(Radio Iowa) – Authorities are investigating a home explosion that injured two people in northwest Iowa. The explosion was reported just after 9 a.m. Monday at an address 2 miles northeast of Ottosen, in southwestern Kossuth County. Upon arrival, emergency workers confirmed two people were inside the home at the time and began a search.

44-year-old Catherine Fleischhacker was located under debris on the west side of the home and freed by Fire and EMS personnel. She was transported to Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona before being life-flighted to MercyOne Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City with undetermined injuries. 21-year-old Brett Lanning was able to crawl out of the debris on his own. He was taken to the Humboldt County Hospital for examination there.

The state fire Marshall’s office has been called in to determine what may have caused the explosion.

(Radio Iowa) – Libertarian candidates for three Iowa congressional seats who’ve been removed from the ballot vow to run write-in campaigns if the state’s highest court rules against them. In late August, a state panel ruled the Libertarian Party did not follow state law when it held county conventions on January 15th, the same day as the party’s caucuses. The Iowa Supreme Court’s justices heard legal arguments in the case this (Tuesday) morning.

Marco Battaglia of Des Moines is the candidate Libertarians nominated to run in Iowa’s third congressional district. Battaglia told reporters he took the time to make sure he did things the right way and the Republican Party’s challenge of his candidacy is unfair. “If they use lawfare to take me off the ballot, I will stay in until the end of the race regardless,” Battaglia says. “I plan to do that no matter what happened today or yesterday or tomorrow.” Charles Aldrich of Clarion, the Libertarian candidate in the fourth congressional district, is striking a hopeful tone about today’s (Tuesday’s) legal arguments.

“The justices had a lot of questions for both sides,” Aldrich told reporters, “so they were paying attention.”Alan Ostergren  is the attorney who represented the Republicans who challenged the Libertarian congressional candidates. Ostergren told the justices the Libertarian Party failed to follow the procedural steps for its county conventions. “They’re like an insurance policy for the elections process. They’re so that elections officials, when they have to make decisions on a quick timetable, know that there is regularity in the process,” Ostergren said. “…If the court says: ‘Well, we’re not going to enforce that ’cause, gosh it seems harsh,’ then there is no logical stopping place.”

Jennifer DeKoch, a lawyer representing one of the Libertarians kicked off the fall ballot, told the justices a ruling against her client would lead to similar challenges of other candidates. “The fundamental question before this court is does the failure to wait 181 minutes after caucus to begin convention justify kicking Libertarian candidates off the ballot and violating Iowa voters’ constitutional rights to political opportunity?” she asked rhetorically.

The Iowa Supreme Court’s chief justice indicated the court will issue its decision before tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:59 p.m. That is the deadline Iowa’s secretary of state has established for certifying the ballots in the first, third and fourth congressional districts — and getting those ballots printed on time.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests:

23-year-old Chase Jonathan Ives, of Bellevue, NE, was arrested last Friday (Sept. 6th) on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. Ives was taken into custody at the Sarpy County, NE Jail. His bond was set at $5,000.

35-year-old Christopher Lee Petersen, of Glenwood, was arrested early Sunday morning, for OWI/1st offense, two counts Possession of Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $3,300.

And, 37-year-old Reynaldo Domingo Rivera, of Bellevue, NE, was arrested Monday at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Willful Injury. His bond was set at $10,000.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman was arrested on a warrant at around Noon today (Tuesday) in Red Oak. The Red Oak Police Department reports 32-year-old Maura Elizabeth Jones, of Red Oak, was taken into custody on a Montgomery County warrant for Impersonating a Public Official, an aggravated misdemeanor. Jones was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Transportation Commission today (Tuesday) discussed an expansion of a long-time economic development program to help communities hit by disasters. The D-O-T’s Deb Arp says the RISE program was created during the economic downturn in the 1980’s. “Iowa’s economy needed revitalization at that time, and through more diversification and more support for development in non metropolitan areas, and that became a driving force through some of the legislative achievements through that period. And in 1985 rise was one of those,” Arp says. RISE stands for Rebuild Iowa’s Sound Economy, and provides funding to extend roadways for potential new businesses or to help businesses which promise to create new jobs.

Arp says the Business Relocation and Job Retention program would meet the guidelines of RISE. “We feel that the impacts of this program and on revitalizing a community could be similar, and looked at similar as the University Research Park category,” she says, “where we may not have specific job commitments, we don’t have a specific company we are assisting, but we are approaching that level of impact, economic development wise, in a depressed area, that it’s worthy of a higher level of support.”
Arp says it would not be used to rebuild flooded roads — but would help businesses relocate to stay viable.

“A community should be in a county covered by a proclamation of disaster emergency by the governor and also a presidential disaster declaration,” Arp says. “There must be flooded businesses. In this case, we’re talking about a flood. Flooded businesses requesting permanent relocation outside of the Flood Hazard Area.” Arp says the applications would have to go through a scoring process to determine they met the guidelines.

“Documentation of business interest in relocation and the economic distress of the community would be required to be submitted with the application. Roadways are located outside of the flood hazard area, and rise participation would be held to 70 percent of eligible project costs,” she says. The D-O-T staff will now put together the language to create the program and bring it back to the Transportation Commission for a vote to approve it. Arp says Rock Valley is one community that could use the program if it is approved.

(Radio Iowa) – A former southeast Iowa middle school teacher is being sentenced after sending improper messages to a student six years ago. Forty-two-year-old Zachary Barr of Ottumwa will serve a pair of five-year concurrent prison sentences after pleading guilty to enticing a minor and sexual exploitation by a school employee. In 2018, Barr, then a sixth-grade teacher at Evans Middle School, sent illicit messages to a 13-year-old girl. As part of the investigation, officers took control of the girl’s social media accounts. Their conversations with Barr became overtly sexual, prompting his arrest.

In addition to his prison time, Barr will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, received a weekly update from County Engineer Karen Albert. She mentioned the Secondary Roads Department has been hauling road rock and did some cold patchwork on certain roads over the past week. She said also, surveyors will be in the area next week (the weeks of Sept. 16^th). Surveying two bridges.

Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert, 9-10-24

H-34/Nature Avenue to Q Avenue, she said is being widened, and work is progressing on that project before it is completed.

She said also her department continues to meet with FEMA on a bi-weekly basis with regard to damages from the May, 2024 severe storm event that caused damaged to some of the county road infrastructure. FEMA was out last week conducting a site inspection, according to Engineer Albert.