The Red Oak Police Department is asking area residents to keep an eye out for a stolen pickup. At around 3:15pm Wednesday a red 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 extended cab truck was stolen from downtown Red Oak. The truck has Iowa license plates 247YFA out of Montgomery County. It also has a trailer hitch on it and some rust on the wheel wells. If seen please call 911 and report it.
Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports officers responded Tuesday evening to a complaint of a white male in a white van driving by the area of the Clarinda Lied Recreation Center, allegedly taking photographs of children playing outside the Lied Recreation Center. Officers locate both the subject and van, and upon further investigation determined the man was an independent contractor performing renovation work at the Parkview Apartment Complex, which is located to the west of the Clarinda Lied Recreation Center, and City of Clarinda Park.
Officers learned that the 35-year old male is listed on the State of Missouri Sex Offender Registry. Officers spoke with the subject, who cooperated with them, and allowed inspection of devices capable of taking video or still photographs. No pictures of children were located on any devices.
The owners of Parkview Apartments were contacted and advised the contractor is a registered sex offender in the State of Missouri, which the apartment complex owners were unaware of. The individual’s name was not released, as he was not charged with any crime.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals says three members of the Harrison County Board of Supervisors must pay thousands of dollars in court costs and a fine for failure to hold meetings open to the public. The case centers on two November 2013 meetings the supervisors held after they had been sued by local farmers upset that a failed levee hadn’t been repaired.
In the ruling Wednesday, the court says supervisors Robert Smith, Walter Utman and Gaylord Pitt had no legal basis to close the meetings and therefore must be responsible for paying $200 in fines and attorney fees of about $25,000.
Only Utman remains on the board. Pitt died in May and Smith lost in the 2014 primary election.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa state trooper say persistent staffing shortages is draining for officers and creating difficulties for the public, but an influx of additional staff appears unlikely amid a tight state budget. The Des Moines Register reports the Iowa State Patrol has 358 sworn personnel. That’s down from about 450 troopers in 2000, before budget cuts led to staff reductions.
The staffing shortages have sparked complaints about long waits for troopers to arrive at crash scenes and concerns about large areas of rural Iowa not having trooper coverage at night. State Police Officers Council president Trooper Jason Bardsley says one officer had to drive 115 miles from near the Iowa-Missouri state line to assist with a fatal crash.
Bardsley says he hopes the Iowa Legislature can begin taking steps during its 2017 session to address the shortage.
Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled a new energy plan for the state this (Wednesday) morning. “This plan is comprehensive, looking at all of Iowa and considering all of the opportunities in front of us,” she says. The report spans more than 100 pages. A top priority is continuing to promote a “diversity” of energy sources, including wind power and plant materials which can be an ingredient for biofuels.
“Our companies and citizens have access to energy affordability and reliability with some of the lowest energy costs in the nation and that reality is something that state leaders and stakeholders absolutely can’t take for granted,” Reynolds says. “It’s why this energy plan is so important because it will help us ensure Iowa will continue to lead well into the future.”
The plan also calls for promoting new energy technology, like cells that can store the power generated by wind turbines. Developing a more modern power grid is also mentioned in the plan. The report does not outline state spending plans for these initiatives. It doesn’t call for legislative action either. “In other words, we didn’t want to create a plan that had a bunch of governmental mandates,” Reynolds says.
The report outlines 15 objectives. Iowa Economic Development Authority director Debi Durham says shoring up the workforce pipeline is part one of them. “We must ensure that Iowa is able to attract and train the professionals we need to meet the state’s future energy needs,” Durham says.
Mark Lowe, the interim director of the Iowa Department of Transportation, says the report also focuses on the need to “move” energy. “As energy infrastructure continues to age, capacity is exceeded and new technology emerges, it’s critical to establish a vision for what a modernized grid should look like for Iowa,” Lowe says.
State officials have been working on this plan and holding meetings around the state for months.
