(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a Nebraska man was arrested Monday on a Mills County warrant for Theft in the 2nd Degree. 56-year-old Kurt Christopher Krajicek, of Omaha, was arrested at the Saunders County, NE, jail. He was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – It wasn’t exactly a downpour but it was better than a sprinkle, as parts of Iowa saw measurable rainfall early this (Tuesday) morning for the first time in a long time. Meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff, at the National Weather Service, says some precipitation is better than none, especially with about three-quarters of the state in moderate to extreme drought. “It certainly won’t be a drought buster,” Hagenhoff says, “but any kind of rain that we can see here is certainly a welcome sight.” In most areas of Iowa, the rain came well before dawn and lasted less than a half hour in many locations.

Hagenhoff says, “It looks like things have been light, generally under a 10th of an inch for most of the area, from western into central Iowa.” If you were holding off on washing your car until after the rain, you might want to wait until Friday. “We are looking at another chance of rain coming up on Thursday afternoon, maybe into Thursday night as well,” she says. “The location is a little uncertain at the moment, but it does look like generally central to eastern Iowa will be the big winners on that.”

Far from a ‘drought buster,’ but parts of Iowa see soaking rainfall (RI photo)

The latest U-S Drought Monitor map shows more than 97-percent of the state with at least abnormally dry conditions or some level of drought, and less than two-and-a-half percent in the normal range.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the not-for-profit community development organization SHIFT ATL, say the group has donated $50,000 to Vision Atlantic’s transformative project, which will bring a housing development, new child development center, and YMCA expansion to the Atlantic community. In a press release, SHIFT ATL officials said “We are blessed that we are in a financial position to be able to support other economic and community development projects in Atlantic, while still maintaining the integrity and foundation of SHIFT ATL. Vision Atlantic’s mission and vision align with ours, but on a much larger scale, and we couldn’t be happier to donate toward the project(s) and watch the momentum continue to build.”

Vision Atlantic, through extensive research and surveying of the community and surrounding region, identified three areas that will help increase Atlantic’s population: expanded childcare, quality housing and quality of life amenities. Construction of the 144 mixed unit housing development, 300 capacity child development center and expansion of the current YMCA facility is slated to begin late spring of 2025.

Pictured Left to Right: Christina Bateman, Vision Atlantic; Mackenzie Bandow, SHIFT ATL; Jessie Shiels, SHIFT ATL; Emily Kennedy, SHIFT ATL and Melissa Ihnen, Vision Atlantic (photo submitted)

With substantial monetary support from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation and local donors, $18.4 million has been raised in the past 11 months, over 60% of a $30 million goal. Vision Atlantic’s Project Committee is actively working to secure the remaining $11.8 million needed to meet the fundraising goal. If you are interested in helping transform Atlantic, whether it’s through monetary donations or acts of volunteerism, please contact Vision Atlantic at visionatlanticiowa@gmail.com. Follow Vision Atlantic on Facebook for behind-the-scenes access to project updates or visit www.visionatlantic.org.

Vision Atlantic is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to empower growth, enhance lives, and build a thriving community together through the economic development of Atlantic, Iowa.

(Red Oak, Iowa)  – Fire Oak firefighters were called to a residential structure fire early this (Tuesday) morning. According to Fire Chief John Bruce, the page went out at around 12:46-a.m. for the residence at 101 W. Reed Street, where a resident awoke to the smell of smoke, and located the front porch on fire. The home’s occupants used a fire extinguisher to diminish the fire until Red Oak Fire personnel could arrive on scene.

Chief Bruce said the Elliott and Stanton Fire Departments were also paged, but they were soon told to disregard, as first arriving Fire Dept personnel located a small fire contained to the front porch area. Firefighters verified that all occupants had been evacuated and the fire was quickly extinguished.

Fire damage, according to the Chief, was contained to the front porch area. He said that area is also where the occupants smoke. Discarded smoking materials were located in the immediate area, and the suspected cause of the fire is discarded smoking materials igniting dried vegetation under the front porch. The fire officially remains under investigation at this time. There were no injuries reported during the incident.

Photo from the Red Oak FD Facebook page.

Assisting Red Oak Fire at the scene, was: The Red Oak Police Department; The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office; and Montgomery County Communications Center. The property owner(s) were identified as: McIntyre Properties,LLC – Council Bluffs; M.D. Consier, Trustees – Portland, Oregon.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Lambda Legal and American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa have filed a new request for the courts to block Iowa’s law that bars certain books from school libraries. The two organizations are again challenging Senate File 496, the 2023 Iowa law that prohibits school libraries from having books containing sexually explicit material and limits instruction and materials involving gender and sexuality for K-6 students. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the organizations also filed suit last year against a law that requires schools to inform parents or guardians if a student requests the use of a different name or pronouns than what they were assigned at birth.

In January 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher blocked the law from enforcement. But that injunction was lifted in August, when a three-person panel of federal appeals court judges ruled that the previous decision was made using a “flawed analysis of the law.” The new court filing made Friday requests that the law be once again blocked from enforcement through a new, separate preliminary injunction. The basis for the renewed request cites a new U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the law using the “overbreadth doctrine.”

Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” was among more than two dozen books removed last month from a school library at Goddard, Kansas, following a challenge by a parent. The books have since been returned to the shelves. Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector (via the Iowa Capital Dispatch)

According to an analysis from the Des Moines Register, more than 1,000 books have been taken off of school shelves due to the law. However, there is ambiguity about whether some of the pulled books could remain at schools. Iowa Department of Education did not grant requests from educators in 2023 to clarify which materials would be considered “age-appropriate” under the law, saying instead the department would address allegations of noncompliance on a case-by-case basis. Classic literature including “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee have been removed from some Iowa school districts.

There were also changes made to the plaintiffs as part of the new injunction request. Two Iowa teachers affected by the bans were added to the lawsuit, while two students — one who graduated from high school, and another who transferred to a private school, left the case as they were no longer impacted by the law. Iowa Safe Schools remains a plaintiff in the case.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird made an appearance at the Cass County Republican Party Headquarters, Monday evening. Bird spoke about some of the issues she and her team have been working on, that she says concern Iowans. One of the topics was with regard to immigration and human trafficking. Bird claimed the Biden-Harris Administration lost track of about 300,000 children that came across the border.

Bird spoke also about Title 9 in the schools.

Brenna Bird speaks in Atlantic, Oct. 21, 2024 (Jim Field/photo)

Many of the nation’s Attorney’s General, she said, took the Administration to court and won, enabling those provisions of Title 9 to be stopped. She spoke also of the lawsuit against the EPA with regard to E-15 ethanol, and, regulation against pork producers in states like California and Massachusetts

Brenna Bird said she was “Glad to do [her] job,” and “uphold the ‘Heartbeat Law’ in [the[ Supreme Court.” She said her office also supports law enforcement and victims of crime, and prison time for persons who deal in illegal drugs that leads to a death. Bird said some of the candidates running for office claim to “Back the Blue,” but don’t, in reality.

She also touched on EV’s (electric vehicles). Bird said she’s one of several Attorney’s General who are suing the EPA’s mandated purchase of electric vehicles. The mandate, Energy and Commerce Republicans claim, effectively requires at least two-thirds of all new cars in the United States to be electric by 2032.

Bird formerly served as the Guthrie County Attorney before being elected to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office in Nov., 2022. She assumed the post January 1^st, 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – Farmers could be in their last week for harvesting beans. The U-S-D-A crop report now shows 91 percent of the beans are in the bin, That is a jump ahead of ten percent compared to last week. The west central and east central areas are leading the way with 94 percent or more of their soybeans done. The corn harvest increased by 23 percent last week — so 68 percent is done.

Farmers in south-central Iowa are lagging behind– with just 50 percent of their corn harvested.

