(Harlan, Iowa) – The Harlan Police Department reports numerous arrests took place from Feb. 4th through the 27th. Two suspects were arrested twice.

Beginning with the most recent, on Feb. 27th, 60-year-old William Joseph Daeges, of Harlan, was arrested for allegedly violating a no contact order, and for and interference with official acts. And, 33-year-old Jacob Brady Scheffler, of Harlan, was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant.

On Feb. 24th, Harlan Police arrested Joey Lee Ranney, on active Shelby County warrants for Burglary and Forgery. Officers with the H-PD arrested 22-year-old Brandon Jay Benedict, of Harlan, on Feb. 21st. He was charged with Driving While Barred. The previous day, officers arrested 60-year-old William Joseph Daeges, of Harlan, for Domestic Abuse Assault.

On the 15th 30-year-old Brian Daniel Green, and 31-year-old Shelbie Ann Green, both of Harlan, were arrested for Violation of a No Contact Order. Shelbie Green was additionally charged with Assault. On Feb. 11th, 41-year-old Jasper William Daniel, of Harlan, was arrested for driving while barred. On the 6th, 35-year-old Dustin Allen Hansen, of Harlan, was arrested for Driving while revoked.

And, on Feb. 4th, 31-year-old Shelbie Ann Green, of Harlan, was arrested on an Assault charge.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Mills County are looking for a rental truck involved in a property damage accident. Authorities say 62-year-old Thomas Head, of Council Bluffs, was driving a 1998 Toyota eastbound on Highway 34 at around 5:30-a.m. Monday, when his vehicle was struck by a white Enterprise rental truck, as the truck was eastbound and attempting to pass the Toyota. The truck fled the scene. No injuries were reported. The driver of the rental truck was still not known as of the latest report.

And, Mills County Sheriff’s officials say 40-year-old Michaela Rice Collins, of Glenwood, was arrested Monday night, on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – (UPDATED 11:05-a..m.) A House subcommittee has approved a bill that would let Iowa schools have policies requiring that students use the bathrooms or locker rooms designated for their biological sex. During a subcommittee hearing early this (Tuesday) morning, Patty Alexander, a teacher from Urbandale, urged lawmakers to pass the bill.  “There is a push to influence our children into something they are not,” Alexander says. “We are pushing them in nihilism and narcissism…We are telling them they are born in the wrong bodies.” Jill Bjorklund, of Ankeny, and her seven-year-old transgender daughter Lily urged lawmakers to defeat the bill.

“If this bill passes I will not be able to go to the bathroom in the girls bathroom where all of my friends go. I will have to go in the boy’s bathroom which is way more confusing for my friends when I walk in with a dress on,” Lily said. Jill Bjorklund said: “How do you look at her face and think she is a danger?” Amber Williams told lawmakers she was a concerned mom who supports the bill.”Boys bathrooms are made for boys with urinals and toilets and girls bathrooms are made with toilets and tampon dispensers,” Williams said. “Boys and girls are biologically different, with different needs in the bathroom.” Chris Patterson, the parent of a non-binary child, says her first grader was forced to adhere to the kind of policy in this bill.

“I watched my confident, curious kiddo going from loving school to climbing into the car afterwards, sometimes wet, because they couldn’t risk one more interaction where someone told them they were in the wrong bathroom,” Patterson said. Lobbyists representing schools warn districts will risk lawsuits and be forced to decide whether to adhere to federal policy on transgender students’ bathroom use or the proposed state law. Shellie Flockhart told lawmakers she was the mother of four and her teenage children are opposed to having kids of the opposite sex in their locker room.

“Gender specific restrooms, locker rooms and showers are a safety requirement. As a woman, to ask for anything less is offensive,” Flockhart said. “The separation of bathrooms and locker rooms is needed.” Becky Taylor is executive director of Iowa Safe Schools, which works with 10-thousand L-G-B-T-Q students. Taylor says the bill’s accommodation — letting transgender students use the restroom in the nurses office — does not meet the legal standard. “Let me remind you that Brown v Board of Education found that having separate but supposedly equal facilities was inherently inequitable and illegal,” Taylor said.

In 2021, a gender specific bathroom policy won initial approval from a subcommittees in the Iowa Senate, but today’s (Tuesday’s) vote is the first time a House subcommittee has advanced a so-called bathroom bill.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) have introduced Erin Hudson to their staff. Hudson will assume to role of Community Development Director, overseeing SWIPCO’s housing and planning teams of 12 current staff members. The housing and planning departments are currently managing a grant portfolio of over $100 million, ranging from disaster recovery, housing, recreation, to foundational services such as transportation, water, sewer, and broadband.

