(Radio Iowa) – Many thousands of refugees from Afghanistan have found new homes in the U-S in recent months, with several hundred settling in Iowa, and now Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says there’s new evidence several dozen of them should never have been allowed into the country. Grassley says, “At least 70 of these people have been identified as maybe possible national security threats and does the FBI know where they are?” F-B-I Director Chris Wray appeared before a senate panel earlier this month and Grassley asked him where those Afghans who are possible security threats were located. Grassley says Wray didn’t know, but promised to find out and get back to them. Grassley says the security screenings were insufficient.

“We’re also concerned the extent to which their proper vetting of everybody that came to the country and everybody should be properly vetted,” Grassley says, “but we think that 70 had been either vetted or had other suspicions of them being possible national security threats, and that’s what we’re trying to find out.” Grassley says there needs to be more transparency about the Afghan refugees who were flagged by the National Ground Intelligence Center as potential security threats. Grassley says there’s no way to know if any of the Afghans who now live in Iowa are among those who are potential security threats. Still, he says he’s confident the vast majority of the refugees are “hard working” people and will contribute to Iowa’s economy.

“A little bit like we have learned, maybe at the time the Vietnamese boat people came to Iowa 40-50 years ago,” Grassley says. “We probably had some doubt about whether we should be doing that, but for the most part, they’ve turned out to be very contributing people to the economy of Iowa and really good Iowans.” At least 700 Afghan refugees have settled in Iowa in the past year, according to the Refugee Alliance of Central Iowa.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County, Tuesday morning, unanimously passed a motion to hire Snyder and Associates Engineers for inspection services, with regard to the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions carbon dioxide pipeline. The proposed pipeline would run 18-miles through the western portion of Montgomery County, to Green Plains Renewable Energy, LLC.

As of the last report, Summit had received nearly 40% of the required land for the project through voluntary easements in Iowa, but building permits have yet to be submitted in Montgomery County. Supervisor Donna Robinson said she preferred Snyders as the Inspecting Engineer because of the completeness of their presentation and past experience the County has had with the company.

Board member Charla Schmid says she too, was impressed with the company. The Board had discussed waiting until next week to act on approving an inspection service, because some members wanted to get additional input from Supervisors attending the upcoming ISAC (Iowa State Association of Counties) meeting.

Proposed Summit Pipeline

But in the end, they didn’t want to wait much longer to get the ball rolling, but that doesn’t mean they can’t continue to get more information and opinions.
Donna Robinson…

The next step is for the County’s Letter of Intent to be updated by the County Attorney and submitted to Snyder’s for their approval.

Police in Red Oak have arrested a man from Red Oak, for Child Endangerment/Bodily Injury – a Class D Felony. Officers took 23-year-old Andrew Michael Nagunst into custody at around 7:40-p.m., Monday. He was arrested in the 100 block of N. 5th Street and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond for Nagunst was set at $5,000.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two men were arrested on separate drug charges, in Union County. According to Creston Police, 18-year-old Anthony David Hopkins, of Osceola, was arrested Monday night and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance 1st Offense/Marijuana. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

And, early today (Tuesday), 40-year-old Joseph Mark Christman, of Creston, was arrested for Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. He was cited and released from the scene.

(Creston, Iowa) – A pickup truck avoided hitting one deer Monday night in Union County, but three other deer ran into the truck. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 27-year-old Bryce Bisby, of Moline, IL, was traveling south on Cherry Street Road at around 9-p.m., when he saw a deer on the road. Bisby slowed down, but then three more deer came out of the west ditch and ran into the side of Bisby’s 2021 Chevy 2500 pickup, causing an estimated $7,000 damage. The vehicle had three distinct, separate dents, on its passenger side.

Bisby was uninjured during the mishap.

(Livermore, Iowa) – A single-vehicle rollover accident in northern Iowa has claimed the life of a man from Livermore. The Iowa State Patrol reports 19-year-old Desiman Stone, Jr. was driving a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix northbound on Ohio Avenue in Humboldt County at around 7-p.m., Monday, when he ran a stop sign at the Humboldt/Kossuth County line. He continued north on 150th Avenue into Kossuth County before losing control on the gravel. As the car rolled several times, Stone was ejected and died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt.

