McKissick Island Dike & Levee, and drainage district, where he says they went through about 45-thousand dollars in fuel last year for pumps to try and keep the five-thousand acres dry.

Stenzel says the way the river is managed with the various wing dams slows it down too much. “I feel that the river needs to be sped up,” Stenzel says. “When a river runs fast and hard — you’ll see the scouring in the bottom of the river — so therefore the channel will be a little bit deeper. We’ll be able to hold a few more gallons coming through.”

Stenzel says another thing that added to the problem was the lack of communication from the Corps.  “In 2011, they came to us two weeks before and told us, ‘Hey this is what the dam’s going to do, this is how much water is going to come,’ so we had some time to prepare. This time they didn’t do it,” according to Stenzel. “My father and I, our operation, we lost 50-thousand bushels of beans and a 140-thousand bushels of corn, and probably 11 grain bins.”

While the Senate hearing was designed to try and move things ahead and make changes to prevent future flooding — Stenzel says its slow-moving nature is frustrating to farmers. “The political process is not what farmers want to hear. Farmers are the type of person who will get out, they will do whatever they need to do to get the job done,” Stenzel says. “That’s why farmers are not politicians.”

Stenzel says he was just starting to see his operation get back to where it should be following the flooding in 2011, and now that was all washed away again. “We’re going to be in such a hard deep hole — we might not ever get out,” Stenzel says.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst called for the field hearing by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and was on hand with Senator Chuck Grassley and other officials.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly survey of rural bankers in parts of 10 Plains and Western states shows about one of every five expects an increase in farm loan defaults stemming from last month’s devastating Midwest floods.

The Rural Mainstreet survey for April, released Thursday, shows the survey’s overall index dropping from 52.9 in March to 50 this month. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says “43.8 percent of bank CEOs indicated that the recent floods were having a negative impact on their local economy.”

Bankers also noted that farm loans for April surged as the borrowing index climbed to 81.3, the highest recorded since the survey began in 2006. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

KJAN’s sister station KNOD reports that on Monday, April 15th, Terry Cox, the former Harlan City Administrator, pleaded guilty to an amended felony charge of 2nd degree theft, and an aggravated misdemeanor charge for tampering with records.

According to court records, Cox pleaded guilty to theft in the second degree and Tampering with records. Due to a plea agreement, a charge of Felonious Misconduct in Office, will be dismissed at Coxs’ expense, once the time for appeal is over. Sentencing is scheduled for May 20th. The state will not request jail or prison time. Cox is required to pay restitution to the city of Harlan in the amount of $7,500. He says he plans to request a deferred judgement at the time of sentencing.

AMES, IA–The Iowa FFA Leadership Conference was held at Iowa State University in Ames on April 14-16, 2019. The new Iowa FFA Officer team was elected at the final convention session.  Tyler Comes from the Atlantic FFA Chapter was elected as the Southwest District State FFA Vice President.  Comes had to complete an application and then go through a series of interviews.

Tyler Comes

The interviews are designed to set the ballot for the 2019 State Leadership Convention.  On Monday, Comes gave his speech in front to the Southwest District Delegates and waited until Tuesday night to find out his fate. “I was more nervous and anxious for this than anything else that I’ve ever done. I’m extremely happy and thankful for everyone who helped me along the way and pushed me beyond my expectations.”

Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller stated, “I am very proud of all the things Tyler has accomplished.  Tyler has worked very hard at the local level, district level and I have high expectations for him at the state level.”

The Iowa FFA Officer team will embody the FFA motto,  Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, and living to serve. These nine leaders will live out their year of service speaking with FFA members from across the state, presenting leadership camps and workshops, and traveling around Iowa and the United States. They will have the opportunity to take part in Iowa FFA Foundation activities, the Iowa State Fair, Iowa FFA Legislative Symposium, the National FFA Convention, and a wide variety of FFA Career Development Events. Their largest responsibility will be to coordinate and conduct the 91st Iowa FFA Leadership Conference for over 6,000 FFA members, advisors, parents, and guests.

The local members of the 2019-2020 Iowa FFA Officer Team include:

Reporter: Walker McDermott, CAM FFA

SW Vice President: Tyler Comes, Atlantic FFA

A report in Page County about a man and woman removing items from a residence without the owner’s permission, resulted in the arrest of a Shenandoah woman. Authorities say 38-year old Nicholle Marie Blane was arrested on Class-D felony charges of Burglary in the 3rd Degree and Theft in the 2nd degree, following an investigation Wednesday into the incident at 2149 Avenue A.  Blane was transported to the Page County Jail where she was being held on $10,000 bond, pending further court proceedings.

Nicholle Blane

SHELBY – The Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources reports a tanker carrying liquid fertilizer overturned one mile east of the Shelby exit on Interstate 80 Wednesday afternoon, causing an unknown amount of fertilizer to leak into a tributary of Silver Creek. DNR specialists investigated the spill of Ultramate liquid fertilizer, a humic-acid based soil conditioner. They took water samples for laboratory testing and checked for a fish kill. There was no sign of dead fish in the stream Wednesday.

DNR staff will check the stream again this (Thursday) afternoon. The accident occurred when a Fauth Trucking Company tanker/trailer approached stopped traffic along the interstate. The tanker was carrying about 5,500 gallons of fertilizer. The DNR will monitor cleanup activities and consider appropriate enforcement.

(KETV) — Pacific Junction Mayor Andy Young reports the mandatory evacuation for the City was lifted today (Thursday).  That includes the all of Pacific Junction, Iowa. Residents and owners in the above area may return to their property. Access to the city will continue to remain a single entry at the south entrance from 195th Street. Street lights are restored in most areas of the community. However, no electricity has been restored to homes. To assure security, entry to the city continues to be limited to the South side via 195th Street. The security checkpoint at the south entrance has been removed.

Law enforcement will be patrolling the area on a 24/7 basis. As cleanup begins in all areas of Pacific Junction, residents are reminded that safety is key. Please use caution when assessing and cleaning properties. Flood waters are dangerous, and personal protective equipment including water-tight boots, cut-proof gloves and N95 masks are required. No open burning is allowed.

Debris should be placed at curbside and separated into the following categories: Garbage – Household Waste – Appliances/Electronics/Tires – Scrap Metal – Tree Limbs and Trimmings (Vegetation). Anyone with questions or who may need assistance, contact the Mills County Communication Center at 712-527-4871 or contact a representative of the City of Pacific Junction.

AMES, Iowa – April 18, 2019 – Reconstruction of flood-damaged Interstate 29 from the U.S. 34 interchange south to the Missouri border began today (Thursday). The Iowa Department of Transportation hopes to reopen this portion of I-29 to traffic in June, weather permitting. Officials say this is an important step forward to restoring mobility to those traveling in Southwest Iowa. Flood recovery involves several steps to make sure roadways are safe for you to travel. The recovery process continues on other roads impacted by flooding and may take anywhere from a few days to several months. For the latest status update on impacted roadways visit https://floods2019.iowa.gov/Repair-status.pdf.

The portion of I-29 from the U.S. 34 interchange to the Missouri border is closed to traffic while it is being reconstructed. Accessing closed portions of the roadway is illegal and dangerous for motorists. Roadway conditions within the construction area will change frequently making it dangerous or impossible for traffic to move through. In addition, traffic in the closed portion of the roadway endangers the safety of the workers trying to clear debris, assess damage, and complete restoration work. Respect all barricades and barriers indicating that the road is closed.

For the latest in flooding information and recovery resources, as well as an image gallery showing the flood damage and recovery efforts go to https://floods2019.iowa.gov/.