Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall reminds residents that the Treasurer’s Office will be closed Wednesday, Oct. 17th, for Driver License Training. All other courthouse offices in Atlantic will be open during regular business hours.
Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall reminds residents that the Treasurer’s Office will be closed Wednesday, Oct. 17th, for Driver License Training. All other courthouse offices in Atlantic will be open during regular business hours.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office acknowledges Iowa’s voter registration lists are being sold on the internet, but says there’s no call for public alarm.
The office said Tuesday that the FBI is investigating reports of voter registration rolls from 19 states — including Iowa — being sold online. Spokesman Kevin Hall says the rolls are public records that anyone can buy from the Secretary of State’s Office for about $1,000.
Hall says the rolls don’t include voters’ personal information, such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers, and the attempts to sell the lists online has no impact on the security of Iowa’s elections.
Hall says the online sales aren’t the result of any hacking, saying whoever is selling the lists got them the way anyone else would. They “bought these lists and are using them improperly … to try to make a profit.”
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen said Tuesday the university will appeal a $25,000 fine levied by the Big 12 Conference for violating postgame celebration policies when fans stormed the field following a home win over West Virginia last weekend.
The league told Iowa State that Commissioner Bob Bowlsby had determined university officers did not take the “appropriate precautions to create a safe environment” for the Mountaineers. West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen was critical of school efforts, calling the scene “unprofessional” and suggesting his players were not in a “safe place.”
Iowa State says it reviewed the actions taken by its officers. The Cyclones contend they followed all postgame celebration policies and had taken “several additional measures” to make the situation safer.
The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports Stuart Road between 130th and 160th, will be closed temporarily on October 17th between 9-p.m. and 5-a.m. the following morning. A large crane will be traversing the road and crews have to haul in dirt to cover the road so it does not sustain damage.
(Radio Iowa) — The governor has declared October as Domestic Violence Awareness month. Kevin Hall of the Iowa Secretary of State’s office says five-hundred victims of domestic abuse, stalking and human trafficking are utilizing the state-run address confidentiality program. “It’s a way to allow survivors of domestic violence and other violent crimes to get a portion of their lives back without the fear of their address becoming public,” Hall says. “They’re able to do things like register to vote and things that normally where their address would be put on public records, now they have a substitute address for that and their actual physical address is no longer on the public records.”
An estimated 29-thousand Iowans will seek help this year to escape a violent domestic or dating relationship. A coalition of groups including the Secretary of State’s office and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence have partnered on a website called share-their-story-dot-net (www.sharetheirstory.net). It invites survivors and their families and friends to explain how domestic violence has directly impacted individual Iowans.
“It is a problem, unfortunately,” Hall says. “There are about 3000 convictions per year for domestic violence-related instances and we want to raise awareness to it and, ultimately, put a stop to it.” The share-their-story website also features links to groups offering services to those seeking help.
(Radio Iowa) — A three-member panel of financial experts has increased its estimate of state tax receipts in the current budgeting year by nearly 360-million dollars. The Revenue Estimating Conference predicts tax growth this year will be nearly five percent, but in the following year it will be far smaller, just one-point-seven percent — when the G-O-P crafted tax cuts fully kick in. Governor Kim Reynolds says the report shows the Iowa economy is growing.
“That’s on top of the $127 million surplus that we have and I think that’s reflective of an economy that’s growth because of the tax cuts we’ve seen at the federal level and when ours (at the state level) are implemented, I think we’re going to continue to see growth,” Reynolds says. “…I think it’s positive momentum. I think it’s really good news.”
Key Democrats in the legislature say the state’s finances are headed for a “slow motion train wreck.” They point to the projection of narrow, one-point-seven percent growth in state tax collections and warn state budget cuts are coming, especially if the Republicans’ state tax cuts take effect, the trade war with China continues and the financial fortunes of Iowa farmers worsen.
A key Republican in the legislature says the State of Iowa is in a “strong financial position” and Democrats are putting a “negative spin” on today’s (Tuesday’s) state tax revenue forecast.
