(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the Clean Waters Act in a ruling today (Thursday). The ruling overturned the E-P-A’s Waters of the United States or WOTUS rules introduced in the Obama Administration. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley signed onto a brief that urged the High Court to overturn the regulations.

Grassley issued a statement saying “thankfully, the Supreme Court saw through this federal overreach and unanimously determined that it violated the Clean Water Act.” He says after years of uncertainty, the decision is a victory for farmers, builders, landowners and common sense.

Senator Joni Ernst says in a statement that ‘the federal government has no authority to impose blanket jurisdiction over puddles, waters, and wetlands with vague, overreaching regulations.” She calls it a big win for Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is expanding its focus as we head into summer to remind people not to drink and drive while using boats and ATV’s. MADD regional director, Erin Payton, says the number of incidents off the highways has increased and they want to remind people about safety. “We just want to make sure that people are realizing that even though you’re not behind the wheel of a car, you are still operating a vehicle,” she says. MADD is working with the Iowa DNR to get the word out.

She says boats and ATV’s can pose different challenges than driving a car on a highway that is laid out flat and marked. “We know that if you’ve been on an ATV on a trail, there’s a lot of blind turns, there’s no stoplights on a trail, ” Payton says. “It’s the same thing with boating, you know, you can very easily get yourself in a situation that’s out of your control, sober, and then when you add, alcohol or drug impairment — that takes away your ability for quick reflexes for smart decision making.”

Payton says they are also stressing that your boat or ATV are in good shape. “We want to make sure that you’re trained, and you have appropriate safety gear. So if you’re on a boat, you’ve got a lifejacket, if you’re on an ATV, you’ve got helmets and goggles,” she says. “And we also want to make sure that people are limiting the time on these vehicles because, you know, fatigue does play a factor into it.” Payton says ATV’s and boats are seen as ways to have fun and that’s how alcohol can get involved, along with distractions. “Just like in a car, the more people in your car are more distracting. The more people on the boat is more distracting. And with the children on ATVs too, we want to stress that single rider ATVs should just be single rider ATVs,” Payton says. “There’s always that you want to have more fun. So you want to add someone onto your ATV. But if it’s only for one person, just stick with one person.”

She says adding alcohol to the mix is the worst thing you can do. “Here’s a great statistic — a recreational boat operator with a blood alcohol level at or above .10, has a fatality rate 10 times of a sober operator. So you know, even more so almost than driving a car. Because you do that more often right? Doing voting and ATVs while not being sober is a recipe for disaster,” Payton says. Payton says they want everyone to think about these things as we head into the summer driving, boating and ATV season.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R Fire Program has a new group trained and ready to fight wildfires across the country. Spokesman Ryan Schlater says there are some differences between fighting structure fires and wildfires. “Weather kind of plays a bigger role in wildland firefighting than in your typical structure fire. Rh, temperature, wind, and then of course, terrain as well. There’s a lot more terrain issues with fire running uphill,” he says. “There’s a lot of safety information that comes through the training that all these 35 people get.” Those who complete the training are emergency hires, part-time firefighters when the U-S Forest Service calls on them.

“Some of them are volunteer fire departments, some are full-time structure departments, some are students, some work for county conservation boards, others are just private individuals, who do you know, other jobs. A lot of them take vacations to do this, to go out on wildfires for us,” according to Schlater. He says they had been averaging 50 people a year in the program, but it dropped off during the pandemic and is now coming back. Schlater says one of the goals is to provide new recruits for the permanent fire crews. “We’ve had several who have left the state and gone on to full-time careers, you know with, with hot shots with engine crews on forests, the BLM out west, the Bureau of Land Management, I should say, and then other agencies, National Park Service, etc. So, yeah, it’s kind of a goal of ours to get people into the career field, eventually,” Schlater says.

He says the alert status is a little higher right now for the Iowa-trained firefighters as many of the full-timers are working up north. “A lot of federal partners within the Forest Service, the National Park Service, etcetera. They went to Canada to fight the Canadian wildfires that are up there,” he says. “You know, you’ll get that smoke here in Iowa a few days ago from those Canada wildfires coming down. And so they asked for help up there.” He says emergency hire firefighters aren’t able to go to Canada. Sclater says the wildfire season has started out slow after record amounts of snow and precipitation out west.

