(Atlantic, Iowa) – Iowa Senator Tom Shipley from Nodaway, and Tom Moore, from Griswold, appeared on Zoom, Saturday morning (Feb. 5th) to answer questions from their constituents. The two men were part of a legislative coffee hosted by the economic development organization P.R.I.D.E (Progressive Rural Iowa Development Enterprise).

A number of southwest Iowa residents, including Atlantic Superintendent Steve Barber, Denise O’Brien, SWIPCO’s C.J. Petersen, and others, joined in on the electronic forum. One of the last questions posed to the legislators, was with regard to the “Back the Blue” law, and how it’s structured, relative to how law enforcement is paid. Senator Shipley said he had not heard anymore about the bill, but added to his knowledge, “it does not have to be a one-year deal.”

Representative Moore said he too is not aware of any committee movement on the subject, but is aware of a situation in Cass County (IA), where Moore says “The Chair of their Compensation Board is saying that they [The Supervisors] have acted illegally by reducing all of the salaries by half. And I don’t believe the Back the Blue bill affected their ability to do by law, what they’re capable of doing, which is if they reduce one branch of the government salary, they have to reduce al branches by the same amount.

Rep. Tom Moore on Zoom (Ric Hanson photo, 2/5/22)

So I believe what Cass County did was reduce that 26% that they were asking for the increase in the Sheriff’s salary [but] reduced that by half, I believe, to 13% and did the same for all the others. And so, I think they’ve acted legally.” Moore said he received a call about the matter Friday, when he got home, and that he will be checking on that the first of this week (Feb. 7-11), “just to make sure that is a part of the Back the Blue Bill, but I don’t believe it is.”

Cass County Board of Supervisor’s Chair Steve Baier also attended Saturday’s Zoom meeting. He confirmed what Rep. Moore said “In good faith, our Compensation Board, with very little guidance in the bill, took what they thought was ‘comparable,’ and that’s how the 26-percent raise for the Sheriff came about (as well as the 6-percent for the other, County-elected officers).” Baier said “We did cut the 26% proposed raise to 13% and cut the other departments (Treasurer, Auditor and so forth) by 50% to 3%.”

Cass County Board of Supervisor’s Chair Steve Baier on Zoom, 2/5/22. (Ric Hanson photo)

He went on to say, “Because of the structure of how we pay road deputies, chief deputies and so forth, the salary raise for the sheriff ended-up being about $12,000 at that reduced rate – a one-year jump of $12,000 – and our other chief deputy, investigating deputy, road deputies ended-up getting in the range of Seven-to Nine-thousand dollar increases. So the pot  for law enforcement went up considerably.”

“Although the Back the Blue didn’t spill over into jailers and dispatchers,” Baier said, “They also got – again, because of the way things are structured – considerable raises. Maybe some of these were justified, because of where we were, comparable to – again, whatever comparable means – so that part of county government got much larger increases in salaries, than the others.” Bair added, “The budget process isn’t over, but we had to settle those things to meet deadlines, really from a practical standpoint, by the end of [Feb. 4th]. So, that’s where we are with that, locally.”

We’ll have more on this weekend’s legislative coffee Monday, on KJAN. The next legislative coffee will take place Saturday, March 5 at 9:30 a.m., hosted by P.R.I.D.E. Vice-President, Clarke Gerlock, at the Cumberland Fire Station for an in-person gathering. The final coffee will take place Saturday, April 2 at 9:30 a.m. at a location TBD. Save the date!

The Progressive Rural Iowa Development Enterprise is an economic and community development nonprofit whose purpose is community growth and engagement through education.

A Council Bluffs man was arrested after a pursuit ended with him flipping a stolen vehicle on it’s top on Friday evening.

Council Bluffs Police report they were called to the Speedee Mart gas station at 2301 S. 24th Street at 4:11 p.m. on Friday for an attempted theft of a pick-up truck. Officers searched the area but were unable to locate the vehicle. Then at 5:15 p.m. Officers were called to the area of Grace Street and East Pierce Street for a vehicle matching the description and a man trying to steal a motorcyle. Detectives found the Chrysler truck and tried to initiate a traffic stop but the vehicle fled southbound on Bluffs Street.

When the vehicle attempted to turn westbound on 9th Avenue it hit a patch of ice and flipped on its top. The driver, 27-year-old Joseph Cias Smith Jr. of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody and suffered no injuries in the accident.

Smith Jr. was interviewed by Omaha detectives, as he is the suspect in possible additional charges in Omaha. He was eventually booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail on charges of Fugitive from Justice for a warrant for Sarpy County, Theft 1st (Possession of stolen vehicle), Burglary 3rd, Disobedience to sign and sign (4 counts), Eluding (Speed in excess of 25mph over the speed limit), Reckless Driving, and Unsafe Passing.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa G-O-P’s chairman says a national panel he’s been leading is unanimously backing a report that would secure First-In-The-Nation status for the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses in 2024. ) “So our very, very critical first step couldn’t have turned out better.” That’s Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann, who’s been chairman of the national party’s Presidential Nominating Process Committee.

