WASHINGTON – Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley will hold town meetings in Cass County on April 16, Carroll County on April 17 and Buchanan County on April 23 as a part of his annual 99 county meetings.  The Cass County Town Hall meeting will take place from 9:45-to 10:45-a.m. Tuesday, April 16th, at the Cass County Courthouse.

The Carroll County meeting will be held April 17th, from 1:30-until 2:30-p.m., at in the New Hope Village gymnasium, in Carroll.

Grassley is in his 39th year of holding meetings in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties. Grassley has held at least one meeting in every county, every year since he was first elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. He takes and answers questions on any subject raised.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports five people were arrested over the past week. On Saturday, 20-year old Sophia Erin Bell, of Omaha, was arrested on a charge of Possession of Alcohol under the legal age. Bell was taken to the Cass County Jail and released on her own recognizance the following day.

There were three arrests on Friday in Cass County: 59-year old  Jeffrey Harold Jensen, of Anita, was arrested on a Felony charge of Forgery. Jensen was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $5,000 bond; 27-year old Dylan Lee Looft, of Anita, was arrested on a Sheriff’s Office warrant for two felony counts of Sexual Abuse 2nd Degree. Looft was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $200,000 bond. And, 28-year old Cole Jacob Benton, of Hamlin, was arrested Friday in Cass County, on a charge of OWI 1st Offense. Benton was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on his own recognizance.

Last Thursday, Cass County Deputies arrested 20-year old Dominick Gene Gramkow, of Ankeny, on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Gramkow was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $5,000 bond.

If you have any old, broken or outdated bits of technology sitting around your house collecting dust, gather your components and drop them off during an E-Waste recycling drive Thursday, in Atlantic. ThinkSpace IT and the Southwest Iowa Composite Squadron have teamed-up with Midwest Metal Recyclers in Logan, to help you clear your clutter, and get that old technology recycled so that it can have a new life.

The drop-off site is at 201 Poplar Street in Atlantic (The American Legion/Armory Building), and the hours are from 4-until 7-p.m., Thursday. There is no fee to bring your accepted items, which include the following:

• Laptops
• Desktops
• Servers
• Computer mice
• Printers
• Scanners, external and internal hard drives
• Keyboards, UPS battery backups, tablets and more.

For a full list go to www.thinkspaceit.net/events.

The National Weather Service in Des Moines reports a combination of warm, well above normal temperatures, highs through the 70s and pushing 80 in spots, and brisk southwest to west winds gusting as high as 25 to 35 mph will produce conditions favorable for fires to develop and spread by this afternoon. The most elevated fire weather conditions should be over central and northern Iowa. Grasses are still cured and dormant so outdoor burning is not recommended today.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an 82-year-old Dubuque man was fatally struck by a vehicle being driven by his wife. Dubuque police say 84-year-old Mary Bockenstedt was backing out of a private driveway around 11:40 a.m. Saturday when the vehicle hit 82-year-old Walter Bockenstedt, pinning him underneath. Police say he was pronounced dead at the scene. His death remains under investigation.

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — Time runs out this week for the winner of a $1 million Powerball prize to claim the money. Iowa Lottery officials say the winning ticket was bought April 11, 2018, at a Casey’s convenience store in the Des Moines suburb of Nevada. The ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball. The winner has a year to claim the prize. Lottery officials say that means the purchaser will need to get to lottery headquarters in Clive by 4 p.m. Thursday.

Unclaimed prizes go into a pool for future prizes. The lottery says that in the 2018 fiscal year, more than $1.4 million in prizes went unclaimed in Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drivers who have unpaid traffic camera tickets are challenging the state of Iowa’s ability to seize part of their tax refunds to collect the money. Attorney Jim Larew argued in a petition filed last week that the Department of Administrative Services doesn’t have the legal authority to collect unpaid speeding and red light infractions issued by traffic cameras.

He’s representing drivers who are facing the seizure of parts of their refunds for old tickets that they dispute. The state has contracts with cities like Cedar Rapids and Des Moines to take funds to offset those debts, and assesses an additional 6 % fee for itself.

The petition argues that, under a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling, vehicle owners are not liable for traffic camera citations until municipalities prove them in District Court. Because that typically doesn’t happen, Larew argues the unpaid tickets are not debts and the state cannot collect them. An administrative law hearing will now take place.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors will meet in a regular session 9-a.m. Tuesday in their Boardroom, at the courthouse in Atlantic. On their agenda is a canvass of last Tuesday’s Special School Bond vote, which unofficial results showed passed by 736 Yes votes (65.77%) to 383 No votes (34.23%).

The Board will also receive a Quarterly report from Cass County Conservation Director Micah Lee, and act on an Iowa DOT agreement for County bridge federal aid – Swap Funding (for a proposed box culvert on Newport Road), and they’ll act on approving a Section 130 application for the IA DOT for 90% funding, with regard to signal lights, etc., at four track crossings with Buck Creek Road (for Elite Octane).

(WATERLOO) – The Iowa Dept. of Corrections said today (Monday), London Willis Walker, who was convicted of Intimidation with Dangerous Weapon and other crimes in Black Hawk County, failed to report back to the Waterloo Residential Facility as required last night (Sunday night).  Walker is a 25-year-old, Black male, height 5’10”, and weighs 185 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on April 2, 2019.  Persons with information on Walker’s whereabouts should contact local police.

London Walker

(Radio Iowa) — Some two dozen Iowa F-F-A members from Charles City and Rockford took a six-hour trip to east-central Nebraska over the weekend to provide manpower and supplies to a flood-stricken family. Charles City sophomore Justin Heyer says the devastation at the Drew Wolfe cattle operation is unimaginable.  “It’s just horrible seeing how we can have such a successful spring in Iowa and then we come down here, just the next state over, and it looks like a beach right now,” Heyer says. “It’s like we’re by the ocean. Everything is just flood planed, destroyed.”

The Platte River left its banks near Schuyler, Nebraska, and raged across corn fields, feed yards and swept away a third of the operation’s 25-hundred-head of cattle. The F-F-A members picked up and rebuilt fences destroyed during the record-setting event. The rancher, Wolfe, says the random act of support from the 25 students was overwhelming.  “It’s nice to see kids wanting to come help,” Wolfe says. “There’s been a lot of that but it’s pretty amazing.”  Rockford F-F-A member Sawyer Salisbury skipped a benefit Saturday for his own family who lost their house in a fire on February 2nd to go to Nebraska. “When my house burned down, everybody was there to help me so I figured I’d go help someone else in need,” Salisbury says.

F-F-A members raised 35-hundred dollars during a two-hour “radiothon” to help offset the costs of the trip. Another 25-hundred dollars came in later that’s being donated to the hastag-nebraska-strong cause. Rockford F-F-A member Jayden Jorgensen says the experience is something she’ll never forget. “This is where you learn your life lessons, respect for others, respect for livestock, compassion, all of those good qualities that makes a good community member,” Jorgensen says.

The Floyd County Cattlemen’s Association joined members on the trip. Several businesses and organizations in Schuyler provided meals and hotel rooms.