(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County met in a regular session this (Tuesday) morning, in Red Oak and held considerable (continued) discussion, with regard to an ordinance for a proposed carbon transfer pipeline. During the Public Comment portion of the meeting, the Supervisors heard from several people who are in support of the ordinance, including Jan Norris from West Township in southwestern Montgomery County. She praised some members of the Board for actions they have already taken in support of an ordinance to regulate pipelines. Norris acknowledged there are multiple misconceptions about pipeline safety and permitting, as well as several questions that need to be asked still, before any such ordinance is set into the County’s Code of Ordinances.

She said she called the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) last week, asking that they consider putting out a fact sheet for the public to review for consideration when it comes to pipeline placement on their properties.

Jan Norris

Maggie McQuown, a Board of Adjustment member who resides west of Red Oak, said she supports a carbon pipeline ordinance. She mentioned two BOA members would have a pipeline on their property if it becomes constructed.

Two residents of a home in the far southwest corner of Montgomery County, said the pipeline will come too close for comfort to their residence. Lori Johnson spoke on behalf of special needs resident Sarah Johnson, whom she lives with in the home.

In September, members of the Montgomery County Planning and Zoning Commission met and voted to recommend the Board of Supervisors adopt an ordinance for the proposed Summit Solutions Pipeline project. The Commission’s recommendation was based on a similar Ordinance adopted by the Shelby County Board of Supervisors.

In related news, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors discussed, and unanimously agreed to sign a letter engaging the Ahlers & Cooney Law Firm if it should become necessary for legal action. Shelby, Bremer and Palo Alto Counties have taken similar action. Ahlers & Cooney Special Counsel Tim Whipple explained what the next steps might be, with regard to costs and a possible pool to share those costs.

Ahlers & Cooney Special Counsel Tim Whipple & the Montgomery County BOS (10/4/22)

Whipple said he’s set to hold a conversation with officials from ISAC (Iowa State Association of Counties), to possibly work with them with regard to representating the member counties as a whole, instead of separately. He was asked if Montgomery County passes an ordinance, “is it enforceable?” In a long-winded answer, he said the IUB can impose conditions on permits, so in essence, there is some teeth in a local ordinance.

“The answer,” he said, “is yes, if you do it right.” But he advised the County not to attempt to “dictate” terms to the pipeline company about its operations and engineering aspects, because they are likely not enforceable and would be preempted by federal law. The Iowa Utilities Board–not the county–will make the ultimate decision on the pipeline’s fate. The Board opted to wait on yet more information before approving any ordinance that may be drafted.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that aims to help college campuses stop sexual assaults before they happen while helping survivors to recover is being introduced in the U-S Senate today (Tuesday), co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. He says the Campus Accountability and Safety Act is a bipartisan, bicameral effort. Grassley says the bill is designed to reform the process of investigating sexual assaults to both better shield victims and to prosecute offenders. “Our bill seeks to protect college students by providing them with resources,” Grassley says, “and especially by strengthening colleges’ accountability and transparency standards.”

Grassley, a Republican, has joined with Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, in moving the legislation forward. Grassley says he and Gillibrand recently worked together on a similar measure targeting sexual assaults in the military. With the new bill focused on higher education institutions, Grassley says weak enforcement of the laws on the books only encourages perpetrators. “It would establish a uniform process of adjudicating sexual assault cases and also promote training for on-campus personnel,” Grassley says. “This will ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, and I think it will help survivors begin to recover from a life-altering trauma.”

This is the reintroduction of a bill that was first offered in 2015 but it failed to go to a floor vote in either chamber. Past critics said the measure encouraged colleges to expel students who were accused of sexual assault even when there was little or no evidence.
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After being blocked in a procedural move by a Democrat last week, Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he will try again to move forward with a bill that would permanently schedule all knock-offs of the drug fentanyl. Grassley says 200 Iowans died of fentanyl overdoses last year, while it killed 70-thousand people nationwide. “The reason for scheduling it is, it’s really easy to change the chemical makeup of fentanyl knock-offs,” Grassley says, “and then when you do that, that’s a way of getting around the law and selling things legally.”

