(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Iowa Western Community College will recruit and train people to safely deconstruct buildings and return contaminated areas to spaces people can safely inhabit with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the EPA announced in a news release that Iowa Western Community College, based in Council Bluffs, received a $478,474 grant through the Brownfields Job Training Program, which helps organizations prepare and employ people to rehabilitate spaces where the environment is thought or confirmed to have been contaminated.

Matt Mancuso, vice president of business and community education, said in an interview the college will use these funds to recruit and train as many as 96 students over the next four years and help them find work in Council Bluffs, North Omaha and the surrounding area on brownfield sites. “It’s exciting for both Iowa Western and the community to have this type of training,” Mancuso said. The EPA has tasked Iowa Western with recruiting underemployed or unemployed individuals in order to bolster the workforce, Mancuso said, and program participants will receive a stipend. The final year of the five-year grant will be spent following up with graduates to see where they are and if they’re still employed.

Iowa Western Community College has received a grant from the EPA to train people to work on rehabilitation and environmental projects. (Photo courtesy of Iowa Western Community College)

Those going through the four-week training will learn about safe deconstruction of buildings, Mancuso said, as well as procedures for dealing with lead paint and asbestos and OSHA standards. The college developed the curriculum after speaking with Council Bluffs officials to learn what would be most valuable to the community.

Participants can leave the training with up to five federal certifications, and almost 70 will be placed in environmental job positions, according to the release. Mancuso said there are Brownfields sites all over the U.S., including Council Bluffs, but even those who don’t specifically work on a site will have skills that are in high demand.

Mancuso said he hopes the program will be a game-changer for both the students and the organizations and businesses the college serves.

“Today’s announcement is a key step in revitalizing communities and transforming underutilized Midwestern spaces,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister in the release. “We congratulate the selected organizations and eagerly look forward to working together to develop a skilled workforce in environmental jobs.”

(Radio Iowa) – Webster City Police Chief Shiloh Mork resigned on Wednesday in the wake of an investigation by city officials into allegations about his service. A few of the allegation include falsifying a summons in a criminal case document, fabricated an FBI investigation and criminal charges involving city administration and engaged in intimidation and isolation of a co-worker through falsified information. The press release states the investigation into those allegations included investigations that Chief Mork fabricated stories to a city co-worker about other city employees, including false claims of fraud, racketeering and money laundering for a cartel as well as invented FBI investigation and false claims that he was being asked to testify before a grand jury.

Mork was placed on administrative leave on November 18. He began working with the Webster City Police Department in 2000 as a patrolman, was promoted to sergeant in 2002 and has been police chief since 2014. Sergeant Eric McKinley has served as acting chief since Mork was put on leave.

(Radio  Iowa) – Arkansas, Massachusetts and now Iowa are the only three states that have two women at the top of state government. Governor Kim Reynolds says Chris Cournoyer brings a long list of skills and attributes to the role of lieutenant governor and she didn’t limit her search for a lieutenant governor to women. “It wasn’t intentional, I’ll say that. Neither is my strong-willed team that I have at the Capitol or my cabinet that’s led by a lot of strong, capable, intelligent women as well,” Reynolds said. “Chris just checked a lot of boxes and she really complements what we’re trying to do here.”

Reynolds has asked Cournoyer to review state-led efforts to encourage students to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and math and update the programs for the next decade. Cournoyer has taught robotics and computer coding. “Kids aren’t afraid of technology and so when they bring these STEM programs into the schools, they just really embrace it,” Counoyer says.

The governor says Cournoyer’s background in computer programming and artificial intelligence will be another asset in efforts to modernize state government operations. “We want to make sure we’re bringing AI to state government,” Reynolds says, “but we want to make sure we’re doing it responsibly and we’re doing it right.” Cournoyer is among legislators from around the country who recently served on a task force on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Cournoyer says there has to be a human component to A-I, to monitor the data that’s collected and ensure the outcomes aren’t skewed.

“And then we really want to make sure that when we’re looking at data and how we’re running those algorithms and developing them that we’re doing it in a very ethical manner,” Cournoyer says. Reynolds says she and Cournoyer are competitive people — both played girls sports in high school, but Reynolds isn’t saying whether she’ll seek reelection and the Reynolds-Cournoyer team will be on Iowa’s 2026 ballot.

“Honestly, right now I’m trying to get through Christmas, figure out what the (state) budget looks like for the next legislative cycle,” Reynolds says. “I’m very excited about some of the things that we’re working on.” Reynolds will deliver the annual “Condition of the State” address to legislators on January 14th and release details of her 2025 policy agenda. For the past 15 weeks, Iowa did not have a lieutenant governor. Reynolds waited until after the November election to begin the search to replace Adam Gregg, who resigned as lieutenant governor on September 2nd.

Reynolds says she’s had her eye on Cournoyer for a while and she’s the type of get-it-done person who’s a good fit for her governing team.  “It’s just a really added bonus that she’s also a woman and we’ll continue to be role models for young girls all across the state,” Reynolds says. Cournoyer says: “I’ve had so many role models in my life, Governor Reynolds being one who has just really inspired me and I’ll take that responsibility very seriously, knowing that somebody might be watching how I conduct myself and making sure that I’m doing that with high standards.”

