DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Secretary of State’s office says turnout for Tuesday’s election was the highest for a midterm general election in the state. The office said in a written release that more than 1.32 million votes had been tallied by Wednesday morning, marking the highest number for a midterm election in the state’s history. The previous record of more than 1.14 million votes was set in 2014.

The office says nearly 61 percent of Iowa’s more than 2 million registered voters participated in this year’s elections, including the primary election. That marked the highest percentage for a midterm election year since 1994, when turnout topped 62 percent.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A defiant Iowa Congressman Steve King says his “head is bloodied but unbowed” by an unexpectedly difficult election in which he eked out the narrowest victory margin of his career. The Republican’s victory over Democrat J.D. Scholten came amid outcry over his association with white supremacist groups, which he says is false, and his hardline views on immigration, abortion and gun rights.

King, in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, vows he’ll no longer allow news media or opponents to mischaracterize statements or take them out of context. He says the attacks will not intimidate him into backing off the values he believes.

Since first winning election in 2002, King’s vote total has dipped below 60 percent only twice. He defeated Scholten on Tuesday with just 50 percent of the vote.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resigned as the country’s chief law enforcement officer at President Donald Trump’s request. Sessions announced his plan to resign in a letter to the White House on Wednesday. Trump announced in a tweet that Sessions’ chief of staff Matt Whitaker would become the new acting attorney general. Whitaker is native Iowan and former University of Iowa football player who is currently in charge of the United States Department of Justice. He served as a US Attorney in Des Moines during the George W. Bush Administration.

The attorney general had endured more than a year of stinging and personal criticism from Trump over his recusal from the investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. Trump blamed the decision for opening the door to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the Russia investigation and began examining whether Trump’s hectoring of Sessions was part of a broader effort to obstruct justice.

Red Oak Police report one person was severely injured during an altercation Tuesday night.  Police received a report at around 8:25-p.m. of a male…56-year old Randall James Elarton… was assaulted in the 900 block of east Reed Street. Upon arrival and investigation, authorities determined Elarton had been extensively injured from an altercation that occurred at an earlier time. Red Oak Fire and Rescue began treatment of Elarton, who was later transported by helicopter to Creighton-Bergan Mercy Medical Center in Omaha, for treatment of serious injuries.

Authorities say evidence and an investigation lead them to believe this was a targeted and isolated incident, and there is no threat to the community or the public in general. The investigation continues, and authorities say only the information released is being provided at this time. Additional details will be released when it becomes available.

Several agencies assisted Red Oak Police with the incident investigation, including: The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and K-9 Unit; Red Oak Fire and Rescue; Montgomery County Emergency Management; Iowa DCI and the DCI Crime Scene Unit, and the Iowa State Patrol.

(12-p.m. News)

Atlantic, IA – The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program through Cass County Public Health is celebrating National Parents as Teachers Day on November 8^th. PAT is a free program for Cass County families with children ages 0-5, which provides home visits to help young children grow up healthy, safe, and ready to learn. The PAT educators help connect community partners with parents to prepare children for Kindergarten and beyond. Nancy Gibson, Parents as Teachers Coordinator said “We’ve been in Cass County since 1998, and we are a credentialed, evidence-based program. “During our 20 years of service to Cass County we have had the opportunity to serve 450 families and around 700 children.”

PAT educators (left to right) Nancy Gibson and Victoria Means

PAT currently has two different educators who provide monthly home visits to families with young children. During these visits, they work on getting a complete health history, doing developmental screenings to catch any delays as early as possible, check on immunizations, and much more. Children in the program also have access to free vision, hearing, and dental checks. The PAT program is partially funded by a grant from Boost 4 Families.

PAT currently has limited openings, parents who are interested in the program can contact Nancy at 712-243-7475. Referrals are also welcome—anyone who knows of a family that could benefit from participating is encouraged to call.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa employee responsible for issuing private security guard licenses was fired Tuesday for ethical and other rule violations, and a related criminal investigation is under way. A termination letter obtained by The Associated Press shows the Iowa Department of Public Safety fired clerk Joseph Sheehan Jr. after a nearly three-month paid leave. The department tells AP it opened a criminal investigation in August “after a routine review raised concerns related to the issuance of security guard identification cards.” That investigation is still ongoing.

Sheehan’s termination letter says an internal investigation found he violated five department policies, including those governing employee ethics, requiring timely and accurate official reports, barring incompetent performance and requiring employees to follow orders. The letter didn’t elaborate on Sheehan’s wrongdoing but said that his actions were unacceptable and his employment “has been counterproductive to the best interests of the Department.”

