Patrons of the Villisca Community School District will cast their ballots today and decide the fate of a bond issue amounting to slightly more than $6-million. If approved, the funds would be used for upgrades at both the Enarson Elementary School and Southwest Valley Middle School–including improvements to heating-air conditioning systems, fire alarm systems, roof replacement, plumbing and electrical systems.

Polls are open Tuesday at the Villisca Community Building from noon to 8 p.m.

(Radio Iowa) — A Senate-passed bill that’s now part of the abortion debate is now eligible for debate in a House committee. The bill would establish a life prison sentence for someone convicted of intentionally or accidentally causing the termination of “an unborn person” against the mother’s wishes. Chuck Hurley, legal counsel for The Family Leader, urged House members to pass the bill. “We’ve heard opponents say they know this is not an abortion bill…We also know the abortion issue’s not going to go away and the battle comes down to: ‘What is a child, what is an unborn person?'” Hurley asked rhetorically. “And so you’re going as far as you can go here.”

Daniel Zeno, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, says the proposal technically does not apply to abortion, but the bill’s senate manager indicated that’s the ultimate goal. “Yes, it’s a small step, but this is a step in a much longer process of getting personhood and banning abortions,” Zeno said. Connie Ryan of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa says the intent behind the bill is clear. “I know that Iowans are not foolish enough on this day or any other day to not understand that this is fully about abortion,” Ryan said.

After a meeting early Monday afternoon, a Democrat voted against the bill and and two Republicans — including Representative Steven Holt of Denison — voted for it. “This discussion, I believe, lays bare the untenable position of those who refuse to acknowledge that the entity growing inside a pregnant woman is a human life, a human being, an unborn person,” Holt said.

The bill is now eligible for consideration in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A June trial has been scheduled for a Pella health coach accused of defrauding dozens of people who lost more than $6.5 million by investing in a gym program.
U.S. District Court records say 49-year-old Mark Blankespoor has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of mail fraud and 12 counts of wire fraud. His trial is set to begin June 3 in Des Moines.

Prosecutors say Blankespoor told investors from at least May 2013 through this past January that the medically oriented program would be licensed to fitness clinics nationwide and that investors could earn a 40 percent return on their money.

But prosecutors say Blankespoor instead used their money for himself and to pay other investors.

A call about an erratic driver in Red Oak at around 8:30-p.m. Monday, resulted in a traffic stop on a vehicle traveling well above the posted speed limit. Upon further investigation, a 16-year old male was cited for speed. The teen also received a Juvenile Referral for possession of drug paraphernalia. The boy was transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and later released to the custody of his parents. The teens’ name was not released.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The loss of a second major health care insurer in the Iowa Medicaid program is raising concerns about the stability of a system that serves about 600,000 poor and disabled people. Democratic lawmakers continued calls Monday for Gov. Kim Reynolds to reverse the move three years ago to privatize the program. Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says leaders are monitoring the situation and will help constituents navigate the transition.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Corrections has suspended a prison guard for giving an interview to his hometown newspaper for a positive feature story about his life and work. The Bloomfield Democrat, a weekly paper in southern Iowa, featured John Cox in a front-page story about his work inspiring and teaching inmates at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility. Prison leaders suspended Cox after the article was published, saying he violated work rules requiring authorization for media interviews.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Jurors will continue deliberating murder charges against a man being tried a fourth time for the 1990 killing of a 9-year-old girl. The Quad-City Times reports the Black Hawk County jury will renew deliberations Tuesday after working for several hours before being dismissed Monday afternoon. Jurors are considering a single count of first-degree murder against Stanley Liggins, who is charged in the death of Jennifer Lewis of Rock Island, Illinois. Her body was found in a field in Davenport.

TODDVILLE, Iowa (AP) — The Linn County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a man found by deputies who were called to investigate an attempted burglary. The sheriff’s office said Monday that deputies were call just Sunday night to a house after a report that someone had broken several windows before running away. Deputies searched the property and found a man on the ground behind a garage. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. He was identified as 39-year-old Jesse McBurney, of Palo.

Officials with the Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency report shortly before 4-p.m. Monday, the Red Oak Fire Department and other first responders were paged to United Farmers Cooperative in Red Oak for a man that was trapped up to his waist in grain.

Photo via MCEMA Facebook page

EMA Coordinator Brian Hamman said without the specialized equipment that had been purchased and donated by many donors, the rescue would have been challenging and difficult to say the least. The subject was extricated and able to walk out under his own will and was taken to MCMH for further evaluation.

Hamman added that “While we all train for the worst and hope we never have to use certain equipment and our training, it’s a blessing when we have a positive outcome.”

COUNCIL BLUFFS – On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, officials with the Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Agency, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct a joint preliminary damage assessment throughout the county. Their focus will be to validate residential damages and impacts reported by the public and those preliminary local damages assessment made by the local damage assessment teams.

Doug Reed, Director of Emergency Management for Pottawattamie County, says “This assessment will be used to validate identified damages to residential properties and to make determination on our agency’s request to be included in the Individual Assistance portion of the Major Disaster Declaration issued by President Trump.”

