United Group Insurance

Iowa Board suspends license of a Glenwood Dentist found guilty of sexually assaulting a patient

News

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

GLENWOOD, Iowa — The Iowa Dental Board suspended a Glenwood dentist’s license following his conviction for assaulting a patient. 65-year-old Dr. Calvin Weber was charged with improper sexual contact with, or making lewd, lascivious or improper remarks or advances to, a patient. A judge found him guilty, and sentenced Weber to pay an $855 fine and time served.

The Emergency Adjudicative Order prohibits Dr. Weber from practicing dentistry until a hearing is held in his case. The Board called Dr. Weber an “imminent threat to public safety.”

In the 1990s, Weber lost his license to administer anesthesia after three female patients said he inappropriately touched them during their appointments. The board disciplined him for “gross immorality or dishonorable or unprofessional conduct.”

A hearing on his license was tentatively scheduled for January 19th, but upon request, a Continuance was granted until further order of the Board.

Professional explorer brings his adventure stories to central Iowa

News

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines Civic Center is launching a new Explorer Series tomorrow (Tuesday) night that will include in-person talks from a NASA engineer who puts robots on Mars, a deep-ocean underwater photographer, and Mike Libecki, who describes his life as a National Geographic Adventurer the following way. “I’m a professional climber and explorer, and you know, you could even call it a professional child. I absolutely love what I do,” Libecki says. “I travel around the world climbing and adventuring, supporting science, going to places no one’s ever been to before. Honestly, it’s a dream come true.”

Libecki will present what he’s calling “Paddling with Polar Bears.” It documents one small part of his exploits in the high Arctic, though his job has taken him to all seven continents, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and the peaks of Nepal and Peru. “The best part about my lifestyle is getting to go on these expeditions and travel around the world, but the second best part is coming back to share these stories,” Libecki says. “These are places that few people get to experience and to bring these emotional stories back and share them with people, it’s one of the best parts of my life.”

Lebecki talked with Radio Iowa from his rural home in the mountains of Utah, a place he says is only accessible by snowmobile or skis during the winter. While Iowans who long for adventure in their lives might think this state has little to offer, Libecki disagrees, saying Iowans can use the current environmental challenges to steel themselves for even more harsh conditions elsewhere on the globe. “Iowa is a great place to train for Antarctica and Siberia in the winter, I mean, from what I understand it gets pretty darn cold out there,” Libecki says. “These adventures take me to places with minus 60-70 degrees where we’re climbing and adventuring, so we’re up against the most difficult challenges and climates on the planet.”

Saying he’s obsessed with climbing the world’s most remote and untouched mountains, Libecki says he’s completed more than 100 major global expeditions, reaching summits from Afghanistan to Antarctica, Greenland to Guyana, Siberia to Socotra, and most places in between. “I’ve got some pretty tough criteria how I define an expedition, and that’s being 100% self-reliant in places you can’t be rescued,” Libecki says. “I have a question that I ask myself and that’s why ration passion? The time is now and we’ve got to live this life. It’s an absolute gift to have enthusiasm about something in life.”

Libecki’s appearance on Tuesday night will be followed by, “Beyond Earth: The Quest for Life on an Icy Moon” on March 21st, and “Aboard SeaLegacy 1: Documenting our Blue Planet” on May 13th.

Waterloo considers merging high schools

News

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) -The Waterloo Community School District is considering merging its two largest high schools into one. Waterloo East and Waterloo West’s buildings are a combined 160 years old and the district hopes to combine its nearly two-thousand high schoolers under one new roof by 2028. The plan also involves renovating both the old schools for lower grades and raises some financial concerns for residents like Michael Chapman.”I’d love to see a new building, that’d be great, but we’re not putting in a new building, we’re actually spending the same money twice, which is where my concern lies,” he says. “No matter which way it was sugarcoated, it still seems like twice the amount of money’s going to be spent.” Chapman has kids in the district and says he hasn’t had a chance to make his voice heard.

“I think it should go back to the drawing board. This current idea that we’re going into was kind of done maybe behind doors, maybe without a lot of community input. This is rearranging how our entire school system is to operate,” Chapman says. Renovation costs for both high schools are comparable to the new facility. A committee has been planning for more than a decade to convert the old schools for 8th and 9th grades, with the new center for grades ten through 12. A combined school would make Waterloo’s the 10th largest high school in Iowa.

