(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a man was arrested Thursday night in Stanton, on an active Montgomery County warrant. Rex Sebeniecher was taken into custody at around 9:30-p.m in the 600 block of Meadow Avenue in Stanton, on a warrant charging him with two counts of Assault (Both are simple misdemeanors). Sebeniecher was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

(Radio Iowa) – A state employee who has guided millions of visitors through the Iowa Capitol building is retiring. January 23, 1976 was Joan Arnett’s first day as an Iowa Capitol tour guide. “After I had worked here for about three days I filled out an application and I began my career here,” Arnett told Radio Iowa. Now, 47 years later, this is Arnett’s last day on the job.

“My children asked me a few days ago — they were here taking a tour, believe it or not — and they said: ‘What are you going to do on your last day, mom?’ And I said, ‘Cry.’ It’s going to be very hard to leave here,” Arnett said. “But I feel like I leave the building in good hands. There are a lot of people that have a lot of passion about this building and hopefully that will carry through into future generations.”

About 75-thousand people sign up for tours through the building each year. Many arrive on school buses. “A lot of our visitors start very young,” Arnett says. “We hope that they come back again and again, so it’s really not so much about learning facts about the building as learning that this is their building, that they’re always welcome here.” The Iowa Capitol is 137 years old and tour guides lead visitors all the way up to what’s called the whispering gallery. It’s a narrow passageway inside the golden dome that’s 275 feet above the ground. Arnett is also fascinated by areas that aren’t on the public tours — the attics and the space that’s a story below the basement.

“We see the pretty parts all day every day, but we never think about what it takes to support that,” Arnett says,” and there’s just a lot behind the scenes.” For the past 25 years, Arnett has been the supervisor of all the guides who lead tours of the building six days a week. For decades, the Capitol tour guides operated from a small desk on the edge of the first floor rotunda — with a narrow, three story closet to store pamphlets about the Capitol and other supplies.

“We eventually added another desk” she says. “Of couse we added a computer and eventually we moved down here to the ground floor.” The ground floor is where visitors enter the building and find the tour guides, as well as souvenirs and a collection of artifacts found over the past 40 years during restoration of the Capitol. Arnett says she often thinks about the four men who were in charge of constructing the Capitol in Des Moines.

“I think the most amazing part is that they had the foresight to think beyond their years and they didn’t just think: ‘We’re going to build a building that people will be proud of today.’ They said: ‘We’re going to build a building that people would be proud of 1000 years from now,'” Arnett says, “and I think they accomplished that.” Former State Representative Chuck Gipp of Decorah led the Capitol restoration effort during his 18 years in the legislature and he credits Arnett for helping to make the Capitol a welcoming place for visitors.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s attorney general has signaled she would likely join a multi-state lawsuit if major pharmacy chains start selling abortion pills by mail. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has not issued a written statement of her own, but has added her signature to letters from attorneys general in Missouri and Alabama. One of the letters Bird and 19 other Republicans signed says as state attorneys general, it is their responsibility to protect the health, safety, and well-being of women and unborn children in their states.

The letters to Walgreens and C-V-S come after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced women seeking abortion pills could get them through the mail.

A bill has been introduced in the state legislature that would ban sending abortion pills through the mail in Iowa. Medication abortion has been available in the United States for 23 years. The most recent data indicates nearly 80 percent of abortions in Iowa in 2020 were induced by medication. About a dozen other states now ban abortion pills.

Des Moines, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports 24-year-old Kenneth Quinton Crosby,  of Des Moines, was sentenced today (Thursday) to 12 months and 1 day in prison following his guilty plea to four counts of False Statement During Purchase of a Firearm and one count of Unlawful Drug User in Possession of Firearms. Following his prison term, Crosby also will have to serve three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court documents, Crosby purchased at least five firearms in 2020 and 2021. Each time he did, Crosby knowingly made several false misrepresentations on a required form, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosive (ATF) Form 4473. This Form requires firearm buyers to answer several questions, including those about the buyer’s competency, criminal history, drug use, immigration status, and history with domestic violence. On February 9, 2022, Crosby knowingly possessed four pistols while being an unlawful user of marijuana.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Essley prosecuted the case, which is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

DES MOINES, IA – A man from Des Moines was sentenced Wednesday (Feb. 1, 2023) to a total of 30-years in prison in association with multiple child exploitation offenses. 27-year-old Shaun Taylor Solem will be on supervised release for ten years after his sentence is concluded. He is also required to register as a sex offender. There is no parole in the federal system.

In 2019 and 2020, Solem communicated with multiple minor females on Snapchat, including victims he knew were as young as twelve years old. During his communications, Solem falsely stated that he was a similar age. Solem requested and received sexually explicit images from many of the victims. He directed several of the minor victims to take explicit photos or videos of themselves and multiple victims did.

