Sheriff’s deputies in Page County responded at around 11:15-a.m. today (Friday), to the South Page Schools, with regard to a person at the school who was violating a protection order. An investigation revealed 29-year old Justin Leo Powers, of rural Yorktown, was in violation of the protection order issued on December 12, 2019.

The protected party of the protection order was at the school. Authorities say Powers went there to speak with that person. He was escorted out of the school by school employees. Video cameras recordings in the school recorded the event.

At approximately 12:25-p.m.,Justin Powers was arrested at a residence in Braddyville, for Violation of a protection order. He was transported to the Page County Jail where he was being held without bond until seen by a Magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) — The Ankeny-based Casey’s Convenience store chain continues adding news stores and also recently announced the company will build its third distribution center in Joplin, Missouri. Casey’s C-E-O Darren Rebelez talked about the timeline for the new center during this week’s conference call with investors. “We plan on breaking ground later this month — with an estimated completion date in the spring of 2021. Upon completion we plan to immediately serve approximately 500 stores from this center — which will allow our network to operate more efficient and alleviate pressure off our current distribution centers,” Rebelez explains.

He says this new center will make it easier to service stores. “That southern-southwestern part of our geography is being serviced our of Ankeny, Iowa and Terra Haute, Indiana. That’s a pretty long haul,” according to Rebelez. “When we open up that facility in the spring of 21 — we’ll immediately be able to service about 500 stores out of that facility — which will really start to right size our infrastructure and reduce the overall cost to serve those stores.” Rebelez says the facility will be able to meet current and future needs.

“It does expand our ability to reach into some new geographies that we are not currently in. So, the immediate impact would be on the efficiency side and the more longer term would be on the development side,” he says. The new center will have state-of-the art systems that along with the location gives them the ability to rapidly meet the needs of the stores in the region. “We’re designing this to be more automated and more efficient than perhaps our other two distribution centers,” Rebelez says. “We also have additional land adjacent to the site that we could expand if we need to.”

The company currently has 21-hundred-46 stores in 16 states.

(Radio Iowa) — The three Iowa Democrats serving in the U.S. House voted for a bill to curb the costs of prescription drugs. Democratic Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer of Dubuque spoke during House debate of the measure, mentioning the family she recently met who have a teenager with diabetes. “They struggle every month to try to figure out how they’re going to keep affording insulin and her meters,” Finkenauer said. The girl’s father told Finkenauer he’s concerned that when his daughter turns 26 and cannot be included on his insurance, she won’t be able to afford her insulin.

“And he told me that he wanted to be able to walk his daughter down the aisle one day at her wedding, not her funeral,” Finkenauer said. “I will never forget that conversation.” Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says the legislation would lower costs for consumers AND the federal government by letting Medicare negotiate the costs of the 35 most-prescribed medications.

Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack of Iowa City says the bill levels the playing field for both patients AND taxpayers. Iowa REPUBLICAN Chuck Grassley has been working on a bill in the U.S. Senate that also seeks to lower drug prices. Grassley says the bill House DEMOCRATS crafted misses the mark, but he applauded the Democrats and Republicans in the House who voted for it for recognizing the need to address the issue. Grassley says the time is right for compromise because — in Grassley’s words — “Americans are quite literally sick of not being able to afford their medications.”

This past week the Iowa State Sheriff’s & Deputies Association held the annual winter banquet in Des Moines at the Airport Holiday Inn. The Winter school of instruction is a 3-day training seminar with many vendors and local law enforcement officials from all 99 counties. 2019 is the second year the “Best of the Best” jail award has been presented. To be considered for the award, several things are taken into consideration. They include but not limited to cleanliness, maintenance, management, major improvements, overall operations of the jail, staff professionalism. The jails in Iowa meet or exceed the minimum standards as set forth by Iowa Code and Iowa Administrative Code.

Pictured: Jail Administrator Kyle Lindberg, Chief Jail Inspector Delbert Longley, Sergeant Cody Eckles (Shelby County S/O Facebook photo)

It was noted several jails have gone above and beyond the minimum requirements to be in contention for the award. A total of six jails in three categories, small-medium-large,were recognized for outstanding achievements this past year. The 2019 winners include”

Small Jail: Chickasaw County & Shelby County
Medium Jail : Benton County & Buena Vista County
Large Jail: Linn County & Scott County

Kyle Lindberg, Shelby County Jail Administrator, said “It’s a great honor to win this award again in 2019, and to be able to say we have won it two years in a row shows just how dedicated we are to our facility. We are very fortunate to have the “best of the best” talented and motivated staff here in Shelby County.” Lindberg said “This is and can be a difficult job at times, and we have the right people in the right places. Maintaining a correctional facility is just not from the administrative standpoint, there are so many valuable moving parts from the front-line officers, to the administrative assistants, dispatch personnel and the Sergeants whom assist myself with calls. Our staff always works hard and performs with operational excellence every day in the dedication they give to our jail facility. The support from Sheriff Neil Gross, as well as the predecessors before {Lindberg] who have set the quality standards that we continue to grow on and deliver daily within our operation.”

