IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An appeals court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a mentally ill man who shot his former football coach in the school’s weight room. Mark Becker had argued that he was legally insane when he shot Aplington-Parkersburg High School Coach Ed Thomas in June 2009. A jury found Becker guilty and rejected his insanity defense. Doctors testified at the trial that Becker is a paranoid schizophrenic but they disagreed over whether he knew right from wrong when he shot Thomas. Becker’s lawyers argued that jurors were given incorrect instructions about the legal definition of insanity.

The Iowa Court of Appeals on Thursday agreed one instruction was incorrect but said jurors were given another instruction that correctly defined insanity. Taken together, the court says jurors were properly instructed.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest over the weekend, of two men from Pottawattamie County. 39-year old Micheal Dean Mundorf, of Oakland, was charged Sunday, with Driving While Barred. He was later released on $2,000 bond. And, last Saturday (Sept. 3^rd), 28-year old Quintin John Perdue, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody on a District Court warrant for violation of his probation. Perdue was being held in the Cass County Jail, on $10,000 bond.

The City of Atlantic’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Task Force is scheduled to meet this evening. During the meeting at City Hall, the committee will hold a review of discussion on TIF matters to-date, discuss the definition of Industrial, Commercial and Residential TIFs’, work on developing recommended criteria and the framework guideline for each category, and, they’ll discuss the inclusion of TIF-funded tax rebates, or a “Reverse TIF,” and non-TIF development incentives and/or tax rebates. The meeting begins at 7-p.m.

The TIF Task Force was established in July, by Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones. The panel will have no authority, implied or otherwise, to establish a TIF policy. It will only offer an opinion on how such a policy should be formulated and implemented.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Officials with the Monsanto Company say members of the Adair-Casey FFA Chapter based in Adair, have been awarded first-place in a pilot FFA Chapter Challenge program, sponsored by the seed company. The Adair-Casey Chapter of the FFA has a total of 65 members, both in- and-out of school. Their Advisor, Mike Cooley, says it’s the biggest school organization in their district. Cooley says while the organization is the “Future Farmers of America,” his students learn much more than becoming good stewards of the land. He says they promote leadership, which is accomplished in-part by participating in Career Development Events. The CDE helps prepare students in communication skills and honing their leadership abilities.

Since early March, FFA chapters in Iowa and six other states have reached out in their communities, to local farmers, in an effort to meet them, learn about their operations, and connect with those persons, by sharing what their local FFA chapter is doing in their community. Cooley says it’s important to note that the Adair-Casey FFA students didn’t do anything different to earn the honor, than what they’ve been doing all along. 

He says the students are always active in the communities they serve, and strive to set good examples for others. Cooley says when the members put on their trademark blue corduroy FFA jacket, he stresses to them the importance of being a “first-class” organization, and he’s never had a problem with them upholding his expectations.

He says one of the main reasons they won the award, is because they have a good working relationship with the residents and business in the communities of Adair and Casey, who are truly supportive of the program. Farmers were asked to visit FFAChapterChallenge.com, and vote for their favorite FFA chapter.

More than 360 FFA chapters and a combined 22,000 FFA members, earned over 10,000 votes from farmers across the seven-state area. The Adair-Casey chapter won a cash award, for receiving the most votes out of more than 230 other FFA chapters in the state of Iowa. Cooley says they’ll receive a giant credit card for $1,500.

The award will be presented at around 8-p.m. Friday, during the half-time program at A-C’s season opener with East Union. Cooley says they will use part of the funds to send another student to a leadership camp in Washington, D.C., and the rest will go toward additional leadership events. He says they are grateful to the everyone who voted for the Adair-Casey chapter of the FFA.

A gathering of health care professionals will take place Friday afternoon, in Atlantic. The Rural Health Roundtable, coordinated by the Iowa Primary Care Association, begins at 2-p.m. Friday, at the Cass County Memorial Hospital.