“I am very excited to be here as I am glad to get back to working in an area of assisting people as most of my career has evidence of such,” said Hudson. “I find the work that SWIPCO does to be fascinating, and I am glad to be a part of it. I am ready to dive in and get involved as the Community Development Director in all aspects of Housing and Planning as we move forward through all the projects we are working on and all projects we may have on the horizon.”

Hudson lives in Harlan, Iowa with her two children. She has a bachelor’s degree from Northwest Missouri State University in Psychology and a master’s degree in public administration from University of Nebraska-Omaha. Hudson has a background working with various populations in the nonprofit arena. She worked with troubled youth, then low-income individuals/families, then disabled individuals, and then an assisted living facility.

Erin Hudson

Hudson has worked in administration and wrote and reviewed federal government grants to fund programs that she operated. Hudson brings with her a wealth of knowledge in grant writing and has many years of supervisory experience from her position as director at Youth Emergency Services, West Central Community Action, Concerned, Inc. and Manning Senior Living.

“Erin brings amazing experience managing diverse teams. Right now, there are unprecedented investments being made in our communities and Erin will be a major help as SWIPCO works to ensure as much of that is invested right here in Southwest Iowa.” SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy said.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Cass County met during a brief session this (Tuesday) morning. The Board approved the renewal of a 28-E agreement with the Southwest Iowa Juvenile Detention facility. Board Chair Steve Baier….

After some brief discussion, the Supervisors tabled action until March 14th, on updating the County’s Investment Policy. Baier said the Board has been working on the policy for at least a couple of months. Supervisor Bernard Pettinger said he and Supervisor Wendy Richter have been discussing how to better explain what the policy entails.

An attorney will review a draft of the proposal to make sure the language in clear, concise, and compliant with the Code of Iowa. And, Engineer Trent Wolken reported the Secondary Roads Department has been trying to keep a delicate balance with regard to application of road rock. First they were dealing with snow and ice late last week, and then it was heavy rain this week.

Board Chair Baier said “This is one of the challenging periods of year,” and that “no matter what you do the Secondary Roads that you’re gonna have some issues.”

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Supreme Court is hearing arguments today (Tuesday) over President Biden’s plan to forgive student loans, a plan Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley calls “reckless” and which would cost the federal government nearly one-trillion dollars. Grassley, a Republican, says the student loan system is deeply flawed and students and families need help in making better informed decisions about borrowing for college. “I often hear from Iowa families who are dissatisfied and confused by the complex student loan borrowing program, however, the federal student loan forgiveness doesn’t fix this problem,” Grassley says. “It would only shift the responsibility for repaying loans away from the original borrower and force it upon the American taxpayers.”

Grassley is introducing three bipartisan bills with Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, which he says would offer more counseling, resources and clarity to the student loan process. Grassley says Biden’s plan would erase ten- to 20-thousand dollars in debt for each student who qualifies, and millions may qualify. “It’s not fair to force the cost of this plan on taxpayers who didn’t seek an advanced degree or who already paid off their loans,” Grassley says. “My bill empowers students with the tools that they need to make informed decisions about borrowing for school.”

Grassley says the trio of bills would ensure that students get the full picture when choosing a college and taking out a loan. From the initial college search, to the acceptance of financial aid, to counseling once in college, Grassley says the bills would help students avoid sticker shock, find the best college for their budget and avoid taking out ill-advised, oversized loans. He says a societal change is forcing a shift in how we think about college.

“You go back 25 years and the attitude was in American society if you didn’t have a B.A. degree or a graduate degree, you weren’t going to amount anything,” Grassley says, “and you’re finding people that get a four-year degree, they go back to a community college to get some skill so they can pay off their loans.”  Grassley says much of the student debt conversation is focused on repayment of that debt, while he says we need to fix the process on the front-end before students get in over their heads. A news release from Grassley’s office says the three bills are:

• The Understanding the True Cost of College Act which would create a universal financial aid offer form and standardize terms used to describe financial aid to allow students to more easily compare financial aid packages between schools.
• The Know Before You Owe Federal Student Loan Act would strengthen the Higher Education Act to enhance the current loan counseling requirements for institutions of higher education.
• The Net Price Calculator Improvement Act would improve the effectiveness of and access to net price calculators.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports two people were arrested on separate charges, Monday. 21-year-old Jeremiah Lee Whitney, of Creston, was arrested for Driving while Barred. Whitney was cited and released from the scene. And, 48-year-old Dorie Marie Shiltz, of Creston, was arrested Monday night for OWI/1st offense. Shiltz was transported to the Union County Jail where she was later released on $1000 cash or surety bond.

