(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors will continue to use their Conference Call service during their Board meetings. That decision was reached during their meeting this (Wednesday) morning, in Greenfield. The Board began using the Conference Call when the pandemic limited attendance at in-person meetings. The call-in, access code system is especially helpful to the media and others who wish to listen to the proceedings, but are not able to attend. The system comes at no cost to the county.

The Board approved Courtyard use permits for the April 16th Easter Egg Hunt, “Summer Kick-off,” and 4th of July.

In other business, Adair County Attorney Melissa Larson presented the Board with a proposal for the use of American Rescue Plan funds for “i-Crimefighter.” The program is a mobile and tablet evidence collection system for Law Enforcement.The applications allows officers to capture pictures, videos, audio recordings and notes in the field and upload evidence to secure cloud hosting. It would benefit all Law Enforcement Agencies in the County, at a cost of $4,500 per year, for three-years ($13,500 in total).

She said the app has other benefits as well.

Sheriff Jeff Vandewater explained the system is very versatile and can be helpful during investigations. That’s especially true where there is video evidence available from the public.

The Board passed a motion to move forward with acquiring the program. Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman requested the Board approve setting April 20th at 9:30-a.m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing on the vacating of 140th Street for one-half mile on the north side of Section 30, Lincoln. The request was approved. Kauffman also discussed the County 5-year Construction Program, during which there were some changes in the cost and scope of some projects. The Adair County Supervisors approved the revised plan as presented. Nick Kauffman also discussed some current and future road maintenance and related activities.

(UPDATED} (Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), after having conducted interviews, selected and appointed Republican Sara Harris, of Atlantic, as County Auditor, to fill a vacancy. Dale Sunderman, who served as the County Auditor for more than 37-years, had announced his intention in February, to resign from the post, effective April 15^th. Board Chair Steve Baier read from Sunderman’s resignation letter to the Board.

The Supervisors this (Wednesday) morning, regretfully accepted his resignation.

Cass Supervisors discuss Dale Sunderman’s amended resignation letter (Dale and his wife Sheryl are seated near the flag)

Afterward, Chairman Baier administered the Oath of Office to Sara Harris.

Board Chair Steve Baier administers the Oath of Office to Sara Harris.

Harris will serve the remainder of Sunderman’s term, which expires at the end of the year.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge is going to use a donate vacant store from Casey’s for the future home of its Biofuel Testing lab. Iowa Central president, Jesse Ulrich, says  He says they started the biofuel lab ten years ago and it was one of the first back then and now they are looking to expand it to better serve Iowa and the rest of the country as well. Ulrich says they are in the planning stages after Casey’s agreed to give them the building. He says they hope to get bids this summer and it will take one year to 18 months to build it.

Ulrich says it will allow them to get students more involved in the biofuels testing lab. “What we’re really looking at is being able to expand that into having more and more students take part through apprenticeships and learning from that lab,” according to Ulrich. “And by vacating chemistry labs or some type of classroom space for the general academic side as well.”

The new center will be located on the west side of Fort Dodge near the Iowa Central campus and not far from a Bio Ag center where Cargill, Valero Energy, and CJ BIO have production and processing facilities.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will meet today at 8-a.m. to accept the resignation of longtime County Auditor Dale Sunderman.  Afterward, the Board are expected to act on appointing a person to fill the vacancy position. That person will serve the remainder of Sunderman’s term, which expires at the end of the year.

You may recall, that on February 16, Sunderman submitted his resignation letter to the Board of Supervisors after serving for more than 37-years.

Dale Sunderman (Official Cass County photo)

(Radio Iowa)  – Republican Senator Joni Ernst says President Biden’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court is a highly qualified attorney, but Ernst says she cannot vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination. “Perhaps my greatest issue with Judge Jackson is her lack of adherence to a judicial philosophy,” Ernst says. Ernst says as a member of the Senate, she will only vote for justices who pledge to be an originalist and interpret words in the Constitution based on their meaning at the time the document was adopted in 1788.

