(Des Moines, Iowa) – Authorities in central Iowa are asking for your help in locating a Des Moines man went missing early Monday morning (Feb. 6, 2023), and who may be experiencing medical issues. Des Moines Police say 76-year-old Alan Wayne Conley left his north Des Moines home at around 2-a.m. Monday. Conley was driving a metallic beige/tan 2002 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck with damage on the passenger side. The vehicle has Iowa license plate ESF 376. The rear plate was being held on by a green bungee cord, according to family and friends. There is also a dent on the back bumper and a sticker that may be a Harley Davidson logo.

Authorities say Conley has medical issues that impact his awareness and requires medication. Conley is 6’ tall and weighs about 285 pounds. If you have any information about his location, please call your local authorities, or the Missing Person Information Clearinghouse for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, at 515-725-6036.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Sentencing for an Atlantic man facing five felony charges in connection with a Sept., 2022 incident, will take place next week. According to online court records, 54-year-old Edward Allen Davenport waived his rights and through his attorney, entered a written plea of guilty to the charges on February 1^st.

Davenport was charged with Burglary in the 1^st Degree, Assault (with serious injury) while participating in a felony, Willful Injury Causing Bodily Injury, Going Armed with Intent, and Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon, all of which are felony offenses. He was set to stand trial in Atlantic on February 28^th. The trial had previously been continued twice before. Davenports remains held in the Cass County Jail on $60,000 bond. His sentencing is set for 9-a.m. Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.

Authorities say at around 2:20-a.m. on Sept. 5, 2022, Atlantic Police were notified an assault had occurred at a residence in the 800 block of Walnut Street, in Atlantic. During an investigation, officers made contact with the victim, who stated they had been assaulted by being struck multiple times with an object.

The victim said shortly after she arrived home, there was a knock at the door. After the door opened, a man entered the residence and began assaulting the victim. On Sept. 6th, Officers made contact with Davenport and arrested him in connection with the incident that occurred the previous day.

(Anamosa, Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Corrections reports it is redesignating the Anamosa State Penitentiary from a Maximum-to strictly medium-security facility. The Anamosa State Penitentiary (ASP) is a maximum/medium security institution that currently houses approximately 950 offenders, both medium- and maximum-security level inmates.  Its current maximum security inmates will now be moved to the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. The department says the move comes as Iowa’s prison population drops. Both the Anamosa prison, with 915 inmates, and the Fort Madison prison, with 721, were over capacity as of Tuesday (Feb.8), according to I-DOC, although not all of Iowa’s nine prisons were. The state’s prison system Tuesday was over capacity by nearly 13.7 percent — that there were 7,946 inmates Tuesday but capacity for 6,990.

The Department of Corrections says the move to a medium security facility will allow them to focus on treatment opportunities for minimum security inmates.

In 2021, two staff members died after an assault at the State penitentiary. The prison has already undergone significant changes to its security following the murders of officer Robert McFarland and nurse Lorena Schulte during an attempted escape.

A review found the prison was overcrowded, understaffed and in need of stricter work assignment policies. Along with the security change, Anamosa and the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility are also swapping wardens. Anamosa prison’s warden, Kris Karberg, will be transferring into the warden position at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, effective Feb. 17. The current Fort Dodge warden, Nick Lamb, will be transferring to the warden position at Anamosa. Both wardens have multiple decades of experience in security operations and correctional work.

(Radio Iowa) – D-N-R state deer biologist, Jace Elliott, says hunters reported taking more deer this year. “We saw about 109-thousand-600 deer harvested across the state throughout all of our regular seasons, which represents about a seven percent increase to the harvest that we saw in the prior year,” Elliott says. That included 25-hundred deer taken in the new January season that allowed hunters to use any leftover antlerless tags. “We had 20 counties eligible for this hunt this year in Iowa, and 14 of them sold out completely. by the end of that season,” he says, “many of which sold out during the first day.” Elliott says the traditional hunting hotspots held true this year.

“You know, it was pretty typical to what we see, in most years, the southeast and northeast corners of the state were sort of leading the pack in terms of harvest numbers,” Elliott says. “I believe Clayton County — which is always kind of our number one harvest county in the state — maintained that position. But we did see a lot of harvest come out of south-central and southeastern Iowa as well.” Elliott says numbers were lower in western Iowa as they continue to build back from the E-H-D outbreak and floods in the Missouri River valley.

“Twenty-nineteen was a pretty bad year for E-H-D in that part of the state. And there were some other factors that go into the declines they’re seeing — such as river flooding during the fawn season, and, and so on. But E-H-D is certainly part of the puzzle. Fortunately, this year was a very mild year for E-H-D in Iowa,” according to Elliott. There were around seven-thousand deer licenses sold and hunters tagged deer at a rate of 30-35 percent — which is similar to previous years.

