DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — With the legislative session, members of the Senate Government Oversight Committee are poised to renew an investigation into state employment issues aided by the authority to subpoena witnesses, place them under oath and fine or imprison them if they fail to comply. The committee gained that authority through a resolution passed as the last Senate action of the 2014 session on Friday.

The five Republican candidates who are seeking their party’s nomination for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat support continuing federal subsidies for American farmers. The candidates appeared Saturday afternoon at a forum in Cedar Rapids sponsored by the Iowa Broadcast News Association and one of the questions they faced was whether federal farm subsidies were “the best use of taxpayer dollars.” Sam Clovis said farmers need a “catastrophic back-stop” for crop failure.

“That’s one thing that we have to do, because we have to protect the food supply and we have to protect that aspect of the industry,” Clovis said. “As far as other subsidies go, all subsidies should be suspect. All subsidies should be examined because they interfere with the market.” Joni Ernst of Red Oak said she is “philosophically opposed to subsidies” but supports continuing the subsidy farmers get to buy crop insurance. “But reality is that with the subsidies, unless we’re eliminating all of them across the board at the same time for every sector out there, then I’ll go ahead and support those subsidies,” Ernst said. Mark Jacobs said farm subsidies are “absolutely” good public policy.

“My concern is if we didn’t provide that backstop, we would have a lot of family farmers go out of business. This land would not be planted. At the end of the day it would result in lower amounts of food being produced and an increase in food prices for everybody across this country,” Jacobs said. Matt Whitaker says there should be an upper limit or cap on farm subsidies of 250-thousand dollars, so big corporations don’t get huge farm subsidy pay-outs from the federal government.

“I am frustrated beyond example as to how many times corporations go to the federal government with their hand out,” Whitaker said. “…I didn’t support the Farm Bill because 85 percent of it was food stamps.” Scott Schaben, of Ames said farmers face risk that no other industry faces. “Farmers cannot control when and when it does not rain and that is a massive variable that they have in their part of the economy that no one else can match,” Schaben says.

On foreign policy, all the candidates said it was important to take whatever action may be necessary to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. P-B-S NewsHour co-anchor Judy Woodruff interviewed each candidate individually at the start of the forum, asking the candidates their opinions on portions of the Iowa Republican Party’s platform.

You can listen to that portion of the 90-minute-long forum on www.radioiowa.com.

Police in Red Oak report a convicted sex offender who was listed as one of Iowa’s most wanted sex offenders, was captured in Red Oak, Saturday afternoon. Thanks to tips from the public, officials say 34-year old Travis Lynn Sickels, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 4:30-p.m. in the 300 block of E. Market Street.

Travis Lynn Sickels

Sickels, who was convicted in Sept. 2003 of having indecent contact with a female between the ages of 14 and 17, was also wanted on a Cass County warrant for failure to pay child support. He is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond for failure to register as a sex offender, and a separate $2,000 bond for failure to pay child support.

Officials say an investigation is on-going, with additional criminal charges possible.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa woman has been found guilty of torturing her mentally disabled stepson. The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports that a judge found 46-year-old Rebecca Beyer guilty Friday of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury. She faces up to life in prison when she’s sentenced

Authorities say Beyer routinely abused the victim, now a 21-year-old man, severely burning him with heated eating utensils and a clothes iron and keeping him tethered to a wall in the garage with a dog leash.

Beyer’s attorney denied that his client abused her stepson, saying his injuries were caused by poor hygiene.

Main Street Iowa hosted the 27th annual Main Street Iowa Awards celebration on Friday, May 2 at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center (Iowa Events Center) in downtown Des Moines. The event to recognize local Main Street projects, activities and volunteers was attended by approximately 500 individuals representing communities across the state. Competitive nominations were submitted for 77 projects and activities within the five categories of design, economic restructuring, organization, promotion and overall program. Nineteen were recognized with awards and two received honorable mention.

Among the winners, from western and southwest Iowa: In the Design Award category, was: the Community of Greenfield, for the total rehabilitation of more than 5,000 square feet for the Hotel Greenfield Project; and, an Organization Award was presented to the community of Manning for the MSM Family Feud fundraising event.

