A restaurant in north-central Iowa is being crowned this year’s king of the breaded pork tenderloin. The Iowa Pork Producers Association announced today (Friday) the Grid Iron Grill in Webster City has the state’s best pork sandwich for 2017. Owner Burke Risetter is thrilled with the title and says it all starts with top quality Iowa-grown pork. “It’s an everyday process,” Risetter says. “We shop a certain product, a center-cut pork loin product is what we’re always looking for. It just yields out better. It’s got a great flavor.”

There were more than three-thousand nominations this year for 271 different establishments across Iowa. A panel judged 43 restaurants this summer on the quality of the pork, taste, physical characteristics and eating experience. Risetter says his staff has been specially-trained to make this Iowa delicacy. “We treat it with a lot of TLC as far as the trimming and the cutting and the tenderizing,” Risetter says. “Just from start to finish, it’s handled with care. We’ve learned from some of the best people in this pork business in making the tenderloin, some secrets that they’ve taught us.”

The Grid Iron Grill first opened for business in 2008. The eatery serves about 400 tenderloins each week and Risetter says winning this state title is a tremendous honor. He notes, he knew the winner was being named today. “I’m on Cloud Nine,” he says. “I heard that and couldn’t wait and hardly slept last night. My Cubs won last (Thursday) night and this honor this morning, I don’t know what’s next. I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be more proud of our team here at the restaurant.”

The Grid Iron Grill will receive a check for $500, a plaque and a large banner to display. The runner-up was the Northside Café in Winterset. It will receive a check for $250 and a plaque. The Buffalo Tavern in Burlington, Lake View’s Thirsty Carp and the Double Dip in Chariton rounded out the top five finalists.

(Radio Iowa)

Democrats gathered in Des Moines Friday for a discussion about the future of their party. The event was organized by “New Democracy.” The group describes its mission as making an appeal to voters who are Republicans or not aligned with either of the country’s main political parties. Former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius says Democrats have to start explaining how government can make a positive difference in the lives of Americans.

“You can’t cede territory,” Sebelius says. “You can’t just say: ‘Well, I’ll only campaign in the seven urban counties where 70 percent of the vote comes from,’ so you start there,” Sebelius says. “…People want to know you’re more like them than different from them.”

Maryland Congressman John Delaney has already announced he intends to run for president in 2020. He says rather than present “a thousand” issues to voters, the party should focus a simple message about “jobs, pay and the dignity of work.”

“Sixty percent of kids in this country live in a county where there’s no demonstrated upward economic mobility,” Delaney says. “That means the American Dream’s really not alive in those places. They care about that stuff and that’s what our message should be focused on.”

Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander ran a close but losing race for the U.S. Senate in 2016. Kander says politicians should stop trying to “crack the code.” “I tell Democratic politicians all the time…’People can tell if you’ve taken a position and you’re acting,'” Kander says. “Don’t act. Just go out and say what you believe.”

The three Democratic politicians made their comments during a joint appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program Friday night.

(Radio Iowa)

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Authorities in Montgomery County report a woman was arrested on an assault charge, Friday evening. 68-year old Andrea Jeanette Holldorf, of Grant, was taken into custody by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies at around 6:50-p.m.  Holldorf was arrested for Simple Assault following an incident that occurred in the 300 block of Jefferson Avenue, in Grant. She was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:55 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The former manager of a program that oversees Iowa livestock farms and manages their millions of gallons of manure says a state fund established for the program has been illegally tapped for other uses. Gene Tinker was laid off in August after 14 years as the coordinator of animal feeding operations at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. He says there should be plenty of money in the program’s fund to pay his salary if officials followed a state law that mandates the money not be diverted.