“If a justice’s legal interpretation has no philosophical grounding, that provides flexibility for a justice to bend their thinking to achieve a desired outcome,” Ernst says. “…We have enough politicians in the legislative branch. We don’t need any in the courts, especially the Supreme Court.”

Ernst, who met with Jackson on March 30th, says the judge showed grace under pressure during last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. But Ernst says Jackson’s answer when asked to define a woman was troubling.  “The judge responded that she’s not a biologist,” Ernst said. “…”While I’m grateful Judge Jackson believes science is the basis for determining a woman, I’m deeply concerned that a fellow woman, who is set to define the contours of laws that are specific to women, has to even think about an answer to that question.”

Ernst made her remarks during a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday. Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Chuck Grassley, also plans to vote against Jackson’s nomination. Jackson is on a clear path to joining the nation’s highest court, as three other Republicans in the Senate have announced they’ll join with Democrats to confirm Jackson.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has approved legislation to require that mobile home park owners notify residents 90 days before increases in rent or utilities go into effect. Under current law, there’s a 60 day notice period. Advocates for the renters and owners of manufactured housing say large corporations are buying mobile home parks around the country and raising the rents on lots to impossible heights. Representative Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, voted for the bill, but James says it should have limited rent increases.

“They’ve invested their life savings into their home and now, because of their insatiable greed of the predatory businesses, they are facing losing it all,” James says. Representative Amy Nielsen, a Democrat from North Liberty, says the bill offers crumbs to mobile home residents and she voted against it. “So, yeah, I’m angry. This is three years worth of frustration. I think that this effort falls way short,” Nielsen says. “The people of Iowa deserve better.”

Representative Kenan Judge, a Democrat from Waukee, voted for the bill, but he says it only makes incremental changes and mobile home park residents deserve better. “My constituents and Iowans across this state deserve a 12 month lease and, in that lease, safety from eviction,” Judge says. “If you think about it, you have that protection in an apartment…These are not crazy ideas.”

Representative Brian Lohse, a Republican from Bondurant, led development of the bill.  “Wish I could have hit that triple, hit the home run, but I couldn’t get there,” Lohse says, “but I got a single, at least.” Lohse says the bill does includes some new protections, like new rules that let tenants arrange to get running water to their home if the supply is cut off through no fault of their own and it specifies when mobile home park owners can access a home after the resident dies.

A property tax break for the people who own or rent the homes in mobile home parks was removed from the bill.  “So while, again, it’s not the bill I’d like to have, it’s the bill I can get,” Lohse says. This is the second time the House has passed a bill extending some new protections to mobile home park residents, but a bill on the topic has not passed the Senate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Creighton University survey showed good growth for Iowa and other states in the middle of the country — but there are concerns about what is ahead. Creighton economist Ernie Goss says he was surprised at the Business Condition Index for March — which is figured on a 100 point scale.

“It jumped to 71-point-three, and that’s the highest reading since July of 2021. It was up from last month’s reading, February’s reading of 64-point-zero, ” Goss says. “This was almost. I won’t call it a shocker — but I was surprised it was so strong,” Goss says. He says 50 represents growth neutral on the scale. Goss says Iowa and the other states in the survey region are doing better than the country as a whole.

“It’s much stronger, much stronger for the MidAmerican region than the U-S. And I attribute that to much higher agricultural commodity prices and the spillover into the other industries across the region,” according to Goss. “That’s why I think we are seeing a much better reading for the MidAmerican region.” Goss says there are ongoing concerns.

He says seven out of ten supply managers say supply chain disruptions are their biggest concern they face for the coming year, while two out of ten say rising interest rates are a concern. Goss does expect the Fed Reserve to raise interest rates again in May. Goss says there has been an expansion of businesses, but only Arkansas is back to employment levels before the pandemic. He says the economy is likely to slow.

“Inflation will remain very high, of course, we’ve now recorded this very strong inflation number for March. So this is going to remain with us for some time, the Consumer Price Index will be higher in the weeks and months ahead. Economic growth will slow and potentially move into negative territory.

