The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Cherokee construction office reports the reconstruction of Iowa 196 in Sac County requires closing the roadway and detouring traffic beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, April 4th, until Monday, May 9th, weather permitting.

Iowa 196 traffic will be routed around the construction area using U.S. 71, Sac County Road M-54, and U.S. 20. Peterson Contractors Inc., of Reinbeck, and Godbersen-Smith Construction Co., of Ida Grove, were awarded the $25.3 million roadway reconstruction project.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman reports another candidate has filed nomination papers to run for the June 7th Primary election, in Cass County. Nick Hensley, of Cumberland, has filed to run on the Republican ticket for the District 4 Board of Supervisor’s seat.

Hensley joins Steve Baier and Barry Moore, both from Griswold, and Todd Hansen, of Atlantic, in seeking the seat being vacated at the end of the year by Chuck Rieken. Baier, Moore and Hansen are all Republicans. No democrats have filed nomination in any of the races in Cass County.

The deadline to file certified papers with the required number of petitioned signatures, is March 30th.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office has hired a new Deputy. Officials say Nathan Grove will begin his new position on April 1st. Grove will be trained with experienced Deputies for a month before starting work at the overnight shift. He’s a certified officer, and before taking the job with Guthrie County, he worked as a Police Officer in the City of Manning since May, 2015.

Grove holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Grandview University, and did an internship with the West Des Moines Police Department while getting his degree. He will be taking the position of Guthrie County Deputy as part of the 28E agreement with the City of Guthrie Center.

Officials with the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, today (Thursday), said the Fire Danger index in the County will remain HIGH for the next few days, at least. Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert says even with the recent rain, drying will occur rapidly with any sunshine. Winds will continue to dry out the vegetation.

Seivert warns that any field or grassland fires that get out of control, may be difficult for heavy fire apparatus to reach, due to the soft soil. Fire departments and business with Fire Danger signs in their windows, are asked to keep those indicators set to “HIGH” this weekend.

Authorities therefore are asking anyone who plans to conduct controlled burns to contact their local fire chief, first. Be sure and call 755-2124 also, with the location of your burn, so dispatchers can gather logistical data. The next “Fire Danger” update will be on Monday, March 28th.

The commissioner of the Iowa Insurance Division is shining a spotlight on a case in northeast Iowa with hopes of preventing and deterring insurance fraud. Nick Gerhart says a former Strawberry Point firefighter recently pled guilty to charges that he paid two other men to steal his truck and set it on fire back in 2011.

“They burned this truck, committed the arson, and then filed false claims with the insurer to collect,” Gerhart says. The case involved Terry Groth and his accomplices, Damian Welsh of Strawberry Point and Zachary Norton of Monticello. Gerhart says Groth filed claims with his insurance company for the loss of the truck, a burglary at his shop, and vandalism of his father’s property in Manchester.

Groth received payments totaling nearly $13,000, but investigators later determined all of the claims were false. Gerhart says insurance fraud cases like this affect all consumers because it leads to higher premiums. “The way it works in insurance, everyone’s risk is pooled together and when fraudulent claims are filed and paid out, all of us pay for that,” Gerhart says. Groth, a former Strawberry Point firefighter, was ultimately convicted of second-degree arson and insurance fraud.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s Deputies in Cass County, Tuesday, arrested an Atlantic man on numerous drug charges. 59-year old Kenneth Eugene Hoyt faces felony charges that include Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine, and Failure to Affix Drug Tax Stamp, as well as charges of Possession of Prescription Drug without Prescription, OWI 1^st Offense, Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Hoyt was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $55,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Office reports also: 39-year old Aimee Jo Nicholson, of Des Moines, was arrested Wednesday, on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Nicholson was taken to the Cass County Jail where she remains held on $10,000 bond. And, on March 20th 33-year old Juan Manuel Anaya Mendez, of Atlantic, turned himself in at the Cass County Jail on one Atlantic Police Department warrant for Criminal Mischief 5^th Degree, one District Court warrant for Probation Violation, and three District Court warrants for Failure to Appear to Serve Jail Time. Mendez was booked at the Cass County Jail where he posted $2000, but is still serving time on his Failure to Appear cases.

