(Glenwood, Iowa) – Six people, including three juveniles, were injured Sunday afternoon when a car and an SUV collided west of Glenwood, in Mills County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2023 Honda Accord exited Interstate 29 northbound at Exit 35 and onto the Highway 34 eastbound ramp, before turning westbound onto the eastbound lanes of Highway 34. The car continued westbound in the eastbound lane, striking a 2006 GMC Yukon SUV head-on. The accident happened at around 12:45-p.m., Sunday.

The driver of the car , 49-year-old Philip Wilson, of Tea, South Dakota, and the driver of the SUV, 40-year-old Eric Meyer, of Glenwood, were injured, along with Meyer’s passenger, 34-year-old Miranda Sims, of Glenwood, and the three juveniles. The names and ages of the juveniles were not released.

Two of the juveniles suffered minor injuries and were not taken to the hospital. The third juvenile, along with Meyer and Sims, were transported to Bergen-Mercy Hospital by Mills County and Silver City EMS. Wilson was transported to Jennie Edmundson Hospital by Silver City EMS.

None of the injuries that required transport to the hospital were considered to be life-threatening.  The Patrol says two of the adults and two of the children were not wearing seat belts.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – The Page County Sheriff’s Office today (Sunday), released a report on arrests that took place from Oct. 7th through Nov. 9th. Most recently:

On Saturday (10/9), 32-year-old Keegan Ray Elkins, of Shenandoah, was booked into the Page County Jail for Domestic Abuse.

On Friday, 47-year-old Joshua Jorge Colwell, of Shenandoah, was arrested for Possession of a controlled substance and poss. of drug paraphernalia. And, 46-year-old Bryan Cody Buick, of Red Oak, was arrested for Contempt of Court.

On Nov. 1st, Page County deputies booked into the jail 52-year-old Merlin Glen Lininger, of Clarinda, to serve time.

And, on Oct. 28th, 50-year-old Misty Dawn Nolan-Myre, of Shenandoah, was arrested for OWI.

You can read about the other arrests here: 10-06-2024–11-09-2024

(Anita, Iowa) –  The CAM School District’s Board of Education is set to hold their regular monthly meeting beginning at 6:30-p.m. Monday, Nov. 11th, in the CAM High School Media Center. Among the items on their agenda, is discussion with regard to last week’s (unofficial) election results. Voters Tuesday, rejected a $22.5 million bond issue for construction of an addition converting the Anita facility into a K-12 building. The vote was 305 no votes, or 74.39% or 105 yes votes, or 25.61%. The results will become officials after they have been canvassed by the Cass County Board of Supervisors.

Following election discussion, the CAM School Board will discuss 2024 enrollment and the next steps, with regard to the district’s facilities. In other business, the Board will act on approving:

• Board Policy Revisions
• Mid-year graduates
• and a 2026 school bus lease agreement.

Board members will then present their regular reports, prior to adjourning for the evening.

IOWA CITY, Iowa [KGAN-TV] – Nearly 47 years ago, two NASA spacecrafts were bound for one of the grandest journeys across our solar system to fly by and learn about our outer gas giants. They launched within a special planetary window, which occurs only once every 176 years. It allows these spacecraft to use the gravitational pull of each planet it flies by to alter its trajectory, allowing them to arrive at the next planet on its path with minimal use of fuel.

The Voyager spacecrafts paved the way for our understanding of our solar system, but it’s now over 15 billion miles away from Earth. It takes light and radio signals about 23 hours to reach it one way, and it is still changing our understanding of the cosmos. The instruments still onboard and operational were built, and are still operated by, the University of Iowa’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. One of them is the Plasma Wave Subsystem, which measures subtle waves within plasma fields around planets and in space.

The instrument has been pivotal in some of our most incredible discoveries in space, including the data set confirming when Voyager entered the interstellar medium beyond our solar system in 2012. It was also instrumental in detecting lightning on another planet for the first time back in the early 80s. Lightning sends off a wide array of electromagnetic waves. Due to the different speeds at which each of these waves travels, it creates an odd, descending whistling tone.

Dr. Bill Kurth, a research scientist at the University of Iowa and a co-investigator of the Voyager Plasma Wave, was part of the initial development of the instrument nearly half a century ago, and continues to monitor data sent back from the aging spacecraft to this day.Of the nearly 10 instruments on board, only four remain. The University of Iowa’s instrument still furthers our understanding of our place in the stars is one of them still in operation.

It’s still uncertain how much longer the voyager probes have left, but predictions show they may make it into the early 2030s. However, they will still be drifting through the vastness of space, likely outliving our own star, the sun, well after they shut down.

You and find more information about the University of Iowa’s involvement in the Voyager missions here or their involvement in a multitude of flagship NASA missions here.

(Red Oak, Iowa) –  Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna reports, “Pursuant to Code of Iowa Sec. 50.51, the Secretary of State’s Office has ordered a post-election audit of the November 5, 2024, General Election. The race to be audited will be the
President/Vice President and County Sheriff for each political party for Precinct 6 West Grant Frankfort Scott Twp Coburg Stanton. The polling place location for Precinct 6 is the Stanton Community Building.

