(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Fire and Cass EMS were dispatched at 7:22-a.m. to a house fire in the vicinity of 8th & Birch Streets. Flames were said to have been visible from the back of the home near the roof, when the call was dispatched.  Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel reports when firefighters arrived on the scene, smoke was visible. Cappel said there was an air conditioning unit in the upstairs that had been running. He said wiring in the wall caught fire because it wasn’t properly wired. 

The home sustained minimal fire and smoke damage. Power to the house was shut-off until the wiring can be fixed. Chief Cappel said the home’s residents will be displaced for a short period of time. There were no injuries, as the occupants of the home safely evacuated prior to the arrival of police and fire crews. Atlantic Fire was on the scene for about 30-to 45-minutes.

Ric Hanson/photo

RED OAK, Iowa — U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Thursday, announced her office will be holding traveling office hours in every county throughout the state during November and December. *Please Note: Senator Ernst will not be at the traveling office hours*

Representatives from Senator Ernst’s office will be available in all 99 counties to assist Iowans with problems and questions about issues involving Social Security, veterans’ benefits, military affairs, passports, immigration issues, and other federal programs. Constituents seeking assistance with federal agencies who are unable to attend the traveling office hours can contact one of the senator’s offices directly or submit a casework request online at www.Ernst.senate.gov.

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)

If you have any questions, please contact her office. A list of all the area upcoming dates and locations can be found below (in alphabetical order). All times are in the Central Time Zone. Additional dates, places and times can be found HERE.

Adair County

Friday, November 22, 2024; 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM; Adair County Courthouse Board of Supervisor Room (400 Public Sq.), Greenfield, IA.

Adams County

Wednesday, November 13, 2024: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM; Corning Public Library (603 9th St.), Corning, IA.

Audubon County

Thursday, November 14, 2024: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM; Audubon Public Library (401 N Park Pl.), Audubon, IA.

Cass County

Tuesday, November 12, 2024: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM; Atlantic Public Library (507 Popular St.), Atlantic, IA.

Guthrie County

Thursday, November 14, 2024: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM; Mary J. Barnnett Memorial Library   (400 Grand St.), Guthrie Center, IA.

Montgomery County

Wednesday, November 13, 2024; 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM; Red Oak Public Library (400 N. 2nd St.), Red Oak, IA.

Pottawattamie County

Tuesday, November 12, 2024: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM; Walnut City Hall (415 Antique City Drive), Walnut, IA.

Shelby County

Thursday, November 14, 2024: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM; Harlan Chamber of Commerce (1901 Hawkeye Ave.), Harlan, IA.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Wells Fargo is making more cuts to its workforce in West Des Moines. Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) reports that 32 workers will be laid off in late December. That brings the total number of workforce reductions in the metro to 334 this year.

(Radio Iowa) – Creating a field of solar panels to generate power doesn’t have to mean taking farmland out of agricultural production. Mallory Tope, a policy associate with the Center for Rural Affairs, says “dual use solar” is an excellent solution for meeting the growing demand for renewable energy while also utilizing Iowa’s fertile soil for growing crops — and growing other things. “A dual use solar site combines solar generation with agricultural use,” Tope says. “There’s a lot of different options. You could do livestock grazing, crop production, pollinator habitat, beekeeping, but it really just is the essence of using the same land to have ag and solar generation.”

The center is launching an educational campaign designed to reach policymakers at the city, county and state level. “There’s a lot of concern around having solar on agricultural land and taking that land out of production, but with dual use, you’re able to get both and have all the benefits that come with having a solar site,” Tope says. “You get the tax revenues, the landowners get their lease payment, but you still get to use that land for agricultural production.” The Center for Rural Affairs is working to encourage local leaders to consider agri-solar and dual use when drafting or amending ordinances that relate to solar development.

CFRA photo

“It’s a great solution, as a lot of people maybe don’t want to completely take out land for just solar, but with agri-solar, you still can get some use out of it,” Tope says. “It’s kind of like the best of both worlds, having that energy generation and being able to still use your land for some agricultural usage.” To support dual use development, Tope says counties could set additional land-use expectations, adopt zoning approaches that allow for mixed land use, or set up overlay districts for special solar permits.