(Radio Iowa)
Audubon Police Chief Matt Starmer reports a man arrested a little over a year ago on child pornography charges, was sentenced last month to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to the charges. Philip Eugene Mathis, formerly of Audubon, was sentenced in the United States Federal Court on November 3rd on Possession of Child Pornography charges.
Once he’s released from prison, Mathis will be on supervised release for another 8 years and will be listed as a registered sex offender. He will also be required to complete a Sex Offender Treatment program. Mathis was arrested on December 15, 2015 after an investigation was conducted by the Audubon Police Department and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Audubon Police executed search warrants that resulted in the discovery of hundreds of images and videos of underage children and minors in the nude or engaged in sex acts. The findings were turned over to federal authorities who then took over the case for the filing of federal charges.
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Cold temperatures have frozen over most of the state’s lakes and ponds — setting off the ice fishing season. Iowa Department of Natural Resources fisheries chief, Joe Larschied, says you should be able to ice fish in most areas of the state. He says there are still some lakes in southeast Iowa that haven’t fully frozen, but most of the lakes and impoundments have five to six inches of ice on them.
The forecast is calling for the temperatures to rise into the 40s in some areas of the state, but Larschied says that won’t melt everything away. “We’re still going to be making ice at night and we are going to be in the 30s and maybe 40s for a couple of days. For a short periods of time they’re not going to be melting a lot of ice. When you have good, hard, clear ice it takes a lot of warming days to really whittle that down,” Larschied says. “I’m going to predict that we are going to be making ice instead of losing ice.”
But Larschied isn’t giving a guarantee that all the ice will be good. “We can never say it is 100 percent safe to go ice fishing — because the conditions can vary in the lake or impoundment,” Larschied says. “But generally, four inches of hard, clear ice is safe to fish on for foot traffic. Anything of six inches and above is safe for A-T-Vs. And over eight to ten inches is safe if you want to drive larger vehicles on the ice.”
He says there are a couple of warning signs that the ice may not be safe. “If the ice looks dark, there’s nobody fishing it, be very careful,” Larschied says. He says you should punch plenty of holes in the ice to test its thickness. And always take a friend with you so you have help if you get into trouble on the ice.
He says bring these safety items along in the bucket: ice picks, about 50 feet of rope and a throwable floatation seat cushion for use in case of rescue.
(Radio Iowa)
The Atlantic Boys Swimming team competed in a double dual at Des Moines Roosevelt on Tuesday night and had a strong showing.
The Trojans got first place finishes from Damon Miller in the 100 Yard and 200 Yard Freestyle, and Nick Landhuis in the 100 Yard Backstroke. Atlantic also took first in the 200 Yard Medley Relay, 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, and 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Jacob Redler was 2nd in the 200 Yard Individual Medley. Ben Henriksen was 2nd in the 100 Yard Fly.
The Trojans ended up losing the dual meet only due to sheer numbers. 3 lanes were scored in each event allowing Roosevelt to rack up some extra points with more swimmers.
Des Moines Roosevelt 91, Atlantic 78.
Full results here: 2016-12-20-newton-atlantic
With winter just getting underway today (Wednesday), we’re a long way from the spring run-off season, but forecasters are trying to look ahead and give Iowa farmers a chance to plan. Doug Kluck, the central region climate service director at the National Weather Service, says the first indications show run-off into the Missouri River basin should -not- be an issue next spring.
Kluck says, “If the forecasts hold true in terms of greater-than-normal precipitation and below-normal temperatures in the upper basin, if those come true — and they’re only slight probabilities pointing in that direction — I would say the run-off season should be relatively good.”
He notes that upper basin is the far upper basin, meaning, Montana and Wyoming. Kluck says mountain snowpack is currently behind normal. “As of right now, we’re a little bit behind the curve in the upper portions of the Missouri and the Platte River basin,” Kluck says. “It’s really tough to say. We’re not very far into the snow accumulation season, especially in the mountains. That can last into May in some places, so there’s a lot of season to go at this point.”
The U-S Army Corps of Engineers says the six main stem reservoirs of the Missouri River basin are expected to have the full 16-point-three million acre feet of flood storage available by spring.
(Radio Iowa)
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