(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission listened to public comment Wednesday on the proposal for the 275-million dollar Cedar Crossing Casino. The casino would be located along the Cedar River near downtown Cedar Rapids and would feature slot machines, table games, restaurants, and a 15-hundred seat entertainment venue. Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell spoke in favor of the casino.

“Cedar Crossing is one more compelling reason to stay and build our lives and futures here,” she says. O’Donnell told the commission that there’s much excitement in the city and Linn County for proposal. “Let me paint a picture for you of what this project is going to look like. Cedar Crossing is a casino and it’s a comprehensive entertainment destination,” O’Donnell says. “We’re talking about bars, restaurants, an entertainment center and other venues that will enrich our city’s already vibrant arts and entertainment scene.”

Representatives of other cities and counties that already have casinos urged the commission to reject the Cedar Rapids application. The commission will make a decision on awarding a license for the Cedar Rapids casino in February.

(Radio Iowa) – A 55 year old man serving a life prison sentence for shooting his wife to death in their central Iowa home has died in state custody. In April of 2014, Vallerie Cory’s co-workers at the Firestone plant in Des Moines asked police to do a welfare check because she had missed work. Her husband, Jeremy Cory, told a policeman who went to the couple’s home in Cambridge that he didn’t know where she was.

During a search, police found her body upstairs. She’d been shot 18 times and the rifle used in the shooting was found in a closet. State prison officials have announced that Jeremy Cory was pronounced dead Monday night at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, but the agency’s news release did not reveal the cause of his death. He was 55 years old.

Cory appealed his first degree conviction twice, arguing his lawyers were ineffective. He also appealed the amount of restitution he was ordered to pay his wife’s estate.

(Radio Iowa) – The leaders of Iowa’s Catholic churches say they stand in solidarity with migrants. President-elect Trump says he plans to use the military to deport undocumented immigrants who entered the country illegally. The bishops’ letter says they’ll advocate for just treatment of migrants within the framework of the law. Tom Chapman is executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference.

“What they at least wanted to do initially is to make sure they said something to migrants that says: ‘We’re with you, we’re praying with you, and we will serve you to the extent that we can,'” Chapman said. Last week, the U-S Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement calling for federal policy that welcomes refugees and creates a pathway to citizenship for those who entered the country illegally, but have been here for many years. They also called for a secure southern border. This week’s statement from the Catholic bishops in Iowa says migrants face immense challenges and their letter is meant to send the message that they are not alone.

“We all serve together, you know. We’re supposed to be a community,” Chapman says. “This issue has been a top priority for them both at the state and federal level, so they wanted to make sure that people knew where they stood in terms of trying to stand with people and seeing what policy looks like going forward.” Chapman says Catholic Charities helps people with legitimate claims receive legal status to stay in the United States.

“I know in Sioux City Catholic Charities, they have a very extensive welcome program for immigrants,” Chapman said, “and those are things that are happening in different parts of the state.” The American Immigration Council estimates there are over 52-thousand undocumented immigrants in Iowa.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Officials with Harlan Municipal Utilities, late Wednesday night, issued a Boil Order for all HMU customers in the City of Harlan. Residents in the city should boil all water before using for consumption until further notice. This includes the customers in the Cresthaven Addition. Water service may be intermittently interrupted during this time.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council met in a regular, but brief meeting this (Wednesday) evening. Among the action items on their agenda was the First Reading of an Ordinance “Amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Atlantic” by “Amending Provisions Pertaining to All-Terrain Vehicles and Snowmobiles.”

City Councilman Dana Halder….

As previously mentioned in our newscast, City Administrator John Lund said Iowa Senate File 2130 was developed in response to a 2020 survey, asking ATV and UTV riders what they would like to see changed in Iowa law, to better support riders of those vehicles. The survey results determined riders wanted to ride on more County and State roadways in all 99 counties, under a uniform State law. Cities were then left to create their own rules, but were not allowed to charge permitting fees.

Atlantic City Administrator John Lund makes his report to the City Council (11-20-24)

The City of Atlantic’s Community Protection Committee met last August to review the options for adopting an ordinance regarding the use of ATV’s and UTV’s on city streets, and has reviewed and recommended to the Council an amended ordinance, which includes:

• A 1-year sunset for the ordinance, which will end after that year, if there are no issues.
• A cut-off of 18-years (similar to what the City of Ankeny has).
• ATV’s and UTV’s must have a working horn, headlamps and tail lamps, but will not require turn signals.
• A subsection will be added to the ordinance, which disallows towing by ATV’s and UTV’s.
• The ordinance exempts Park employees from being forbidden to operate the machines on City property.
• It includes a section of the existing snowmobile ordinance and clarifies when police officers can issue citations addressing any related violations.
• And, at the request of Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue, the amended ordinance states that ATV’s only be allowed for the purpose of snow removal during the snow season.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council approved a pay application to Hydro-Klean, LLC for the 2024 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project, and a related resolution accepting the work for the project and Ultra Violet CIPP (Cured In Place Pipe) Lining Project. City Administrator John Lund provided a preview of some of the issues affecting local governments such as Atlantic’s City Council, that the Iowa Legislature is expected to begin tackling, some of which may be more hurtful than helpful.

