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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
Battle Creek, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Public Safety said Wednesday, that first responders were dispatched on May 4, 2023, to 500 Maple St. in Battle Creek, for a report of an unresponsive child. The child was transported to Horn Memorial Hospital in Ida Grove, and then transported to Children’s Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.
The child died on May 5, 2023, at Children’s Hospital. An autopsy was performed by the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner on May 6, 2023. An investigation into the child’s death is on-going. The Ida County Sheriff’s Office is being assisted by the Ida County Attorney’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Ida County Sheriff’s Office at 712-364-3146.
(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs say a warrant has been issued for a man wanted in connection with a stabbing that occurred late Wednesday night. 55-year-old Jeff Edward Smith, of Council Bluffs, is wanted for Willful Injury, 1st Degree Kidnapping, Harassment in the 1st Degree, and Domestic Abuse Assault – Strangulation w/bodily Injury.
The warrant stems from an incident that took place at around 11:11-p.m., Wednesday, in the 600 block of 5th Avenue, in Council Bluffs. The suspect’s girlfriend told Police that Smith assaulted her, held her against her will in their bedroom, stabbed her in the hand with a knife, choked her and threatened to kill her. Smith left the scene before officers arrived.
Jeff Edward Smith
Anyone with information about this case or the whereabouts of Jeff Edward Smith, is asked to contact Pottawattamie County Dispatch at 712-328-5737.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – [UPDATED] – The Atlantic School Board, by a vote of 4-to-1, Wednesday evening approved a 2023-24 Interim Superintendent Contract with Dr. Beth Johnsen. School Board President Laura McClean said there were 19 applicants for the position. Four were interviewed. Johnsen, she said, “Rose to the top.
School Board elections will be held this Fall. Board members McLean, Jenny Williams and Nicholas Hunt will all be up for re-election.
McLean said Dr. Johnsen’s contract will be for two-years, beginning on July 1st, 2023. Board member Josh McLaren voted against the two-year contract.
Dr. Johnson is currently serving as an interim Superintendent at Thayer Central Schools in Nebraska. Prior to her working in her current district, Dr. Johnsen was a Superintendent for 10 years at Conestoga Public Schools, in Southeast Nebraska. She has spent time as an educator at Buena Vista teaching educational leadership courses and also has spent time consulting and coaching individuals in school leadership. ACSD Interim Superintendent, Dr. Johnsen sees herself as a leader of leaders, with her primary focus being on empowering and supporting all staff.
Johnson shares that she is eager and excited to become a Trojan. Right off the bat, she plans to focus on the current culture of the district and where the district wants it to be. She is ready to empower leaders within every department, which she hopes has a significant impact overall. Dr. Johnsen currently resides in the Underwood area with her husband, Ben, of 42 years. Dr. Johnsen and Ben have 5 grown and married children, and 15 grandchildren. Additional information and a bio about Dr. Johnsen and her family will be coming in the near days ahead.
Dr. Johnson plans to introduce herself to the district soon and looks forward to working together for the common goals and priorities for Atlantic. Dr. Johnsen’s position is effective July 1, 2023. She will succeed current Superintendent Steve Barber, whose resignation is in effect as of June 30, 2023.
(Atlantic, Iowa) [UPDATED] – The Atlantic School Board meeting Wednesday evening began with a Public Hearing on the Amended 2022-23 Certified Budget. Afterward, the regular Board session got underway. During the Public Comment segment, LeAnne Pellett, of Atlantic, spoke with regard to a student walk-out held March 1, 2023. The event was to protest what was termed in the online school newspaper “The Needle,” as “anti-LGBTQIA+ bills being debated at the time in the Iowa legislature. Pellett said was speaking “On behalf of the citizen taxpayers” who were in attendance at the meeting, and “Many more citizens who were upset” about the event held on school property.
The event on March 1st was scheduled for 1-p.m.