ALBIA, Iowa (AP) — A former southern Iowa teacher has pleaded guilty to charges related to the sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old girl. Zachary Thomas Simpson, a 29-year-old former teacher and coach in the Albia Community School District, pleaded guilty Friday to sexual exploitation by a school employee and violating two no-contact orders. Police arrested Simpson in June after the girl reported having sex with him at least twice. Simpson was sentenced to five year in prison with the possibility of parole.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A woman accused of abducting her three daughters in northwest Iowa has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping charges. The Sioux City Journal reports that 25-year-old Danica Arzaga entered a written plea Thursday to three counts. The children previously been removed from Arzaga’s custody and placed in another relative’s care.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police say officers have arrested a Marion man who left his baby son in a van at a Cedar Rapids restaurant parking lot before returning hours later. Police say Trevor Brickson pulled into the lot Wednesday afternoon, spent 20 minutes hanging around the restaurant and then left. Station KGAN reports that restaurant workers found the baby 15 minutes later and used a pry tool to get the baby out. Brickson’s attorney didn’t immediately return a call Friday.

Due to the expected rains Saturday, the CCHS Foundation’s Trailing for Tatas breast cancer awareness walk at Lake Anita has been cancelled. For those who ordered shirts, they will be available for pick-up at Casey’s in Anita. Please contact Dawn Marnin, CCHS Foundation Director, at 712-243-7409 if you are unable to pick up your shirt.

Officials with the Lenox Community School District have announced classes will dismiss at 1-p.m. due to an alleged threat that apparently came in the form of a note. Parents are requested not to pickup up their children until 1-p.m.  The school was said to be in lockdown until 1-p.m.  No one is allowed to enter or exit the building until classes are dismissed. It’s not clear what type of threat was made.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A woman accused of abducting her three daughters in northwest Iowa has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping charges. The Sioux City Journal reports that 25-year-old Danica Arzaga entered a written plea Thursday to three counts.  Authorities say Arzaga took the two 8-year-olds and the 4-year-old from their home in Royal on Sept. 19. The children were found abandoned in Sanborn later that day. She was arrested Sept. 20 in Sioux City. The children previously been removed from Arzaga’s custody and placed in another relative’s care.

A northwest Iowa woman who was a victim of the mass shooting in Las Vegas on October 1st will be laid to rest Saturday. The funeral for 33-year old Carly Kreibaum, of Sutherland, will be held Saturday morning at 10:30 at the R.L. Johannsen Center in Sutherland, with burial at Waterman Cemetery in Sutherland. Visitation with the family will be held today (Friday) from 4:00 until 8:00 pm, also at the R.L. Johannsen Center.

Kreibaum leaves behind a husband and two young children. A Fundraising Dinner for the Kreibaum family will be held Sunday from 10:30 until 1:00 at the Johannsen Center in Sutherland. In addition, Security State Bank in Sutherland has opened an account for donations to the family.

(Radio Iowa)

About a dozen people who are buried in the Clarinda Cemetery will be revived by historic re-enactors this weekend as Page County residents portray everyday citizens from the community’s past. Trish Okamoto, curator of the Nodaway Valley Historical Museum, says this year’s cast of characters includes three Civil War veterans who survived the Andersonville, Georgia, prisoner-of-war camp where the Confederate Army held Union soldiers.  “They’re buried about two sections away from each other, the three gentlemen,” Okamoto says. “Halfway in-between, there will be an old card table, like an old wooden table out on the front lawn, as old men used to do, sit around telling stories. So, the three gentlemen will be there telling their story and as the story progresses, of course, the gentlemen pass through history. So that one will get up and walk away, and there will be one left.”

Okamoto says 11 former residents will be featured during the cemetery walk. She says doing the research on each of the departed takes about a year.  “And the stories come from various places,” she says. “Old obituaries, old records, to crumpled up pieces of newspaper that come in with other artifacts into the museum that we open and there’s a story.”

Okamoto will be portraying a country school teacher from the 19th century named Phoebe Griffith who claims to have met a mermaid while touring Bermuda. A sea maiden may or may not make an appearance this weekend. Okamoto stresses this is not a scary event. The annual cemetery walk, a fundraiser for the museum, includes no ghosts or zombies.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Sarah Boden, Iowa Public Radio)