Des Moines – A Mason City woman, 26-year-old Shavhona Whitmore, pled guilty and was sentenced on March 13, 2023 to one count of Fraudulent Submissions (Class D Felony) following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Divisions Fraud Bureau.

The investigation began in July of 2022. According to criminal complaints filed by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau, Whitmore misrepresented information to an insurance company in an attempt to receive benefits she otherwise would not have been entitled to.

Following her guilty plea, Whitmore was placed on supervised probation for five years. A civil penalty of $1,025 is imposed, but suspended.

Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is scheduled to testify before members of the Senate Ag Committee this week, including Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor and a Democrat, is pushing through policies at U-S-D-A which Grassley says will make it difficult to pass a bipartisan Farm Bill. Grassley, a Republican, says Vilsack discussed the continued consolidation of farming at the agency’s Ag Outlook Forum. “Even with record farm income, almost half of our farmers have negative farm income. We know that the largest 10% of the farms receive 70% of the commodity payments,” Grassley says. “That’s unacceptable.”

Grassley says he’s pursuing payment cap legislation which targets farm programs specifically to small- and medium-sized farmers.  “Along this line, the words ‘actively engaged in farming,’ a legal term, is very important,” Grassley says. “USDA has the ability to tighten the rules on those, whether or not they’re actively engaged. If they aren’t actively engaged, they shouldn’t be qualifying for payments.”

Grassley says they need to find ways to make the farm safety net work for all farmers, not just the large ones. He says the U-S-D-A’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, a program championed by Vilsack, is a departure from the agency’s earlier efforts to focus on small farmers. “Not-so-small companies like Microsoft, Campbell’s Soup, and Hershey’s have all been rewarded by this new program that the USDA created,” Grassley says, “and keep in mind that USDA created this program without input from Congress.”

Grassley says Vilsack’s actions, which he says include increasing the price of SNAP by 250-billion dollars, will put hopes for swift passage of the Farm Bill in jeopardy. The Senate Ag Committee hearing is scheduled for 8:30 A-M/Central on Thursday.

CRESTON, Iowa – March 14, 2023 – If you are driving on U.S. 59 in Mills and Pottawattamie counties in the coming weeks you may notice some construction work taking place on the roadway between U.S. 34 near Emerson and Iowa 92 near Carson.

Beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 20, weather permitting, construction crews will work on finishing up asphalt paving work that began last year. To get the work done, crews will need to take the road down to one lane. To help move traffic safely through the work zone, there will be flaggers and a pilot car from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays until completed on Friday, May 5. There’s also a 12-foot lane restriction while this work is being done.

Help keep everyone on the road safer. Drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, you should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

The latest traveler information is available anytime through the 511 system. Visit 511ia.org; call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide); stay connected with 511 on Facebook or Twitter (find links at https://iowadot.gov/511/511-social-media-sites); or download the free app to your mobile device.

(Anita, Iowa) – Members of the CAM School District’s Board of Education met in a regular session Monday evening. Superintendent Paul Croghan told KJAN News there were numerous resignations.

Croghan explains why there were so many resignations for the end of the current school year.

Croghan says some of those resignations will fit into the Board’s plan to close a District attendance center.

The Board voted to approve Sitelogiq as the architectural firm for the District’s facilities, and to enter into a contract with the firm for any kind of future needs.

And, Superintendent Croghan reports that on Wed., March 15^th, in the High School Commons, the Facilities Committee will be taking public comments on the closing of a district facility.

He asks everyone to attend Wednesday’s presentation, if at all possible. The CAM School Board will receive the Committee’s official recommendation during their regular meeting in April.

(Creston, Iowa) – A woman from Creston was arrested at around 6:11-p.m., Monday. Creston Police report 46-year-old Elizabeth Lea Reents was arrested at 900 N. Chestnut Street on a charge of Disorderly Conduct-Loud Raucous Noise. She was transported to the Union County Jail and later released on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University study finds the size and number of small farms in Iowa is dwindling, while the size and number of commercial farms is exploding. Professor David Peters, an extension rural sociologist at I-S-U, defines a small farm as being about 300 acres. Those small farm numbers are down 27-percent and the acreages farmed by those small operators shrunk by nearly 50-percent.

