DEXTER, Iowa (AP) – State authorities say an audit has uncovered that more than $131,000 was improperly disbursed by the city clerk in Dexter before her death in 2010.  A news release from the office of State Auditor David Vaudt says nearly $71,000 in checks was improperly issued to Denise Miller. She was city clerk from Jan. 1, 2000, until she died on July 15, 2010. 
 
The audit also says the total included more than $45,000 that was improperly disbursed for penalties and interest related to payroll taxes and nearly $7,000 in interest for an unauthorized loan Miller took out in the city’s name.
 
Vaudt’s office says inadequate records kept auditors from determining whether more money was improperly paid out or not properly deposited.     The auditors recommended that the city bolster its financial controls.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, accepted a letter of resignation from Jerry Putnam, a member of the Cass County Veterans Affairs Commission for the past 12-years. The resignation is effective immediately. Putnam’s replacement is expected to be appointed during the Board’s next meeting, on March 30th.

The Supervisor’s Wednesday, also discussed a revision to the County’s cellular phone policy. The matter was taken under advisement until their next meeting. In other business, the Board next Friday, will review appointments to the Local Emergency Planning Council (LEPC).

Cass County (IA) Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall is reminding property owners that the second-half payments of real estate and mobile homes are now due. Deadline for payments without penalty, is Monday, April 2nd. You can pay your taxes online at www.iowatreasurers.org, or by credit/debit card in the Treaurer’s Office. Payments with a postmark will be accepted without penalty.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports an Anita woman was arrested Thursday on four Cass County warrants. 30-year old Sarah Prall was taken into custody on warrants for: OWI/1st Offense; No Proof of Insurance; Failure to Maintain Control; & Failure to Maintain a Safety Belt. Prall was brought to the Cass County Jail in Atlantic, posted bond, and was released.

(9-a.m. News)

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A southwest Iowa man was arrested this (Friday) morning in Plattsmouth, NE, following a stabbing incident. According to the Omaha World-Herald, the unidentified 24-year old Essex man was taken into custody by Plattsmouth, NE Police, after a bulletin had been issued by the LaVista, NE Police Department.

The paper says two unidentified women – a 31-year old and her 18-year old stepdaughter – were stabbed early this morning in their LaVista apartment. The suspect is reportedly the stepdaughters’ ex-boyfriend. The women were said to be in critical condition at Creighton University Medical Center, in Omaha, but are expected to survive.

The incident occurred at around 4-a.m.

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An accident Thursday morning in Montgomery County caused five people, including three children, to be sent to the hospital. Sheriff’s officials say at around 9:25-a.m., an SUV driven by 16-year old Adam Mathew Stevens, of Villisca and owned by Jennifer Dawn Schultz, of Villisca, had gone into a ditch, after Stevens attempted to negotiate a turn from Highway 71 onto eastbound High Street.

Stevens and Schultz, along with their passengers, 12-year old Brigette M. Englebert, two-year old Malakeye Westbrook, and one-year old Montgomery Westbrook, were transported by Red Oak and Villisca Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, for evaluation. Sheriff’s officials say the Villisca Fire Department also assisted at the scene.

Damage to Schultz’ 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee was estimated at $1,500. There were no citations issued.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports an Omaha man was taken into custody at around around midnight today (Friday), on drug-related charges. Timothy Gene Humphrey was arrested on a warrant charging him with Possession of a Controlled Substance, and, Gathering for the Use of Marijuana. Greene was located by authorities in Shenandoah, and transported without incident to meet with a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was being held in jail on a $5,000 bond.

Today (Friday) is the second anniversary of what Democrats call The Affordable Care Act, while Republicans refer to it as ObamaCare. Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is part of President Obama’s cabinet now and he held a conference call with reporters this week to tout the national health care reform law. “One thing that people don’t realize about this is that it actually will reduce the federal budget,” Vilsack said. “The Congressional Budget Office has determined that this act will reduce the federal deficit by over $100 billion over the course of the next decade.” According to Vilsack, people also overlook the tax breaks that were included in the legislation. “Particularly for small businesses, a 35 percent tax credit is a fairly significant tax create that makes it a little bit easier to afford the cost of health care coverage for a company that has, maybe, a half-dozen employees or so,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack, who is serving as U.S. Ag Secretary, invited a registered nurse at a hospital in Spencer, Iowa, to join his conference call to laud the provision that bars insurance companies from denying coverage due to preexisting conditions. “Many times that was the reason they chose not to have insurance later because they knew that for the very reason they needed insurance was the reason they now could not get that insurance,” she said. Carolyn Sheridan is also clinical director for AgriSafe, a network of health professionals who work in rural America.

From the other side of this debate, Republican Congressman Steve King spoke at a Washington, D.C. news conference this week to mark the law’s two-year anniversary. “Tens of thousands of Americans came here to this city to say to their legislators, ‘Keep your hands off of our health care and our constitution,'” King said. For the past two years King has argued for complete repeal of the law. “If we turned to the American people and said, ‘Come tear these pages out,’ they would tear every page out of there,” King said during the news conference, “and there’d be people standing in line to do that.” King has called the law an “assault on the personal liberty” of Americans that “nationalizes our skin and everything inside” our bodies. “Piece after piece, we know how bad this is,” King said. “I don’t have to do down through the list. It’s unaffordable, unsustainable, unconstitutional. The Supreme Court will get a look at this later this month and I hope to be there to hear that argument.”

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will start three days of hearings featuring lawyers arguing both sides of the health care reform dispute. President Obama signed the health care reform bill into law on March 23, 2010.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)