(Johnston, Iowa) — The Johnston Police Department is warning residents about a new imposter scam. The scammers are impersonating a member of the Johnston Police Department. While impersonating, the scammers will attempt to solicit payment. “Calls threatening you or asking for money are flat-out scams – don’t become a victim,” said Johnston Police Chief, Dennis McDaniel. “These scammers steal the names of real agency personnel solely to scare you into paying them. While the scammers may change up the phone numbers they are calling from; they are calling for one mission, to get you to share your account information, or send money.”

Tips to avoid scam calls:

• Don’t trust caller ID readings – scammers often spoof names and numbers to make them appear like a local caller.
• Let numbers you do not recognize go directly to voicemail. And do not call unknown numbers back.
• Hang up on anyone who threatens you with arrest, legal action, or seizure of your accounts.
• Do not converse with anyone online that you do not know, and certainly do not share any personal photos of yourself.
• Hang up if anyone directs you to pay using store gift cards, money wires, or mailed cash. These are often used because they are difficult to trace.

If you do receive a scam call, please contact the Johnston Police Department at 515-278-2345.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Nishna Valley Trails organization and Cass County Conservation Department, invite you to celebrate “National Trails Day,” on June 3, 2023, with” Truckin’ on the Trails” at the Schildberg Recreation Area West Rotary Shelter (102 Buck Creek Rd., in Atlantic. The event takes place from 11-a.m. until 2-p.m.

Whether cycling or walking, pushing strollers, or riding trikes, all people are welcome. The event is a chance to experience and appreciate Cass County’s trails and will offer live music and food trucks Master Griller Catering, Atlantic Kiwanis, and Louie’s Shaved Ice. Nishna Valley Trails and Cass County Conservation will be sharing information, and Bike Farm will also be at the event offering minor bike maintenance and door prizes.

Event schedule:
● 10:30 AM “Nishna Valley Trails Gravel Sampler” Join Jon Jordan for a bike ride on both trails and gravel. Jon will give a primer on gravel skills vs. road skills before the ride. Any “non-skinny” tire bikes will work for this ride. Participants will ride from Schildberg Rotary Shelter (West parking lot) to South T-Bone Trailhead (63395 Dunbar Rd. Atlantic) and back (approximately 10 miles). (Please note this ride begins prior to the official start time of the event)
● 11-2 Live music, food trucks, organizations sharing information
● 1 PM 1.5-mile kids loop starting from Rotary Shelter

Truckin’ on the Trails is just one of many events taking place across the nation on National Trails Day, the first Saturday in June. National Trails Day is an annual event hosted by the American Hiking Society that encourages support of the nation’s public trails. Trails have positive impacts on mental and physical health, and National Trails Day is a day of public events that invites thousands of trail users of all shapes and sizes to participate.

Truckin’ on the Trails is being hosted by Nishna Valley Trails, Cass County Conservation, Bike Farm, and Cass County Tourism. A Cass County trails map can be found online at: https://www.atlanticiowa.com/experience/cass-county-trails-map-2/. Hard copies of the map will be available at the event and are always available at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report five people were arrested, Thursday. Two of them, 20-year-old Emily Rae Marie Dohrn, and 36-year-old Christina Marie McDonald, both of Creston, were arrested at around 1:10-p.m. at 800 W. Taylor Street, on drug charges. Dohrn was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. McDonald was charged with Possession of Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine 1st Offense. Both women were was cited and released on a Promise to Appear.

A man and a woman from Creston were arrested at around 5:24-p.m. Thursday, in Creston, for Violating a No Contact/Protective Order – Contempt of Court. 37-year-old Douglas Edward Woodward III,and 33-year-old Rachel Marie Colburn, were arrested at 806 Laurel Street. They were being held without bond in the Union County Jail, until seen by a Magistrate.

