(Radio Iowa) – An event that has become one of the largest annual gatherings for Iowa Republicans is scheduled for today (Saturday). Senator Joni Ernst is hosting her “Roast and Ride” fundraiser. Proceeds from the event will be going to the Cpl. Daegan Page Foundation. The organization was founded in honor of Corporal Daegan William-Tyeler Page, a Red Oak native who was killed on August 26, 2021 in the bombing at the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan.

Ernst’s fellow G-O-P Senator Chuck Grassley will be among the speakers. Polls suggest Grassley’s in his toughest campaign since 1980 and Republican strategist Eric Woolson says the value of the Roast and Ride is that it will attract G-O-P voters from all across the state.

“As important as attracting people is that it energizes them,” Woolson says, “and so Grassley, having that opportunity to piggyback off a big event like that, is important to his campaign and it’s important that he gets his message out there to Iowa Republicans, to the base.” Woolson was a spokesman for Grassley’s 2010 campaign, when Grassley won re-election by a 30 point margin.

Ernst held her first “Roast and Ride” fundraiser in 2015. Back then, Ernst said she intended it to showcase G-O-P candidates in the same way Senator Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry had for Democrats. Ernst says this Saturday Republican activists will get a chance to see Grassley, as well as Governor Kim Reynolds and three G-O-P congressional candidates.  “To me it’s worth its weight in gold when you can be at an event, really see the body language of someone speaking in front of you, and then hopefully have the opportunity to mingle with them, too, and maybe ask them a question off line or just to see them in action, how they communication and get along with others,” Ernst says.

“I just think it’s a great opportunity in such a low key, friendly atmosphere.” The speaking program is scheduled to start around noon at the state fairgrounds, but before that Ernst is hosting two other events. There’ll be a mid-morning motorcycle ride (10:30-11:15-a.m.) and an early morning “Ruck March” (from 7:30-8:30-a.m.). It’s a fast-paced walk, with participants carrying a backpack. In the military, a “ruck march” typically has soldiers covering rugged terrain and carrying packs weighing at least 45 pounds.

The Ernst fundraiser’s ruck march will be held on the state fairgrounds. The roast takes place from 11-a.m. to 1:30-p.m.

A crash in Mills County Friday afternoon claimed the life of a teen from Emerson. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 1998 Honda Civic driven by a 17-year-old female, was traveling east on Noyes Avenue at around 4:05-p.m., when the car went out of control after crossing the intersection with 290th Street.

The vehicle left the road and rolled several times before coming to rest on its wheels, in a field. The teenage driver was ejected from the vehicle. She was not wearing a seat belt. The girl died from her injuries at the scene.Her name was not immediately released.

Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted the State Patrol at the crash site.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Two men were arrested on separate charges Friday (Today), in Montgomery County. Sheriff’s officials report 43-year-old Michael Gene Landon, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was arrested on two Montgomery County warrants for providing false information and driving while suspended. Landon was transported to the Montgomery County Jail where he was booked in an held on a cash only bond.

And, early this (Friday) afternoon, sheriff’s deputies arrested 43-year-old Dewight Eugene Binau, of Red Oak, for public intoxication. Binau was transported to the Montgomery County Jail where he was booked in and held on a cash only bond.

(Onawa, Iowa) – The Monona County Sheriff’s Office reports Monona County Communications received a 911 call from Bank First, in Onawa, at around 10-a.m. today (Friday). The caller advised the bank had just been robbed by a person who entered the bank and brandished a weapon (That was initially described as a long [barreled] gun).

Sheriff Jeffrey R. Pratt said in an online post, “The investigation is on-going at this time,” and that “We do not feel there is any danger to the public.” More information will be released as it becomes available.

The Monona County Sheriff’s Office is being assisted in its investigation, by the Ida and Woodbury County Sheriff’s Departments, and the FBI.

(Radio Iowa) – Swan Lake State Park in Carroll will be the site of a seven-stop Halloween event for kids and adults tomorrow (Saturday). Carroll County Conservation Naturalist Kristen Bieret says activities are spread out over about half of the 500-acre park. “We’ll actually have a hay ride so people can get to all of the different places,” she says. Two female eagles live in an enclosure in the park and experts are bringing in an owl and a red-tailed hawk for a raptor demonstration. That’s one of the seven stops on the Halloween tour. Two bison live in another part the park.

“We have two female bison. One’s 30 and the other one’s about six and they live in a pasture right behind our conservation education center,” she says. “We just built a new observation tower where you can go up and you can kind of see out to the bison and view the lake and we added that this summer and so we were kind of inspired by those two things to have that be the heading/title of our event.” The Bison Haunted Hollow event begins at 5 p.m. Saturday and will end at eight o’clock. Bieret says it looks like lovely fall weather is forecast.

“Not scary at all,” Bieret says. “I think the scariest part about it is just that towards the evening it’s going to get darker, but we are trying to make it something that’s centered around Halloween, but is definitely family friendly.” The Carroll Library is setting up a half-mile guided walk through the playground, featuring a fall-related story. Swan Lake is a state-owned park, but it has been managed by Carroll County Conservation since 1950.

