(Radio Iowa) – Officials in an eastern Iowa city say complaints about aggressive dogs have increased and they’re considering an update to the city ordinance in Manchester that prohibits vicious dogs from running loose in city limits. Tim Vick is the city manager in Manchester. Vick says under the current ordinance, he — as the city manager — is the official who determines if a dog meets the criteria for being declared potentially vicious, but he’s also the person who hears any appeals of that decision.

“So right now we’re wanting to change that so the police chief or their designee makes the declaration the dog is potentially vicious and usually it’s followed up because it was a police complaint was filed,” Vick says, “and then if they appeal that declaration by the police chief or a designee, it goes to the city manager.” The Manchester City Council has directed city staff to draft rules for what happens if someone who owns a dog that’s already been declared vicious violates the ordinance.

“Staff is going back to the drawing board. We’re going to put some stuff in there about simple misdemeanors and potential charges that could be faced…We want to keep it on a case by case basis because if a six year old kid accidentally lets the dog out, the dog blots out the door, the property owner wasn’t necessarily letting the dog run at large, but it did happen,” Vick says. “Now, if this happens on a regular basis, then that’s another issue.”

The current Manchester ordinance states that a dog declared potentially vicious must be kept indoors or inside a fenced yard that children who don’t live in the home cannot get into. The ADULT owners of potentially dangerous dogs can walk their pet in Manchester, but the dog must be on a leash and muzzled.

Manchester’s ordinance defines a potentially vicious dog as an animal that — without provocation and outside of its owner’s property — has bitten or tried to attack a person or who has injured or killed another animal.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds plans to sign a bill into law at 2:15 this (Friday) afternoon that will ban most abortions in Iowa. There’ll be a court hearing less than an hour before that for a lawsuit that seeks to at least temporarily block the law from taking effect.

A very similar 2018 law never went in effect due to a court injunction. The governor’s request that the Iowa Supreme Court lift that injunction failed on a three-to-three tie among the justices. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says the state’s highest court has never ruled on whether a six week abortion ban is constitutional — and that’s why the legislature passed the same proposal, again, on Tuesday.

“They have ruled on procedural matters and other bills that we have passed. They have never answered this question,” Whitver says. “…I would expect it will go back to the Supreme Court and we will get a final answer on where the Supreme Court stands.” It’s unclear when the district court judge may rule on the request for an injunction to block the law from taking effect.

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says if the law goes into effect this (Friday) afternoon, even for a few hours or a few days, it will create chaos. “Doctors won’t know what to do, patients won’t know what to do,” Konfrst says. “There will be questions and — most importantly — there will be inconsistent care across the state because different doctors will interpret it differently.”

Konfrst and other Democrats say the bill fails to provide clear guidance to doctors about when they may and may not perform an abortion in medical emergencies.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Council Bluffs Police Department (CBPD) is asking for the public’s help in locating 16 year old Nicholas Dalton Tarin. The teen was last seen at around midnight, Tuesday, near 901 North 35th Street in Council Bluffs.

Nicholas was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, black sweat pants and black crocks. He’s 5-feet 9-inches tall, has brown hair and blue eyes, a tattoo on his right arm, and weighs about 195 pounds. Nicholas takes daily medication and his family and the police department are concerned that he has now been without that medication for several days.

Nicholas Tarin

If you know the whereabouts of Nicholas please call 911 or the Pottawattamie County Communications Center at 712-328-5737.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources received an increase in this year’s budget from two million dollars to five million for infrastructure repairs at state parks. D-N-R director, Kayla Lyon, was asked at today’s (Thursday) Natural Resources Commission meeting how the money will be spent.

“We have a five-year capital plan for all of our infrastructure projects and so when we get increased funding we just chip away further at that at that capital plan,” Lyon says. Lyon says they talk with lawmakers about their needs during the budget process.

“We talk about all of the projects that we need to do, people don’t think about how we have to do wastewater treatment upgrades in addition to all of our regular infrastructure, so we do have conversations with the legislature,” she says. She was asked how much of an impact the additional dollars will have on the infrastructure needs and what will remain afterward.

“It’s very hard to answer that question with a number,” Lyon says. Lyon told the commission they can get some more information for them on infrastructure needs. She says it is okay for commissioners to talk with legislators about what they think is needed in the budget.

(Radio Iowa) – Fire officials have confirmed a body was found inside a burning Milford home this (Thursday) morning. Milford Fire Chief Jim Carpenter says a neighbor reported smoke coming from a home, just a few blocks from Highway 71 on the west side of town, shortly before 7:30.

Once on scene, firefighters found flames in the living room area of the two story structure, the same area where the unidentified deceased female was found.

The Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office has taken the lead on the investigation in hopes of finding the cause of that blaze.

(Radio Iowa) – Three teenagers have been charged in connection with an alleged stabbing incident in Storm Lake. According to the Storm Lake Police Department, officers were called to the site of a fight at around 8:40 Tuesday night and they found a 15-year-old male was suffering from a stab wound. He was initially transported to the hospital in Storm Lake, but was subsequently airlifted to another hospital.

Police say several of the suspects involved had fled the scene before officers arrived. A 15-year-old male has been arrested on three felony charges. Another 15-year-old male and a 17-year-old male each face one felony charge. All three teenagers are from Storm Lake. The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are anticipated.

Storm Lake’s Assistant Police Chief estimates that between ten and 15 people were involved in the fight.

(Radio Iowa) – A former Ottumwa teacher has pleaded guilty to a sexual abuse case from five years ago. According to court records filed last week, 40-year-old Zachary Barr entered a guilty plea to the charges of enticing a child under 16, sexual exploitation by a school employee, and dissemination of obscene material to a minor. According to his attorney, Barr will be seeking probation.

The outlined sentencing details include 11 years of probation and a suspended prison sentence. Additionally, Barr must register as a sex offender. Prosecutors reportedly will not resist the potential sentence. Barr was a sixth-grade teacher at Evans Middle School in Ottumwa in 2018 when authorities say the mother of a 13-year-old girl, who was a former student of Barr’s, said her daughter received inappropriate messages sent by Barr via social media.

As part of the investigation, officers took control of the girl’s social media accounts. Their conversations with Barr became overtly sexual, prompting his arrest.

(Elk Horn, Iowa) – Customers of Marne-Elk Horn Telephone Company (METC) are being offered a chance to recycle residential electronics next week, at locations in Exira, Walnut and Minden. Businesses should contact your METC office for your recycling needs.

The locations, dates and time frames are as follows:

• Exira – Exira Ball Fields on South Florence Street on Tuesday, July 18 2-6pm.
• Walnut – Marne Elk Horn Shed (1501 Antique City Drive) on Wednesday, July 19th 2-6pm.
• Minden – Lot across from City Hall onThursday, July 20th 2-6pm.

Accepted Items Include:

Personal Computers; Monitors; Keyboards & Mice; Printers; Copiers & Scanners; Networking Hardware; Disk Drives; Servers & Mainframes; Audio/Visual Equipment; Computer Manuals; Software; Telephones; Televisions; VCRs; Fax Machines; Circuit Boards; Cable & Satellite Equipment; Computer Cables & Wires including Christmas Tree Lights; Misc. Electronic Equipment.

Not Accepted – Appliances, Microwaves, Lighting Fixtures, Projection TVs, Laser Printers, etc. $15 fee for Old ‘Tube-Like’, Plasma & LCD TVs and Cracked Screens.

All Other Items Recycled FREE! Again, this service is for customers of Marne-Elk Horn Telephone Company, only.

CRESTON, Iowa – July 13, 2023 – If you are driving on U.S. 59 one mile south of Avoca in the coming weeks you need to be aware of a lane closure that may slow down your trip.

Crews will begin replacing the bridge on U.S. 59 one half at a time beginning on Monday, July 24, weather permitting. The roadway will be reduced to one lane with a lane width of 9-feet-6-inches. Trucks with wide loads traveling north of the work zone will be directed to use Iowa 83 and trucks with wide loads traveling south of the work zone will be directed to use U.S. 6. You will be directed across the bridge with temporary signal lights.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A severe thunderstorm moved through the area early yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon says although there were no reported injuries, widespread damages were evident. Winds in excess of 70 mph knocked down trees, large limbs and created some property damages with power outages. Strong winds also laid down field corn in areas.

While performing Damage Assessments, Kennon noticed that some damages were more severe, very concentrated and seemed to run in a line. A drone was deployed and found that his suspicions were correct. There is a clear path of damage that runs along 4th Street in Marne to a cattle feeding operation at 580th and Eastland Road and ends southeast of the intersection of Eastland Road and 590th. This line is nearly 3 miles long. Similar damage was also noticed in the City of Cumberland and in a couple of other rural locations in Cass County.

Drone picture taken by Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy, Ben Bartholomew.

Mike Kennon was interested in what the National Weather Service thought of this, so he submitted pictures and the drone video footage for their evaluation. Rod Donovan of the NWS-Des Moines said, “ It certainly appears there may have been some spin up circulations along the leading edge of the storm. Likely the radar beam started overshooting these features, so they were quite shallow features.”

The National Weather Service does not currently plan to perform a preliminary storm survey at this time.