(Radio Iowa) – The state is holding a series of town hall meetings to discuss the condition of Iowa’s levees and other flood mitigation efforts. The meetings are being held by the Office of Levee Safety, within the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Mark Newhall heads the office, which was created by the legislature last year. Newhall says the town halls serve multiple purposes, but most importantly, he says, is to hear from people working and living in and around the levees. “Meet with the levee sponsors, their financial agents, the county emergency managers, and if they’re available — the people living and working behind the levees to get a better understanding of the challenges they’re facing,” Newhall says, “whether it’s a bureaucratic or a financial issue and to get a better read.”

A state study of the levee system in 2021 and 2022 helped identify trouble areas in need of repair along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Of the 115 segments assessed, Newhall says nearly 48% were rated unacceptable during U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ inspections.”A levee could either be rated acceptable, minimally acceptable, or unacceptable,” Newhall says, “so the fact that almost half of the levees we looked at were rated as unacceptable caught a lot of people’s attention.” He says the money aspect of the study was also eye-opening. “We dug into their financials over a five-year period from 2017 to 2021,” Newhall says, “and we found that over half of the districts we looked at, their average annual revenues were less than their average annual expenses.”

Newhall says part of the levee improvement program is developing a rating system to better identify the most at-risk areas. He says a program launched last year includes matching funds over the next five years to address maintenance and repairs. “The state of Iowa comes in with a 50% match to the local levee sponsor to help them address issues with their levees,” he says. “The way the program is designed is that we get $5 million annually through gaming revenues.”

Newhall says one advantage to the gaming revenues is that any unused dollars can be rolled over into the following year. The 16 town hall meetings started last month and will run through March. See the full schedule here:

https://homelandsecurity.iowa.gov/levee-safety/

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports 27-year-old Megan Elizabeth Bando, of Creston, was arrested Tuesday night, for OWI/1st offense. Bando was taken to the Union County Jail and later released after posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

WATERLOO, Iowa (KCRG) – Police say they’re investigating after possible human remains were found at the Waterloo Waste Treatment Plant. Officers were called to the plant, at 2550 Kenyon Avenue, at around 12:15 p.m. on Monday after the remains were found. Police said the remains will be taken to the Iowa Medical Examiner’s office for identification and cause of death.

No additional details have been released. The investigation remains ongoing.

CHARTER OAK, Iowa (KCAU) – Charter Oak residents were left displeased when they learned their post office was closed temporarily due to falling bricks from the neighboring building. Now, the city has made a move. At the Charter Oak city council meeting Monday night, the city made the decision to red tag the buildings, closing them off due to safety concerns.

Going forward, the city said it will stay in contact with the property owner in order to come to a suitable resolution for everyone.  But now the city’s main concern is getting the town’s post office reopened.

With the town’s post office temporarily closed, residents have to travel to the neighboring town of Ricketts to get their mail.

(Radio Iowa) – Woodbury County Attorney James Loomis has cleared two Sioux City police officers in the fatal shooting of a man in the parking ramp of the Hard Rock Casino on January 8th. Loomis says 55-year-old Salvador Perez-Garcia of Sioux City wanted a confrontation with officers.”His violent aggression was planned and targeted at law enforcement. His attack on officers with the Sioux City Police Department placed those officers lives in immediate danger. The use of deadly force was justified to put an end to that immediate danger,” he says.

Loomis says Loomis says Perez-Garcia had been banned from the casino in June of 2023 because of thefts. Loomis says he was seen smoking was believed to be meth on a casino security camera before driving to the police station and then returning to the parking garage. He then rammed the car of an officer who was there on an unrelated matter. “The collision was violent enough to deploy the airbags of the officers patrol car and Mr. Perez Garcia’s pickup truck. The collision disabled the officers patrol car and shoved it into a concrete wall the officer was slightly injured and trapped inside his patrol car,” he says.

Loomis says Perez-Garcia rammed a second patrol car, and then came at officers with a chain that had a metal object on the end. “Mr. Perez Garcia attacked one officer by swinging his weapon wildly at him. The officer retreated. Another officer attempted to go hands on with Mr. Perez-Garcia to get him into custody, but Mr. Perez-Garcia attacked him with his weapon as well, causing him to retreat,” Loomis says. “The two officers who were attacked with the weapon responded by firing their handguns.”

Officers fired eleven rounds, and Perez-Garcia died at the scene. Police Chief Rex Mueller says the two officers have returned to duty. “It can’t be understated how difficult it is for officers to have to deal with this,” he says. “Nobody wants to enter a law enforcement career and have to take somebody else’s life. But you know, these officers did exactly what they were trained to do. And there’s a recovery process and we are watching out for them and caring for them, but I can’t say it’s an easy process.”

Mueller and Loomis both extended their condolences to Perz-Garcia’s family.