The Iowa Senate’s Republican leader is changing course, announcing he WILL — by the end of the week — release a report on the internal investigation into alleged sexual harassment of the employees he supervises. Senate G-O-P Leader Bill Dix also has dropped plans to pay an “outside organization” for advice on human resources issues. A former lawmaker who once led the H-R department of the state’s largest insurance company has volunteered to offer Dix her counsel for free. Governor Kim Reynolds says former Iowa Senate President Mary Kramer — who’s also a former U.S. Ambassador — is a “good choice.” “I think it’s really positive steps in the right direction and I want to commend him on that,” Reynolds says.

Last week, the Republican governor and Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer called on Dix to release any details about sexual harassment in the Senate G-O-P’s office that were not revealed during a recent trial. Former Senate G-O-P communications director Kirsten Anderson and three people who still work for Dix testified about a “toxic work environment,” but Dix last week said the investigation of that environment should be kept secret because there was an “expectation of privacy” for senate employees. Dix today (Tuesday) has also agreed to “reengage” with Upmeyer, the top Republican in the legislature, on the hiring of an H-R manager for the legislature. The governor says she “appreciates” Dix making these changes. “That’s a step in the right direction,” Reynolds says. “I think releasing the information this Friday is a step in the right direction.”

Reynolds has talked privately with Dix about these issues, but the governor told reporters she has not seen or read the report Dix plans to make public. Dix released a written statement this (Tuesday) morning, saying he’s bringing Kramer in as a volunteer advisor to assist in efforts “to improve the workplace culture.” Kramer released a written statement, too, saying she was dismayed to watch the situation in the senate unfold and she has concluded “there is serious need for culture reform in the Iowa Senate.”

(Radio Iowa)

Two men, credited with saving the lives of strangers, will be honored during Friday’s Iowa-Nebraska football game in Lincoln. The recognition of “citizen heroes” from each state has become a halftime tradition in the annual battle between the Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers. Mark Tauscheck, spokesperson for the Iowa Red Cross, says this year’s Iowa honoree is 40-year-old Jerry Goeders of Dayton. Goeders and his family were at Lake Rathbun in southern Iowa this summer when they heard a girl screaming across the lake. She was struggling in the water with no one near her to help. “She was only about 15 feet from the shore, but she could not touch and was flailing and struggling to keep her head above water,” Tauscheck said. “Jerry Goeders’ wife, Stacey, said ‘you’ve got to go.’ So, Jerry took off running down the hill and jumped in and Stacey said her husband swam for probably four minutes or so to get to her. He was pretty exhausted by the time he got to her.”

Jerry Goeders

Goeders grabbed the girl, 8-year-old Jersie Ostino, and got her safely to shore. “He said he’ll never forget getting his foot to a rock and feeling that rock with his big toe,” Tauscheck said. “He said that’s when he knew he and the girl were going to be OK, but it was a very frightening experience for him as well.”

This year’s Nebraska citizen hero is 26-year-old Geoffrey Bennett, a soldier in the Army National Guard, who moved with his family to Norfolk, Nebraska from Illinois as a teenager. Bennett was driving through Omaha last December, in a snowstorm, when he stopped to help a woman near her broken down car. The 34-year-old woman had been critically injured when she was struck by passing vehicle. “(Bennett) showed up and saw how bad she was bleeding. He used his own belt as a tourniquet on her leg to slow the bleeding down. Authorities credit him with saving her life,” Tauscheck said.

Geoffrey Bennett photo

Bennett stayed with the woman and her friend, a 28-year-old man who was also badly injured, until an ambulance arrived. The woman’s leg was later amputated. Bennett graduated from high school in Norfolk before attending Morningside College in Sioux City where he was a pitcher on the baseball team. Bennett joined the Army National Guard in 2011. He recently started a new job as a technician at Camp Dodge in Johnston (Iowa). He previously served as perimeter security guard at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. Earlier this year, fans of both schools were invited to nominate residents of Iowa and Nebraska for this “Citizen Hero” award. Staff and volunteers from the American Red Cross selected the winners.