Back Row: Officer Andrew Bierl, Officer Walker Wilson, Officer Cody Hansen
Front Row: Traning Officer Nancy Pigsley, Officer Mikayla Blum, Officer Jade Daeges

He said also, “I’m able to work closely with the board of supervisors, and other members of the community to provide and keep a facility with current and state-of-the-art technology equipment and maintaining the structure of our facility to surpass our yearly inspections. Our jail was built in 1984 at its current location and is 14 bed facility. We on average process 550-600 Inmates in a year and maintain 24-hour coverage from state certified staff.”

Two people were transported by Glenwood Rescue to Mercy Hospital, following a collision at around 6-p.m. Thursday. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2016 Ram truck driven by 37-year old Michael Morelli, of Ruffin, NC., was traveling west on Highway 34 near Hillman Road. As he approached the crest of a hill, Morelli saw a Subaru in the roadway. Morelli tried to stop, but was unable to do so. His pickup hit the Subaru on its passenger side. Following the crash, the Subaru, driven by 56-year old Becky Decker, of Glenwood, came to rest in the north ditch. Decker was cited for Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device.

The Sheriff’s office reports also, 54-year old Thomas Lee Chalupa, of Omaha, was arrested at the Mills County Jail, Thursday, for Criminal Mischief. His bond was set at $1,000.

(Sioux City, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man has been given 25 years in prison for trying to kill a police informant. The Sioux City Journal reports that Isaac McDonald was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City. He’d pleaded guilty to conspiracy to tamper with a witness by attempting to kill a person and guilty to other crimes. Authorities say McDonald shot John Mercure in the head on Aug. 1 as he passed the car Mercure was driving in Sioux City. Mercure, who was believed to be speaking to police about drug trafficking and firearms, survived after crashing his car into a tree.

(Update 10″10-a.m.) The Iowa Department of Transportations website 511ia.org, reports some roads in and around Cass County are partially covered with ice, and bridges are icy. The roads include

• Highway 71 north of Highway 34, to Highway 141 (South of Templeton)
• Highway 6, from I-80 west to Highway 48 (To Griswold)
• Highway 48 from Highway 6, south to Red Oak.
• Highway 92 from Cumberland, west to Griswold.
• I-80 between Stuart and the Olive Street exit to Atlantic.
• Highway 173 from Highway 6 north, to Kimballton.

Numerous accidents have been reported in the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro area this morning, resulting in travel delays on parts of I-29.

(Radio Iowa) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was in southwest Iowa on Thursday afternoon to announce more than six-point-four million dollars in grants and loans to expand broadband service in rural Iowa. Stanton-based Farmers Mutual Telephone Company has a goal of 100-percent fiber optic coverage for Montgomery County. Perdue says F-M-T-C, coupled with funding allocated by Congress, is a partnership designed to benefit regional communications. “It makes a big difference in today’s world whether you’re connected or not,” Perdue says. “You know that and we know that. We’ve talked about some of the benefits — telemedicine, e-commerce, connecting to the world way out there, being able to provide and design things that can be sold across the world through the beauty of e-commerce.”

Through the U-S-D-A’s ReConnect program, F-M-T-C plans to expand broadband services through 214 square miles in Montgomery County and surrounding areas, serving 11-hundred customers. Perdue says high-speed internet is also a must for long-distance learning. “Why should kids in rural areas have to drive into somewhere in town into a parking lot to do their homework today?” he said. “Anybody use Google in here? You can’t do that without connectivity, right? And, you know how important that is.” Perdue says rural broadband expansion is necessary in order for small communities to survive.

“It literally is not a luxury any longer, but a necessity,” Perdue says, “if communities want to grow and to thrive and to have economic development.” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds joined Perdue in Stanton. Reynolds praised F-M-T-C for the company’s “innovative, can-do attitude” in connecting the region. The governor says positioning Iowa to lead in the “information economy” is one of her administration’s goals. “From being able to connect our students in the classrooms to cutting edge careers,” Reynolds says, “to farmers checking crop conditions and precision farming, to small businesses processing credit card payments, to being able to sell our products abroad, connectivity is the expectation, no matter where you live.”

FMTC’s general manager and CEO Kevin Cabbage says expanding broadband to territory beyond its existing coverage area involves laying 185 miles of fiber optic cable. Federal regulations require the company to have the project completed in five years, though Cabbage boasts it’ll be done in two. The money awarded the company was part of Round 1 of the ReConnect funding process, made possible through $600 million awarded to the USDA by Congress in 2018. Cabbage says his company will apply for additional dollars in Round 2, which runs January 31st through March 16th.