(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would have required state-issued serial numbers on so-called “ghost guns” has been permanently tabled in the Iowa House. Republican Representative Phil Thompson of Boone says the bill will not be considered by the House Public Safety Committee. “As much as I would like to trust and operate in good will with the ATF or (Iowa) Department of Public Safety, setting up the logistical framework for the registration frankly terrifies me,” Thompson said. Gun rights groups opposed the bill, saying registration has led to gun confiscation in other countries. Richard Rogers is a lobbyist for Iowa Firearms Coalition. “The real goal is registration of all firearms,” Rogers said. “Governments throughout history have found it much easier to control an unarmed populace rather than an armed one.”

The bill was sponsored by six Democrats in the Iowa House. Trey Jackson, a lobbyist for March for Our Lives Iowa, urged legislators to pass the bill as a one way of preventing teen suicides. “They are more and more getting in the hands of teenagers as they discover that they can build these ghost guns and they can 3D print these ghost guns,” Jackson said. Joe Gorton, an emeritus professor of criminology at the University of Northern Iowa, says having registration numbers on guns helps police investigate crimes.  “If you’re an investigator and you show up on a crime scene of an armed robbery where the gun is there and the suspect is gone and it’s a ghost gun, you cannot trace that gun in a way that’s helpful to the investigatory and prosecutorial processes,” he said.

Ghost Glock gun

Opponents of the bill object to the term “ghost” gun. Craig Swartz is executive director of the Iowa Sportsmen’s Federation and a member of the National Rifle Association’s board of directors. “There are no ghost guns folks…There are only firearms,” Swartz said. “The term is an obvious attempt at creating fear and confusion. Just like assault weapons was the watchword 20 years ago. Before that it was Saturday Night Specials.”

Lobbyists for the Iowa Catholic Conference and the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa urged legislators to pass the bill to regulate guns made from a kit or a 3-D printer the same way guns produced by a licensed manufacturer are regulated.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday (today), canvassed the results of a February 6^th Special Election to fill three vacancies on the Coburg City Council. The results were deemed official and the candidates are now eligible to take their respective Oaths of Office. Those elected, each of whom received nine votes (33.33% each), are Annajenifer Beaman, Alexandria Schooling and Anthony Schooling. There were 19 registered voters for the election and nine ballots cast, for a voter turnout of 49.95-percent.

Supervisor Charla Schmid served as a poll worker on February 6^th.

She said she enjoyed her time volunteering for the job. Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna thanked those who took the time out of their schedule to fulfill their civic duty.

In other business, Coburg native Ken Ossian, who now lives in Bettendorf, asked the Montgomery County Supervisors for permission to rename the 250^th Street Bridge (commonly referred to as “Bisson’s Bridge,” as McGreer-Hawkins Park Bridge. Ossian grew up about two-miles from the bridge. He explained the history of a local amusement park ties into the naming of the bridge.

Ken Ossian speaks to the MCBOS

The McGreers called their amusement park, “Hawkins Park.”

After the Board acted to approve the request, they followed-up by approving the landing at the 250^th Street Bridge, as “Carlson landing,” in honor of Roger Carlson, who allowed his land to be used as a boat landing.

In her report to the Board, Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert reported to the Board crews will beginning laying the beams for the 250^th Street Bridge project, on Monday, Feb. 19^th.

The Board heard from Nate Summer with UMB Bank, with regard to the issuance of General Obligation Bonds for Courthouse improvements. The Board then acted on passing a Resolution to set their meeting at 8:45-a.m. on March 5^th, as the date and time for a Public Hearing on the proposed loan agreement and to borrow money not to exceed $450,000.

They also approved electrical work for a backup heating project for the courthouse, not to exceed $10,000, to be paid for through ARPA funds. And, a quote from Red Oak Glass & Awning in the amount of $2,687 for a new door and related frame painting.

(Atlantic, Iowa) –   Cass Health and its affiliate organizations have released their scholarship applications for the upcoming school year.

2024 Scholarships

• Cass Health offers a $500 scholarship to a southwest Iowa student who is enrolled or accepted into a nursing program. Deadline is March 29, 2024.
• Cass Health offers a $500 scholarship to a southwest Iowa student pursuing a degree in a health-related career. Deadline is March 29, 2024.
• Cass Health Auxiliary provides $1,000 scholarships for students pursuing a health-related career. Deadline is March 29, 2024.
• Cass Health Foundation offers $5,000 scholarships to a graduate from a Cass County High School with a goal of becoming a healthcare provider subject to licensure requirements in the State of Iowa, including testing to obtain certification and requires continuing education to maintain that licensure. The scholarship fund was established by a bequest from Louie and Elsie Hansen. Deadline is March 29, 2024.

Applications are available on casshealth.org/scholarships and can be turned in to Human Resources by the respective deadlines listed above. For more information, contact Kat Niemann, Human Resources Coordinator, at 712-250-8022 or nieka@casshealth.org.

(Stuart, Iowa) – Four teenagers face charges following a pursuit over the weekend that began in Stuart. According to reports, the incident began at around 12:30-a.m. Saturday, when a Stuart Police Officer in a marked patrol vehicle, initiated a traffic stop on 105th Street in Stuart, after observing a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed.

The suspect vehicle failed to stop when the Officer engaged their vehicle’s emergency lights and siren. The resulting pursuit was terminated about one-half hour after it began, due to the reckless manner the suspect vehicle was operating while traveling at high rate of speed. The vehicle was being driven with its headlights off, and through posted stop signs.

Authorities says a little after 1-a.m., Saturday, the same Stuart Police Officer who initiated the pursuit, came across the same suspect vehicle in a wooded area. Four juveniles were detained and later released to the custody of their parents or guardians.

Charges against the teens were pending as of the last report. Authorities did not release the names of the subjects involved in the incident, due to their age.  Stuart Police were assisted during the incident by the Guthrie and Dallas County Sheriff’s Offices. An investigation into the incident was ongoing.

POLK COUNTY, Iowa [WHO-TV] — The Saydel Community School District is the next Iowa school to switch to a four-day school week. For two years the district has been trying to switch to a four-day school week due to loosing teachers and a decline in enrollment, which has resulted in a decrease in state funding. At a meeting Monday evening those two years paid off as the Saydel School Board voted unanimously to switch from a five-day school week to a four-day week.

The plan would begin the switch to a four-day week at the start of the 2024-25 school year. School days would also be 30 minutes longer. Earlier this month, the Martensdale-St. Mary’s Community School District’s school board voted to transition to a four-day school week beginning with the 2024-25 school year.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic High School Speech & Debate has had a very busy and very successful Large Group season. High School/Middle School Spanish Instructor
Co-Head Speech/Debate Coach Trisha Niceswanger reports January 20th was the District Large Group contest held at ACGC High School. Atlantic took 6 entries varying from Ensemble Acting, Group Improvisation, Radio Broadcasting, Choral Reading and Readers Theatre. At the District level, students perform in front of a judge and receive a rating. A Division I rating is the highest, followed by Division II, III or IV. Pieces that earn a I rating will advance onto the State contest. Atlantic had two pieces move on: Ensemble Acting “Mugged”, and the Choral Reading “Nobody is Safe”.

At the State contest held at Ankeny Centennial High School on February 3rd, students performed for a panel of three judges to again receive the Division I or II ratings. The Acting group of “Mugged” performed mid-day and received straight I’s from all three judges. The Choral Reading group unfortunately was not able to go on as all individuals were abruptly evacuated from the High School. A non-credible threat had been discovered at the contest. For more information on that story and how it impacted the rest of the contest day, follow this link to the AHS Needle article written by J Molina, one of the students performing that day. https://ahsneedle.com/39379/fine-arts/atlantic-speech-team-evacuated-from-competition-after-bomb-threat/

Ensemble Acting group: Coach Troy Roach, J Molina, Nick Bennett, and Josie Handlos.

Choral Reading group: Margaret McCurdy, Megan Birge, Nissa Molgaard, Alix Nath, and Josie Handlos. (Photos courtesy Trisha Niceswanger)

Through all of the extra excitement, the Choral Reading earned straight I’s as well. The evening of Feb 6 led to the nervous refreshing of the IHSSA homepage looking for the announcement of All-State nominations. At least two of the three State judges must nominate a group to reach All-State, the collection of the best pieces in the state of Iowa. When the list dropped, the Choral Reading group was thrilled to see they had received Performing All-State honors. An extra bonus for this performance is that it is a piece written by coach Troy Roach, leading to a much more personal connection to the material. The Choral Reading students will perform their piece one more time on Saturday Feb 17 at the ISU Campus.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest edition of the “Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll” from Iowa State University Extension finds a few shifts in thoughts about climate change. J. Arbuckle oversees the poll and says they first asked the climate question in 2011, and added it again this past year. “That climate change is due to human activities that was increased from ten percent to 15 percent over that time period. And then let’s see, the climate change is occurring, and equally due to natural human causes went from 35 to 40 percent,” Arbuckle says. The climate change question has been asked two other times and he says the number of people who believe it is an issue dropped in the recent poll.

“In 2013 and 2020, there are actually a greater proportion of farmers expressing belief that climate change is occurring, then did the same in 2023,” he says. ” So there’s been a kind of decline between 2020 and 2023, in that, in that metric, whether or not climate change is happening.” Arbuckle says no matter what they think, farmers are trying to react. “It doesn’t really matter, necessarily what they attributed to, they know what’s happening and they’ll tell you , extreme weather is happening more frequently, whether it’s drought, or extreme rains, and so forth,” Arbuckle says. “And many of them are making changes in their, in their operations in response to changing weather.” Arbuckle says complementary research to survey finds the same reaction from farmers.

“Most farmers are concerned about increasingly extreme weather, and the other potential impacts that come along with that, like, you know, disease, and pests, and so forth, and then making decisions to try to adapt,” he says. You can see the complete 2023 poll and past polls on the Iowa State University Extension website.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn says former President Trump’s suggestion that he might encourage Russia to attack European allies who don’t fulfill their NATO obligations is akin to President Biden’s decision to end sanctions against Iran.

“When we have a situation where we have a president, sitting or former, who doesn’t stand up to an adversary or threatens our allies, we are doing a disservice to our own national security right here at home,” Nunn says. Trump has long criticized NATO allies for relying on the U-S and failing to spend enough on their own defense. This weekend, Trump said if a big European country were delinquent in its NATO obligations, he’d encourage Russia to do whatever it wishes because the U-S would not protect a country that hadn’t paid its bills. Nunn says provoking Russia is bad behavior.

“I think anyone who would threat our allies is doing a disservice to our country,” Nunn says. “…Anyone who’s going to, you know, stash intelligence material in their garage or their compound — these are things that people need to be held accountable for. I don’t care if they’re the sitting president or the former president.”

Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, has served 20 years in the various branches of the military and is currently in the Air Force Reserve.

DES MOINES – Today (Monday), Governor Kim Reynolds signed an extension of the proclamation relating to the weight limits and transportation of grain, fertilizer, and manure.   

The proclamation is effective immediately and continues through February 23, 2024. The proclamation allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage, stover, fertilizer (dry, liquid, and gas), and manure (dry and liquid) to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit for the duration of this proclamation.  

This proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (6) (a) and (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.  

See the proclamation here.