(Radio Iowa) – Two Iowa-based political science professors say their polling shows voters who say they’re backing Donald Trump aren’t likely to change their minds when voting begins next month.

Iowa State University professor David Peterson is manager of ISU’s Civiqs Poll, Earlier this month, that poll found Trump’s support among likely Iowa Caucus-goers had grown to 54%.

“The people who support Donald Trump are loyal,” Peterson says. “…When you ask them about the indictments President Trump is facing, they will say: ‘He’s done nothing wrong.’ And over and over, question after question that we ask these folks, the supporters of Donald Trump deeply believe him and are deeply committed to him.”

Grinnell College professor Peter Hanson (on left) and Iowa State University professor David Peterson on the Iowa Press set. (Photo courtesy of Iowa PBS.)

Peter Hanson, director of the Grinnell College National Poll, says Trump is well positioned for the General Election. “There’s almost this expectation among Democrats that, you know, ‘Surely when this event happens, voters will come to share our perspective and the support for Donald Trump will dissipate.’ Well, it doesn’t happen,” Hanson says. “That support is durable. It’s robust. I have no reasonable expectation that will change and that puts him in a very for this race.”

Peterson says Governor Kim Reynolds’ endorsement of Ron DeSantis didn’t shake up the race.

“This was a sign of courage by Governor Reynolds, right? She could easily have said: ‘You know, look, Iowa governors don’t endorse,’” Peterson says. “…Instead, she had her convictions that Donald Trump was the wrong nominee for the Republican Party and she took a risk to do what she thought she could do to try to prevent that outcome.”

Hanson says he hasn’t seen any evidence that an appeal from Reynolds or any other Republican figure is going to shake voters who are loyal to Trump. “My guess is that we’re going to end up with Donald Trump as the nominee,” Hanson says, “and that’s going to create some uncomfortable politics between Reynolds and Donald Trump.”

Hanson and Peterson made their comments during a recent episode of Iowa Press on Iowa PBS. The Iowa Caucuses are 20 days away.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors today (Tuesday) approved the purchase of a password manager services for the IT Department, in the bid amount of $3,348. The Board referred to Montgomery County Attorney Drew Swanson, matters pertaining to social media archiving and policy. They also discussed, but took no action VoIP providers, pending additional research.

The Board approved the purchase of a 16 gig desktop computer for the Deputy Auditor, in the amount of $1,350.58. Auditor Jill Ozuna said she has the funds available in her budget.

The funds will instead come out of the County’s ARPA funds. Ozuna said they are able to do some work on their current desktop, but that “It’s quite limited.” In other business, the Board approved payable claims in the amount of $117,925.52, but they took no action at this time, with regard to invoices from the Villisca Review. Jill Ozuna said the invoices that were submitted from the paper had several errors.

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors next meeting is at 8:30-a.m. January 2nd, 2024.

(Radio Iowa) – With just a few days left in 2023, many Iowans are making year-end donations to charities to help with their tax picture next year, but they’re warned to look closely before writing the check. Teresa Fritz, with the Better Business Bureau, says to do some research before donating even a dime. Fritz says the bureau evaluates hundreds of charities at the website Give-dot-org based on 20 different factors, with one of the biggest being accountability. Fritz says, “We look to see if they are using their money wisely and that it’s going to actually run the organization and not just paying for the administration.”

Many charities receive one-third of their annual donations — or more — during the holiday season, so these year-end gifts are important. Fritz says sometimes the names of organizations will sound alike, but their support is very different. “Before you give, be sure you have the exact name of the charity to avoid a case of mistaken identity,” Fritz says. “Sometimes, charities that do not use their money wisely will try to have a similar name.” If you get a phone call from a charity you’re not familiar with, don’t give, especially if someone is pressuring you. When you’re making a gift, she suggests plastic may have advantages over cash or a check.

“We encourage people to use their credit cards, because you do have some assistance and safety with using your credit card,” she says. “If you would find out the organization is a scam, you can stop the donation on your credit card or stop a check, if you can talk to your bank right away.” Anyone can access the Better Business Bureau’s Give-dot-org website for free. It’s part of the Wise Giving Alliance.