(Radio Iowa)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say five more people from the Dubuque area have pleaded guilty to participation in a phone call scam. The five entered the pleas over the past week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors said in a news release Tuesday that the five are 34-year-old Paul Chase, 20-year-old Morgan Cornell, 23-year-old Payton McCarville, 32-year-old Tiffany Reynolds and 21-year-old Joshua Willis. Sentencing dates have not been set yet.

Prosecutors say the scheme consisted of phone calls to elderly people across the country, telling victims that relatives were jailed and that money should be wired to free them. All five admitted picking up the wire transfers. Earlier this year five other people pleaded guilty in Cedar Rapids to similar or related charges.

Members of the Griswold School Board, Monday evening, acted on personnel changes. Superintendent Dave Henrichs said there was one new hire. Steve Vance was hired as Assistant High School Wrestling Coach. They accepted the resignation of Ashley Cibic as Elementary School Para-Professional, and Troy Quick as Midle School/High School PE Teacher and Coach. The changes are effective at the end of the current school year.

The Griswold School Board also received updates from KPE and Estes, the two firms helping with the District’s building projects. The timeline for the projects include: a pre-bid meeting 3:30-p.m. on Dec. 5th; Bid openings on Dec. 21st at 2-p.m., and consideration of the approval of bids contracts by the Board on Jan.15th. Construction would begin as soon as the weather allows. And, the Griswold Board had asked for bids on either a Suburban and/or a van. They received two bids back on the potential purchase Suburban, but none on the van. Since the District may need an additional vehicle to transported Special Education Students, and since Suburbans cost more than a van, the Board instructed Henrichs to approach other dealerships and send out another request for bids, especially with regard to vans. With the bidding process, Henrichs said they gave the dealers the option of trade-in allowance for the van the District is trying to sell, but they did not received any outright bids to buy it. That process will also start anew.

Last Summer, the District’s sign was damaged during a storm. The District has since received an insurance payment amounting to $3,200 for a replacement. Henrichs said the Board wants to hear from some sign manufacturers during their next meeting, to learn more about what’s available, what the restrictions are, and related issues.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Student veterans from Nebraska and Iowa have joined together in a nine-day march to raise awareness of veteran suicide ahead of a football game between the two universities. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the student veteran organizations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Iowa organized the 347-mile march from Iowa City, Iowa to Lincoln, Nebraska. The march started Wednesday and will conclude Thursday, just before Friday’s football game. They passed through Atlantic, Monday.

The groups hope to bring attention to the problem of veteran suicide. Studies show that about 20 veterans die by suicide every day. This is the second year the groups have marched. Veterans march about 20 miles every morning and afternoon while carrying 20 pound (more than 9 kilogram) backpacks with their personal belongings.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports that at around 8:50-p.m., Monday, the Clarinda Academy informed authorities that two male students had absconded from campus. Both students were found together at approximately 7:00 a.m. today (Tuesday), around Schenck Road and the U.S. Highway 71 and State Highway 2 East bypass.

The students were taken into custody by the Clarinda Police Department with assistance from personnel at the Clarinda Co-Op and a bus driver from the Clarinda Community School District. The two students have been returned to authorities at the Clarinda Academy. One student is a 15-year-old African-American male from Omaha, Nebraska, the second student is a 16-year-old Hispanic White Male from San Diego, California.

The Clarinda Academy is a residential foster care facility that provides residential treatment to at-risk and delinquent male and female youth from several states.

The harvest of soybeans in the state is done, while work remains when it comes to corn. The U-S-D-A crop report released Monday shows most of the beans are in the bin — while 92 percent of the corn has been gleaned from the fields. The report says the northeast, southwest and south-central sections of Iowa continue to lag behind in the corn harvest — with 15 percent of the corn still remaining to be harvested in those areas. The corn harvest that was hampered by weather, remains eight days behind the five-year average. The bean harvest had been very near the end heading into last week — as the report last Monday showed that there were only three-percent of the soybeans remaining in the fields. That was five weeks behind the five-year average.

(Radio Iowa)

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A man in Creston reported to the Police Department there, Monday, that someone had stolen his wallet. The wallet was missing from the area of Union and Elm Streets, and may have been taken sometime between Sunday and Monday. Inside the wallet were several items of identification, bank cards and cash. The loss was estimated at $200.