Iowa’s individual Business Conditions Index for March rose to 75-point-six from 60-point-six in February. Over the past 12 months, the report says Iowa’s average hourly manufacturing wages expanded by three-point-seven percent — eighth highest among the nine states.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says his “no” vote on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court isn’t meant to send a message to other federal judges. “I judge district judges, circuit judges, supreme court judges on how I see they’re going to interpret the Constitution according to original intent,” Grassley says, “and to make sure they don’t add to or subtract from laws passed by congress.”

Grassley was among the Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted against Jackson’s appointment to the nation’s highest court. Before his vote, Grassley said Jackson’s approach to criminal sentencing was too lenient. Grassley told Radio Iowa this (Tuesday) morning his “no” shouldn’t be interpreted by other federal judges as they considering sentencing criminals.

“It isn’t intended to any of a message,” Grassley says, “and I don’t think it should be read to send any message.” Grassley says it’s his view that Judge Jackson has misinterpreted a 2018 law called the First Step Act, which Grassley co-sponsored. It gives judges more options to impose sentences that are lower than the mandat­ory minimum penal­ties in federal law.

“I ought to know what we intended to do in that act,” Grassley says. “She took advantage of what she thought was a retroactive part of that legislation to give a lighter sentence to people and retroactivity is not included in the First Step Act.” The Democrats running for a chance to challenge Grassley’s bid for reelection this year are criticizing Grassley’s vote against Jackson.

Mike Franken, a retired Navy Admiral, says Jackson is more than qualified to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice and Grassley’s no vote is shameful. Abby Finkenauer, a former Iowa congresswoman, says after 47 years in office, Grassley is more interested in toeing the party line than confirming a competent and qualified justice. Glenn Hurst, a doctor from Minden, says Grassley is refusing to vote for the most qualified person to ever be nominated to the Supreme Court.

(Radio Iowa) – A key House member says now is the time to pass a moratorium to prevent developers from seeking government condemnation of land along proposed carbon pipeline routes before February 1st. Republican SENATOR Dennis Guth, of Klemme, recently said the plan does absolutely nothing, because the Iowa Utilities Board process for eminent domain wouldn’t start before next February anyway. Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann, of Wilton, disagrees.

“You can say that the eminent domain legislation didn’t go far enough. You can say that eminent domain legislation is not needed,” Kaufmann says, “but to state that the language that the House passed is useless is ignorant.” According to Guth, he’s been assured by the chair of the Iowa Utilities Board that the rules for seeking eminent domain would stretch the process out well into next year. Kaufmann says the point of the House proposal is to address the fears of property owners who do not want the pipelines to pass through their land or feel pressured to sign leases with the developers.

“Landowners who don’t believe what Senator Guth says about the IUB timeline. They don’t believe what I say about the IUB timeline. They don’t believe what the pipeline companies say about the IUB timeline,” Kaufmann says. “They believe that once we leave, the playing field changes, so putting a moratorium on eminent domain until we’re back is a very impactful thing.” Kaufmann says the moratorium — which would be in effect while the legislature is NOT in session — is designed to send a message to the pipeline developers, too.

“To pass pipeline legislation regarding eminent domain is a message to the pipeline companies that we have an expectation as a legislature for you to negotiate fairly,” Kaufmann says. “…Heads up, we’re willing to act. You can say, again, that you’d like it go further and you can say we don’t need it at all, but it is not useless, but it definitely does things.”

Senator Guth says he’s working with Senate leaders and others to develop a long-term fix to present in the 2023 legislative session, to limit the broad use of eminent domain for private sector projects. The Senate has not yet taken a vote on the bill that includes the temporary moratorium on the subject that HOUSE members have approved.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Agriculture reports another confirmed case of the bird flu. This case is in Hamilton County in a flock of young turkeys known as poults. There are 16-thousand-200 birds in the flock. This is the second case confirmed in Hamilton County, the first was on March 28th, and this is the 13th case now confirmed statewide.

More than 13 million birds have now been destroyed in Iowa to prevent the spread of the virus.