Legislator says DCI went ‘rogue’ in sports book probe of UI, ISU athletes

Sports

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

The leader of Democrats in the Iowa House says there’s troubling testimony in recently revealed court documents about the state investigation of sports gambling among Iowa and Iowa State athletes. House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst (KON-first) says the way the Division of Criminal Investigation appears to have initiated the probe raises questions.

According to court documents, a long-time D-C-I agent who asked to be taken off the case, alleged the agency had conducted an illegal search of the athletes’ online bets because it had not obtained a warrant. Konfrst says that’s scary.

Konfrst, who was asked about the sports gambling investigation on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S, says the D-C-I must account for its conduct.

Reynolds told Radio Iowa state law requires the D-C-I to monitor sports gambling in the state and agents don’t check with her when they’re doing their jobs. Reynolds declined to comment further on the cases since many have yet to be resolved in court. The governor did say the state’s public safety commissioner is getting ready to provide some information about the D-C-I’s investigation.

House bill addresses lagging pay for county attorneys

News

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – A bill ready for debate in the Iowa House would get rid of the legal limits on the salaries of county attorneys. Republican Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant says there’s currently no limit on pay for the county attorneys in Polk and Linn Counties, but the other 97 can’t be paid more that a judge. “Under current law, salaries of county attorneys are limited and tied to that of a district court judge,” Lohse says. “Salary must be between 45% and 100% of the judge’s pay.” Lohse says getting rid of those caps will help counties recruit and retain lawyers in the county attorneys offices, especially in rural areas.

“Also allowing them to potentially earn more than the judge in front of whom they’re practing,” Lohse says. “That just highlights the problem with judicial pay that we need to remedy.” House Judiciary Committee chairman Steven Holt of Denison agrees. “We definitely need to deal with judicial pay, the sooner the better,” Holt said. “Our judicial pay is under everybody around us and that needs to change, without a doubt.”

Iowa judges are paid less than judge in every state that borders Iowa. Iowa judges make 16-thousand dollars less per year than South Dakota judges. The salaries for judges in Nebraska are 38-thousand dollars higher.

House Democratic Leader says it appears DCI went ‘rogue’ in sports gambling probe of UI, ISU athletes

News

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The leader of Democrats in the Iowa House says there’s troubling testimony in recently revealed court documents about the state investigation of sports gambling among Iowa and Iowa State athletes. House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst) says the way the Division of Criminal Investigation appears to have initiated the probe raises questions.

“Obviously it’s frustrating to see there’s this kind of dysfunction, this kind of lack of accountability in an agency as important as this agency,” Konfrst says. According to court documents, a long-time D-C-I agent who asked to be taken off the case alleged the agency had conducted an illegal search of the athletes’ online bets because it had not obtained a warrant. Konfrst says that’s scary.

“They did that without permission in a way that can be really scary when you think about our liberties,” Konfrst says. “…Data privacy is something that Iowans are really concerned about and we need to look into.” Konfrst, who was asked about the sports gambling investigation on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S, says the D-C-I must account for its conduct.

“If this is the kind of place where people can go rogue and start doing things like, you know, illegally listening to other people, doing illegal searches, things like that — what are the consequences?” Konfrst asked. “…I heard the governor said it’s not up to her to address this issue, but she’s the leader, her job is to hold people accountable and I think Iowans are noticing.”

Reynolds told Radio Iowa state law requires the D-C-I to monitor sports gambling in the state and agents don’t check with her when they’re doing their jobs. Reynolds declined to comment further on the cases since many have yet to be resolved in court. The governor did say the state’s public safety commissioner is getting ready to provide some information about the D-C-I’s investigation.

Wheel/tire fly off an SUV and strike a pickup truck in Union County – No injuries

News

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Creston, Iowa) – A wheel/tire from an SUV sheered off at the lugs Sunday evening in Union County, and struck a pickup truck. The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a 2006 Jeep Liberty driven by 24-year-old Brock Bucy, of Osceola, was traveling eastbound on Highway 34 when the incident occurred at around 7:20-p.m.