The accident remains under investigation.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Education, Monday, awarded over $2.3 million in therapeutic classroom grants to 10 Iowa school districts for the upcoming school year. Among the ten districts awarded this year are the:

• Coon Rapids-Bayard
• Council Bluffs
• and Woodbine Community School Districts

The Iowa Department of Education said therapeutic classrooms are for learners whose “social-emotional or behavioral needs impact their ability to be successful in their current learning environment.” Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo said “All students need support and resources that meet their individual needs. The therapeutic classroom grants help schools build upon their great work to promote the overall well-being of students. I commend this year’s awardees and their community partners for their plans to grow and strengthen a continuum of therapeutic supports so that every student has the support they need to succeed.”

The grant for these classrooms was created with a 2020 state law to increase mental health support for children and families. Grants will be distributed this fall for district implementation during the 2022-2023 school year.

More information on Therapeutic Classroom Incentive Grants can be found here.

(Radio Iowa) The Sioux City area is seeing an increase in R-S-V cases — the virus that is usually associated with infants and the elderly. Mercy One Doctor, Steven Joyce, says the most recent cases have been among older adults. “Really anybody can get R-S-V it’s just a matter of how susceptible you are. It is true that it’s more severe in the very young and the very old — and we are seeing an uptick in the older population and the reasons for that aren’t entirely clear, but we are seeing it and again, the severity of it can be worse especially in those who have emphysema, C-O-P-D, heart failure, and other complicated medical conditions,” Joyce says

He says people who get sick with R-S-V might think they have a cold, and some worry it could be COVID. “It mimics kind of a common cold but kind of a little bit worse. So it’s the runny nose congestion, cough. Infants will have more rapid breathing, things like that. They won’t feed as well, especially if they’re very young,” according to Joyce. “High spiking fevers and such isn’t as super common with R-S-V as it is maybe with influenza or even COVID-19.”

He says the only thing that can be done about R-S-V is to let it run its course. “There is no specific treatment for R-S-V. There are no antivirals that are effective there’s no antibiotics of course because as we’ve learned antibiotics do not kill viruses. Really we’re at supportive care so in those people who have a lot of secretions, trying to get those up and keep those secretions thin,” Joyce says.

The virus is spread by people coughing and sneezing and from surfaces. Doctor Joyce says frequent hand washing is a way to prevent it — and you should stay home if you are ill. He says it will usually run its course in seven to ten days.

(Radio Iowa) – Authorities in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota have announced the arrest of a suspect in a string of break-ins and thefts over the past few weeks. Someone tried to steal an A-T-M from inside a bank in Ledyard early last Thursday. The Kossuth County Sheriff shared video of the suspect’s vehicle with law enforcement agencies in Palo Alto, Emmet and Winnebago Counties in Iowa and two counties in Minnesota where there had been recent reports of thefts.

Twenty-five-year-old Jacob Govern of Ledyard was arrested in Minnesota on a warrant out of Winnebago County and on a burglary charge in Marin County, Minnesota. Officials in the other four counties indicate more charges against Govern are pending. Govern had been arrested in early June and accused of stealing four vehicles in the Kossuth County area. State prison records indicate Govern has five previous felony convictions in Kossuth County over the past three years.

(Radio Iowa) – County officials are rescheduling votes on zoning changes that would allow construction of a large-scale solar farm around the decommissioned nuclear power plant near Palo. Charlie Nichols, Linn County’s planning and development director, told the crowd gathered for a public hearing last (Monday) night that the county had failed to provide proper notice of the hearing.

“I apologize to all of you who have showed up and put this on your calendars, but we will have to set up a new meeting schedule,” Nichols said, “and make sure we get everything properly published before that happens.” The Iowa Utilities Board has indicated it will provide permits for the solar project — if local officials approve zoning changes.

Linn County’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved those adjustments earlier this month. NextEra Energy has proposed a solar farm that would cover over 11-hundred acres and a battery storage facility near Palo.