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey opposed the measure, according to Grassley, because it includes mandatory sentencing. Grassley says he hopes to work out a compromise with Booker and get the bill passed before year’s end, when the current scheduling expires.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two accident took place last Friday. Authorities say a 2018 Hyundai driven by 65-year-old Debora Olerich, of Malvern, was traveling east on East 3rd Street at around 11:10-p.m., when her vehicle struck a 2014 Dodge, driven by 66-year-old Robert Muellner, of Randolph, after he failed to yield the right-of-way at the uncontrolled intersection with Prospect Avenue. Olerich was transported to Mercy Hospital by Malvern Rescue. Authorities cited Muellner for Failure to Yield.

And, at around 8:33-a.m., Friday, a 2020 Mack truck driven by 28-year-old Cody Lyons, of LaVista, NE., was traveling east on Highway 34 in a construction zone, and passed several construction zone signs indicating a maximum load width limit of 10-feet. The bulldozer he was hauling with a blade attached, scraped the concrete barricade all the way on the south side of the Highway 34 railroad bridge, which was closed to one lane because of the construction. The bulldozer blade also pushed the moveable concrete barricades along the construction zone.

Lyons told Deputies he saw the width restriction signs too late, and made an error in judgement, believing he could make it through the construction zone.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests: 40-year-old Brook Worku Abebe, of Monticello, AR., was arrested Sunday afternoon on I-29, for OWI/1st offense (Bond $1,000); Monday morning, 19-year-old Michael Anthony Monson, of Omaha, was arrested for Driving While License Denied or Revoked ($1,000 bond); and, 43-year-old Jeffrey Christopher Potter, of Elliott, was arrested on a warrant for Failure to Appear (Bond $5,000).

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports the arrest at around 1:10-p.m., Monday, of a man for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. 39-year-old Sean Michael Wall, of Creston, was arrested at his residence. He was transported to the Union County Jail and held without bond, pending an appearance before the Magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Four-H Foundation is holding its annual Iowa Giving Day over 24 hours from noon today (Tuesday) through noon tomorrow. While there are some 23-thousand young Iowans in the organization now, the day is an appeal to all past members and others, according to Emily Faveraid, executive director of the Ames-based foundation. “National 4H Week is a great opportunity to highlight the 4H program and all the things that it does for young people throughout the year,” Faveraid says. “Our special Iowa 4H Giving Day is an opportunity for alumni and friends to give back a little bit to support the program that has made a difference for them.”

The program has grown well beyond its original farm-centered roots and now gives young people the opportunity to explore anything and everything that interests them. “A lot of times we think of 4H as kind of an ag-focused organization, and certainly the livestock component and those county fairs are a really important part of our program, but young people are doing so many things through 4H,” Faveraid says. “They’re doing robotics, they’re looking at entrepreneurship, they’re focusing on careers.”

When you visit the website, Iowa 4-H Giving Day-dot-org, you can make a donation directly to any of 50 individual 4-H clubs in Iowa. “We’re also fundraising generally for programs across the state and focusing on the 4H priority areas of STEM, healthy living, leadership and civic engagement, ag and natural resources,” Faveraid says. “Dollars donated to those programs will go back to support curriculum development and trips and special programs that can support and impact young people across the state.”

Anyone can donate, not just former members, and the minimum donation is $5. She says any gift, large or small, is part of a collective effort to strengthen the 4-H program and better serve Iowa’s youth.

On the web at iowa4hgivingday.org

(Radio Iowa) – The Creighton survey of Midwest purchasing managers for September shows the overall measure dropped again. Economist Ernie Goss says they measure the status of the states on a zero to 100 scale, with 50 representing growth neutral. “It was fitting 52-point-seven and that’s still above growth neutral, but down from August 55-point-five, which is obviously stronger. This is the fifth decline in the last six months — so the manufacturing economy in the region is slowing down.

