(Radio Iowa) – Two of the three Democrats running for their party’s U.S. Senate nomination say American troops should not be deployed to Ukraine — but candidate Mike Franken says if Russia uses nuclear weapons, plans should change. Franken, a retired Navy Admiral, says the United States and like-minded countries must respond to help pick up the pieces if there’s a nuclear strike on Ukraine.

“We cannot let the use of weapons of mass destruction against a large population and a democracy ever be used and go without retort,” Franken says. “…You have to have a red line in life, otherwise you are not a first rate nation, otherwise you are not an American, you are not a leading democracy of the world.” Candidate Abby Finkenauer, a former congresswoman, applauds the sanctions the U.S. and its allies have imposed on Russia and she supports providing Ukraine with the weapons and humanitarian aid it needs.

“I support making sure that we are doing everything we can, short of sending in U.S. troops, to support Ukraine,” Finkenauer says. Candidate Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden, says the focus should be on working with European allies to support Ukraine and on resettling refugees in the United States.

“We absolutely should not be sending U.S. troops to Ukraine,” Hurst said. The candidates made their comments this weekend during a televised debate hosted by K-C-C-I in Des Moines, K-C-R-G in Cedar Rapids, K-T-I-V in Sioux City and K-W-Q-C in Davenport. The three candidates are competing to run in the General Election against Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who is expected to win his G-O-P Primary race against state senator Jim Carlin.

This weekend’s debate among the three Democrats highlighted their different views on ethanol policy. Hurst says it’s time to scale back the emphasis on ethanol because the auto industry is shifting to electric vehicles. “We can, as a state, either try to squeeze every little last drop out of ethanol as we can,” Hurst said, “or we can take a progressive idea of introducing a third crop into our duopoly of corn and soy and make it a profitable crop for Iowa farmers.” Finkenauer says the Biden Administration made the right move to allow E-15 sales this summer, but she says the move should be made permanent.

“This is a time when we should be using what Iowa does best,” Finkenauer says, “and we should be making sure that we are supporting that industry.” Franken also supports year-round sales of E-15 as a temporary solution, but he says the focus should be on finding alternate uses for ethanol as fuel for planes and ships or for power generation in Iowa. “Giving Iowa a different environmental perspective and not villanize our farmers,” Franken says.

The three U.S. Senate candidates will meet in one more televised forum on Thursday, May 19th on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – Authorities say a Colfax man remains missing after a boating accident on the Des Moines River southeast of Runnels on Saturday afternoon. Marion County Sheriff Jason Sandholdtf says three people in an air boat were trying to help two men in another boat get to a nearby boat ramp, because the other boat was out of gas.

A man and a woman thrown into the water made it to shore, but the sheriff says 34 year old Dustin Lee Dittmer of Colfax has not been seen since.

(Radio Iowa) – A collection of Iowa groups organized a rally on the Iowa Capitol steps this weekend as the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.

That is 17-year-old Shreya Joshi, a student at West Des Moines Valley High School. She says if abortion is banned here, Iowa women will become refugees fleeing to other states where abortion remains legal.

Leah Vanden Bosch, a northwest Iowa native, is a patient advocate for Planned Parenthood and co-president of the Iowa Abortion Access Fund. She says the white Christian community like the one she grew up in is the root of the problem.

A recent volunteer with the Iowa Abortion Access Fund who also spoke at the rally said she will no longer support Democratic candidates because Democrats in congress and the White House are not immediately passing a law to make abortion legal nationwide. Three Democrats who are running for seats in the Iowa legislature also spoke at the rally.

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County, Sunday, arrested a woman for Public Intoxication. Authorities say 33-year-old Madison M. Bowling, of Red Oak, was arrested at 11:55-a.m. in the 800 block of Broad Street, in Red Oak. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

(Burlington, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) report 43-year-old John Robert Burlingame, convicted of Habitual Offender in Lee County, failed to report back to the Burlington Residential Facility as required Saturday.

Burlingame is a white male, height 5’11”, and weighs 249 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on February 24, 2022.  Persons with information on Burlingame’s whereabouts should contact local police.

J. Burlingame

For more information on the state’s work release program, please see Iowa Code 904.901-904.910

(Anita, Iowa) – A public hearing will kick-off a meeting Monday evening (May 9) of the CAM Community School District’s Board of Education. Their meeting in the CAM High School Superintendent’s Office begins at 6:30-a.m. The hearing is with regard to a 2021-2022 District Budget Amendment. After the hearing concludes, the CAM School Board will move into a regular session, which includes action on approving items on their Consent Agenda. A few of those items include Open Enrollments, Resignations and Contracts.

Discussion/Action items on the agenda include (But are not limited to…):

• Approval of the FY 21-22 Budget Amendment
• Discuss/Approve the sale of real property
• Approval of:
  • A MSW (Master Social Worker) Agreement with Green Hills AEA
  • A list of ICA (Iowa Connections Academy) graduates
  • A contract with Atlantic Bottling
  • The District Developed Service Delivery Plan
  • Contracted Technology Services
  • Milk, Bread and Chemical bids for the FY23 and FY 24 school years.

Prior to adjournment, the CAM School Board will act on entering into a Closed Session, for the purpose of discussing a student’s records that are authorized by state/federal law to be kept confidential. Afterward the Board will return to an open session to receive Board reports and then motion to adjourn.