Pellett asked rhetorically, “Were opposing views on this protest ever presented to all persons?”
Similar walkouts occurred at 14 school districts in Iowa, led by the Iowa QSA, or Queer Student Alliance, a youth-led organization. Atlantic High School Principal Heather McKay stated to the Needle prior to the event, that “If a student chooses to participate in this activity in a manner that does not cause a school-wide disruption and [they] remain on school grounds, they will not be disciplined for truancy.”
Other public comments received during the meeting were with regard to news last week, that the Atlantic School District sent a letter to the Nishna Valley Family YMCA. Executive Director Dan Haynes said “The letter gives notice that we should vacate the ELC Infant Room by Dec. 15, 2023.” An agreement between the District and YMCA Board, stipulates the agreement to vacate should have been given no less than 120 days before the end of the end of the current school year, in order for the termination to be in effect for the next school year. The letter was dated April 25th, 2023.” The letter stated an increase in Special Education needs for the district’s three-year-old population necessitated the need for an extra preschool room.
He added, “We believe that with widespread community collaboration, we can meet the needs of all families we both have already committed to. After meeting with the State Fire Marshall and our DHS consultant this, we also believe that without widespread collaboration the YMCA board will have to seriously evaluate if we can physically and financially be able to continue to provide infant care in our community.” Local economic development officials, including Atlantic Chamber Director Bailey Smith, CADCO Executive Director Jennifer McEntaffer, and Christina Bateman, speaking on behalf of CCHS CEO Brett Altman, also spoke of the dire need to leave the child care space alone, citing current and future child care demands upon the community. No action was taken on either topic during the School Board’s meeting.
In response, Superintendent Steve Barber, in his report to the Board, said in the discussion, it’s important to talk about the needs of the district’s preschool program, and how to best serve those children.
He said “fast forward to March of this year…”
By adding a fourth section of preschool, Barber says “We were faced with a space issue.”
At the beginning of the new school year, Barber says, “A temporary classroom will be created in the southeast portion of the multi-purpose room, which connects the ELC and Wickman building. Half-way though next year, we are looking at permanently moving into the ELC classroom with our fourth, three-year old program.” Those reasons, he said are part of the rational “behind the thinking of meeting the needs of our preschool programs, and we anticipate moving forward and noticing some great things with those students.”
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa will no longer require experienced physician assistants — known as P-As — to be work under the direct supervision of doctor in order to practice medicine. P-As who are newly licensed, though, will have to have an agreement with a supervising doctor for two years before they may practice independently. Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill making those changes into law today (Wednesday).
“This is a game changer for rural hospitals and it really makes a difference to be able to provide that access to Iowans who need it,” Reynolds says. “We want to make sure that we do everything we can to maintain health care in rural Iowa.” Over half of the licensed P-As in Iowa today are working in rural communities. Representative Josh Turek, of Council Bluffs, says about 40 percent of the P-As who graduate in Iowa, though, leave to practice elsewhere. “Allowing the PAs to operate independently I think will lead us to keeping more of our PAs here as we are the Harvard of the PAs,” Turek says.
The first class of P-As graduated from the University of Iowa in 1974. The P-A program at Des Moines University has been operating nearly four decades. In the past decade, St. Ambrose University in Davenport and the University of Dubuque started P-A training programs. The P-A program at Northwestern College in Orange City started in 2020.
Onawa, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports that at around 1:50-a.m today (Wednesday), the Monona County Communications Center responded to an individual suffering from being stabbed and was subsequently receiving medical treatment at the Burgess Health Center, Onawa. The individual was flown Mercy One in Sioux City, Iowa.
After an investigation by the Monona County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the stabbing victim has been identified as 32-year-old Derek Webster Jr., of Monona, Iowa. Webster Jr is currently in stable condition at Mercy One.
Inessa Lyons, 30 year old, of Monona, Iowa was arrested by the Monona County Sheriff’s Office and has been charged for Attempted Murder and Willful Injury.
