(Atlantic, Iowa) – Mark Your Calendars! Winter Conservation Day Camps are coming up in February and March, you won’t want to miss the fun as Cass County Extension and Cass County Conservation partner to offer these fun, hands-on camps for youth in K-5th grade.

February Snow Camp sessions are for youth in 3-5th grade. Learn about all things snow at this fun, day-long winter day camp. This camp will be offered free of charge, but pre-registration required. Snacks will be provided, but please bring a sack lunch. Don’t forget to bring your winter coats and boots, as we will be outside for a hike in the snow if weather allows!

• February 17th – Snow Day Camp @ Atlantic Community Center 9:00am-4:00pm for 3^rd -5^th graders. Please RSVP by 2/13
• February 20th – Snow Day Camp @ Anita Community Center 9:00am-4:00pm for 3^rd -5^th graders.  Please RSVP by 2/13
• February 24th – Snow Day Camp @ Griswold Community Center 9:00am-4:00pm for 3^rd -5^th graders. Please RSVP by 2/20

March Penguin Camps are for youth in K-2nd grade. Learn about the life of a penguin while having fun with hands-on activities. Free to attend, pre-registration required. Snack will be provided. These half-day camps offer plenty of fun and learning through play and crafts!

• March 15th, Penguin Day Camp @ Griswold Community Center 9:00am-Noon for K-2^nd graders. Please RSVP by 3/9.
• March 24th, Penguin Day Camp @ Atlantic Community Center 9:00am-Noon or 1:00pm-4:00pm for K-2^nd graders. Please RSVP by 3/20

Call the extension office at 712-243-1132 to RSVP or to get more information.

(Radio Iowa) – The National Weather Service’s first look at the potential for flooding this spring shows most of the state in good shape. Hydrologist Jeff Zogg says eastern Iowa is the only area raising concern. “The first flood outlook for the state of Iowa for this spring is showing a near to below-normal risk of flooding. And most streams in the state the main exceptions, the Mississippi River in far eastern Iowa, where the risk is above normal,” Zogg says.

The snowpack in eastern Iowa is one part of the equation that raises the risk for the Mississippi River for flooding. “We consider a bunch of different factors when we assess the spring flood risk. We look at river levels, soil moisture, the snowpack, specifically, the liquid content, how much water is in that snowpack, frost depth, and we also consider the temperature and precipitation outlooks,” he says.  Zogg says this year’s outlook is typical of the recent pattern.

“For the past couple of years, the spring flood outlooks have been pretty favorable for the state, not really any high risk of spring flooding across the state,” Zogg says. “Some locations, maybe a little bit above normal. Kind of like this year, the Mississippi is above normal risk, not much above normal, but above normal.” The second flood outlook will be released on February 23rd and Zogg says the updates take into account the forecast ahead. “The big thing that we have to look at is the future precipitation, things like rainfall or snowfall,” he says. “Of course, much of the face on a drought, so we would welcome the rainfall, it’s just that we don’t want it all at once. We want that rainfall spread out over time.”

These flood outlooks are for the long-term potential for river flooding. “They really don’t consider things like flash flooding, it’s more of a shorter-term hazard. That’s usually in response to a localized heavy rainfall event,” Zogg says. “So, people still need to be aware of the potential for that if we have any heavy rainfall events going forward. And as people who live in Iowa for a while now, we can definitely get heavy rainfall events in the spring and summer.”

The third and final spring flood outlook will be released on March 9th.

(Griswold, Iowa) — Officials with the Noble Initiatives Foundation in Griswold have announced the organization working to build a new childhood development center in Griswold, has received large grant to further their goal. According to NIF Board Member Steve Baier, the Foundation received a $500,000 grant through the Charles E. Lakin Foundation for their ongoing effort to raise nearly $2.6 million for a proposed 8,800-square-foot facility.

The funds will ensure completion of the facility, Baier said, which will be named the Charles E. Lakin Child Development Center of Griswold. Crews have been hard at work pouring the concrete for the foundation. When complete, the Lakin Child Development Center should be able to house nearly 100 children throughout the day, including those aged six weeks to four years old, and a separate area for before and after school care for elementary-age kids. The facility would also include four classrooms and a gym.

The childcare center will provide year-round child care, including full-time, drop-in, and before/after school care. It will be located south of the Griswold Elementary School.  Fundraising efforts for the center went public in July, 2022.

If construction goes smoothly, Baier says the hope is to have the facility up and running by the fall of 2023. An official groundbreaking is scheduled for March 25th. More information is available on the organization’s website and Facebook page.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Nebraska was arrested at around 10-p.m. Friday, in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Office reports deputies arrested 49-year-old Rafael Hernando, of Omaha, on an active Montgomery County warrant for driving while license suspended. Hernando was being held in the Montgomery County jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has set a goal of getting rid of the state income tax by the end of 2026, but Reynolds decided not to push for an interim step this year. “We would have probably taken a look at it this year, bringing it down just a little bit more, but I wanted to kind of take a look, just watch what was happening with the environment, with inflation and recession,” Reynolds said. “We would have, I think, been OK, but I just focused on education reform this year and then really taking a look at government and how we provide services to Iowans.”

Reynolds and the rest of the nation’s governors are meeting in Washington, D.C. this weekend and the governor made her comments at a forum today sponsored by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Reynolds, who is chair of the Republican Governors Association, said 15 of her fellow Republican governors are proposing tax reductions in their states this year. “The great thing about Republican governors is we’re very competitive,” Reynolds said, “…which means I’m going to have to continue to cut taxes for Iowans.”