The wheel and tire hit a 2014 F-150 pickup that was traveling westbound, and being driven by 61-year-old David Gaffney, of Essex. Gaffney wasn’t hurt, but his pickup was declared a total loss (estimated damage $5,000). The Jeep sustained $1,500 damage.

Skyscan Forecast for Atlantic & the Nishna Valley: Monday, Jan. 29, 2024

Weather

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Today: Sunny, with a high near 43. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29. Northwest wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 38. Northwest wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45.

Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 46. The Low was 21. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 8 and the Low was -1. The Record High for Jan. 29th in Atlantic, was 59 in 1931. The Record Low was -31, in 1904. Sunrise today: 7:35. Sunset: 5:31.

TIMOTHY LYN NIELSEN, 56, of Omaha [formerly of rural Audubon] (Svcs. 2/1/24)

Obituaries

January 29th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

TIMOTHY LYN NIELSEN, 56, of Omaha (formerly of rural Audubon), died Tue., Jan 23, 2024, at Lakeside Hospital in Omaha. Funeral services for TIMOTHY NIELSEN will be held 2-p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1,. 2024, at the First United Methodist Church in Audubon. Kessler Funeral Home in Audubon has the arrangements.

Friends may call at the funeral home, where the family visitation is on Wed., Jan. 31st, from 4-until 7-p.m.

Burial is in the Merrill’s Grove Cemetery at a later date.

TIMOTHY NIELSEN is survived by:

His mother – Laurel Nielsen, of Audubon.

His brothers – Steve (Julie) Nielsen, of Missouri Valley; Jim (Jody) Nielsen, of Ocala, FL, and Mark (Helene) Nielsen, of Gothenburg, Sweden.

other relatives, and many friends.

Hawkeyes Blank Wildcats

Sports

January 28th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

EVANSTON, Illinois – The third-ranked University of Iowa men’s wrestling team won all 10 matches to blank the Northwestern Wildcats, 46-0, on Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

In a dual that lasted an hour and 23 minutes the Hawkeyes won eight bouts via bonus points, including ending six matches early via technical fall or pin.

Iowa recorded 33 takedowns to Northwestern’s one.

“We are going to Michigan next week,” said head coach Tom Brands. “We have a lot of work to do. We got a lot of bonus points again. We had two falls in this dual meet, we won an overtime match, and we have to keep it rolling.”

At 125 No. 5 ranked Drake Ayala got the Hawkeyes started using 3:22 to win a 19-4 tech. fall over Massey Odiotti.

It was the first of three straight tech. falls for Iowa as Cullan Schriever used 5:09 to win, 24-9, over Patrick Adams at 133 and at 141 Brody Teske won, 17-1, over Kolby McClain in 4:50.

11th ranked Caleb Rathjen ended the streak of tech. falls with a pin over Aiden Vandenbush at 149, winning in 3:46.

Second ranked Jared Franek finished out the first half of the dual with a ranked win defeating No. 19 Trevor Chumbley, 4-1, in sudden victory.

No. 6 Michael Caliendo won the only other ranked matchup of the dual after the 10-minute intermission. He needed 4:59 to win 21-5 over No. 15 Maxx Mayfield. The Geneva, Illinois, native has seven tech. falls on the season.

No. 9 Patrick Kennedy tallied an 11-3 major decision over David Ferante before Aiden Riggins recorded an upset decision at 184 over 24th ranked Troy Fisher, 4-2.

14th ranked Zach Glazier extended his winning streak to 18 and remained undefeated with an 11-2 major decision over Evan Bates.

Ben Kueter ended the dual with a bang needing only 45 seconds to pin Jack Jessen.

“That is what Kueter does best,” said Brands. “He is very calm, very comfortable, in positions that maybe aren’t conventional. Pretty good transition, not just bailing himself out and getting a stalemate when the guy is deep but putting a guy in trouble, and then you have to put the clamps on a guy and end it. He did that, and sometimes that is hard to do. You get the whole enchilada with him.”

“I am pretty good in that position,” said Kueter. “I have strong hips, I guess you could say, so I was comfortable where I was at. I knew that was what I wanted to do. Just like my coaches were saying, take my first scoring opportunity, and that is what I did, finished the match.”

The victory moves Iowa’s dual record to 10-0 and 5-0 in Big Ten Conference action. The Hawkeyes travel to Michigan on Friday at 2 p.m.