(Radio Iowa) – April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Alex Dinkla says law enforcement officials are hoping it will be the month Iowa law is changed — to forbid motorists from handling a smart phone while driving.  “People are drifting across the center line and they’re having head-on collisions. There’s a reason for that,” Dinkla says. “Vehicles just don’t — for a random reason — go across the center line on their own. Those drivers are doing something inappropriate.”

Iowa law currently bars texting while driving, but Dinkla says it’s not working to curb distracted driving. “In law enforcement we have those big marked nice pretty vehicles that have the lights and the stickers all over it. What do people do? It’s just like a lot of times when you see that officer and you’re speeding, you’re going to hit the brakes and slow down,” Dinkla says. “It works that way with the phones. The devices go down. It’s tough to see.”

Dinkla says investigations of recent fatality crashes in Iowa show drivers’ smart phone use was a factor. “We’ve got people watching how to install drywall on YouTube. They’re watching movies. A recent text showed a girlfriend was going to go buy some cupcake mix to bake her boyfriend some cupcakes when she crashed. That text was still on the device when the officers arrived,”Dinkla says. “This is out there. It’s way prevalent and we need it to stop.”

Dinkla made his comments on Iowa Public Radio. Last week the Senate voted 47 to three to approve a bill that would bar drivers from handling a smart phone. The bill must clear the House Transportation Committee this week or it’s no longer eligible for consideration this year.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports eight arrests spanning from March 6th through the 23rd.

3/6/2023: James Thomas Hume (age 34) of Nebraska City Nebraska, was arrested at the Fremont County Jail on a valid Page County warrant for Violation of Probation. James was transported back to the Page County Jail, where his cash-only bond was set at $25,000; 39-year-old Paul Nathaniel Falk, of Shenandoah, was arrested at his residence on a valid Page County Iowa warrant for Violation of Probation. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000.

3/10/2023: 26-year-old Dylan Joseph Hanson, of Omaha, Nebraska, was arrested at the Page County Jail for public intoxication. Bond $300 cash or surety.

3/13/2023: 42-year-old Kimberly Dawn Shepherd, of Clarinda, was arrested at the Page County Courthouse on an active Guthrie County warrant for Probation Violation. She was being held without bond until seen by a judge.

3/15/2023: 26-year-old Mackenzie Jade Farlin, of Clarinda, was arrested at the Page County Sheriff’s Office on a valid Page County Iowa warrant for Violation of Probation. Bond was set at $1,000.00 cash or surety.

3/22/2023: 20-year-old Jagger James Moad, of Clarinda, was arrested at the Page County Jail for Failure to Appear on a Disorderly Conduct charge. Bond is $300.00 with 10% allowed through the courts; 38-year-old Brandon Keith Stogdill, of Shenandoah, was arrested at the Douglas County, Nebraska Jail, a valid Page County warrant for Theft in the third degree. Bond is $5,000.00 cash or surety.

3/23/2023: 50-year-old Edward John Beaman, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Mills County Iowa Jail on a valid Page County warrant for Failure to Appear. Bond is $5,000.00 cash or surety.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is joining the chorus of Republicans who are working to dismantle President Biden’s proposal to eliminate student loan debt. Grassley says the plan would unfairly transfer the burden of payment from the original borrowers onto the backs of all taxpayers nationwide. Grassley says, “Hardworking Americans, including those who chose not to attend college, or who already paid off their own student loans, would be on the hook for an estimated $400-billion in unpaid student loans.”

Grassley says the nation’s budget and fiscal health have been in decline since Biden took office, and he says members of Congress took action Monday which they hope can put a stop to the “lunacy.” “I joined nearly 40 Republicans in the Senate to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution. If passed, the resolution would overturn the Biden administration student loan forgiveness plan,” Grassley says. “It would also end the pandemic era pause on student loan repayments.”

The Biden plan would allow for up to 10-thousand dollars in college loans to be wiped out for those who make less than 125-thousand dollars a year, and the forgiveness of up to 20-thousand dollars for Pell Grant recipients. Grassley says the president’s “budgetary incompetence” needs to come to an end. “The student loan cancellation proposal is yet another example of poor financial decision making,” Grassley says. “It’s also an act of serious federal overreach, maybe violating the Constitution and separation of powers.”

He says he’ll work to win passage of bipartisan bills that would better inform students about the true costs of going to college. The administration says more than 400-thousand Iowa borrowers are eligible for student loan forgiveness, and 61-percent of them are Pell Grant recipients.

8-a.m. News (Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Police Department reports three recent, separate arrests. Authorities say 23-year-old Tarek Bunan, of Atlantic, was arrested this (Tuesday) morning, for Public Intoxication. He was booked into the Cass County Jail.

On Monday, 23-year-old Justin Rollins, of Atlantic, was arrested for Interference with Official Acts, and Disarming a Peace Officer. He was booked into the Cass County Jail. And, on Friday, 31-year-old Chanson Hans, of Atlantic, was arrested on two-counts of Burglary in the 3rd Degree-Motor vehicle/2nd or subsequent offense, Interference with Official Acts, and Public Intoxication. He was also booked into the Cass County Jail.

8-a.m. News (Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Police Department reports a man from California was cited for Failure to Obey or Yield to a Stop light, following a collision at around 8-a.m. Monday, at 7th and Olive Streets. Authorities say a vehicle driven by Jess Caudill, of Atlantic, was traveling south on Olive Street at the same time a vehicle driven by Clarence Lynch, of Willits, CA, was traveling east on Highway 6/7th Street.  Lynch told police because of significant sun glare, he could not see, and proceeded into the intersection, failing to yield, and struck the vehicle driven by Caudill. Lynch and a passenger were transported to Cass Health for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Damage from the crash amounted to $40,000.