A report from the Clean Grid Alliance says Iowa has more than 30-million acres of farmland, with about 18-million considered “prime” acres, while about 25-hundred acres statewide are devoted to solar, generating 260-megawatts of power.

(Radio Iowa) – The trapping season opens in Iowa Saturday with a D-N-R expert saying the prospects look good. Furbearer biologist Vince Evelsizer says some of the animals have managed the recent wet to dry weather swings better than others. “The more aquatic fur bear species like beavers, otters, mink and muskrats, they’re more affected by this extreme wet to dry to wet, intra-annual variation that we’re seeing more than ever in Iowa,” he says. “That’s hard on them for rearing litters and overwintering successfully.”

He says the bobcat, coyote and foxes, are less impacted by that, but it can impact their numbers to some extent when it gets really dry out. He says the price of fur is one thing that has trappers more motivated. “There’s a little bit of optimism because of reports of an increased demand and wild furs from more countries than have been at the table the past few years. So the demand is there a bit more than it has been the last few years,” Evelsizer says. But he says you are not going to make a fortune with fur in Iowa.

“Trapping is not a lucrative sport any longer. It’s something to do just out of sheer passion and a way to enjoy the outdoors and learn many things about reading animal sign and just seeing things go on out there while you’re out there,” he says. Evelsizer says it is a venture that doesn’t take a big investment to get started. “It’s one of those activities where you can keep it as simple as you want or as complex as you want,” Evelsizer says. “So generally, for a few hundred dollars you could get enough equipment to get a taste of trapping, If you wanted to get into it even more than you can spend even more.”

(DNR graphic)

Evelsizer says it’s also not hard to learn the basics. “There’s more ways than ever to get into trapping. Probably the number one way is to find a seasoned, experienced trapper that’s and you know that can kind of play a role as being a mentor,” he says. “Another option is to attend one of our beginner Trapper education events that are held annually around the state.” A change was made to the trapping law to try and get younger kids interested. “Youth trappers under age 16 can go trapping with a licensed adult now without having to pay for a youth for harvester license,” Evelsizer says.

He says you can find out more about trapping on the D-N-R’s website.

Windsor Heights, Iowa — Police in the Des Moines suburb of Windsor Heights are looking for a man who robbed a person following a a transaction through a Facebook Marketplace exchange. Investigators say a man met someone at a busy Walmart on 73rd Street for the exchange, Wednesday, when the person he was meeting robbed him of his iPhone.

Police say the victim of this incident did everything right to keep the transaction safe, which includes meeting in broad daylight in a public place, full of foot traffic. Regardless, the suspect displayed a weapon during the interaction by pulling up his shirt and showing the victim a gun was tucked inside his waistband. (Photos via the Windsor Heights PD Facebook page)

The suspect then took the phone and quickly headed for the doors. His face was picked up by security cameras and shared with the public as a person of interest. Anyone who recognizes him is urged to turn him in. Police recommend such transaction be conducted inside a police department, to dissuade any criminal intent involving a weapon.

If you have any information, please contact the Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa or email police@windorheights.org. You may remain anonymous.

CENTERVILLE, Iowa — A district court judge has ruled that the Centerville Community School District must pay more than $113,000 following a lawsuit arguing the district violated Iowa’s Open Meetings and Records Law. According to KCCI-TV, the lawsuit was filed by the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. In September, Appanoose County District Court Judge Mark Kruse ruled in the IFOIC’s favor, stating the district violated the law during a school board meeting on Feb. 3, 2023.

The district has now been ordered to pay $113,258.50 for the IFOIC’s attorneys’ fees and costs. Court documents detailing the judge’s ruling state the school board met on Feb. 3, 2023, to discuss a “Consideration of Employment Resignation Agreement” regarding Ryan Hodges.

