IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A third judge has ruled that Iowa Department of Transportation officers issued speeding tickets for years without the legal authority to do so. District associate judge Christine Dalton on Wednesday dismissed a ticket issued to Indianola attorney George Dunbar, who was cited for driving five miles over the speed limit along Interstate 80 near Davenport.

Dalton says that until lawmakers changed Iowa code earlier this year, DOT officers were “specifically restricted” for decades from stopping any noncommercial vehicles for traffic violations. Two other judges have made similar rulings in the last year. Attorneys are considering seeking class-action relief for an estimated 20,000 drivers who have been nabbed for speeding by DOT officers.

Iowa lawmakers in May passed a law giving the DOT authority to issue traffic tickets for one year.

Today (Wednesday) at approximately 1:23 PM, the Page County Sheriff’s Office arrested 35-year-old Brent Lee Wagaman of Clarinda on a Page County Warrant for Violation of the Sex Offender Registry – False information.  Wagaman was arrested at the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

Wagaman was unable to post the $2,000 bond and is currently being held in the Page County Jail pending further court proceedings.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and his wife, Mary, will donate $1 million to the University of Iowa’s Children’s Hospital to help researchers working to improve survival rates for premature babies.

The donation will fund the Ferentz Program in Neonatal Research. The Ferentzes are donating the money in honor of their granddaughter, who was born at just 21 weeks old in 2014.

A third candidate who has run for congress before has announced he’ll seek the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s fourth district. Fifty-three-year-old Paul Dahl, of Webster City, is a former United Methodist minister and librarian who’s working now as a bus driver. Dahl says the current political system is unfairly being “ruled by the rich.”

“More middle class members of congress are definitely needed,” Dahl says. Dahl says the “top one percent” in the country “take more than their share of the wealth.” “The sad fact that more millionaires are in congress than ever before shows us that the system is skewed and in need of recalibration,” Dahl says. Dahl supports dramatic reform of the campaign finance system.

Dahl also declared himself a candidate for governor in 2013, but withdrew before the 2014 primary. If he remains in the congressional race through June of 2018, Dahl would likely face two other Democrats seeking the chance to challenge Republican Congressman Steve King. “I abhor politicians that want publicity, no matter if positive or negative in nature, to bring attention to themselves,” Dahl says. “It is high time that the Iowans of the fourth district retire Mr. King from office and replace him with a representative that serves Democrats, independents and Republicans in equal measure.”

In 1994, Dahl ran for congress in Iowa’s old fifth district when then Congressman Fred Grandy did not seek reelection, but Dahl lost in that Democratic Primary to Sheila McGuire.

(Radio Iowa)

It appears technology giant Apple will join the list of companies with data centers in Iowa. The Iowa Economic Development Authority board has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday morning to review an application for Apple, Inc. It’s believed Apple officials plan to build a data center in the Des Moines suburb of Waukee.

The IEDA board will consider incentives for the project. Details about the incentives and potential jobs are not being released prior to meeting. Other tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft already have data centers in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

The Page County Sheriff’s Office released details on an accident that occurred on Monday, August 14th.  At 11:51am that day an accident was reported at the intersection of 314th Street and Teak Avenue about 1 mile east of Braddyville.

The investigation indicated that 29-year-old Mathew G. Herzberg of Clarinda was the driver and only occupant of a 1997 Ford F-150 pickup traveling north on Teak Avenue south of the intersection. 73-year-old Edward H. Burch of rural Braddyville was traveling west on 314th Street in a 2005 Chevy K2500 pickup. Burch was following the long 90 degree curve to the south while Herzberg was crossing the curve and failed to yield when crossing the center line of the curve. Burch’s Chevy struck Herzberg’s Ford in the passenger side. Herzberg then ended up in the west ditch and flipped onto the driver’s side of the truck. Burch’s Chevy remained in the traveled portion of the curve.

Burch refused treatment at the scene of the accident but Herzberg was transported to a hospital in St. Joseph, MO by LifeNet Helicopter Ambulance Service with unknown injuries.

Herzberg’s vehicle sustained an estimated $7000.00 in damage. Burch’s vehicle sustained an estimated $10,000.00 in damage. Both vehicles were towed from the scene. At this time no citations have been issued.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by Braddyville Fire and Rescue, Clarinda Fire Department, Clarinda Ambulance Service, Page County Secondary Roads Department, & LifeNet Helicopter Ambulance service.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday discussed the process of finding a new County Attorney at the end of their meeting. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman informed the board that there are two options to fill the vacancy.

If the board decides to appoint a replacement to fill out the term until the next election, they won’t be able to officially appoint that person until the office is vacated January 1, 2018. Current County Attorney Dave Wiederstein submitted his resignation effective on that date in response to the county changing the position to full-time. The board plans to get an official signed resignation from Wiederstein to approve at their meeting next Thursday.

If appointment is the route the board takes, then the public would have a 14-day window after appointment to submit a petition for a special election to fill the position.

The other issue that will need to be dealt with if they do appoint a replacement will be to change their status to full-time once they begin. When the decision was made to change the position to full-time the effective date was January 1, 2019 because that would line up with the next election cycle.  Auditor Sunderman said he believes an effective date would have to be agreed on with the new Attorney and officially changed by the board.

Board Chair Gaylord Schelling said they do intend to take up decision on appointment or special election at their next meeting on August 31st.

A woman from Cass County was arrested Monday night on a burglary charge. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports 22-year old Marin Dawn Karns, of Anita, was taken into custody at around 8:50-p.m., for Burglary in the 1st Degree. The woman was arrested after a Deputy was dispatched to the Motel 6, near Avoca, for a reported incident of assault. The victim of the assault was a 50-year old woman from Avoca. Karns was taken into custody without incident. The report said Karns suffered an apparent minor injury during the incident.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors held their regular meeting on Wednesday in the board room at the Cass County Courthouse. Among the items the board discussed was contract bids for the gray water transmission project for the Elite Octane Ethanol Plant site. Dave Sturm of Snyder and Associates informed the board that out of six bids taken on the project the low bid came from Crow River Construction out of New London, MN. Their bid came in at $884,020 which was under engineers’ estimates of $900,000.  Board member Mark Wedemeyer questioned if they would be able to go with the next bid because it came from a company in Iowa and was just $6,000 more. Sturm stated didn’t see any reason to not go with the low bid.

He said they haven’t worked with Crow River before but his discussions with other communities brought nothing but positive comments on them. The board eventually all agreed and later unanimously approved a resolution awarding the contract to Crow River Construction. A timeline for the project will be determined soon.

The board also approved changes to the Glacier Road paving project that is currently underway. Sturm stated that the road culverts that they were intending to salvage or extend are not in proper condition to be saved. During work it was discovered that a number of them were cracked and don’t match up properly with the intended extensions. The board unanimously agreed to approve the changes to order new culverts for the project which will increase the cost by $20,188.

In other business the board agreed to change the speed limit on the county’s portion of Troy Road and Cass Street south of Griswold city limits to 25mph. The City of Griswold already approved the change on their portion of the road and the board had agreed to follow suit with their decision on their portion.

The board also approved plans for a bridge replacement for bridge #433 on north Olive Street over a tributary to Buck Creek, about a mile south of I-80. The project hasn’t been put on the DOT’s short list for bid letting but Cass County Engineer Technician Dennis Vogl said the county wants to have the plans shelf ready for whenever that happens.  He said they hope to have the project completed before they do an overlay project.

w/ Chris Parks

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