(Radio Iowa) – A state administrator says a report from the state auditor on the frequency of nursing home inspections is inaccurate and incomplete. State Auditor Rob Sand released an analysis Monday showing nursing home inspections were occurring, on average, every 17 months — and that’s about four months beyond the federal standard.

Larry Johnson — director of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing — says the federal data the state auditor relied upon did not provide a snapshot of all the inspections that had been conducted before June 1st — because there’s a lag time in completing the paperwork. “Had he contacted us both before, during and after his audit, we would have provided accurate information,” Johnson says.

Johnson says data for the current federal fiscal year shows the statewide average time between Iowa nursing home inspections is now under 13 months. “So we are exceeding what is expected of us,” Johnson says. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pays 86 percent of the salaries for state nursing home inspectors. Johnson decided to use some of that funding to pay overtime to state inspectors, speeding up the annual reviews of Iowa nursing homes.

“We only have 13 nursing homes left to do and we have two weeks left to do it,” Johnson says. That’s because the federal fiscal year ends September 30th.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa judge has affirmed that the Lyon County Sheriff will be able to seek reelection — as a Libertarian Party candidate. Lyon County Sheriff Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep ran as a Republican in the June Primary, but lost the G-O-P nomination to Iowa State Trooper Brian Hilt. One person wrote the sheriff’s name on the Libertarian Party’s Primary ballot, so the sheriff became the Libertarian Party’s nominee instead.

Hilt — the Republican who beat the sheriff in the G-O-P primary — asked a judge to reverse a Lyon County Objection Panel’s decision that the sheriff had qualified for the November ballot.

Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep (Photo provided by KIWA)

The judge, in his decision, said the trooper’s argument that the sheriff shouldn’t win the Libertarian Party’s nomination was arguably supported by common sense — since got it by a single write-in vote, but the judge said that conclusion is not supported by state law.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R says a broken water main will likely to lead to dead fish in the only state trout stream near a major urban area. The D-N-R says the break allowed chlorinated water into McLoud Run in Cedar Rapids Wednesday. D-N-R staff reported seeing stressed fish in the stream after the water flowed in, and it is expected that dead fish may be observed over the next few days.

Chlorinated water from a main break leaked into McLoud Run trout stream in Cedar Rapids. (Photo courtesy of Iowa DNR)

Murky stream conditions hampered efforts to count any dead fish, but the D-N-R says they will be surveying the area when the water clears.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Council Bluffs man was sentenced today to 220 months in federal prison for possessing a distribution quantity of methamphetamine.

According to public court documents, law enforcement used a confidential informant to purchase methamphetamine from Philip Duane Sales, 54, in fall 2023. On December 20, 2023, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sales’ residence and seized approximately 70 grams of methamphetamine and currency, some of which was utilized during a controlled buy in October 2023.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Sales will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement (SWINE) Task Force, Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement, and Iowa State Patrol.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Two Council Bluffs men were sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine:

• Michael Guy Given, 36, was sentenced on August 14, 2024, to a 120‑month prison term; and
• Brian Michael Hogan, 50, was sentenced on September 17, 2024, to a 120‑month prison term.

According to public court documents, between March and April 2023, Given and Hogan conspired to distribute methamphetamine in the Council Bluffs metropolitan area. During a search warrant, law enforcement located methamphetamine, a digital scale, and drug packaging materials.

After completing their terms of imprisonment, Given and Hogan will each be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department and the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement (SWINE) Task Force.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is nearly ready to start a project to get rid of an invasive species of fish in an 830 acre lake in northwest Iowa. Mike Hawkins, a fisheries biologist with the D-N-R, says weather over the past two years delayed the effort to rid West Swan Lake in Emmet County of common carp.

“Both of those winters we tried to draw the lake down, get it to winter kill,” Hawkins says. “Last winter we tried to help a little bit with a chemical that helps renovate fisheries. We were not successful. We had the warmest winter on record last winter. We had a very short window for pulling that project off.” Common carp feed on the bottom of lakes, make the water murky and cause problems for other species of fish.