After receiving the images, Solem threatened to disseminate their images to family, friends, or publicly if the victims did not continue to send sexual images to him. The minor victims ranged in age from 12 to 16 years old and were located across the United States, including at least three minor victims who lived near Des Moines.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal urged parents to “Please continue to be aware of who your children and teenagers are interacting with on social media sites.” He said “Relentless predators like Solem have no reservation in attempting to exploit their way into any home via the internet. In this case, the combined efforts of a vigilant parent and dedicated law enforcement officers brought a dangerous predator out from behind his keyboard and into incarceration for a lengthy period of time. Child exploitation of any kind will not be tolerated, and predators will be brought to justice.”

The case was investigated by the Urbandale Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI)’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.

Parents and guardians are encouraged to have open and ongoing conversations about internet safety with children. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc and click on the Publications & Resources tab.

(Radio Iowa) – The northeast Iowa community that’s known for being the home to the “Field of Dreams” is getting some national attention. Karla Thompson, director of the Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce, says the small town is up for some big honors. “We are in the ten best categories, actually in two different categories, from USA Today,” Thompson says. “So we are spreading the word about voting. We can vote every day for those two topics and one is the Small Community in the Midwest, and Small Community in Culture.”

Dyersville is toward the top of the rankings in both categories. Thompson encourages all Iowans to vote and to vote daily. “We always think every community is special and near and dear to our hearts,” she says. “We hear other people comment about our community on how great it is, but when national magazines and websites and other people nominate you, then it really kind of sinks in, saying, you know what, we are really special. We do have a lot going on for us.”

Dyersville (KMCH photo)

The links to vote are below:

https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-midwestern-small-town-2023/
https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-small-town-cultural-scene-2023/

You can vote daily through February 20th. The winning small towns will be announced on 10Best.com on March 3rd.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is launching a new research center to improve flood prediction. Engineering professor Ibrahim Demir says the country has a lot to learn from Iowa, as he says the UI stands out for its emphasis on projects that help residents better understand their flood risk locally. As an example, The Iowa Flood Information System, or IFIS, can be used by homebuyers to better understand a properties potential for flood damage.

“You cannot really find any information easily from FEMA or other websites,” Demir says. “When you go to IFIS in Iowa, you can enable these flood maps at 100-year flood map, 500-year flood map, and you have all this 8 different periods, you can just find out your business or new land or new house you are purchasing will be in the flood zone and its potential for some damages.”

Prior to 2009, there was a flood gauge in Cedar Falls and another in Cedar Rapids. This offered relatively little data for predicting floods like the one in 2008 that rocked the region. Fast-forward to 2023, there’s a network of sensors all along Iowa’s rivers and streams. Larry Weber is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UI.

Prof. Larry Weber (U-I photo)

Weber says, “We provide hundreds of forecast points between those two locations so every small community, every homeowner, every farmer or land owner in that space between Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids in the past was left without information, now has ample information.”

The Center for Hydrologic Development joins a cooperative of other research institutes sharing approaches like this with its peer institutions. Iowa will receive $21 million from the collaborative.

(reporting by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the state legislature say they will soon send the governor a bill to increase general state spending on Iowa’s public schools by about $106 million. “A very solid number to be able to show support for our public school systems and try to get that done within the timeline,” House Speaker Pat Grassley told reporters today (Thursday).

He said the House will approve that level of spending early next week — giving school boards about eight weeks to finalize budget plans for the next academic year. Democrats say school districts need more to offer competitive teacher salaries and cover rising costs of fuel to heat buildings and run buses. Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames said the state would have more to spend if Republicans hadn’t approved state-funded savings accounts for private school parents.

“We’re proposing to support public education for the many and not private school education for the privileged few,” Quirmbach said. Due to declining enrollment and the distribution formula for general state spending on public schools, Senator Sarah Trone Garriott of West Des Moines said dozens of school districts will get less money for the next academic year. “Seventy-one community school districts will absolutely have to cut their budgets, cut teachers, cut programs, increased class sizes,” Trone Garriott said. “Three percent will move more rural schools towards consolidation and closure.”

The 34 Republicans in the Senate approved the 3% increase in general state school aid this afternoon. “I’ll start with the word conservative, with no apology,” Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, said. “We have conservative budgeting practices and Iowans, in increasing numbers, sent us back to the House and Senate so yes, this reflects our fiscal policies and our conservatism.”

The bill also includes $900,000 more dollars in state support for geographically large school districts that spend far more on bus routes.

(Glenwood,Iowa) – Glenwood Police report a man was arrested Wednesday, on an OWI charge. 32-year-old Brian Benedict, of Glenwood, faces a charge of OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

(Radio Iowa) – A special investigation by the state auditor’s office has identified 100-thousand dollars worth of questionable transactions handled by the former clerk of an eastern Iowa town. Amber Bell was the city clerk in Atkins for nearly five and a half years. She resigned in late 2020 after the Atkins City Council raised concerns about city finances and placed her on administrative leave. State Auditor Rob Sand says auditors found Bell paid herself more than authorized and used the city’s credit card to buy personal items and pay for a manicure.

The special investigation identified more than 51-thousand dollars of improper spending and auditors could not find receipts or documents for another 21-thousand dollars worth of transactions. Nearly 28-thousand dollars worth for utility payments were either not collected or not billed according to the state auditor’s special investigation.