“Like California, for example had a lot of rain recently and so they’ve got a flush of water and flush of new growth,” Schlater says. “But the thing is that it seems to be cyclical. So right now the grass is growing big or it’s going to be growing big and then later on in the the summer it will dry out and so then there’s more fuel available for a wildfire later.”

The Iowa D-N-R Fire Program has been sending wildland firefighters to national incidents since 2006.

(Radio Iowa) – A special investigation by the State Auditor’s office has found the former city clerk of Eldridge improperly spent more than 76-thousand dollars of city money and there were no records for another 87-hundred dollars worth of transaction. Auditors reviewed more than four and a half years of financial records for the City of Eldridge when Denise Benson was city clerk and found she made more than 42-thousand dollars worth of purchases for herself with the city’s credit card. They found receipts for things like electronics, toys, clothes for adults and children, a sewing machine and a dog door. She also used the card to pay for an Amazon Prime membership.

A news release from the State Auditor’s office indicates Benson used more than 16-thousand dollars in city money to pay her own Capital One credit card bill. Benson had worked for the City of Eldridge since 1992 and had been city clerk for nearly 20 years when city officials began asked questions about credit card transactions last October and she was fired at the end of the month.

(DES MOINES, IA) – Officials with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) have announced innovation funding for four startups through Iowa’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The companies are located in Ames, Des Moines and Solon. The SSBCI program invests in Iowa’s small businesses through federal assistance targeted at expanding access to capital that supports growth. The Innovation Fund, one of four areas established under the initiative, increases funding opportunities across Iowa’s innovation continuum to assist entrepreneurs through concept, launch and expansion.

1. Ames-based Distynct, Inc. provides a remote monitoring system that deploys reliable internet connectivity to rural areas and sensors that collect critical barn data to support precision livestock farming. The Distynct Smart Alarm, powered by the Connectivity Engine, replaces inefficient, antiquated alarm systems, decreasing labor time and costs and increasing safety and protection. The company was awarded a $250,000 Innovation Acceleration Launch Fund loan for key personnel and product refinement.
2. Headquartered in Ames, Haber Technologies, Inc. develops products through their Ag-Automations platform to help farmers dry, store and manage grain. Powered by proprietary technology, their products include the DRI-Stack system for in-bin drying, conditioning and monitoring and the Auto-Bin system for monitoring and managing bin fans. The company was awarded a $250,000 Innovation Acceleration Launch Fund loan for key personnel and market planning and entry activities.
3. A global provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications in Des Moines, Pitchly, Inc. offers customers the ability to access, search, edit and share data to fellow employees and connect the data to common work tasks. The software can significantly save employee time by generating reports with the most current version of data. The company was awarded a $1 million Innovation Acceleration Expansion Fund loan for key personnel and product refinement.
4. SwineTech, based in Solon, offers software and services for pork producers to improve operational efficiencies, employee engagement and pig care. PigFlow, their workforce management and point-of-care platform, accomplishes that by improving communication and organization while streamlining daily workflows and reinforcing compliance. The company was awarded a $250,000 Innovation Acceleration Launch Fund loan for key personnel, product refinement and market planning and entry activities.

Award recommendations for the SSBCI innovation funding are made by the SSBCI Review Committee to the IEDA executive director for approval. The committee met on May 16, 2023, to review eligible applications. Additional information on application process, deadlines and eligibility can be found at iowaeda.com/innovate.

(Radio Iowa) – Federal lawmakers have yet to reach a deal on lifting the debt ceiling, which could impact some Iowans’ health care. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns if lawmakers don’t come to an agreement, the U-S could be unable to pay its bills as soon as June 1st. Josephine Gittler, director of the National Health Law and Policy Resource Center at the University of Iowa College of Law, says this could impact federally-funded health programs like Medicare. “Because Medicare makes up so much of what hospitals and other health care providers receive for their services,” she says, “that they would then either not get the money that they’re owed, or they would have delays, possibly in payments.”

In addition to Medicare, Gittler says a federal government default could affect Iowans who rely on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act subsidized health plans. “In a worst case scenario, the system is at risk,” she says, “the whole healthcare system is at risk if it loses a major source of its funding for its infrastructure, so to speak.”