Hodges is a former guidance counselor and baseball coach with the district. He was placed on administration leave during an internal investigation in December 2022.

During the Feb. 3 board meeting, court documents revealed the board voted unanimously to go into a closed session almost “immediately after” the meeting started. Those same documents report the closed session went on for about 30 minutes before the board switched back to open session, and unanimously approved a “resignation and release agreement” for Hodges.

The judge’s ruling states that when testifying, the district superintendent testified that “the reason for the closed meeting was to discuss the professional competency of Ryan Hodges.” The judge notes in his ruling that after reading the board minutes, it was “difficult to find any consistent, or meaningful, discussion evaluating the professional competency of Mr. Hodges.” The judge went on to write, “The discussion in general terms centered around the terms of the resignation agreement, avoidance of lawsuits, the leak of the Level 2 report, and how to handle the fallout from the resignation that was expected.”

The judge has ordered the board to unseal the recording and transcripts from the closed session of the meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – Well over half a MILLION Iowans have already voted in this year’s election. Becky Bissell — president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors — says that’s about 25 percent of registered voters.  “We have been seeing some pretty good turnout for absentee voting,” Bissell says. “…That takes a bit of the pressure off of the polling places on election day and a little bit of the pressure off our poll workers.” Nearly a million ballots were cast before election day four years ago, as many Iowa voters opted for mail-in voting during the pandemic.

Bissell, who is the Adams County Auditor, says early voting in Iowa this year is similar to 2016. “For Adams County in 2020, we had about 1200 absentee voters,” Bissell says. “In 2016, we had about 900 and right now we’re on pace for that 900 mark.” The majority of ballots that have already been cast this year are from Iowans who went to their county auditor’s office or a satellite location to vote.

For those who requested an absentee ballot, got it in the mail, but haven’t mailed it back yet — Bissell has some advice. “I just can’t stress enough that if you requested an absentee ballot by mail, make sure you get those in. We no longer go off of the postmark on the envelope. You have to have it in to the auditor’s office by 8 p.m. on Election Day, so if you still have an absentee ballot, make sure you’re getting it turned back in,” Bissell says. “I think your best bet would be to hand deliver it back to the auditor’s office.”

Election workers may begin counting the early “absentee” votes at 7 a.m. on Election Day. That’s the same time all neighborhood precincts open for in-person voting. “We cannot release any results until 8 p.m. after the polls close on Election Day,” Bissell says, “so as soon as 8 p.m. rolls around, you could start to see some absentee results come in.” By 7 a.m. YESTERDAY (Thursday), over 517-thousand early votes had been cast in Iowa.

At some point TODAY (Friday), state officials will release an updated report on the number of registered voters in Iowa.

MORTON MILLS – On October 31 at 10:55 a.m., the Iowa Department of Natural Resources was notified of a potential cattle manure release into an unnamed tributary of Sevenmile Creek in Montgomery County.

Staff from the DNR Field Office in Atlantic responded to the site. Further investigation revealed recent precipitation created runoff from a small feedlot located at 1490 Spruce Avenue, northwest of Morton Mills. The runoff flowed across a vegetated area before entering the unnamed tributary, which flows into Sevenmile Creek.

The manure originated from a small feedlot owned by Duane Bergren, Jr. At the time of the investigation, no fish were observed in the tributary. There is very little flow in the stream, and there was no observed impact in Sevenmile Creek.

An unnamed tributary of Sevenmile Creek in Montgomery County.

Cleanup efforts have begun. Mr. Bergren was assisting with cleanup efforts by constructing earthen berms in the feedlot to prevent any further runoff to the tributary.

Samples have been collected and will be submitted to the State Hygienic Laboratory for analysis.

Any downstream users should take caution and avoid using water from Sevenmile Creek. The Iowa DNR will follow up for further assessment.

If you see dead or stressed fish at a lake or river, call the DNR’s 24-hour spill line at 515-725-8694 as soon as possible. Quick reporting can help DNR staff identify the cause of a fish kill and potentially stop a fish kill in progress.