(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is pushing a couple of measures she says would address issues at the southern border. The Republican from Marion says the Biden Administration has created the border crisis.

She says the Biden Administration is ignoring the problem.

Hinson says one piece of legislation called the “PRINTS Act” would keep men from using kids to make it appear they are part of a family so they be quickly released if taken into custody.

She says the kids are recycled and used over and over again by men trying to cross the border. The other bill is the Southern Border Transparency Act.

Hinson says it will force the Biden administration to be fully transparent with the American people about their catch-and-release policy.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Bondurant man was sentenced today (Friday), to 15 months in federal prison for failure to pay over employee trust fund taxes and failure to file a federal tax return.

According to court documents, from 2015 to 2020, 50-year-old Thomas James Morford, who operated a local concrete business, failed to pay $355,049 in employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This included the failure to pay taxes that he had collected from employees through withholding, as well as matching employer contributions to Social Security and Medicare. Morford also failed to file federal tax returns for 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Morford will be required to serve three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Morford was also ordered to pay $355,049.68 in restitution to the IRS.

“Withholding employment taxes from employee wages and willfully failing to remit them to the IRS is a serious offense,” said IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) Special Agent in Charge Thomas F. Murdock. “Not only does this harm employees, but it also robs the Treasury of funds and that has the potential to harm all those who rely on support from government programs.”

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.

STANTON, Iowa – Montgomery County Emergency Management, today (Friday), reported a fertilizer spreader in the Tarkio River at 10:30 a.m. today, following a bridge collapse on a private drive. The collapse caused a fertilizer spreader to enter the waterway, resulting in an unknown amount of mono ammonium phosphate (MAP), sulfur, and potash being spilled into the Tarkio River approximately one mile north of Stanton. The collapse also ruptured a fuel tank, spilling roughly 100 gallons of diesel into the creek.

Bridge collapse near Stanton (DNR photo)

Field office staff from the Department of Natural Resources were on-site, collecting both upstream and downstream samples from the Tarkio River. Booms were placed downstream of the incident and samples will be submitted to the State Hygienic Lab for analysis. No dead fish were observed. Cleanup efforts are currently ongoing. The DNR will continue to monitor cleanup efforts and consider appropriate enforcement action.

(Calhoun County, Iowa) – A northwest Iowa man missing for more than a month was found dead today (Friday), in Jolley (Iowa). The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office reports 54-year-old Mark Riesberg, of Rockwell City, was found in a Chrysler PT Cruiser with an apparent self-inflicted single gunshot wound. Foul play is not suspected, but an investigation is ongoing. His body was sent to the State Medical Examiner for autopsy. The Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Calhoun County EMS and the United Cajun Navy group during the initial response.

Mark Riesberg

His employer in Lytton had reported him missing on November 1st.  The Calhoun County sheriff had said previously that Riesberg’s last known contact with anyone could be traced back to Oct. 28th. His sister, Mary Brown, said Reisberg’s phone and wallet were found in his home, but his tan PT Cruiser was gone.

The search for Riesberg comes to an end with the discovery of his body. Search efforts continue, however, for 53-year-old David Schultz, of Wall Lake, who disappeared  in neighboring Sac County. Schultz was reportedly last heard from Tuesday morning, November 21st. His wife Sarah said her husband’s truck was found northeast of Sac City, parked on northbound U.S. Highway 71, about five miles north of the old U.S. Highway 20 intersection. The truck was reportedly turned off but wasn’t pulled over and the trailer was still loaded with young pigs.

The United Cajun Navy, a Louisiana-based nonprofit organization that performs search and rescue operations, as of Thursday, had reportedly covered close to 50-thousand acres of land in the effort to find him. The group resumed operations Friday morning.

David Schultz

Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says any federal regulation that would impact over half of American farmland should be approved by congress. The U-S House has voted to insert Feenstra’s proposal in a budget bill for the Department of the Interior. Feenstra says American farmland belongs to American farmers, not un-elected bureaucrats.

A U-S Supreme Court ruling this past May limited the authority of the E-P-A to regulate wetlands, ruling the agency may only regulate wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to other bodies of water, like streams, rivers or lakes.

(Radio Iowa) – The four Iowans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to expel George Santos, the now-former New York congressman accused of using campaign funds on personal expenses and making tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on donors’ credit cards.

Three members of Iowa’s U.S. House delegation released written statements after today’s vote. First District Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks said a recent House Ethics Committee report documented “considerable evidence” that Santos had “engaged in criminal activity.”