(Radio Iowa) –  The Iowa Lottery is trying to get the word out early on a couple of large prizes that are unclaimed. Iowa Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, can’t remember having two such prizes out there are once. “This has been the year of unusual unclaimed prize news here in Iowa. You know, there was that million dollar Mega Millions prize that expired back in September in Ames without being claimed,” she says. “Now there are two prizes of two million dollars each that both have been out there for a little while.” They are both Powerball jackpots from tickets purchased at different stores.

“The first was won with a ticket in Tiffin in the Powerball drawing back on October 7th. The other one was one with a ticket in Clinton in the Powerball drawing on November 25th.,” she says. “With it being so close to the end of the year, it’s possible that these winners are someone who was waiting until after January 1st to claim their prize for tax purposes. But we never know.”

The expiration date for ticket bought in Tiffen is April 4th, and the ticket from Clinton will expire on May 23rd. She says they want to get the word out early to avoid having the prize go unclaimed. “With that prize in Ames, my gosh, we held events at the store, we put out reminder after reminder, we made videos. We truly just did everything we could to remind people about that ticket, but it was never claimed,” Neubauer says. The unclaimed prize from the ticket sold in Ames was put into the Iowa Lottery’s holiday promotion.

“Here in Iowa, money from prizes that go unclaimed, expire without being claimed, goes into the lottery prize pools for future games and promotion,” Neubauer says. “So it will always go to pay prizes, just not those prizes that, unfortunately, expired.” You can check the numbers for all drawings on the Iowa Lottery’s website.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Shelby County Auditor Mark Maxwell reports the Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a regular session Tuesday morning, Dec. 19, 2023. During their session, Ryan Bervin from Assured Partners Insurance, provider for Shelby County Employee Insurance program, was present to give a yearly update concerning Insurance rates for fiscal year 2025 and monies allotted to the Shelby County Self Insurance Fund. Bervin said there is a new accident policy available to all employees. Insurance claims have been steady, wellness participation and other factors have translated into favorable policy renewal costs.

Wendy Mueller of West Central Development was present to give the annual report to the Supervisors her organization requested $3500.00 for fiscal year 2025.

Todd Valline, Director of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Industry, highlighted just a few of the current happenings and projects his organization is involved in. This week thru Friday the promotion at participating businesses earns a raffle ticket for a drawing to give out prizes to individuals for every $25 in purchases. Valline also served notice that the Ballpark to Ballpark Trail is accepting donations and Panama Transfer has pledged up to a $25,000 matching donation.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was presented to the Supervisors for consideration. The MOU details the background and duties concerning a partnership with the Harlan Fire Department abilities to support Shelby County EMS with manpower in situations calling for assistance. Parkhurst made a motion to permit the chairperson to sign the document, Schaben seconded the motion, the motion passed.

The Board passed a Resolution amending the Shelby County Handbook, by adding an EMS Pay Scale. The resolution states that Shelby County voters passed a public measure establishing a 75-cents per thousand dollars of taxable valuation levy for the establishment of a County operated Emergency Medical Services Department. The establishment and organization of the department was abruptly and unexpectedly placed on Shelby County to be completed by December 1st and the employment wage scales had not been determined as of December 1st. The following employees wage scale will be placed as an addendum to the County Employee handbook.

Shelby County Engineer, Brandon Burmeister, gave an update on current and upcoming projects in his department. Burmeister also asked for approval to change the wording in the County Utility permit applications. Parkhurst made a motion to approve the changes, Schaben seconded the motion. The motion was approved. The Supervisors then considered the promotion of Chris Fredericksen, who has been Assistant Engineer for over six years to County Engineer effective 01-22-2024. Parkhurst motioned to permit the chairperson to sign the contract, Schaben seconded the motion, the motion passed.