The event provides an opportunity for health care providers to discuss issues facing rural physicians, nurses and health care administrators as well as consumers and local business leaders. The information gathered will be used to help guide the ongoing work of the White House Rural Council.

Speakers at the event will include: Judy Baker, regional director, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Mary K. Wakefield, R.N., administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration; Tom Morris, associate administrator for rural health policy; Patricia Markham, CEO, Cass County Memorial Hospital; Dr. John Bigelow Jr., director, Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center; and Jan Kinnison, local business owner and health care consumer.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – The Red Cross has received a $515,000 grant to help with flood recovery along the Missouri River in Iowa and Nebraska. The grant is from the Iowa West Foundation and is funded by investment earnings and the Iowa West Racing Association, which receives fees from casino operators – Ameristar and Harrah’s. The foundation announced the grant on Wednesday to the Red Cross Loess Hills Chapter in Council Bluffs. Officials say the funds will be used for client services, cleanup kits, support programs and to replenish the chapter’s supply of water and other items provided during sandbagging operations.

The cleanup kits will be distributed in Pottawattamie, Fremont, Harrison, and Mills in Iowa; and Cass, Douglas, Sarpy, and Washington in Nebraska.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report the arrest Wednesday evening, of 49-year old Gary L. Mattson, of rural Villisca. Mattson was taken into custody on a warrant charging him with 5^th degree theft. He was arrested without incident and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was released after posting $300 cash bond.

And, the Adams County Sheriff’s Department reports the arrest Wednesday evening, of a Corning man, on an OWI charge. Scott Cornish was taken into custody at around 7:30-p.m.

The Committee tasked with deciding how to fill a vacancy on the Cass County Board of Supervisors created by the death of Supervisor Charles Kinen on September 3rd, will meet this afternoon at three o’clock. The meeting takes place in the Supervisor’s Boardroom in the Cass County courthouse. The precincts composing Cass County Supervisor District 2 are Atlantic Ward 2/Grove Twp 2 (the portion of Grove Twp NW of the Atlantic city limits) and Atlantic Ward 3.

According to the Code of Iowa, a vacancy position may be filled by an appointed committee of county officers, for the period until the next pending election, and within 40 days the vacancy is created. If a petition is filed with the county auditor requesting a special election to fill the vacancy within 14 days of publication of the appointment, the appointment is temporary and a special election will be called for.

If a special election is held to fill the office for the remaining balance of the un-expired term, the committee will have to give 30-days to the public. If a special election were held with the city election in November, the filing period would be the same as the city election.

The state’s top tax official has used her authority to grant a tax extension to businesses and individuals living and working in the Missouri River flood zone. Victoria Daniels, a public information officer in the Iowa Department of Revenue, says it’s unclear how many taxpayers may be late in filing. “We just don’t know,” Daniels says. “But this is an ability that the director has, by law, to grant this extension in the event of a disaster.”

Taxpayers must submit sales and use taxes, plus any withholding for income taxes, on a quarterly basis. But taxpayers living in the six counties that border the Missouri River now have ’til October 31st to file. “Maybe they can’t get to their business location,” Daniels says. “Or their computers are under water and they can’t do what they need to do to acces the eFile & Pay system — something to that effect.”

Taxpayers in Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Pottawattamie and Woodbury Counties who’ve been hit by flooding can qualify for extension and file their quarterly tax payments by October 31st without penalty or interest. Daniels says her agency also has gotten a number of inquiries from the Dakota Dunes area, where people have temporarily relocated to Iowa because of the flooding there.

“There was some question about, ‘O.K., if I move to Iowa, am I now an Iowa resident and do I now owe Iowa income tax?’ And the guildeline has always been if you have Iowa-source income of $1000 or more, regardless of where you live, you are going to need to file an Iowa return,” Daniels says. “And we do have some guidelines for what we consider permanent residency.” Daniels says most South Dakotans fleeing flooded homes will be considered temporary, not permanent residents of Iowa because they intend to move back to their South Dakota home. The State of South Dakota, by the way, does not have a personal income tax.

(Radio Iowa)