He said the Legislature has an interesting definition of leaner government.

Lund says there seems to be a big disconnect on what some community priorities are, with regard to the legislature.

He said we will also continue to see Senate File 295 – A bipartisan property tax reduction bill that some say would make Iowa’s fiscal situation worse fading in the next two-or-three years before it completely gone. It remains to be seen how that will impact state appropriation to provide partial “backfill” payments to the local governments whose revenue would be impacted by these reductions.

But on the plus side, Lund said, the “Say Yes to EMS” public measure passed in Cass County. Lund is getting ready for the legislature to convene, and how their actions will impact the City’s budget.

(Radio Iowa) – Pella Police arrested a male Middle School student this morning after he assaulted multiple students. Police Chief Shane McSheehy held a news conference to explain what happened. “Initial investigation determined that a 14-year-old student at elemental school used a knife to assault multiple students who were in the cafeteria at the time,” he says.

Pella Superintendent Greg Ebeling says a long kitchen bread knife was used in the attack that happened around 7:41 before school started and the teen was quickly arrested. The superintendent says less than 20 students were there at the time and two female students sustained minor injuries but did not need to go to the hospital. The chief says they don’t know what the motivation was for the attack.

We are speaking with the juvenile with his parents present, and we don’t have any additional information as of yet, “McSheehy says. He says this student had another issue earlier this year. “The student was charged with assault back in February by the Pella Police Department. It was an assault charge causing bodily injury. That’s about all I can release on the charge,” he says. That assault was on a school counselor. McSheehy says they have good video from the school on today’s (Wednesday) attacks that they are reviewing.

“I can tell you that the suspect did not just walk in and commence activity. It appears that he had been sitting there at least for some time,” he says. “We are working again to figure out what the timeline is and to learn more about the suspect’s path of travel.”

The Pella Middle School was locked down for a time, but later reopened.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa nonprofit that offers social services to youth statewide will open an addiction treatment facility near Ames next month. Youth and Shelter Services, known as Y-S-S, will run a residential treatment program, as well as crisis stabilization and recovery services. Ember Recovery Campus will feature trails, retreat-style cottages and outdoor recreation areas at its countryside location. C-E-O Andrew Allen hopes the surrounding nature will provide mental health benefits for residents.

“As you sit here, you feel connected to nature,” Allen says. “You feel disconnected from the cacophony of the busyness of town and this is a place where kids and families will come to heal.” Overlooking a prairie in Cambridge, the campus spans more than 50 acres and has 70 beds for adolescents and young adults. The center’s current residency programs in Ames operate out of old houses. Allen says he sees the new center as a trailblazing facility in the state.

“If you are an adult, a young adult, and need treatment, you have to go to a treatment center that serves 60-year-olds,” he says, “and so finally, we’ve got age-appropriate treatment for young adults in Iowa.”

Y-S-S has branches across the state including in Des Moines, Marshalltown, Mason City and Boone. The new campus will be a 20-minute drive from the group’s headquarters in Ames.

(Radio Iowa) – President-elect Donald Trump has announced he’s chosen an Iowan — Matt Whitaker — to be U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Whitaker was the acting U-S Attorney General for three months during Trump’s first term in office. During a September fundraiser for Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Whitaker talked about his tenure in the Justice Department, where he had served as chief of staff before his stint as acting attorney general.

“What I learned is that you have to lead. You have to lead from the front and you have to be willing to take unpopular positions. I think the biggest challenge we have in Washington, D.C. is…we have way too many people that want to be somebody instead of do something,” Whitaker said. “…If I was succssful at all at the Department of Justice in the Trump Administration, it was because I was unafraid of what would came next. I knew I was never going to work at a big law firm. I knew that I may never work and be able to feed my family…We had a country to save and a mission.”

Whitaker campaigned extensively for Trump’s reelection. This is what he told the crowd in Iowa City in early September. “This is the election that is going to not just set the next four years, but really it’s going to set decades of American history,” Whitaker said.

Trump says Whitaker is a strong warrior and loyal patriot who will ensure U-S interests are advanced and defended. Whitaker’s nomination to be NATO Ambassador is subject to a confirmation vote in the U-S Senate. Whitaker has won Senate confirmation before. He served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa during President George W. Bush’s second term. Whitaker has run for statewide office twice. He was the Republican Party’s nominee for state treasurer in 2002 and he ran for the U-S Senate in 2014.

Whitaker, who grew up in Ankeny, played football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and credits that experience for his success as an adult. “When I came on the national scene suddenly and unexpectedly as acting attorney general, I was an overnight sensation 10 years in the making because no one ever saw when I was doing Newsmax hits in 2014 and 2015 and 2016,” Whitaker said. “And all the radio and all of the practice and so much of what you learn from sports is you’ve got to practice and you’ve got to get better and you’ve got to constantly improve.”

Whitaker earned a communications degree and an M-B-A and a law degree from the University of Iowa in 1995.