(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County, Tuesday, unanimously voted to reinstate the County’s Compensation Board, but decided to leave their policy for public comment during their meetings, unchanged, for now. Their current policy has a two-minute public comment period that follows the reading and approval of the previous Board meeting minutes, near the top of the weekly agenda.

Supervisors Chair Mike Olson proposed limiting the number of people speaking on a particular topic, and prohibiting personal attacks against board members. He said the policy would be similar to what the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors placed into effect, after comments regarding wind energy got out of control.

Supervisor Randy Cooper objected to some who wanted the public comment period moved to the end of the meeting. He said it would inconvenience some residents wanted to briefly attend the meeting and then get back to their jobs. Supervisor Donna Robinson suggested any changes should be made after she and Cooper – who are not running for re-election – leave at the end of the year.

(Radio Iowa) – A state administrator says a report from the state auditor on the frequency of nursing home inspections is inaccurate and incomplete. State Auditor Rob Sand released an analysis Monday showing nursing home inspections were occurring, on average, every 17 months — and that’s about four months beyond the federal standard.

Larry Johnson — director of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing — says the federal data the state auditor relied upon did not provide a snapshot of all the inspections that had been conducted before June 1st — because there’s a lag time in completing the paperwork. “Had he contacted us both before, during and after his audit, we would have provided accurate information,” Johnson says.

Johnson says data for the current federal fiscal year shows the statewide average time between Iowa nursing home inspections is now under 13 months. “So we are exceeding what is expected of us,” Johnson says. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pays 86 percent of the salaries for state nursing home inspectors. Johnson decided to use some of that funding to pay overtime to state inspectors, speeding up the annual reviews of Iowa nursing homes.

“We only have 13 nursing homes left to do and we have two weeks left to do it,” Johnson says. That’s because the federal fiscal year ends September 30th.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa judge has affirmed that the Lyon County Sheriff will be able to seek reelection — as a Libertarian Party candidate. Lyon County Sheriff Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep ran as a Republican in the June Primary, but lost the G-O-P nomination to Iowa State Trooper Brian Hilt. One person wrote the sheriff’s name on the Libertarian Party’s Primary ballot, so the sheriff became the Libertarian Party’s nominee instead.

Hilt — the Republican who beat the sheriff in the G-O-P primary — asked a judge to reverse a Lyon County Objection Panel’s decision that the sheriff had qualified for the November ballot.

Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep (Photo provided by KIWA)

The judge, in his decision, said the trooper’s argument that the sheriff shouldn’t win the Libertarian Party’s nomination was arguably supported by common sense — since got it by a single write-in vote, but the judge said that conclusion is not supported by state law.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Council Bluffs man was sentenced today to 220 months in federal prison for possessing a distribution quantity of methamphetamine.

According to public court documents, law enforcement used a confidential informant to purchase methamphetamine from Philip Duane Sales, 54, in fall 2023. On December 20, 2023, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sales’ residence and seized approximately 70 grams of methamphetamine and currency, some of which was utilized during a controlled buy in October 2023.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Sales will be required to serve a five-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 Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement (SWINE) Task Force, Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement, and Iowa State Patrol.