“The Montgomery County Auditor’s Office will conduct this audit on Friday, November 15, starting at 9:00 a.m. The audit will take place in the old Supervisor’s meeting room on the first floor of the Courthouse, 105 E Coolbaugh Street, Red Oak. Said proceeding shall be open to the public.”

(Franklin County, Iowa) [updated 12:11-p.m., to include the just released name of the 3rd crash victim] – Three people were injured during an accident Friday evening in northern Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident happened at around 6:20-p.m. Friday, on Interstate 35 south, near mile-marker 162.

Authorities say a 2015 Buick Encore driven by 62-year-old James Coombes, of Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, struck a deer in the left southbound lane, before the vehicle pulled into the right southbound lane. The Buick was rear-ended by a 2013 KIA Rio, being driven by 26-year-old Jacob Hernandez, of Mankato, MN.

Following the collision, the KIA came to rest in the median, and the Buick came to rest in the right-hand lane on I-35 southbound. Both drivers and a passenger in the KIA, 26-year-old Katelyn Redmond, of Mankato, suffered serious injuries. Coombes was transported by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Redmond and Hernandez were taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital in Mason City.

All three were wearing their seat belts.

(Radio Iowa) – Donald Trump won all but five counties in Iowa and Republicans gained seats in the Iowa legislature in this week’s election. Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart has issued a written statement, calling the results “an absolute gut punch.”

University of Northern Iowa political science professor Christopher Larimer said it shows the urban-rural divide in Iowa continues to expand and the shift toward Republican candidates for the legislature that began in 2010 continues. “The turnout rates have been relatively the same over those same election cycles, so it’s not like the electorate’s expanding a lot or contracting a lot,” Larimer said. “At least the overall numbers seem to be staying the same and obviously new people come in and vote, but we’re seeing a further shift to the right.”

Matt Paul, a former aide to Tom Vilsack, ran Tom Harkin’s last U-S Senate campaign, worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and is now a consultant. He said Democrats have a “profound” messaging problem. “We need to go back to the drawing board as a party and rebuild the party,” Paul said today during taping of “Iowa Press” which airs this evening on Iowa PBS.

Paul cited data heading into the election showing 65% to 70% of Americans thought the country was headed in the wrong direction and he said the election results show Democrats need to rethink how they talk about the economic issues Americans face on a daily basis.

Former Vilsack aide Matt Paull, on left, and former Branstad aide Jimmy Centers on the Iowa Press set on Nov. 8, 2024.. (Iowa PBS photo)

“Especially in a presidential race, right? They are pocketbook elections and we missed the pocketbook completely,” Paul said. “…It’s already begun — a lot of bloviating about what happened and everyone thinks they want to fix it on the Democratic side, especially in the consultancy orbit…because if we take the same approach, if we take the same path, we will not see electoral success in the future.”

Jimmy Centers, who was a spokesman for Governor Terry Branstad, has worked on local, state and presidential campaigns and also appears on this week’s “Iowa Press” episode. Centers said he was struck by Trump’s margin of victory in Iowa. “I thought Trump would win,” Centers said. “I didn’t see him winning by as large of a margin as he did and I thought we were going to have some battles, particularly in the urban areas and in the Polk and Dallas County areas fared a lot better for Republicans.”

Trump won Iowa by over 13 points. No presidential candidate in the past half century has won the state by a larger margin.

“You can like or dislike how President-elect Trump speaks, but American voters clearly respond to the direct and frank nature of his remarks. That has been proven in this election,” Centers said. “He’s focusing on issues that are most important to them, from public safety to economic issues, and they give him a pass on this other stuff. It’s part of the brand that he’s built.”

Larimer, who spoke with Radio Iowa by phone, said Biden’s low job approval rating and voter attitudes about the economy in the spring were key indicators of the likely outcome of the presidential race this fall. “The very simple forecasting models in political science say you can look at approval ratings, you look at economic growth in the second quarter of an election year,” Larimer said, “and that tell you a lot about what is going to happen in November.”

And Larimer said the hyper-partisan atmosphere at the national level has accelerated over the past 16 years and that national conversation is also affecting how people view the parties here in Iowa.

Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart sent a memo to the party’s governing board, saying it’s “really hard to envision what is next for Democrats.” She also urged Democrats not to “throw up their hands and give up,: but to prepare for the next election in 2026.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s challenge of votes by potential non-citizens could factor in the state Senate District 14 race. The Dallas County Auditor cannot count ballots from people on that list unless the individuals prove they voted legally. There were 19 ballots on hold as of this morning (Friday) — which is equal to Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott’s lead over Republican Mark Hanson.

Trone Garriott says every legal ballot should be counted. “There are people who are citizens who have a right to vote and who don’t know that their right has been challenged.”

Notices were mailed about one week ago to the people on the Secretary of State’s list. Dallas County Auditor Julia Holm says her office has also called people they had numbers for. Any new citizens in Iowa who voted early or by mail should contact their county auditor to make sure their ballot is counted by the deadline at noon on Tuesday.