The Iowa Attorney General’s (AG) Office has notified the City of Denison that no charges will be filed against the City’s Police Chief, for forcibly entering a residence in an attempt to execute a search warrant. Police Chief John Emswiler today (Thursday), released a letter from the Iowa AG’s Office which said aninvestigation into a complaint for “Breaking into a residence without a warrant” in Sept. 2015 was closed, and no charges will be filed. The investigation was handled by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations, and the report given to the Crawford County Attorney’s Office before being forwarded to the AG’s Office for review.

The letter from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office states “On September 18th, 2015, Chief Emswiler possessed knowledge that a valid arrest warrant had been issued for [name redacted]. Emswiler proceeded to [address redacted] Broadway (Street) in Denison, in an attempt to execute the search warrant. As of September 18, 2015 [address redacted] was the known residence of [the subject of the warrant]. When Emswiler arrived, he knocked on the door in an attempt to announce his presence.

“Emswiler had a reasonable belief that [the subject of the warrant] would be present at [the residence] since law enforcement had recent contact with (the subject) at the same location, and knew it to be his residence. When there was no answer, Emswiler validly entered the residence in an attempt to locate [the subject]. Because it was [the subject’s] residence, there was no requirement to obtain a search warrant or any other process to gain lawful entry.

“Applying the facts of this particular investigation to the statutory and case law, Chief Emswiler was well within his authority as a law enforcement officer to forcibily execute a valid arrest warrant on [the subject] at his residence.”

More than six-thousand Iowa homes have no electricity this morning (Thursday), in many cases due to snow-covered tree limbs falling on power lines. Ashton Newman, spokeswoman for MidAmerican Energy, says some areas of northwest Iowa got a thick coating of ice and then up to 15-inches of snow along with wind gusts approaching 50 miles an hour.

“Ice through the evening hours fell on the lines,” Newman says, “and then when you bring wind into the factors, that can cause some downed tree branches and downed power lines.” She says many customers have been without power since the middle of the night and utility repair crews have been on-the-job since the wee hours.

“They’re working hard out there to get power back on quickly,” Newman says, “so we appreciate all of our customers’ patience during this time.” She says it may take until this afternoon for power to be restored to all Iowa customers. MidAmerican reports outages of several hundred in the areas in and around Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Waterloo, and four-thousand homes without power in Fort Dodge. Alliant Energy reports about 700 customers statewide without power.

(Radio Iowa)

Several western Iowa law enforcement agencies participated in a pursuit that began early this (Thursday) morning in Fremont County, and ended in Omaha. Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports at around 1-a.m., during a narcotics investigation in the area of Highway 2 and Interstate 29, deputies tried to stop a 2013 Ford F-350 for a traffic violation. The truck, driven by 35-year old Dustin Boetel, of Omaha, took off and proceeded north on I-29.

During the pursuit Speeds reached 100-mph, with Boetel allegedly ramming the Fremont County K9 Unit and a Iowa State Patrol cruiser along the way. The chase continued into Council bluffs and on into Omaha, where the vehicle, having sustained disabling damage, ceased operating in the area of 114th and Dodge Streets.

Boetel was being held by the Omaha P-D on numerous Felony charges, including two counts of felony assault on a peace officer, operating a stolen truck, and  numerous other traffic violations. Authorities plan to bring him to Fremont County to face multiple charges, once the investigation in Nebraska is concluded.

Suspect vehicle in Thu. morning pursuit (Courtesy Fremont Co. S/O)

Aistrope says he wants to thank the Iowa State Patrol, Pottawattamie County Sheriffs Office, and the Council Bluffs Police Department, for their assistance during the pursuit.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – U.S. Census estimates show more than two-thirds of Iowa counties have lost population since 2010 but that counties near urban areas saw big growth. The Census data released Thursday estimate 71 of Iowa’s 99 counties lost residents and 28 counties gained population.

The largest percentage growth was 21.2 percent in Dallas County, in suburban Des Moines. That was followed by 10.2 percent in Johnson County and 8.6 percent in Polk County. The largest population growth was in Polk, where the Des Moines-based county added 37,076 people. Polk has an estimated population of 467,711, making it Iowa’s largest.

Clinton County had the biggest population decline, dropping by 1,348 residents. Adams is the state’s least populated county, with 3,796 people.