Kaufmann says the group reviewed options for rearranging the timing of presidential primaries and caucuses, but the final report recommends that no changes be made. “That, de facto, would leave Iowa as First-in-the-Nation,” Kaufmann says. The report will be presented to the Republican National Committee this summer. Kaufmann says he’s hopeful G-O-P leaders from other states will ratify the plan to have Iowa Caucuses first, followed by New Hampshire’s Primary and contests in Nevada and South Carolina — but he’s not taking it for granted.

“Our lobbying efforts and our explanation and education efforts to the RNC and to the Rules Committee, I’m going to handle this like we’re behind by about 30 votes right now,” Kaufmann says. Last weekend, a group of Democratic National Committee members discussed changes to their presidential nominating process and aired complaints about the caucus process. Kaufmann says he has full faith in Iowa Democratic Party leaders who are making the case that THEIR party’s Caucuses should remain first in 2024.

“It is important that we start out in a small state. It is important that the Midwest has a voice,” Kaufmann says. “…If you bring Nevada and South Carolina and New Hampshire and Iowa together, we check all the boxes whether it’s geographic diversity, philosophical diversity, ethnic diversity.” Kaufmann is at his eastern Iowa farm and has participated remotely in this week’s Republican National Committee gathering in Utah. Kaufmann says he supports the party’s decision to censure Wyoming Congresswoman Lynn Cheney and Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger.

“Look, we are a team and Kinzinger and Cheney were using the fact that they were Republicans to gain attention for criticizing other Republicans,” Kaufmann says. The two have joined House Democrats’ investigation of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Kaufmann describes that as weaponizing their status as Republicans. “Now, if you want to go after Trump, if you want to go after decisions that were made, you have every right to do that. I don’t have a problem with that,” Kaufmann says, “but if you are using the very party label to go after members of that party, I don’t think that’s the appropriate use — then don’t belong to that party.”

Cheney says Republicans have made themselves willing hostages to a man who admits he tried to overturn a presidential election and suggests he would pardon January 6th defendants who’ve been charged with serious crimes. Kinzinger says Republican leaders have allowed conspiracies and toxic tribalism to guide their decision making.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson has sponsored a bill in response to a video showing a nighttime government charter flight of immigrants into the country. “This legislation is pretty simple, it would prohibit taxpayer dollars from funding the transport of illegal immigrants into our country, into our communities. Whether that is by plane or by bus,” Hinson says. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says the Biden administration isn’t answering any questions on the flights.

“We know the video footage that was made public last week was from August. The truth is, we don’t know how many of those flights there have been since then — because the administration won’t come forward with that information,” Hinson says. She says her “Stop the Betrayal Act” is an attempt to get the administration to live up to its promise to be open about what it is doing.

“Flying illegal immigrants into the country in the dead of the night doesn’t exactly scream transparency to me,” according to Hinson. The Iowans I’ve talked with about this are frankly outraged. They don’t want their tax dollars to fund these flights. They want to know how much was spent, where else has the administration flow illegal immigrants. Are they tracking them once they are here?

Hinson says instead of securing our border by enforcing the Remain in Mexico policy, giving border patrol agents the resources they need, and completing the wall–the Administration is pursuing a “catch and release” policy and secretly flying illegal immigrants into the country with no way to track to them.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A West Des Moines man was sentenced today (Friday) to 97 months in federal prison for multiple federal offenses, including money laundering and making false claims for tax refunds. The court also ordered restitution in the amount of $404,440.85 and a special assessment of $925. Authorities say 50-year-old Jeffrey Allan Kock was convicted by a jury on September 29, 2021, of a total of 13 counts, including five counts of the willful failure to file individual income tax returns; two counts of making false claims against the United States; wire fraud; mail fraud; three counts of money laundering; and concealment of an asset.

The trial evidence showed that Kock made false claims for tax refunds on two IRS Forms 1041, which is a form used by estates and trusts. Kock fraudulently requested refunds in the amounts of $20,671 and $10,921,192, which were initially paid by the Internal Revenue Service. Kock used some of the proceeds to purchase three luxury automobiles, which were eventually recovered by the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to federal seizure warrants.

The trial evidence also showed that Kock attempted to purchase a multi-million dollar residence, but that the transaction was not successful. Shortly after the second fraudulent refund was paid, the Internal Revenue Service recovered most of the fraudulently-obtained proceeds. The trial evidence also showed that Kock worked in the local restaurant and bar industry during the years 2014-2018, earning sufficient income to require the filing of individual income tax returns. However, IRS records showed that Kock did not file individual returns for these years.

Perry, Iowa – Iowa 3rd District Representative Cindy Axne, today (Friday) highlighted two businesses in Iowa’s Third District that this week received nearly $3.3-million in loan guarantees and grants from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Kerns Farms Corporations in Taylor County received $167,019 to assist with market expansion and pork processing fees for specialty retail cuts and ground products, and another $40,504 grant to help process specialty retail cuts and ground products of Mangalitsa pork. The Kerns Farms Corporation is a leading producer of heritage breed Mangalitsa pigs in the United States and project funds will be used for market expansion.

This investment reflects Rep. Axne’s recent efforts to support small- and medium-sized meat producers and to improve market transparency in order to create more competition, fairness in the industry, and a more reliable supply chain.