Reynolds has signed three tax cut packages since taking office in mid-2017. The one she signed a year ago has ended state taxes on retirement income and will reduce Iowa’s individual income tax to a single rate of three-point-nine percent in 2026. “But it’s not just cutting taxes and I think we’ve had some states that have had some difficulty with that,” Reynolds said. “They cut taxes, but they didn’t keep state spending in check and therefore ran into some issues down the line.”

The state budget plan Reynolds presented the legislature in January would spend just 82% of the tax revenue the state is projected to collect in the next fiscal year.

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says the governor is in Washington, D.C. doing “a victory lap” for enacting policies that benefit corporations and wealthy Iowans.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department said Friday afternoon (2/10/23), that a man reported missing Thursday afternoon, was found deceased, during a search of Lake Manawa. A search of the lake early this morning resulted in the recovery of an ATV and helmet believed to belong to 33-year-old Nicholas James Erisman, of Council Bluffs. They were found in open water. The Midwest Dive Team responded to Lake Manawa and recovered Erisman’s body. Authorities say at this time, no foul play is suspected. The incident is being treated and an accident.

Nicholas Erisman

(Previous post/story):

The Council Bluffs Police Department and the family of a missing man are requesting your help in locating 33-year-old Nicholas James Erisman, of Council Bluffs. Erisman was last seen around noon on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. He was wearing a red, white and black ice fishing jacket. Nicholas was also wearing a red and white helmet, brown overalls and boots.

Nicholas left his residence riding his red ATV. He was believed to be heading to the area of Lake Manawa.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Shelby County Sheriff Neil Gross has issued a report on numerous arrests that took place between January 18, 2023 and Jan. 30, 2023. Beginning with the most recent arrests:

• On January 30th, 48-year-old Lester Eugene Rhodes Jr, of Woodbine, was arrested following a traffic stop on Linden Rd. Rhodes was transported to the Shelby County Jail and Charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, Keeping Vehicle or Premises for Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving while License Denied, Suspended, Canceled or Revoked. At the same time and place, 38-year Sara Ann Wilson, also of Woodbine, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
• There were two separate arrests on January 27th in Shelby County: 25-year-old Kaylee Renae Roach, of Lewis, was arrested on a Shelby County Warrant for Violation of Probation; And, 42-year-old Justin John Seigner, of Wall Lake, was arrested on a Shelby County Warrant for Failure to Serve Time.
• Two people were arrested January 21st, also on separate charges: 64-year-old Phalen Lloyd Green, of Omaha, NE was arrested following a traffic stop on Hwy 191. Green was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, Contraband in a Correctional Facility, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Keeping Premises or Vehicle for Controlled Substance, Failure to Maintain Control, and Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability; And, 37-year-old Zachary Thomas Scheffler, of Harlan, was arrested on several active Shelby County Warrants for Violation of Probation and Failure to Appear.
• 35-year-old Richard Dean Pierce III, of Red Oak, was arrested January 20th, on an active Shelby County Warrant. Pierce was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Theft 2nd.
• And, on January 18th, Shelby County Deputies arrested 37-year-old Tiffanie Ann Newcomb, of Kirkman, for Driving while Barred, Eluding, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Interference with Official Acts, Open Container, 2 counts Fail to Obey Stop Sign or Signal, and Failure to Use Seat Belt.

Note: Criminal charges are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – A man convicted by a jury in December on charges that include two felony counts of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree, was sentenced today (Friday), to 25-years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently. 59-year-old Allan Sievers, of Walnut, will be eligible for parole in 17 1/2-years.

Sievers was ordered to register with the State’s Sex Offender Registry upon release from his sentence for parole, probation or work release. He must also submit a DNA sample, and ordered not to have contact with the victim(s) for a period of five-years.

Online court records show Sievers’s jury trial on a Count 3 felony charge of Lascivious Acts with a Child will take place April 4, 2023, at 9:30-a.m. Two other charges of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree were dismissed by the Court, in Dec. 2022.

Sievers had been arrested on the four charges in Sept., 2020.

(Sidney, Iowa) – Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports two men were arrested in connection with a 2020 arson fire in Anderson, Iowa. On Friday (Today), Deputies arrested 56-year-old old Charles Ray Welch, of Anderson, and 32-year-old Tyler Ward, of Riverton, as part of an ongoing investigation. Both were arrested at their residences without incident.

Welch three Felony faces charges, including:

• Solicitation to Commit a Felony, A Class D Felony
• Arson 1st Degree, a Class B Felony
• Arson 2nd Degree, a Class C Felony
  

  Welch

He was being held at the Fremont County Jail on $55,000 cash only bond.

Ward was charged with:

• Arson 1st Degree, a Class B Felony, and
• Arson 2nd Degree, a Class C Felony

Ward is being held at the Fremont County Jail on $50,000 cash only bond.

Ward

The investigation resulting in their arrests began on June 22, 2020, when fire departments and investigators were called to 306th Avenue in Anderson for a report of two separate buildings on fire. The investigation determined that two separate structures were independently set on fire, and one of the structures was occupied at the time the fire was set. The occupant was able to escape the fire without injury.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Iowa Fire Marshall’s Office with the investigation at the scene.