The honors were presented by Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). In addition to the competitive nominations, 51 individuals or couples who were selected by their community for outstanding dedication and volunteer service benefiting the local Main Street program were recognized during the awards ceremony.

Volunteer of the Year awards were presented to: Sandy Petersen, with Avoca Main Street; Bert Peckham, with Main Street Corning; Jim & Bonnie Stalder, with Main Street Greenfield; Ken Laughery, with Main Street Guthrie Center, and Ron Reischel, with the Main Street Meeting group. The Program Director Award for years of service to their respective communities, was presented to: Doug Mullen, from Bedford; Colleen Nelson, from Manning, and Stacie Hull, from Greenfield.

In its 27-year history, Main Street Iowa has tracked over $1.3 billion in private investment in the purchase, construction and rehabilitation of property in participating commercial districts, significantly increasing the state’s job and business base. In addition, nearly two and a half million hours of volunteer time have been logged collectively by local main street organizations.

The communities of Bedford and Dunlap received recognition for their 20 years of participation as designated Main Street communities; and new Main Street organizations in Avoca, Guthrie Center and Newton were recognized and welcomed into the program, bringing the total active Main Street districts to 52.

For more information about Main Street Iowa and how all Iowa communities can access commercial revitalization assistance through the Iowa Downtown Resource Center, visit iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/IDRC/MainStreetIowa.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Wells’ Dairy says it is voluntarily recalling one of its Blue Bunny ice cream products for a labeling problem. The Le Mars, Iowa-based company said in a news release Saturday that packages of 56 fluid-ounce Blue Bunny Premium Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream are being recalled because the product may contain egg not declared on the label. People who are allergic to egg could have a severe reaction if they consume the ice cream.

The packages were sold at retail grocery stores in Kansas, Indiana and Iowa. The products affected are from Lot Number 40010 TTT 19115, and have a best-used-by date of Oct. 9, 2015. The company says no customers have reported any illnesses in connection with the ice cream to date.

The Red Oak Police Department says no injuries were reported after a car slammed into a restaurant Saturday afternoon in Red Oak. Officials say at around 12:22-p.m., 14-year old Ethan Baumli, Clarinda, was driving a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix and attempting to park in front of the KFC/Taco Bell store at 400 E. Senate Avenue, when he became distracted by his mother in the passenger seat.

The teen stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, causing the car to jump the curb, cross the sidewalk and strike the northeast corner of the building.  The building sustained about $10,000 damage during the mishap, while damage to the car was estimated at $1,000.

Officials say Red Oak Fire and Rescue personnel checked the structure and determined the building was safe for occupancy.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Red Oak Police Department reports a two vehicle accident in Red Oak at 5:32pm Friday.  The Red Oak Police Department and Red Oak Fire and Rescue responded to the report of an accident at the intersection of N 3rd Street and E Corning Street.

After investigation it was determined that a 1994 Ford Mustang driven by 16-year-old Kole Andrew Lovely of Creston slowed but did not stop traveling south at the intersection for a stop sign and proceeded into the intersection.  This put his vehicle directly in the eastbound path of a 2012 GMC Terrain driven by 85-year-old Harlan Henry Ebert of Red Oak.  Ebert attempted to avoid Lovely’s vehicle but was unable to and the vehicles collided with both vehicles coming to rest facing east.

Ebert and a female passenger were treated at the scene for minor injuries but refused transport to a medical facility.  Lovely and a passenger were examined at the scene and reported no injuries.  Both vehicles were towed from the scene due to $4,000 damage to the Lovely vehicle and $6,000 damage to the Ebert vehicle.  Lovely was cited for failure to obey a stop sign and no proof of insurance.

A Shambaugh man who left his home for a couple of days over the last weekend in April, came home to find several items missing. The Page County Sheriff’s Office says the man reported a deadbolt to his building was unlocked when he came home. Missing from the residence located at 210 West Street, were several tools, including four paint spray guns, a pressure pot, and a half-inch millimeter wrench. The loss was estimated at $5,100. Anyone with information about the theft should contact the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

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A description of the items missing is as follows:

Binks Model 7 Manuel Air Spray gun; Hulp Model 62 spray gun; Binks pressure pot; Sharps prime paint gun; Sharps Touch up spray gun, and a Snap-On 1/2″ mm wrench.