Second District Congresswoman Ashley Hinson said Santos is “unfit to serve” in congress and he “should deal with his legal challenges as a private citizen.” Third District Congressman Zach Nunn said Santos has “repeatedly proven he’s a con man” and Nunn is planning to sponsor legislation that would deny government pensions to expelled members of congress.

Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra announced on November 17 on the social media platform X that he would vote to expel Santos, who Feenstra said “has proven his ethics do not align with what is expected” from elected leaders.

All four members of Iowa’s congressional delegation are Republicans, as is Santos.

(Griswold, Iowa) – Cass County Extension Director Kate Olson reports that “In Cass County, mental health was identified as the top health concern in the 2021 Community Health Assessment. This summer, a group of local organizations and individuals began meeting to work towards improving mental health and wellness support across the county. This fall a new coalition was formed to help address these vital needs. The mission of the Cass County Coalition for Mental Wellness is ‘To build resilience, reduce stigma, and promote mental wellbeing in the community.”

Olsen says the coalition is committed to working collaboratively with community members, service providers, health officials, business owners, and more to:

• Identify gaps in mental health services in Cass County.
• Improve accessibility to mental health services.
• Reduce stigma by normalizing conversations about mental wellness.
• Strengthen support for those dealing with mental health issues and their families.
• Promote mental well-being and resilience.

The coalition meets monthly at the Griswold Community Building (601 2nd St, Griswold, IA 51535). Meetings are held on the 3^rd Thursday each month from 10:30-11:30am. All individuals, organizations and businesses are encouraged to join these open meetings.

Questions regarding this coalition should be directed to Michelle Hartfield ccc4mw@gmail.com or Gina Moulas Gina.Moulas@va.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the hate crime conviction of a man who left derogatory notes on a Boone home where a rainbow flag was flying. Robert Geddes argued the handwritten notes he left at the home were free speech and his conviction for trespass as a hate crime violated his constitutional rights.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the conviction, saying the statute in question does not criminalize speech, but does criminalize conduct with a specific intent to trespass on property because of the property owner or possessor’s association with persons of a certain sexual orientation.

Geddes was sentenced to five consecutive one-year terms with the jail time suspended and was placed on probation for up to two years.

(Radio Iowa) – The state’s animal shelters continue to be overcrowded. Brenda Iwen, of Noah’s Hope Animal Rescue in Sioux City, says they are overcrowded with dogs, and are not the only ones. “Right now the rescue world is in a crisis. Not only us but all the shelters are full, rescue groups, it doesn’t matter where you’re at Texas, Tennessee, Iowa everybody’s full and because of that dogs are getting dumped,” she says.

Iwen says dumping dogs makes the problem worse. “We have a trapping team and so when dogs are dumped we trap them and then we try to find them foster homes,” Iwen says.”The problem is our foster homes are full and the shelters are full so it’s a crisis right now and I don’t know what we can do to change it other than spay and neuter.” She says it appears people have stopped spying and neutering animals and that leads to animals with unwanted litters.

“Right now we have three litters of puppies. Unwanted and so they come in with mom and and now we’re trying to find homes and so nice dogs but again we just have so many,” she says. “But you just can’t when you get a call you can’t just say I’m sorry we’re fall. We can’t help you just got to figure out where we can fit them in at.” Iwen says their costs for the extra animals are going to top 100-thousand dollars. “And that’s just on vet bills, that’s not our fuel, insurance, that’s not anything. That’s just our vet bills,” Iwen
says. “Because once we bring a dog or a cat into our system they get the same care that our own personal animals get.”

All of Noah’s Hope rescuers are volunteers, and she says they have had good financial support from the
community.

(Cedar Rapids, Iowa) – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa reports a nurse from northwest Iowa, who stole controlled substances from a life care center where she was employed, pled guilty Thursday (11/30) in federal court in Sioux City. 32-year-old Cassandra Lynne Vonnahme, from Arcadia, entered a guilty plea to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by means of misrepresentation, fraud, deception, and subterfuge, and one count of false statements relating to health care matters. Vonnahme had been scheduled to begin a jury trial on December 11, 2023.

At the plea hearing, Vonnahme admitted that between November 2020 and December 2020, she diverted controlled substances and falsified related documents. The controlled substances Vonnahme stole and the records she falsified pertained to actual patients. Vonnahme was later convicted of burglary in Carroll County in 2021, where she stole controlled substances from a stranger’s home.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a pre-sentence report is prepared. Vonnahme remains free on bond pending sentencing. Vonnahme faces a possible maximum sentence of 9 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 4- years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being investigated by the Iowa Department of Inspections & Appeals, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons.