Sioux City’s “Camp High Hopes” is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Sarah Morgan is the camp’s executive director.

Archery and canoeing are among the activities for campers. The facility opened in the fall of 2012. Morgan says there’s been a lot of growth since then and new programs are being added this fall and next spring.

A crowd gathered at the facility Sunday for a celebration that featured games, a fire truck — and two birthday cakes. Morgan says there were smiles all around.

The Camp High Hopes property covers 90 acres and includes a lake and a lodge. Fundraising for the camp began in 2004 and it opened eight years later. Campers come from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

With six weeks remaining in the 2022 campaign, Iowa Republicans have about a four-and-a-half percent statewide voter registration edge over Democrats. Jeff Link is a consultant who’s worked for a number of Democrats, including Fred Hubbell, the party’s nominee for governor in 2018.

Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann says a big turning point was in 2020, right after the Iowa DEMOCRATIC Party’s presidential Caucuses.

For years, independents were the largest voting block in Iowa. During the last midterm election, back in 2018 — 36 percent of all active registered voters were independents. Link says having independents shrink from being the largest to the smallest block of voters in Iowa is significant.

Kaufmann says he intends for the G-O-P to keep its foot on the pedal and seek out new voters.

As of September 1st, there were a TOTAL of over one-point-eight MILLION active registered voters in Iowa.

Iowa State University researchers are part of a multi-state effort to map out where a rare type of bumble bee lives and to figure out what sorts of habitat it prefers. I-S-U grad student Erika Ibarra-Garibay says they’re assembling clues about the genetic diversity and overall health of what’s known as the rusty patched bumble bee.

Teams from I-S-U surveyed 50 sites across Iowa twice in recent months and they only found the rusty patched bumble bee at four locations — in Ames, Brushy Creek State Recreation Area near Fort Dodge, and two locations near Dubuque and Yellow River State Forest.

Another I-S-U grad student and team member, Kelsey Shepherd, says the findings could help wildlife managers and land stewards reverse the decline of bee populations and support other pollinators more broadly.

The I-S-U teams are also collecting data on the threatened American bumble bee. Once widespread across the eastern U.S. and Upper Midwest, the number of rusty patched bumble bees has plummeted nearly 90% since the 1990s.

While the rusty patched bumble bees were only found at four of the 50 Iowa sites, they were abundant in a few of those sites. Team leaders say that suggests there are survivor populations out there and it’s not too late for conservation action in Iowa.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports an accident between a pickup and a stationary tractor on Sunday evening. At approximately 8:52 p.m. a 2007 Dodge RAM 1500 pickup was traveling South on Green Valley Road and came upon an unoccupied tractor along side of the road.

The pickup, driven by 41-year-old Cody Allen Schaffer of Creston, attempted to swerve to miss the tractor but ended up side swiping the tractor and spun out and came to rest in the east ditch. No injuries were reported.

The owner of the tractor later showed up and said the tractor was broke down and had a flat tire. The tractor was then towed from the scene. The pickup sustained approximately $8,000 damage and the tractor sustained approximately $2,000 damage.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – One person was taken into custody early Sunday morning in Atlantic, after allegedly stealing a pickup truck and crashing into a home at 1612 Oak Street. According to the Police Department,  28-year-old Nicholas Renner of Atlantic, faces charges that include OWI/1st Offense and Theft in the 2nd Degree.

Authorities report that at 2:18 a.m. Sunday, Cass County Communications dispatched the Atlantic Police Department to a motor vehicle accident at 1612 Oak Street. When officers arrived, they found a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado had struck the residence. An investigation determined Renner allegedly took the pickup from the 1400 block of Linn Street, prior to the accident.

Damage to the home was estimated at $50,000. The pickup sustained approximately $10,000 damage. Additional information was not available. Anyone with information about the incident should call 712-243-3512.

(Authorities note the charges are an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law) 

(Red Oak, Iowa) – An incident Thursday in a Red Oak High School classroom resulted in a teacher being placed on administrative leave. Red Oak Superintendent Ron Lorenz issued a statement to Red Oak Junior/Senior High School students, saying a teacher lost her composure during a Foods and Nutrition class. Rebecca Stanbrough reportedly made “inappropriate comments,” to students in the class.

Superintendent Lorenz said “While we cannot comment specifically on any confidential personnel matters, we wanted to let you know that Mrs. Stanbrough is currently on administrative leave, and the District is looking into this matter in accordance with applicable laws, and Board Policies.”

Additional information regarding the incident – which was apparently caught on video, according to some social media posts -was not released.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The public is invited to observe a work session for the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department, Monday afternoon, with regard to planning for a long-desired Splash Pad. The meeting takes place in the City Council’s Chambers inside the Atlantic City Hall, beginning at 5:15-p.m., Monday (Sept. 26). A quorum of the Parks Board and City Council members may be present, but no voting will take place. The prospect of having a Splash Pad has been discussed in many community forums and other sessions in one form or another, for more than 10-years. Parks Board Chair Jolene Smith tells KJAN the Parks Board decided this year to do what is necessary to make the project come to fruition.

An online survey is still available for you to help determine what types of other aquatic equipment, or, “toys” might be offered, along with a splash pad.

The Atlantic Chamber’s on-line survey remains open until 5-p.m., Monday. If you don’t have access to the internet, you’re welcome to come to the meeting and offer your input. Jolene Smith says a splash pad will be a nice addition to Sunnyside Park, located between the baseball diamonds and the Sunnyside Pool itself. She says a splash pad is just one of the plans the Parks Board wants to make a reality in the Park/Pool area.

Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett says the community and towns around it, are ready for the project to happen, and the project will help to make Atlantic a “Destination for families to come to.”

Jolene Smith says once they glean from the surveys what people want to see most in a splash pad, the Parks Board will send that information out to the four different companies who pitched their designs to the Board, and give them 10-days to submit a cost estimate. That will be followed by a Parks Board meeting to decide which plan they wish to move forward “full force” with.

The Mayor encourages everyone to come to City Hall Monday evening to listen to the discussion, and offer input.

[update: authorities say the missing juvenile was located] – Thank you.

Police in Council Bluffs are asking for the public’s help in locating an 11-year-old boy who went missing Friday night. Officers were dispatched at around 11:13-p.m. to 136 East Graham Avenue, in Council Bluffs, with regard to a missing juvenile. Officers were informed that Jameson Borden, of Council Bluffs, had left the residence in an unknown direction when his parents left to go to the store. Jameson was last seen wearing a green and gray Under Armour hooded sweatshirt, black shorts and gray shoes.

If you see him, please contact the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4716 or 712-328-4761 or call 911.

Jameson Borden

(Radio Iowa) – A Washington, D.C. jury has found a Des Moines man guilty on seven criminal charges related to his role in the rioting inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6th of last year. Doug Jensen was among the first to be arrested after the attack and he said during an F-B-I interview that he wanted to be a poster boy for that day’s events. Jensen was seen in widely broadcast and shared videos confronting a U.S. Capitol Policeman on steps near the U.S. Senate floor.

The prosecutor told jurors Jensen didn’t just lead the mob that day, he weaponized it. Evidence during the trial showed Jensen was the 10th person to enter the Capitol. Jensen is likely to be sentenced in December.

Jensen’s attorney told jurors the pandemic did weird things to us, including Jensen, who believed online conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and what would happen on January 6th.

(Radio Iowa) – The Democratic candidate in Iowa’s fourth congressional district says proposed carbon pipelines are not the right way to cut carbon emissions. Ryan Melton is the Nevada Democrat challenging Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra. “I’ve been opposed to carbon capture pipelines since day one,” Melton says. “It’s definitely a failed climate change solution. If you go look at the record, there have been plenty of carbon sequestration plants that have opened and closed because they over promise and under deliver.”

Melton says there are better ways to use the federal tax credits developers of the carbon pipelines hope to secure. And Melton says emergency responders in rural Iowa are ill equipped to respond if there are ruptures to carbon pipelines. “We are facing an existential crisis when it comes to climate change. We need bold action,” Melton says. “Marrying ourselves to the status quo with a failed technology is not the way to go.” Melton says the carbon capture pipeline projects would be a boondoggle. He’s also opposed to President Biden’s move last spring to temporarily allow the year-round sale of E-15 — gasoline with a 15 percent blend of ethanol.

Melton says ethanol could be part of the mix, but it’s time to develop other energy sources that aren’t an additive to fossil fuels. “We need to have a much wider diversification of options because no politician and no scientist can sit here right now and tell you which of those options is going to be the silver bullet answer for climate change mitigation,” Melton says. “I think we should really be spending a lot more of our resources on next (generation) renewable energy — wind, solar — while still maintaining corn ethanol because, again, we need diversification.”

Melton made his comments during taping of “Iowa Press” which airs tonight (Friday) on Iowa P-B-S. Congressman Feenstra’s campaign manager issued a written statement, calling Melton an out of touch ally of President Biden who will continue the attacks on our way of life.