(Radio Iowa) – We’re now in one of the peak times of the year for deer-vehicle collisions. Trooper Paul Gardner, with the Iowa State Patrol in Fort Dodge, reminds Iowans to stay especially vigilant for the creatures that may try to dash in front of your car. “We have a lot of deer on the move because farmers are out harvesting and that leads to deer wandering around a lot more,” Gardner says. “Typically, they’re very active between sunset and sunrise, during the night, but they can still be observed during daytime hours as well.” Deer can appear on practically any Iowa road, even in densely populated metro areas, and Gardner says motorists should be especially wary in certain environments.

“They’re usually going to be maintaining habitat in wooded and grassy areas, so when you’re driving through those areas, making sure that you’re driving the speed limit, keeping an eye out for any deer that may be crossing,” Gardner says “Just keep in mind, too, that if you see one, there’s likely going to be more, because they tend to travel in packs.” If you hit a deer, pull over, assess the damage, and if necessary, call law enforcement, as he says insurance companies may not cover the repairs without a police report. Gardner repeats the mantra “Don’t veer for deer,” as doing so could have deadly results.

“If you do encounter a deer crossing the roadway, it’s best not to try to take evasive action where you’re going to swerve the steering wheel, because if you go to the right, you can go into the ditch,” Gardner says. “Definitely risk rolling your vehicle or hitting something else, or if you swerve to the left, you can take on oncoming traffic, so there’s definitely some dangers in that.”

A recent State Farm study found Iowa is one of the top states for deer collisions. It shows Iowa drivers have a 1-in-69 chance of hitting a deer, based on insurance claims. Each year, around 7,000 crashes between vehicles and deer are reported to Iowa law enforcement.

(Radio Iowa) – Watching the leaves turn color and carving pumpkins are fall traditions in Iowa and fishing for trout has become one as well. D-N-R Regional Fisheries Supervisor, Mike Siepker says they get a lot of positive feedback. “Anglers love the community trout stocking program. It provides a great close to home fishing opportunity for a lot of Iowans that might not otherwise have a chance to catch trout. They have started stocking trout in 18 community ponds and lakes. “Trout need cold water, and that’s one of the reasons that we wait until late fall to stock those fish, because if the ponds are too warm when we stock them, the fish don’t bite and the anglers are unhappy,” he says “So we wait long enough for the water to cool down, and that way, when we stock the trout, they’re happy and and are ready to bite.”

Siepker says they have a couple of different sizes of trout. “All these ponds and lakes receive catchable size rainbow trout, and those are about ten to 12 inch trout, and those are the same size that we stock in the streams in northeast Iowa,” Siepker says. They also stock some bigger fish. “Those are the trout that we used in the hatchery the last couple years to produce eggs. And then once we’re finished with those trout, and we’re finished spawning those, then we add those to the mix and stock those out so anglers have an opportunity to catch them,” he says. Siepker says they’ll release around one to two-thousand trout in each lake.

You will need a valid fishing license and have to pay the trout fee to keep the trout you catch. Children age 15 or younger can fish for trout with a properly licensed adult, but they must limit their catch to one daily. The child can purchase a trout fee which will allow them to catch their own limit. Trout were stocked Friday in , Moorland Pond Fort Dodge and Sand Lake in Marshalltown.

Here are the remaining stocking dates:
Oct. 24, Ottumwa Park Pond; Prairie Park Fishery, Cedar Rapids; Liberty Centre Pond North Liberty
Oct. 26, Emma Young Pond, Clinton; Industrial Park Pond, Fairfield; Discovery Park Pond, Muscatine,
Oct. 28, Terra Lake , Johnston; Triumph Park East & West , Waukee
Oct. 31, Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake, Ames; Lake Petocka , Bondurant
Nov. 5, Scharnberg Pond, Spencer; Bacon Creek, Sioux City
Nov. 8, Heritage Pond, Dubuque; North Prairie Lake , Cedar Falls

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Monday night, arrested 44-year-old Luke Rinehart, on a charge of Assault – Displaying a Dangerous Weapon. Rinehart was taken into custody at around 9:20-p.m., and transported to the Montgomery County Jail. His bond was set at $2,000.