(Radio Iowa) — The USDA expects farmers will plant far fewer soybean acres in 2019 compared to this year. In its first statistical guesses for the NEXT growing season, the agency forecasts U.S. corn plantings of 92 million acres and soybeans at 82.5 million. That’s a nearly 3 million acre increase for corn compared to this year, and a decrease in soybeans of more than 6.5 million. Naomi Blohm, a commodity analyst with the Stewart-Peterson Group, says the market has been anticipating a reduction in soybeans because of the U.S.-China trade war. “But to actually have a concrete number, this is the first time that has happened. So is the market paying attention to this? It’s aware of it,” Blohm says. “But it’s not in essence fresh news, so (the market) is not responding to it.”

Blohm suggests any projections for 2019 should be written in pencil at this point. “I would say based on conversations with producers, they don’t totally know yet,” Blohm says. “They haven’t bought their seed yet. They’re not sure if they just want to continue to switch to their regular rotation on things, or what they’re going to do.”  The USDA is also forecasting a more than 3 million acre increase in wheat for next year.

(Radio Iowa) — University of Northern Iowa political science professor Christopher Larimer says the 2018 election results show Iowa is still very much a swing state.  “This is one of the more interesting set of results on Election Night in recent memory,” Larimer says. “You have a lot going on here.” Republican Governor Kim Reynolds will stay in office. Republicans retained firm control of a majority of seats in the Iowa legislature. Democrats, meanwhile, flipped two U.S. House seats in Iowa that had been held by Republicans and came within three points of knocking off long-time Republican Congressman Steve King.

“During the voting process, there were Iowans who were splitting their ticket,” Larimer says. “They were going through and making a deliberate choice to vote for a Republican in one race and a Democrat for another, and so that’s going to take some time to unpack, for political scientists to understand exactly what was going on and exactly what the motivations were for Iowa voters.” Kim Reynolds beat Fred Hubbell by about 40-thousand votes. If you add all the votes in Iowa’s four congressional races together for a statewide tally, the Democratic candidates in the four districts got about 50-thousand more votes than the Republican candidates.

A man serving time in the Pottawattamie County Jail for Violation of a No Contact Order, was served Tuesday afternoon with a separate warrant for a similar violation. 54-year old Ronald Wayne Smith, of Council Bluffs, was presented with the warrant and returned to his jail cell. Smith was being on $2,000 bond on one warrant, and held without bond on the other warrant.

A man and a woman were arrested for Domestic Assault with Injury, early Tuesday morning, in Pott. County. Authorities say a deputy was dispatched to 26551 Magnolia Road at around 6:30-a.m., for an assault report. While en route, dispatched advised that a male and female had been in disturbance inside a vehicle. The female – 45-year old Dara Tarisai Owens, of Detroit, MI, had pepper sprayed 55-year old Jimmie Blackwell, of Southfield, MI, and the pair was outside the vehicle at the time of the report. An investigation resulted in their arrests. Both subjects suffered minor injuries during the incident.  They were being held without bond in the Pott. County Jail.

A Council Bluffs man serving time in the Pott. County Jail for Probation Violation, was served Tuesday with a warrant for the same offense. 24-year old Tyler James Woodruff was returned to his cell after being read the warrant. He was being held without bond on one of the felony offense, and on $5,000 bond for the other offense. Another inmate at the jail, 39-year old Brian Alan Reed, of Council Bluffs, was served with a felony warrant Tuesday, for Assault causing serious injury, the bond for which is $5,000. Reed was being held on an original charge of Probation Violation at the time he was served with the warrant.

The National Weather Service says there will be two separate rounds of wintry precipitation in Iowa from Thursday into Friday. The first round will have precipitation spreading into the southern two-thirds of the state Thursday afternoon and evening. The precipitation may begin as rain before transitioning to snow by Thursday evening and ending around midnight. Cass and surrounding counties can expect anywhere from one-to two-inches on the ground by the time the snowfall ends.

click on the image to enlarge

The next round of snow will arrive over northern Iowa early Friday morning and slide southeastward into east central Iowa. Gusty winds will accompany this snow and cause blowing of the falling snow, which may reduce visibility. This snow may impact the Friday morning commute with slippery, snow covered roads. The highest snowfall amounts will be over northern Iowa where around two-inches of snow may fall.