If approved by FEMA, the addition of Pottawattamie County in the Individual Assistance Program will allow residents throughout the county, impacted by the recent flooding of March 12th and continuing, to apply for potential assistance from FEMA. The program would also provide access to programs available from the Small Business Administration for residential property owners, renters, and businesses.

Reed said the original declaration issued by President Trump approved the county for emergency work under the Public Assistance Program to allow government entities and qualifying non-profits to recover certain costs associated with the disaster. Last week, additional approvals for the county were issued for permanent work under the program that aid jurisdictions in repairing and restoring damaged infrastructure such as streets, highways, bridges, parks, water control facilities, and other damaged public property.

Residents are still encouraged to report their damages on the emergency management flood page that can be found at https://pottcounty-ia.gov/departments/emergency-management/flood-2019-march-12th-continuing/. Once a determination is made on the request for inclusion in Individual Assistance, residents will be advised how they can apply to FEMA for assistance.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, Monday night, released a report on recent arrests. Three people were arrested on separate charges or warrants, March 26th:

• 19-year old Shane Michael Phillips, of Burlington (IA) was arrested by the Iowa State Patrol, on an Adair County warrant for Theft in the 1st Degree. Phillips was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $10,000 bond.
• 29-year old Brandon Michael Luke, of Anita, was arrested March 26th by the State Patrol following a traffic stop for speeding. Luke was taken into custody on a Cass County warrant for Probation Violation, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or subsequent offense, after a small bag of meth was found on him. He was being held in the Adair County Jail. His cash or surety bond was set at $5,000 (w/10% acceptable).
• And, 20-year old Justice Guy Myers, of Villisca, was arrested March 26th on an Adair County warrants for Felony Probation Violation ($5,000 bond) and  Harassment in the 3rd Degree (No bond until seen by a judge).

On March 25th, 20-year old Morgan Sebastian Lukenbill, of Adair, was arrested for Driving While Barred. The charge was summarily dismissed at his initial appearance and Lukenbill was released by the Magistrate’s orders.

(Radio Iowa) — As floodwaters in southwest Iowa slowly recede, forecasters fear large storms could develop soon that would make a bad situation worse. Kevin Low, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Missouri Basin Forecast Center, says they’re watching the development of a potentially large storm system that could arrive late next week, roughly April 10th through the 13th.

“Of course, the impacts, amounts, timing for this second week of April event is undeterminable at this moment,” Low says. “It’s just very preliminary. We wanted to give you a heads up the second week of April looks to be fairly active across the Missouri basin.” Record flooding was already recorded on the Missouri River and many of its tributaries in the past few weeks. With the heavy snowmelt, the U-S Army Corps of Engineers is increasing releases this week from Gavins Point Dam into the Missouri River.

John Remus, chief of the Corps’ Water Management Office in Omaha, says two of the big southern-most water storage reservoirs are already getting full.  “I realize these higher system releases will add water to the lower river,” Remus says, “However, maintaining high pools at Fort Randall and Oahe increases the risk of even higher — possibly flood-level — releases if we were to get a large rainfall event over the central Great Plains.”

Remus says flows from Gavins Point Dam will be increasing all week in hopes of avoiding more damaging flows later on. “We want to remind everyone that we are at the beginning of the flood season,” Remus says, “and having very high pools in the lower reservoirs at this time of year severely limits our ability to respond to rainfall events that may occur anywhere in the basin.”

Remus says the mountain snow pack is still increasing and normally melts and runs off in May and June. Flood damage this spring in Iowa and Nebraska combined is nearly three-billion dollars.

AMES, Iowa – April 1, 2019 – Western Iowa roads are still feeling the impact of the last few weeks of flooding. Even though most of the water has receded and much of the debris has been removed, several roads remain closed to allow the Iowa Department of Transportation to test for structural damage and make needed repairs.

Depending on the extent of damage caused by floodwaters, the recovery process may take anywhere from a few days to several months. As soon as floodwaters recede, the Iowa DOT is working as diligently as possible to move through the recovery process and reopen the roadway.

(3-31-19) I-680_east-of-Mormon-Bridge

The following southwest Iowa roads are still closed and are in Stage 3 (Testing and inspecting the ability of roadways and structures to handle traffic.):

• I-29 in both directions between the Missouri State Line (near Hamburg) and the U-S 34 interchange (Near Glenwood)
• I-29 in both directions between N. 25th St. in Council Bluffs and Loveland.
• I-680 in both directions between the I-29 interchange (Old Morman Bridge Road Near Crescent) and I-680 in Nebraska (Mormon Bridge).
• U-S Highway 34 between the Nebraska State line and I-29 (near Pacific Junction).
• U-S Highway 275 in both directions between the Missouri State line and Iowa Highway 333 near Hamburg
• and, Iowa 333 in both directions, between I-29 and Fremont County Road J-64 (Near Hamburg).

(3-28-19) IA Hwy 2 near the I-29 interchange

One stretch of road on Iowa Hwy 2 between the Missouri River Bridge and the Nebraska State line and US HWY 275/Fremont County Road J-64 (near Sidney), remains under water.  Barriers blocking access to roads will remain in place until the road has been deemed safe for traffic. If you see a barricade, don’t drive around it.