As for large commercial farms, of between two- and four-thousand acres, their numbers doubled while the farmland that they operated expanded by some 75-percent. Peters says whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends on your point of view. Larger farms tend to be more efficient and produce large amounts of commodities at relatively better prices, but he says Iowa is in danger of losing its agricultural legacy.

(Poweshiek, County, Iowa) – A crash involving three vehicles in eastern Iowa left one person dead and another injured. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened just before 2-p.m. at the intersection of Highways 6 and 63, east of Grinnell. The Patrol says a 2014 Buick Encore was traveling south on Highway 63 when the unidentified driver failed to stop at the intersection with Highway 6.

The car struck a trailer being pulled by a 2008 Chevy Silverado pickup that was westbound on Highway 6. An eastbound 2011 Volvo semi struck the pickup’s trailer also, when the trailer was pushed into the eastbound lanes. The semi also struck the Buick, which came to rest in the north ditch and caught fire.

The other vehicles also came to rest in the north ditch. The driver of the Buick – who was wearing a seat belt – died at the scene. Their name was withheld pending notification of family. The driver of the semi, 73-year-old Steven M. Crow, of Marengo, was injured and transported by ambulance to the hospital in Grinnell.

The crash remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Former President Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for the 2024 Iowa Caucuses in Davenport by promising to promote Iowa-made ethanol and to oppose raising the retirement age for Social Security. “We won Iowa twice and unfortunately we’re going to have to do it a second time because something happened,” Trump said as he took the stage. Trump was greeted with chants of U-S-A and got several standing ovations last (Monday) night.

“2024 is the final battle,” Trump said. “…We will evict Joe Biden from the White House.” Trump used a derogatory nickname to describe Florida Senator Ron DeSantis, who is likely to challenge Trump in 2024. Trump also spent a section of his speech talking about the war in Ukraine. He suggested the casualties and destruction have been underestimated and there is a threat of the conflict spiraling into nuclear war.

“Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: ‘I will prevent World War III,'” Trump said, to cheers, “because I really think you’re going to have World War III.” Trump promised as president he’d ban biological men from competing in women’s sports and he called for the direct election of principals by parents. “I will immediately sign a new executive order cutting federal funding for any school that’s pushing critical race theory (or) transgender insanity,” Trump said, to extended cheers.

Trump also said any school should be denied federal funds if they require masks or have a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. As he did during his first official Iowa campaign stop in mid-2015, Trump finished the event by taking questions from the crowd in Davenport’s Adler Theater, then stayed to shake hands and pose for pictures.

(Norwalk, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety report the Norwalk Police Department was contacted March 8, 2023, over concerns for the safety of a child in Norwalk. With the assistance of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), officers began an investigation. On March 9th, law enforcement and professional volunteer searchers located a deceased newborn child along the road in the 5300 block of Delaware Street, in Warren County.

Further investigation revealed that 25-year-old Megan K. Staude, of Newton, gave birth to a baby at home during the last days of February, 2023. With cooperation of Megan’s father, 64-year-old Rodney A. Staude, the baby was left to die and was then disposed of along Delaware Street. An autopsy was conducted by the State Medical Examiner’s Office. The results are still pending.

Both Rodney and Megan Staude were taken into custody and charged with Murder in the 1st Degree. The investigation is ongoing.

(Radio Iowa) – If you’ve changed your address in the past year, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office is asking for your help. The annual National Change of Address process is underway, which helps maintain the accuracy of Iowa’s voter registration records. Secretary of State Paul Pate says notices are being mailed to around 90-thousand registered voters in Iowa who have filed a change of address with the U-S Postal Service in the past year.

“We want Iowa’s voter roles to be as up-to-date and accurate as possible. Tens of thousands of Iowans move within the state each year,” Pate says. “This is a very important yearly procedure to ensure that those moves are reflected accurately in the voter registration database.” Pate says voters who receive the cards should follow the instructions on the return postcard to verify or correct their voting address, then return it to their county auditor’s office as soon as possible.

Some 38-thousand registered voters moved within their county during the past year, while more than 52-thousand moved outside their county but stayed in the state.