“Our deer population model indicates that we’re still on a fairly stable to slightly increasing trend statewide,” Elliott says. “And we’re well within our management objective, which is basically to manage the statewide deer population at the level that it was in the mid-1990s. And we’re more or less there and have been for years.” Elliott says the weather was favorable across the state for most of the deer season, which helped with hunter success.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police, Tuesday evening, arrested 20-year-old Anthony Ray Castle, of Red Oak. Castle was arrested for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree, a Simple Misdemeanor. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The leader of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says the biofuels industry is frustrated by opposition to carbon pipelines and a little bit angry about delayed federal rules that would let E-15 be sold year-round in every state this summer. The association held its annual meeting yesterday (Tuesday). Mike Jerke with Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy in Council Bluffs says once pipelines carry carbon out of Iowa ethanol plants, ethanol made here would have the advantage of being considered a low carbon or carbon free fuel.

“We have a declining usage of liquid fuels generally and in terms of diversification and what it means for our members, we have to look at all of these opportunities to continue to diversify and enter markets that are afforded to us,” Jerke says. Jerke made his comments to the House Environmental Protection Committee yesterday (Tuesday).

A few hours earlier, Monte Shaw, the executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said it’s frustrating to have other groups and elected officials criticize carbon pipelines. Environmentalists and advocates for property rights who oppose the pipelines are regularly at the Iowa Capitol. They’re urging lawmakers to block state regulators from granting pipeline developers the power to seize land from property owners who don’t want the pipelines on their property.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Joni Ernst says trained dogs should search every vehicle driving north through border crossings along the U-S/Mexico border — to stop the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs. “Dogs are about as low tech as you can get, but they are one of the best ways to find those drugs,” Ernst says. “They’re very, very efficient.” Ernst recently saw a patrol with up to five drug sniffing dogs in action at the border crossing at San Diego. “Those dogs could quickly detect any illicit materials that are in those cars,” Ernst says.

There are 38 border crossings for vehicle traffic between the U.S. and Mexico — the San Diego Port of Entry is the world’s busiest land border crossing. Ernst says they’re training more dogs and handlers to take shifts there and it will take a while to have enough canines to search all border crossings.

“The Port of Entry in San Diego has 34 lanes of traffic with 70,000 vehicles and 20,000 pedestrians crossing every single day,” Ernst says. “This initial canine screening should be happening on every single vehicle entering this country and right now that’s simply not happening.”

Ernst led a congressional delegation to the southern border this past weekend, with stops in California and New Mexico. Iowans Randy Feenstra and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who serve in the U.S. House, were part on the trip. The group went to Mexico City as well. Feenstra says the meeting with Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs focused on Mexico’s proposal to ban the import of genetically modified corn, starting in 2024.

“We had a great discussion with him about how we could move forward and make sure that we could continue the opportunity of exporting our corn to Mexico,” Feenstra says, “and we’re hoping there’s a solution in the next 6-12 months concerning this issue.” Miller-Meeks says she found Mexican officials willing partners. “They absolutely want to be doing the job of helping to make Mexico safe as well as stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States,” she says.

Miller-Meeks says adding canine units on both sites of the border makes sense, as it doesn’t cost as much or take up land like cameras and other monitoring devices.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has approved a plan to provide Iowa’s public K-through-12 schools three percent more in general state support for the next academic year. Republican Representative Craig Johnson of Independence says it’s a nearly 107 million dollar increase. “I think it’s a good news story for Iowans and our educators and our families,” Johnson said. The plan cleared the Republican-led Senate Thursday and was approved by the House today (Tuesday).

Democrats like Representative Eric Gjerde of Cedar Rapids say public schools dealing with escalating costs will have to cut staff and programs. “The Iowans that I have spoken to say we need to do a lot of things and one major thing is stop strangling our public schools,” Gjerde says. Other Democrats object to providing public schools a budget increase that’s roughly identical to the amount private school parents will start getting in state-funded savings accounts next school year.

Representative Sharon Steckman of Mason City says rural schools are in a financial crunch. “People used to come back to Iowa because…they knew their kids could get a top notch education,” Steckman said. “Maybe that’s why we are the slowest growing state in the union right now.” House Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans have agreed to spend three-point-seven BILLION dollars on school districts next year.

“The total investment that we’re making in public education with the passage of this bill is about 45 percent of the state’s budget,” Grassley says. Four House Republicans joined House Democrats in voting against the bill. Three of them also voted against creating state-funded savings accounts for the parents of private school students.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety report a man from Sioux City, Iowa pled guilty on February 2nd in Woodbury County District Court, to Unlawful Betting-Fraudulent Claim, and Solicitation to Commit a Felony, in Woodbury County.  Both charges are Class D Felonies.

The plea from 57-year-old Dajo Aon Grandberry, followed a DCI investigation that resulted in his arrest on November 30, 2022.

The charges stem from an incident at the Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City on August 7, 2022, when Grandberry won a slot machine jackpot and attempted to have another person officially claim the winnings in an attempt to avoid paying offset funds that he owed the State of Iowa.  He further solicited another person to assist in completing the attempted felony fraud.