He says it is the lowest lowest number since June of 2020. Iowa’s individual state index was to 50-point-nine in September — down from 55-point-seven in August. Goss says the same issues continue to be a drag on the economy. “Supply chain disruptions, far and above the greatest challenge 43 percent said supply chain disruptions. We had 43 percent said labor shortages,” he says. The other concerns were higher input costs, global recession, and the lowest and reading was higher interest rates. The regional employment is still down seven tenths of one percent. )”When you look at growth though, over the last year, the region grew at about two-point-three percent. Now that compares to the U-S number which is better. The growth year over year for the U-S economy was about four percent,” Goss says.

Goss says we’re seeing less and less inflationary pressures and he expect that to impact interest rates. ” I expect short term rates to rise by another half percent by year’s end. And so that’s that’s a little below expectations. I think the Feds gonna pull back somewhat in the November meeting,” according to Goss. “Again, I expect a half percent increase because of inflationary pressures, which are weakening or diminishing.”  Goss says we’re still seeing a recession. “Let’s call it stagflation, very low growth and inflationary pressures way above the Feds target of two percent. So I’ll call it stagflation. And that’s, of course, not good,” Goss says. “Manufacturing is stronger than the rest of the economy. Housing is where there’s a real problem right now that’s residential housing, multifamily doing okay. industrial, okay. So that’s where we’re seeing some real problems.”

Goss says gasoline prices are probably going to be move a bit higher, as the federal government gets out of the oil selling business from the emergency reserve.

(Brooklyn, Iowa) – A collision between a semi tractor-trailer and a farm tractor, Monday evening in Poweshiek County, left the driver of the semi dead and the tractor driver injured. The accident happened at around 6-p.m. on County Highway V-18.

According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2007 Kenworth semi driven by 68-year-old Garland Alan Roth, of Grinnell, struck the rear of a grain wagon being pulled by John Deere 8520 tractor. The tractor was being driven by 72-year-old Charles E. Griffith, of Brooklyn. Both vehicles were traveling northbound. Following the collision, the the semi came to rest on its side in the west ditch. The farm tractor remained on the highway.

Roth died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt. Charles Griffith was transported by private vehicle to the hospital in Grinnell. The accident was under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – The two candidates running to be Iowa’s secretary of agriculture for the next four  years disagree on how to advance voluntary efforts to improve water quality in the state. Republican Mike Naig has been ag secretary since the spring of 2018 and he’s seeking a second full term in the office.  “I can confidently say there’s never been more awareness, more work, more partnerships and more resources being focused and more actual conservation work getting done than at any time in our history,” Naig says. “I’m proud of that.”

Naig says over the past 10 years, the state’s voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy has been showing farmers the value of new conservation practices. “Historically, we’ve wanted to move water off of the landscape as fast as we can,” Naig says, “and, in fact, that’s the sole purpose of a drainage district is to remove water from the landscape , to make that land more productive.” Naig says research is showing farmers the value of cover crops and buffer zones along waterways.

John Norwood, the Democratic challenger, is a Polk County Soil and Water Commissioner.  “The current Nutrient Reduction Strategy isn’t working…Doing things one at a time can’t scale to the 23 million acres,” Norwood says, “The framework ought to be not going things one at a time, but doing them systematically.” Norwood says well over half of Iowa farmland is owned by people who aren’t actively farming it and federal incentives should encourage landowners to adopt more conservation practices.

“Manage water for filtration, manage for acquifer recharge, manage water for flooding,” Norwood says. “We have to scale up soil health. That’s another aspect that we, frankly, don’t have a strategy for.”

The candidates made their comments recently on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S. The state’s voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy was announced nearly a decade ago, to reduce harmful runoff into Iowa lakes and rivers. An Iowa State University dashboard to gauge progress toward the strategy’s goals was posted online a year ago, but has not been updated this year.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a man from Mount Vernon, Washington. 22-year-old Brian James Bell, was sentenced Friday, September 30, 2022, to 66 months (5 1/2 years) in prison, following his plea in Council Bluffs U-S District Court, to a charge of Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine.

In June 2021, Bell was involved in a traffic accident on Interstate 29. Law enforcement arrived on the scene and observed Bell carrying a backpack away from the accident site. A During a probable cause search of the vehicle and backpack, law enforcement located 97 grams of methamphetamine and two loaded firearms.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Pottawattamie Sheriff’s Department and Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force investigated the case.