“We’re going to try this one last time this fall,” Hawkins says. “We’re going to do an open water treatment if we can get the water levels down far enough and kill off those carp.” West Swan Lake levels were elevated by this year’s flooding.  “We need the lake down about three, three-and-a-half feet,” Hawkins says. “It’s all just mathematics and how much of the chemical we have available and the logistics and the expense of doing that.”

Hawkins says one side of the lake has dropped enough and they’re waiting for the water level on the other side to fall and match it. West Swan Lake is the last in a small chain of natural lakes and marshes that eventually flows into the west fork of the Des Moines River. Hawkins says regardless of the outcome of the carp eradication effort, West Swan Lake will be restocked in the spring with Northern Pike, Yellow Perch, Blue Gills and Largemouth Bass.

(Radio Iowa) – The northwest Iowa community of Spencer continues working on the recovery from devastating flooding that hit in late June. Spencer Chamber and Foundation executive director Sheriffa Jones says 40 percent of all buildings were impacted by flood water. “It’s really going to be hard to make residents and businesses whole, but we’re going to try our best to do as best as we can with all of the agencies working together.”

Jones says the Chamber Foundation received more than 250-thousand dollars from almost 500 donors across the country and has awarded grants to 35 businesses and more than 170 residents throughout Clay County. “There’s always this huge outpouring of support initially, and we definitely saw that, and then it dissipates, and this is going to be a recovery effort that’s going to take years, three years, five years, ten years, 20 years,” she says. “Ultimately, Spencer and Clay County will never be the same.”

Jones estimates most property owners did not have flood insurance and are receiving federal, state and local help. But she admits not everyone will receive all the funding they need to recover. Some flood victims are living in 40 state-funded R-Vs at the Clay County Fairgrounds as developers work on rebuilding homes. Another 40 R-Vs will be filled soon. The R-Vs are not meant to be used during the winter, so residents will be moved into FEMA trailers or rental units.

City leaders have started meeting with developers about plans to rebuild homes through a recent state program.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is doing a “wonderful job,” despite growing frustrations among other Senate Republicans as the deadline nears for a solution to prevent a federal government shutdown.

Johnson is having trouble getting the votes needed to avoid the shutdown at month’s end, and while some in the Senate say if the House can’t act by Thursday, they’ll do it themselves, Grassley is offering Johnson a little more leeway. “He’s got very narrow margin, can only lose two or three votes,” Grassley says, “and in the House, if the majority party doesn’t stick together, you don’t run the show.”

Grassley fears the type of message it would send to voters if Congress can’t find a way to cooperate and prevent the shutdown, especially with the general election looming in November. “They should not show the disunity that they’re showing now on not approving appropriations for next year,” Grassley says, “or the public’s going to read it that they don’t know how to run the House of Representatives, so you might as well turn it over to the Democrats.”

Sen. Grassley

Grassley calls government shutdowns a “stupid idea.” “It costs money to shut down the government. Do you know what? Even costs money for 10 days before the government might shut down, for the government to get ready to shut it down, and then it costs money to open up the government,” Grassley says, “and then what’s the government for?”

Grassley says the federal government’s main purposes are to protect the people and to offer needed services, and it can’t do either one if it’s closed for business. He anticipates there will be a “continuing resolution” that would prevent a shutdown, or at least push back the anticipated date.

BLACK HAWK COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa State Patrol has identified a man killed Monday night in a crash involving a UTV in rural Black Hawk County. According to a crash report, 56-year-old Andrew Eric Clark, of Cedar Falls, a retired Waterloo Police Department Sergeant,  was operating a 2019 Polaris Ranger northbound on N Union Road and failed to yield while attempting to turn left onto W Cedar Wapsie Road. Clark’s UTV hit a 2013 Chrysler 200 that was traveling southbound on N Union Road.

Clark died from his injuries. A 41-year-old Ryan (IA) man driving the Chrysler was injured.