Creston Police said also, a woman from Kellerton reported Monday afternoon, that sometime midnight and 11:30-pm January 25th, someone broke off her windshield wiper while her vehicle was parked at Southwestern Community College, in Creston. The damage estimate $178.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Citing issues related to Police staffing, especially on the day shift, Atlantic City Administrator John Lund is expected to request the City Council, Wednesday afternoon, pass a Resolution “Adjusting Overtime Pay for Sergeants and Assistant Police Chief for the Period of Feb. 16, 2023 through March 17, 2023. Lund says “The Atlantic Police Department has undergone an extended period of staffing difficulties, with the day shift having been particularly impacted.”

“Our Police Chief, Assistant Police Chief, Sergeants and Officers,” Lund says, “have had to cancel vacations, cut short scheduled vacations, and add 12-hours shifts on scheduled days off, after having worked three 12-hour shifts in a row, in order to maintain our minimum level of coverage of two officers on the streets, per shift.” John Lund says normally, the City offers traditional compensation time at 1 1/2 times the regular hourly rate for all hours worked outside their scheduled hours or on a scheduled day off, or all hours in excess of 104 in a seventeen day period. “However,” he said, “This compensatory time is functionally useless, as officers are not even getting their scheduled days off, or pre-planned vacactions.” He says “Taking random days off using compensatory time is off the table.”

Lund says along with the Mayor, he and Police Chief Devin Hogue have moved to address the issue, decisively mitigate the situation and bolster morale, and to prevent the further erosion of staffing levels, by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Union for the officers (AFSCME). “The MOU” he says, “allows for a period of double pay to replace the traditional time and a half Overtime in the form of compensatory time, for the period of Feb. 16, 2023 through March 17, 2023, for those officers working the day shift of 6-a.m. to 6-p.m.” And, while the MOU addresses the day shift union officers, it does not address the Sergeants and Assistant Police Chief that work outside of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“The resolution will see to it our non-union supervisors are offered the same benefits that the unionized officers receive,” Lund said. He noted also, that Chief Hogue has been taking on a lot of the shifts, “including a 15-day work marathon with zero financial benefit and no compensatory time.” Lund adds, “I will continue to work with [the] Mayor on how we can rectify this situation.” And, while traditionally, resolutions such as the one proposed would typically go through the Personnel and Finance Committee, Lund says “There are legal and personnel issues involved that are inappropriate for discussion in a public meeting.”

The issue, he said, needs to be addressed immediately.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, along with other law enforcement agencies in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro area, including those in Douglas and Sarpy Counties, moved to full digital radio encryption. The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, said law enforcement radio channels were moved to full encryption on February 27, 2023 at/about 2:00pm. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, including their dispatch center and the agencies they serve, made the switch for several reasons. Officials say “We’re doing so in conjunction with other area agencies to increase safety for our deputies, officers, and citizens involved in incidents to which we respond.”

Encrypted communications prevent criminal elements from knowing when and where first-responders are dispatched. They also help to ensure that the personal information of persons contacted by deputies and officers is protected from public disclosure. Authorities say “We understand that our radio traffic is used for lawful purposes both by members of the media and by private citizens. In order to maintain transparency while balancing the needs of public safety, radio traffic on primary dispatch channels is now available via a Broadcastify audio stream after a 30-minute delay.

The unedited audio feed can be found in the link below. It should begin appearing in “police scanner” apps as soon as those apps update their lists.

https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/39895

In order to protect personally-identifiable information, radio channels designated for informational use, e.g., checking warrants, missing persons, and driver’s license information, will not be made available.

(Radio Iowa) –  The Master Gardener Program through Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is reporting significant growth in 2022. Alicia Herzog, the program’s coordinator, says more than 440 people were trained statewide last year, which is an increase of 41-percent from the year before. The program was offered twice last year, in the summer and fall, instead of just once, which accounts for the jump in numbers. The program is also reporting more than 100-thousand volunteer hours logged last year by nearly 18-hundred volunteers. Herzog says Master Gardeners in Iowa provided more than two-point-two million dollars in services during 2022. It’s much more than just growing flowers and vegetables. She calls Master Gardeners “educational stewards” for their communities, as they offer seminars, consult with community groups and help educate and inform the public about access to healthy food.