Cournoyer has been a state senator for the past six years, but resigned Monday morning just before being sworn in as lieutenant governor. The governor has not yet set the date for a special election in the state senate district the includes Le Claire, where Cournoyer lives, as well as the cities of Clinton, Maquoketa and DeWitt.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council met this (Wednesday) evening in a regular session. The Council passed three resolutions:

• A resolution “Approving the Plans and Specifications for the West 22nd Street Improvements.”City Engineer Dave Sturm…

Sturm said the section is from Palm Street to Highway 6, the last section of W. 22nd that hasn’t been reconstructed. Work on the project is to take about three-months, weather permitting. City Administrator John Lund says the project has a forecasted cost of slightly more than $1.32-million, and is one of 67 street improvement projects set to take place during the Spring and Fall of 2025.

• The Council passed the 3rd and final reading of an amended ordinance pertaining to ATV’s and Snowmobiles (As we’ve previously reported).
• And, following a public hearing, the Council passed a resolution approving a Development Agreement with Vision Atlantic, Inc., authorizing annual appropriation Tax Increment Payments, and Pledging certain Tax Increment Revenue to the payment of the agreement. The agreement pertains to Vision Atlantic’s Development Project that includes more than $4.1-million in infrastructure, $48.8-million in housing development, and $10.7-million for a child development center on land the City purchased from the Comes Family Trust. That land was sold in 2022 to Vision Atlantic, for One-dollar, as part of their development proposal.
• In other action, the Atlantic City Council passed a resolution setting their meeting on January 8, 2025 as the date for a Public Hearing on a proposed ordinance “Vacating the street located between 3009 Palm Street and 3101 Palm Street.”

In his report, City Administrator Lund said he received a legislative update from the League of Cities, and warned the Council should be prepared to “buckle-up,” when it comes to direction from State leaders on matters affecting the budgets for cities in Iowa.

The Revenue Estimating Conference, he said, which is what the governor and legislature have to operate on, for what their revenue will be for budgeting purposes, came in at $100-million less than it did last year.

In her report, Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett congratulated Officer Adam Roberts for graduating last Friday from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in Johnston. That means there is another certified officer on the streets of Atlantic. Garret said also, she was asked if fireworks will be allowed New Years Eve.

The Mayor said also, she and her husband wish the citizens of Atlantic a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Sioux City man was sentenced yesterday to 106 months in federal prison for possessing a distribution quantity of methamphetamine and a firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking.

According to public court documents, Rodney Lamard Hall, II, 31, was found in possession of a distribution quantity of pills containing approximately 37 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana, and a loaded nine-millimeter pistol with an extended magazine. At the time he committed this offense, he was on probation for possessing a firearm and marijuana in April 2023, with the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Hall will be required to serve a four-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Harlan man was sentenced on December 12, 2024, to 84 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography.

According to public court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a CyberTip that an account, later determined to be associated with Jesse Daniel Blaine, 42, received files containing child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement seized electronic devices during a search of Blaine’s Harlan residence. A forensic examination of the seized electronic devices showed that Blaine used his electronic devices to receive, view, and possess images and videos of child sexual abuse material, and to search for child sex stories.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Blaine will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Blaine was also ordered to pay $21,000 in restitution.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation-Cybercrime Bureau, Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation-Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Child Exploitation Task Force.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

(Radio Iowa) – The leader of the Iowa Lottery says sales for the fiscal year through October are slightly ahead of budget projections. But Matt Strawn says they are still facing some headwinds. “The biggest impact on the year over year, sales continues to be the relative lack of big jackpots in the multi jurisdiction lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions,” Strawn says. “The current fiscal year has not yet witnessed a billion dollars plus jackpot in either of those gains as we have seen in recent years.”

Rising jackpots create a snowball effect that pushes sales up, and that’s what’s lacking so far this fiscal year. “Thus, Mega Millions sales are down 52 percent and Powerball sales are down 63 percent when we’re comparing them through the end of October last year,” he says. Strawn told the State Lottery Board the data from November isn’t yet complete, but the sale of scratch tickets and other products have improved ahead of national industry sales averages.

“I do anticipate we’re going to continue to see some improved performance in scratch tickets in the second half of fiscal ’25. And a lot of that will be attributed to the recent installation of 150 new 40-bin self-service vending machines across statewide retailers. These are additional machines,” Strawn says. Scratch tickets make up around 67 percent of Lottery sales. Chief Revenue Officer John Roth says Iowa is seeing better sales than the national industry, which was down last year and is also down so far this year. “We are down on a sales basis by 11-point-one percent, but a year ago, we were up by eight-point-two percent. So as we look at our performance, we are still outpacing the industry from an overall perspective,” Roth says.

Roth says when things are narrowed down to recent weeks, the overall industry is starting to level out and the Iowa Lottery is still running slightly ahead of the national numbers.