Gittler says it’s unclear what will happen if lawmakers don’t reach an agreement because the federal government has never defaulted on its debt before.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports eight arrests took place from May 19th through the 25th. Those arrested include:

• On May 19th, 44-year-old Amy Marie Vance, of Council Bluffs. Vance was arrested on a warrant for Failure To Appear (FTA) on a Sentencing Order. She was being held in the Mills County Jail without bond.
• On the 21st, 23-year-old Ciarra Nicole Rainey, of Malvern, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Bond was set at $1,000.
• There were three separate arrests in Mills County on Monday (May 22): 33-year-old Joseph Steven Tyler Harris, of Sidney, was arrested at the Mills County Courthouse on a Fremont County warrant. His bond was set at $10,0000; 59-year-old Joseph Ray Hedrick, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Domestic Abuse. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail; and, 45-year-old Chad Michael Hill, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Montgomery County Jail, on a warrant for Failure to Appear.
• This past Tuesday (May 23), 38-year-old Joshua Dean Cooney, of Villisca, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for 2 counts of Possession of Controlled Substance (Bond: $7,000)
• On the 24th, 34-year-old Seth Ryan Peters, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Harassment/1st Degree (No Bond).
• And, at around 1:40-a.m. today (Thursday, May 25), 41-year-old Bret David Hauptman, of Omaha, was arrested at the Mills County S/O on a warrant for FTA on a Driving While Barred charge (Bond: $5,000).

The Glenwood Police Department reports the arrest on Wednesday (May 24), of 39-year-old Aaron Hamner, of Milton, Iowa. Hamner was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. He posted a $300 bond, and was released.

Des Moines, Iowa — Police in Des Moines are investigating a shooting that happened late Tuesday night. The incident happened in the 1800 block of Arlington Avenue at around 11 p.m., Tuesday. Police say after an adult male suffered a gunshot wound to his upper torso, the man manage to walk to the 1400 block of 2nd Avenue. Officers and medics were dispatched to his location.  The victim, who is expected to survive, was not cooperating with police.

Marshalltown, Iowa — (UPDATE 11:11-a.m.) The Marshalltown Police Department is investigating an apparent murder-suicide that took place Wednesday afternoon. Officers responded a little before 4:30-p.m., to a residence in the 600 block of East Church Street, Wednesday. At the scene they found 57-year-old Hermelinda Alcala-de-Villagomez dead from a gunshot wound. Police also found 72-year-old Jose Carmen Villagomez-Torres, who was shot and suffering from life-threatening injuries. He was transported to a hospital and later died. The couple were married, but living in separate residences.

Police said a firearm was recovered at the scene. A preliminary investigation determined Villagomez-Torres shot Alcala-de-Villagomez before shooting himself.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was assisting the Marshalltown Police Department with the investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – A Fort Dodge landmark that has hosted some of the biggest names in the music business will soon reopen to the public. The Laramar Ballroom sat empty for years, but last June it was purchased by a group of Fort Dodge investors. Brady O’Brien is the production coordinator for the restoration project. “When my dad first took me in there and he first showed me that they were going to buy it, I was a little skeptical. It just looked horrible inside,” O’Brien says. “Now being able to see…It’s just turned into something really special that I think the community is going to love.”

The building opened in 1904 and was originally the Fort Dodge Armory. After World War I, the brick building became a venue for live music. According to the Fort Dodge Community Foundation Facebook Page, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash are among the artists who’ve played gigs at the Laramar. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper performed at the Laramar on January 30th, 1959 — three nights before their tragic deaths after a concert in Clear Lake.

O’Brien says a relative of one of those performers will be part of the grand re-opening of the Laramar. “We have Richie Valens; sister, Connie, singing and talking a little bit about her history with the Laramar and her brother Ritchie Valens,” O’Brien says. Connie was eight when her brother died at the age of 17. Tickets for the June 22nd opening of the Laramar go on sale this Friday morning.

“We have our house band for that night which will be accompanying tons of local artists performing,” O’Brien says. The State of Iowa provided a 100-thousand dollar Community Attractions grant to help pay for the facelift of the 119 year old building.

The Laramar was a regular venue for Friday night dances and is part of the Fort Dodge Downtown Historic District.