The 28E agreement between the City of Harlan and Shelby County has found cause to be amended. The payments for the patrol will be reduced to the County by $20,000.00. The $20,000 will be paid directly to the Sheriff and Deputies by the City of Harlan that are involved with the administration of the amendment provisions. Shelby County may not pay the Sheriff an amount greater than the amount on the County budget, using Shelby County funds. This amendment will allow administrative payments from the City of Harlan to the Sheriff and Deputies involved in administrative work concerning the 28E agreement. Schaben made a motion to approve the addendum, Parkhurst seconded the motion. The motion passed with ayes by Kenkel, Schaben and Parkhurst.

Auditor Mark Maxwell reports a public hearing was held Dec. 19th to gather public information and comments made about the proposed Ordinance 2023-10. The ordinance, as passed, will allow Shelby County to receive the 1% income taxes approved by voters and collected by the Iowa Department of Revenue to be returned to Shelby County to be used for EMS expenditures. A second public hearing was held with regard to an interfund loan which may be needed to fund Shelby County EMS for beginning cash flow purposes.

The resolution directs that $125,000 be advanced to the Emergency services Fund from the Self Insurance Fund, in order to pay startup costs and to ease the initial cash flow burdens on the EMS department. The advance shall be treated as a loan (the “Loan”) to the EMS Fund and shall be repaid to the Self Insurance Fund out of property tax revenues and/or EMS Department revenues. Payments on the Loan are subject to the Board of Supervisors determination that there are funds available for such purpose which have been allocated to or accrued in the EMS Fund. Once appropriated, payments may be made on the Loan each year on October 1st. Total Balance to be paid by April 15th 2, 2026

The Supervisors then considered allowing the Chairperson to sign a lease agreement for Heartland Family Services for office space at the Annex Building. This is a renewal of a lease from calendar years 2022 and 2023 and will extend the lease for two more years if approved by the Shelby County Supervisors and signed by Heartland Family Services. The motion was approved unanimously.

The annual Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) wellness participation document was presented for consideration of approval. The agreement – which was approved  – allows for employee and County participation in ISAC sponsored wellness incentives.  The Board accepted a recommendation by the Shelby County Veterans Commission appoint Tom Kallman to the Veterans Commission Board.

In other business, a steel door at the Annex has deteriorated and rusted and bids have been received. The low bid was received from Leinen Construction. The Auditor asked for the Supervisors permission to sign the low bid and agreement. The Board approved the bid as presented.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – No one held the winning ticket for the Powerball jackpot in advance of Monday night’s drawing. That bumps the top prize up by about $47-million to an estimated $685-million for Wednesday night’s drawing. There were two tickets that claimed a $1-million prize in the Powerball drawing Monday night. Those tickets were sold in New Hampshire and California.

The winning numbers were 5,12, 20, 24 and 29. The Powerball number was 4.

(Audubon, Iowa) – With the recently announced resignation of Audubon City Clerk Joe Foran, the search is underway to find his replacement. When Foran resigned after 10-years as City Clerk in Audubon, the City Council held a special meeting Nov. 21^st to approve posting the position. The City received about one-half dozen applications before the deadline to apply.

Members of the Council will review the applications and narrow them down to the top three qualified persons as well as conduct interviews with the applicants. A decision on who will become the next City Clerk in Audubon could come this week or next. The new mayor and city council will be in-place in Audubon, on January 2^nd.

(Anamosa, Iowa) – The Iowa State Patrol has identified the man killed early Friday morning in a crash that occurred south of Anamosa. Investigators say a 2014 Chevy Malibu driven by 81-year-old Richard R. Schmidt, of Alburnett, was merging onto Highway 151 Northbound from Shaw Road when it was struck by a 2011 Ford F250. Schmidt died from his injuries.

Two others were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment of their injuries. The State Patrol says all three people were wearing seatbelts.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – University of Iowa Police say multiple people were taken into custody after reports of a shooting early Christmas morning. UIPD issued a Hawk Alert just after 2 o’clock Monday morning for the 200-block of S Van Buren, advising people to take shelter and avoid the area as police investigated the scene.

A couple hours later UIPD posted that multiple people were in custody.