(Griswold, Iowa) – The Griswold School Board held a very brief, Special Meeting Monday evening. The only action item on their agenda was to consider approving Category 2 E-Rate Bids. There are two categories of E-Rate Funding for governmental agencies to get electronic services or equipment at a reduced rate. Superintendent Dave Henrichs says the Griswold District has already completed its application for Category1. The application deadline for category 2, is due today (Tuesday).

He said based upon a couple of priorities: Cybersecurity and improving the efficiency or speed or services or equipment within the building, the School Board was asked to approve category 2 improvements.

Part of the process, he said, was soliciting bids, and that took a lot of time. The last one was received late last week. The winning bid came from Rick’s Computers out of Danbury, Iowa.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says a man residing at an apartment in the 200 block of N. Maple Street, reported Monday night, that someone had broken into his apartment. Missing from the apartment was a keyboard with an estimated value of $100.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Council Bluffs Police Captain Todd Weddum reports just before 4-a.m. today (Tuesday), Council Bluffs police officers were dispatched to a disturbance, possibly involving a gun being fired, in the 500 block of South 7th Street. A preliminary investigation indicates that 31-year-old Justin Juhl, of Council Bluffs, was shot, one time in the leg, during
the disturbance. He was taken, by a citizen’s vehicle, to a Council Bluffs hospital for treatment prior to officers getting to the scene. His injury is not life threatening.

Detectives and CSI staff are currently working the scene and are interviewing potential witnesses. Anyone with any information regarding this incident are encouraged to contact detectives at 712‐328‐4728 or can remain anonymous by calling CrimeStoppers at 712‐328‐STOP (7867).

(Lincoln, NE) – A Senior U.S. District Court Judge in Nebraska, last week, sentenced a man from Colorado with a prior violent felony conviction, to 31-years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine mixture in the Lincoln, NE, and Omaha/Council Bluffs metro areas. 38-year-old Jose O. Maes, of Colorado Springs, was convicted of the offense in Nov., 2022, following a three-day trial. Following his term of imprisonment, Maes will serve 15-years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

Testimony and evidence presented at trial showed between June of 2020 and February 12, 2021, Maes was involved in a methamphetamine distribution organization which transported multiple pounds of methamphetamine from the Colorado Springs, Colorado, area to the Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa areas between the latter part of 2020 and February 12, 2022.

On February 11, 2022, investigators with the Lincoln/Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force saw Maes meet with two co-conspirators at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. The three were engaged in what appeared to be the transfer of drugs in the casino parking garage. Shortly thereafter, an exchange of cash occurred at a nearby gas station. Later that evening, the two co-conspirators, driving separate vehicles, were stopped on westbound Interstate 80 on their way back to Lincoln by the Nebraska State Patrol. Both vehicles were searched, and a total of approximately four pounds of methamphetamine, numerous fentanyl pills, two handguns and $5,000 in cash were found.

As a result of these stops and searches, Iowa investigators were told Maes was believed to have returned to the casinos and was likely in possession of methamphetamine, cash and a firearm. Around 2:30 a.m. on February 12, 2022, an investigator from the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and a Council Bluffs Police Officer found Maes’s car in the Harrah’s Casino parking garage. Maes evaded efforts to contact him. This resulted in a pursuit involving multiple law enforcement agencies which ended approximately 30 miles away in a rural area of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. A search of Maes’s car resulted in the seizure of ¼ ounce of methamphetamine, a few fentanyl pills, a loaded handgun with an extended magazine and more than $34,153 in cash. That cash was later forfeited to the United States of America by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

This case was investigated by the Lincoln/Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Division of Intelligence, the Council Bluffs Police Department, the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department, the Iowa State Patrol, the Omaha Police Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa is using a U-S Department of Education grant to try to improve access to mental health professionals in rural schools. U-N-I’s School Psychology Program Coordinator, Nicole Skaar, says it continues a previous “grow your own” effort to get more psychologists in schools. “Taking current educational or related field professionals who have master’s degrees and are currently professionals in education or related fields, and retraining them to be school psychologists,” she says. Skar says this program will focus on the Great Prairie, Central Rivers, and Northwest Area Education Areas to train 15 school psychologists over the next five years. She says the national association recommends one school psychologist for every 500 students.

“Iowa is currently at one school psychologist to 19-hundred students. And if we’re looking at like, Great Prairie A-E-A — one of the A-E-A’s we’re currently partnering with — they are one school psychologist to every four-thousand students. So we clearly have a shortage of school psychs in Iowa,” Skar says. Skar says the first time they did the program those involved continued teaching while doing the work — but they’ve changed that this time. “To get them through the program and doing all of their field experiences that are required for the program, it was really difficult to make all that work logistically,” Skar says. “And so we have worked with the A-E-A’s in this program to provide a new type of full-time employment, that would be sort of like school psych assistant work.”

The program uses part of the two-and-half million dollar grant to help them pay for their classes. Skar says there are teacher shortages in a lot of areas, and taking some existing teachers for the program is a concern. “That’s one of the downfalls of this. We’re taking people who are already working as teachers or school counselors that may have a shortage area, and retraining them into school psychologists,” she says. Skar says they hope more psychologists can address some of the larger issues and help ease some of the pressure on the staff.

“We are providing psychological safety for both students and staff, so addressing student mental well being and staff well being that hopefully, we’re, you know, kind of cutting off, some of the more intensive issues that maybe school psychologists would be needed for, you know, needing more special ed teachers and things like that,” according to Skar. Skar says U-N-I at the same time is continuing to work on efforts to get more teachers into other fields as well to fill some of the gaps.