And, at around 6:44-p.m. Thursday, Creston Police arrested 43-year-old Julio Cesar Villalpando Castro, of Creston, at 302 N. Pine Street. Villalpando Castro was charged with Burglary 3rd Degree. His cash or surety bond was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – If you fancy yourself a road trip this weekend, consider the 82nd annual Orange City Tulip Festival. This year’s Tulip Festival is currently under way. The event Queen is Amanda Hulstein, a senior at MOC/Floyd Valley High School. She says the excitement of being named Tulip Queen has been building since she was crowned last November. “Just through the day I was very excited and it just brought me memories from other tulip festivals that I’ve been involved in. And when we went back out on stage to find out who the Queen was, I was a little nervous but I was always so smiley. And then when Mayor de Haan read my name, I was almost in shock because I didn’t know that it would actually be me,” she says.

Hulstein rode the queen’s float Thursday afternoon as things got underway and says she learned something about the event as it took off. “One thing that I realized that many people don’t notice is all of the people that work behind the scenes and work year round to make these three days in may happen it’s just crazy how many people are involved and how much they do for our town,” Hulstein says.

The Orange City Tulip Court: Nevaeh Sampson, Kinzie Van Kekerix, Queen Amanda Hulstein, Elizabeth King, and Katelyn Huizenga. (OCTF photo)

Hulstein offers advice for people attending the Orange City Tulip Festival. “Get outside, get involved with anything that you can,” she says. “When the Dutch dancers asked for you to be pulled out into the crowd, definitely go out there. Make sure you get to all the different events like the Dutch dozen. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which is the night show this year. See all the tulips take lots of pictures and enjoy.”

Hulstein plans to attend Iowa State University when after graduation. The Orange City Tulip Festival runs through Saturday. Go to octulipfestival.com to see the full schedule of events.

(Radio Iowa) – Studies find ten-percent of us feel like we have -no- friends at work, while 70-percent say workplace friendships are crucial to their overall happiness. University of Iowa researchers are studying the importance of our work relationships and how to improve them, especially post-pandemic. Beth Livingston, a U-I professor of management and entrepreneurship, says we all feel the need to connect with others, particularly if we’re spending eight, ten or 12-hours a day at work. “When we don’t feel like we can connect with other people in our workplace, it leaves us with a kind of gaping hole in terms of our connection with other people,” Livingston says, “and that is especially true for people who may not have those extended connections outside of work, and so connecting with other people at work becomes increasingly important.”

These connections were key before COVID-19, but it’s even more vital now as so many people who began working from home during the pandemic have made the change permanent. “I have not run across a company yet who is not concerned about the wellbeing of their employees and the burnout that so many employees are talking about now,” Livingston says. “The social affiliation and connection can really fill your cup. It can make you feel more energized. It can provide you a sense of connection and meaning in the workplace.”

Workers who feel friendless and isolated may be more likely to quit, she says, further contributing to the continued plague of turnover. Livingston says Iowans can make it a goal to seek out new friendships at work. “You don’t have to wait and be passive recipients of connections. You can go out and say, ‘I’m going to ask people about their lives,'” Livingston says. “‘I’m going to take notes and remember things about them. I’m going to try to strike up conversations that demonstrate that I have an interest in who they are and what they’re doing.’ And you can practice those things. They are skills that you can do.”

Studies find people with plenty of friendly social connections at work tend to be more engaged, they’ll produce higher quality work, and they’re less likely to quit. Employers are taking note, she says, as the company can save money by not having to hire and train new people.  “A lot of times I think people feel like, ‘Well, I’m just not a good people person, I’m not someone who is naturally able to connect,’ and the good news is, those are absolutely things that you can practice and plan to do better.”

Livingston calls loneliness a “critical social issue,” as loneliness is linked to an increased likelihood of depression, it impacts mortality rates, and it can erode physical and mental well-being.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a bill into law that’s expected to offer child care assistance to more Iowans. It raises the income limit for families to qualify and increases government payments to facilities that care for the kids from those families. Reynolds says it’s been about 15 years since the state raised the income limit for state child care assistance. Parents have had to work at least 28 hours a week to qualify, but the new law raises that to 32 hours a week.