T.C. And B. Corporate Wearables Inc. in Dallas County received $3,090,000 to help assist the customized apparel business in overcoming lost revenues created by closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding will help TC & B, which employs 35 people in Perry, supplement working capital to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus by guaranteeing loans for rural businesses and agricultural producers. This loan guarantee comes from the CARES Act, COVID-19 relief legislation that Rep. Axne helped pass in March 2020.

More information about the more the grants and loans distributed by the USDA to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of lives for millions of Americans who are living in rural America can be found by clicking here.

(Radio Iowa) – The number of Iowa hospital patients who’ve tested positive for COVID has dropped 20 percent since last Friday (Jan. 28th). State health officials report 741 patients in an Iowa hospital today (Feb. 4th) have COVID — 55 percent of them were admitted specifically for treatment of the virus. Governor Kim Reynolds says the coronavirus is similar to the flu and other infectious illnesses and state agencies will start managing COVID-19 as part of normal daily business.

The Public Health Disaster Proclamation the governor first issued in March of 2020 will end on February 15th and the Iowa Department of Public Health will take down its online vaccine finder and no longer publish the number of Iowa nursing homes with COVID outbreaks. House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Windsor Heights, says this is an interesting time to make this move.

“I want the pandemic to be over,” Konfrst says. “We all want the pandemic to over, but shouldn’t we have access to tools that help us keep our families safe? And so my frustration isn’t necessarily with the ending of the pandemic Emergency Proclamation, it’s with what goes away. It’s with access to vaccination information. It makes it harder to know where outbreaks are.” Konfrst says statewide data about the pandemic helps Iowans make good decisions.

“Yes, we’ve been in this for a while, but we still have thousands of cases,” Konfrst says. “We still have people getting sick, so I think the important thing here is to remember that more information, accurate information is the most important thing we need.” Konfrst made her comments during taping of “Iowa Press” which airs tonight (Friday) on Iowa P-B-S.

Kelly Garcia, the interim director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, says similar agencies in more than half of states are making similar changes to manage COVID as they do other contagious viruses.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is warning citizens of a phone scam that makes it appear the caller is the County Sheriff. Officials say on Friday (Feb. 4th), “The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a SCAM phone call involving the name of Sheriff Darby McLaren. This scam call, allegedly from Sheriff McLaren, is asking residents to provide personal information over the phone and/or to present themselves in person at the Sheriff’s Office for “good news and/or bad news”.

Authorities stress that “This phone call is a SCAM and is not coming from Sheriff McLaren. Furthermore, Sheriff McLaren encourages people to NOT give personal information out over the phone. If you have any questions regarding this scam, please call our office during business hours at 712-243-2206.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen, Friday (today), reports the City of Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department is accepting applications for the Sunnyside Pool Manager. The Pool Manger will which ensure efficient and effective operation of pool facilities including personnel management and training. Duties involve all swimming pool operations, including first aid, rotations, scheduling for staff, public relations, janitorial duties, limited pool maintenance including daily chemical analysis/testing, pool cleaning, cleaning of bathrooms and concessions stand area, and all other duties necessary or required.

Successful candidates must have experience and demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively, communicate effectively, lead/supervise multiple staff and volunteers. Applicants must be 18 years old, a high school diploma or GED equivalent. Applicants must also have or obtain a CPO and CPR certifications.

The City Council on Wednesday, Feb. 2nd, approved a wage of $14/hour for the position. For a full job description go to contact the Parks and Rec Office at (712) 243-3542. Complete an application and return to either City Hall, 23 E 4th Street, Atlantic, IA 50022 or complete the online form at atlanticia.seamlessdocs.com/f/poolmanagerapplication.

Applications are due by February 18th at 5:00 pm.

(Johnston, Iowa) – Approximately 250 Soldiers from two Iowa Army National Guard companies based in Mason City and Iowa City are preparing to mobilize to Poland in 2022 as these units come into their “mission year” as part of the U.S. Army’s current force generation cycle. The 1133rd Transportation Company, headquartered in Mason City, and the 209th Medical Company Area Support, headquartered in Iowa City, were selected to support federal mobilization missions by the Department of Defense and the National Guard Bureau. These units will support Operation Atlantic Resolve and NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence mission which enables the U.S. to provide deterrence to adversaries while supporting our NATO partners.

The 1133rd Transportation Company will transport equipment and supplies, while the 209th Medical Company will provide field hospital health service support. Maj. Gen. Ben Corell, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, made the initial announcement during the annual Condition of the Guard address in January. In 2020, personnel from the 1133rd Transportation Company and the 209th Medical Company aided in COVID-19 response efforts throughout Iowa. These Soldiers assisted with the transportation of personal protective equipment, COVID-19 testing site operations, and contact tracing.

The 1133rd Transportation Company was last activated into federal service in 2008 to support Operations Noble Eagle, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, and the global war on terrorism.  The 209th Medical Company deployed to Iraq in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Then in 2005, the 209th Medical Company was activated in response to Hurricane Katrina.

The Iowa National Guard is working on scheduling send-off ceremonies, which will be announced at a later date.