October 21, 2022 (DES MOINES, IA) – Today, the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board approved two awards for companies in Charles City and Council Bluffs, which will assist in the creation of 71 jobs and result in more than $605 million in new capital investment for the state. In Council Bluffs Google, LLC is expanding its presence in Iowa through a proposed project that would involve the construction and operations of a data center that powers many internet-related products.

At the request of the City of Council Bluffs, the board authorized a local property tax exemption through the HQJ program. This enables the city to provide the 20-year sliding scale tax abatement approved by its City Council on October 10, 2022. No new state incentives are planned, but the project will result in $600 million in new capital investment and create 31 jobs at a qualifying wage of $28.73 per hour. Google LLC is a multinational technology company that focuses on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and consumer electronics.

And, Cambrex, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) headquartered in East Rutherford, New Jersey, plans to expand their facility in Charles City. Cambrex will add 9,000 square feet to the existing footprint, including a new quality control laboratory and administrative space. The project represents a $6.5 million capital investment and is expected to create 40 jobs, of which 39 are incented at a qualifying wage of $20.58 per hour. The board awarded the company tax benefits and $300,000 in direct financial assistance through the High Quality Jobs (HQJ) program. The Charles City site manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and pharmaceutical intermediates for both the generic and branded human pharmaceutical markets. The company currently supplies APIs for the treatment of ADHD, smoking cessation, oncology, Crohn’s disease and others.

(Radio Iowa) – The police chief in Cherokee says there’s a lot of work to do before local school employees would be allowed to carry concealed weapons on school grounds — and Police Chief Nate James suggests there’s no guarantee any employee will get the go-ahead. “We’re not looking at this lightly, by all means,” he says. “It’s something that we need to figure out if this is the right thing to implement into our schools, by letting staff carry.” The Cherokee School Board endorsed the concept this week and school officials said they’d been consulting with the police chief. “I have children in the school,” James said. “There are a lot of factors that I would personally like to know before we move forward.”

The police chief says policy and procedures will be paramount. “It would require a lot of training — a lot of training,” he says. “This is going to be a long, long process…a collaboration of a lot of different departments. I know the school has reached out to an organization already, but there is a lot more that will go into it than that.”

James was a policeman in Cherokee for eight years before being named Chief of Police in April of 2015.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson — a critic of President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan — supports the new debt relief program for farmers.  “I see those programs as fundamentally different,” Hinson says. The U-S-D-A is providing one-point-three BILLION in debt relief to 36-thousand farmers who face foreclosure or have fallen far behind in loan payments. “That plan is different from the student loan debt plan,” Hinson says. “The student loan debt plan is just a transfer of those dollars. It’s handout to people who may be making more than someone or someone who chose not to go to college has to pay off someone else’s debt that they legally incurred and signed on the dotted line.” Hinson says it’s important to take into the financial pressures on farmers.

“Their input costs are up about 300% — some of them have told me that,” Hinson says, “and that is a huge increase in not only their input costs, but their break even costs.” Hinson made her comments this (Friday) morning with a conference call with Iowa reporters before leaving for her first public event this week. Hinson was admitted to a hospital in Cedar Rapids Sunday for treatment of a kidney infection and released Tuesday. Hinson told reporters this (Friday) morning she feels much better.

“I’m on the road to recovery and I’m so grateful for all the incredible doctors and nurses at UnityPoint (the Cedar Rapids hospital where she was treated),” Hinson says. “…I’m doing great and I’m ready to get out and hit the road.” Hinson, seeking reelection to a second term in the U.S. House, faces Democrat Liz Mathis, of Hiawatha, in Iowa’s new second congressional district which includes Mason City and Dubuque as well as Cedar Rapids.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were injured during a collision Thursday night. Authorities say 32-year-old Corey Lee Mitchell, of Boone, suffered severe injuries and was flown by MercyOne Air to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, while the driver of the other vehicle – a man from Adair County – complained of possible/unknown injuries, but were otherwise okay and was not transported to the hospital. The Sheriff’s Office says the crash happened on Cherry Street, at around 8:07-p.m.

Authorities say a 1996 Honda Civic driven by Corey Mitchell, was traveling south on Cherry Street, and for reasons unknown, crossed the center line of the road into the northbound lane. His car struck a northbound 2018 Chevy pickup driven by 77-year-old Gerald S. Holaday, of Greenfield. Following the collision, both vehicles came to rest off the road. Holaday was able to get out of his pickup, but Mitchell was trapped.

The vehicles sustained a total of $23,000 damage.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department say a man residing in the 200 block of Myrtle Street, in Creston, reported Wednesday afternoon, that someone had broken into his storage unit. Property stolen from inside the storage unit included a red Toro Power Clear 721 snow blower, and a red Honda Tiller. The loss was estimated at $1,200.