“It’s just minimal and I think we’re just really doing whatever we can to really help families, but to encourage them,” Reynolds says. “We have such a workforce shortage in the state of Iowa.” Tammy McNeil is the owner and director of Childcare Discovery Center in Fort Dodge, where Reynolds signed the bill into law. She says the higher payments to providers will help her center a lot, as the parents of nearly half the kids are getting government-funded child care assistance.

“I have been in child care for almost 40 years and to watch it slowly crumble has been heartbreaking,” she said. “Thank you for recognizing the importance of child care and working directly with us to address our concerns and take action.” Reynolds was surrounded by children enrolled in McNeil’s center as she signed the bill into law.

The Legislative Services Agency estimates nearly 27-hundred more children will be enrolled in the state’s child care assistance program due to the hike in income eligibility for parents.

(Reporting by Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – A southeast Iowa city has hired an independent law firm to investigate its fire department. Ottumwa’s City Council unanimously approved the hiring of Des Moines-based Dentons Davis Brown PC in a closed session. The session was held to review possible personnel concerns within the Ottumwa Fire Department.

City officials did not discuss any reasons why the fire department has fallen under scrutiny, however, Ottumwa Mayor Rick Johnson did mention two firefighters are on paid administrative leave and will remain so for the duration of the investigation.

Des Moines, Iowa – An approaching cold front is pulling smoke from Canadian wildfires down to ground level, and areas of unhealthy, very unhealthy, and hazardous air quality are being measured across much of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota. This smoke is expected to impact Iowa today and tomorrow.

The air quality in Northwest Iowa was impacted first this morning, with a band of heavy smoke working its way through the state from Northwest to Southeast. The smoke is expected to impact central Iowa this evening. Through the overnight hours, northwest winds will move the smoke out in the same pattern, with clearing beginning in far Northwest Iowa by tomorrow morning. Cleaner air statewide is forecast by Friday afternoon. However, intermittent and patchy smoke episodes are possible even throughout the weekend.

Unhealthy levels are anticipated across Iowa as the smoke passes through. Twenty-four-hour averages may reach unhealthy levels for sensitive groups, and levels considered unhealthy for everyone may be measured. Sensitive groups include older adults, those with respiratory or heart disease, and children. The health impacts of the smoke can be reduced by limiting prolonged outdoor exertion until air quality conditions improve.

Real-time air quality maps and information about the air quality index can be found on EPA’s airnow.gov site.  A graphic approximation of the extent and trajectory of the smoke plume can be seen on the map at fire.airnow.gov

(Radio Iowa) – A woman pulled from a burning garage in Cedar Rapids early this (Thursday) morning has died. According to the Cedar Rapids Fire Department, the garage was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, but due the intensity of the fire and a high level of debris in the garage, it took several minutes for firefighters to get inside and find the trapped woman. She was treated at the scene, then transferred to a hospital, but did not survive. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

A woman died in this Cedar Rapids garage fire. (CRFD photo)

(Radio Iowa) – State officials say more than three-thousand Iowans are on track to lose their Medicaid coverage by June 1st. During the pandemic, the state was forbidden from dis-enrolling anyone from Medicaid except in limited circumstances. That rule ended last month, which is when Iowa Health and Human Services officials started mailing out Medicaid eligibility re-determination forms. State Medicaid Director Elizabeth Matney says the state is trying multiple approaches to reach people.

“We’re following up via phone, phone call, text message,” Matney says, “and in some circumstances, especially for more vulnerable populations we are going out and knocking door to door.” About half of the forms have not yet been returned. Matney says that may be because the state is first targeting members who are most likely to no longer qualify.

“When we did a look at the 150,000-ish that we had flagged for maintaining eligibility due to the public health emergency, over 100,000 of those have other health insurance,” she says. State officials expect this Medicaid unwinding process to take about a year.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)