Court documents indicate Webster told investigators he’d been attacked outside a bar by a white man on a motorcycle, but Lyons later admitted Webster had repeatedly asked her to take him to a store to buy more booze and she stabbed him with a knife in their kitchen.
Inessa Lyons
Note: A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Rolling Hills Bank and Trust has partnered with the Atlantic Parks and Rec Department, to purchase fruit trees for our area parks as a community orchard. During an Ambassadors meeting Parks Director Wyatt Adderton spoke about the tree loss in our parks, and how they were going to need to replace some trees.
Photos courtesy Rolling Hills Loan Officer BJ Hart
Assistant Parks Director Jeff Christensen later commented about a beloved pear tree located near the pool that they lost recently. He said it was a shame that it died so many people loved that tree. 
Rolling Hills Loan Manager B.J. Hart said “I went back to the bank wanting to do something and talked with CEO Keith Honke about a tree project. Keith encouraged me to get some information which prompted me to contact our new director. As Wyatt and I were talking the idea was born to have a community orchard.”
The Parks and Recreation Department purchased 26 fruit trees. Apple, Pear and Cherry Trees. The first tree for the Community Orchard was planted today (Wednesday), at Sunnyside Park.
[UPDATE 7:48-A.M. 5/11] – Mr. Brown was located on 05-10-23 at approximately 6:00 pm in Tarkio Missouri. According to Council Bluffs Police, he was located by an Atchison County Missouri Deputy. He was found healthy and the family has been notified.
(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs are asking for your help in locating man who hasn’t been seen since Sunday. Clint A. Brown, of Council Bluffs, was last seen driving a dark blue 2000 Chrysler Town & County Mini Van with Iowa License Plate IZG-974.
Clint Brown
The family is very concerned about his safety. If you have had any contact with him, or know of his possible location, please call 911 or make contact with the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4728, thank you.
(Radio Iowa) – A report on tax collections since July 1st of 2022 shows state revenue is up nearly two percent compared to the previous 10 month period. In March, the State Revenue Estimating Conference predicted state tax revenue would drop by half a percent this fiscal year. The uptick in ACTUAL tax receipts happened despite the state paying out 107 million dollars MORE in state income tax refunds than it did through the end of April last year.
Jeff Robinson of the Legislative Services Agency says there’s been a bit of a slow down in overall state tax collections since April 3rd, though. That includes a dip in sales tax payments to the state. Iowans who filed their 2022 STATE income tax returns by May 1st and are owed a refund should get it within the next two weeks according to Robinson.
Atlantic, IA—Officials with Cass Health say “During National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week is the perfect time to celebrate and announce that for the third year in a row, Cass Health is one of the nation’s overall top 20 critical access hospitals as determined by the Chartis Center for Rural Health.”
Cass Health CEO Brett Altman says “Though the award is called ‘Top 20,’ we understand that for each of the past three years we have actually been in the Top 10 on that list of hospitals. This puts Cass Health in the top 1% of 1,353 critical access hospitals in the country, which is a remarkable accomplishment. What really amazes me is that our team has achieved this status for three years in a row; Cass Health is one of only four hospitals in the country to have ever accomplished that feat.”
This esteemed group of hospitals was selected from the Chartis Center for Rural Health’s 2023 Top 100 Critical Access Hospital list, which was released earlier this year. The determining factors for the top hospitals are based on the results of the Hospital Strength Index and its eight performance measures, based solely on data for: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient survey results, cost, charge, and financial efficiency.
Altman says “Our vision is to be the best rural hospital in the country, and each year we are growing closer to that goal. By staying committed to delivering a superior experience to every patient and family, we hope to continue this trend. Not only are we grateful for our incredible staff, but also, we are thankful for our patients. Every time our patients give us top scores on patient surveys it helps us attain recognition such as this.”
The rankings were recently announced by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), and an awards ceremony will be held during NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference.
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