(Corrects gender) (Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Colorado was arrested this (Sunday) morning in Red Oak, following a traffic stop. 23-year-old Dyllyn Nichole Gonzales, of Thornton, CO., was arrested at Highway 34 and 4th Streets, at around 12:40-a.m.  Gonzales was taken into custody for Possession of a Controlled Substance/marijuana – 1st offense. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa)- Iowa’s weather pattern is expected to make a big shift this week, from cold and rainy to hot and humid, raising familiar concerns about drought. Meteorologist Doug Kluck, climate services director for the Central Region of the National Weather Service, based in Kansas City, says some forecasts show improving conditions in the months ahead across the Missouri River basin.

“The forecasters in this case pared back drought substantially across almost the entire basin, really,” Kluck says. “I’ll cross my fingers and hope this comes true.” While Iowa’s high temperatures last week were mostly in the 40s, 50s and 60s, the week ahead promises highs climbing into the 70s and 80s to near 90. Looking ahead, Kluck says there are conflicting signals.

“Short term, temperatures are sort of a mixed bag,” Kluck says. “There’s going to be some warmth and that’s going to be realized in the eastern part of the basin. Precipitation slightly favors above normal, that’s good. Long term, not so good. Above normal temperatures and drier than normal conditions are what the current outlooks say.” Forecasters had expected the La Nina weather pattern to fade away in the past few months, but that hasn’t happened.

“We’re hanging on to La Nina this year through the summer,” Kluck says. “We don’t know if that’s going to hang into the fall or not yet, but La Nina is what we had the last few years and it tends to have a dry and warm aspect to it. So, La Nina is not necessarily our friend.” The U-S Drought Monitor map issued for Iowa late last week showed little change from the week before, with no drought at all in roughly 56 counties, 30 counties were abnormally dry, and 10 counties were considered in moderate drought. Parts of three northwest Iowa counties, Plymouth, Monona and Woodbury, were in severe drought.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – On Wednesday evening, the community group, United Today, Stronger Tomorrow – a grassroots of coalition of labor, faith, service, and community organizations working to ensure an equitable and prosperous recovery from the pandemic in Iowa, held its final town hall meeting in Council Bluffs to lift up country residents priorities on how federal Covid recovery funding provided by the American Rescue Plan should be prioritized by the county. Fifty five residents showed up for the meeting, in which Supervisors Brian Shea and Justin Schultz also attended to hear what local residents want federal Covid funding to be used for.

Geri Frederiksen, a coalition leader and member of the Concerned Citizens of Pottawattamie County, says, “The Council Bluffs town hall, the last of our three county events, was a huge success! A diverse group of Pottawattamie County citizens shared their stories and suggestions for the allocation of the second round of ARPA funding. I was pleased to see two Supervisors attend and listen to how their fellow citizens have been affected by Covid. This is truly the power of community!” Local business owner and rural resident, Shawna Anderson, noted, “I am excited about the great work we have done to get community input. Amazing ideas come from organic conversation, and the citizens of Pottawattamie County have brought up
important needs. I know not every need can be met with these once-in-a-lifetime dollars, but I’m hoping that once we present it to the Board, we can help influence a project that will meet most of the needs of the county.”

Story and photos submitted by Dave Bushaw

This town hall was the last of three public meetings the group held to make sure citizens’ voices were heard as well as to educate residents about the funds that were available to communities – but this is not the end of United Today, Stronger Tomorrow’s work in the region. In addition, the group has been collecting survey data, hosting zoom meetings, doing in-person canvassing, and one on one conversations to help create opportunities for local residents to share their priorities for how the money should be spent. These outreach efforts will help to inform what top-line priorities are from the community. After reviewing the data, UTST will not just be sharing the data results, but using their broad and diverse coalitions’ collective resources to formulate a proposal to present to the Board of Supervisors.

According to Jen Pellant, Executive Director of the Western Iowa Labor Federation AFL-CIO, “Our work is not done. We are going to use all of the input and data we’ve collected to put together a proposal for how the next round of ARPA funds will be spent – one that will represent the needs of the community as a whole rather than just a few special interests.” The American Rescue Plan was passed just over a year ago by Congress and signed into law by the President to address the impacts of Covid 19 on states and local economies and communities. Iowa has received billions in federal aid at both the state and local level, including a total of ~$18 million for Pottawattamie County.

In the rural communities of Oakland and Avoca, town halls held in the previous two weeks drew close to 60 participants between them. In those meetings, healthcare infrastructure, specifically a healthcare clinic in a rural part of the country and/or a mobile healthcare van, and affordable housing for country residents were identified as top needs with the federal funding.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a traffic stop at around 2:20-a.m. today (Saturday), in Elliott, resulted in the arrest of a man wanted on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Failure to Appear, on an original charge of Driving While Barred. 37-year-old Cory Ross Smith, of Elliott, was taken into custody in the 200 block of Cherry Street in Elliott, and was transported to the Montgomery County Jail in Red Oak, where he was being held without bond.

And, Red Oak Police said Saturday (today), a Red Oak man was arrested at around 9:20-p.m., Friday, on two Page County warrants for Violation of Probation. 26-year-old Dylan Elwood Taylor was transferred to the custody of Page County authorities and was being held on a $10,000 bond in the Page County Jail.