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) — Attorneys for an Iowa farmer who appeared on ABC’s “The Bachelor” say they are close to reaching a deal with prosecutors that would resolve a criminal charge against him related to a fatal crash.
The Des Moines Register reports an attorney for Chris Soules said during a Tuesday hearing that attorneys should know by Monday whether a deal had been reached.
Soules, who appeared on “The Bachelor” and “Dancing With The Stars” in 2015, rear-ended a tractor in April 2017, killing 66-year-old Kenny Mosher. Soules called 911 and waited for first responders, but he left before police arrived. He’s now charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
Tuesday’s hearing was to address Soules’ motion to move his trial out of Independence because of the publicity it has received.
PERSIA, Iowa – A few weeks ago, Terry Plummer noticed that just around sunset, the trees in his yard were filling with monarchs that had stopped for the night on their 2,000 mile annual migration to central Mexico. Plummer, who spent his life farming in Harrison County, didn’t recall that happening before. Plummer, from rural Persia, has been noticing more unusual things recently, thanks, in part, to the nearly 400 acres of prairie he installed on two of his farm fields in 2017, when he signed up for the Iowa Habitat and Access Program.
More than 4,900 acres of private land on 26 sites was opened to hunters in Harrison County since 2016 and pheasant numbers have increased 200 percent around these sites from 7 in 2016 to 21 this year. Photo courtesy of the Iowa DNR.
The two year old prairie has been a discussion topic with his neighbors, as has the increased sightings of pheasants along the road. And it’s not just the neighbors who’ve noticed, hunters have as well. “It’s turned out better than I’ve imagined, so far,” Plummer said.
Acre after acre, field after field, mile after mile, young prairies in Harrison County are coming in to their own. These prairies, seeded with a mix of native plants to benefit pollinators, wetland and upland species, have grown out of difficult to farm fields that are enrolled in the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
Four years ago, funding became available through the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, which is part of the federal Farm Bill, to improve habitat on private land in exchange for allowing hunting access and in a short time, more than 4,900 acres of private land on 26 sites was opened to hunters.
“The landowners made the decision to enroll in CRP. We approached them and said the program will help fund the habitat improvements and we will do all the maintenance from mowing to tree removal to burning. All you need to do is allow hunter access,” said Brian Hickman, private lands program coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “Needless to say, it was well received.”
A number of fields adjoin each other, creating miles of connected habitat that benefits wildlife and can support lots of hunters. Habitat work began with winter-seeding in 2016 and 2017. These fields are starting to mature and on this gray October day, their value to wildlife and hunters was evident.
Two northern harriers were flying low over the prairie looking for a meal as they migrate south. Pheasants, shaking off the morning mist, fled the roadside to the safety of taller vegetation along a prairie edge. Ducks dodged early morning hunters and deer were loafing at the opposite end of a field.
The Iowa DNR has been monitoring these IHAP areas for pheasants collecting anecdotal information on the local population since the project began. Based on the survey, pheasant numbers have increased 200 percent, from 7 in 2016, to 13 in last year, to 21 this year.
“I expect good pheasant hunting on these areas,” Hickman said. “I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t.”
Partnerships key to success
Staff with USDA’s Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service worked with Hickman to identify and make contact with landowners interested in the program.
Hickman, who at the time was working at the local private lands biologist for the Iowa DNR in western Iowa, met with the landowners and signed agreements to manage their land for 9 or 10 years, which is the maximum length of the contract. The land remains privately owned and hunters are allowed access for the length of the contract. There was more demand for the program than funding available.
Iowa Habitat and Access Program (IHAP)
Iowa was selected as a pilot state in 2011 and from its inception the Iowa Habitat and Access Program (IHAP) has drawn strong landowner interest securing all available funding and providing hunter access to more than 25,700 acres of private land.
The program is also popular with hunters who have focused much of their efforts on these orange-signed areas. Each site has a survey box to collect comments from hunters.
Based on survey responses, hunters are traveling 76 miles and spending an average of $70 per trip to hunt IHAP sites. And most of them enjoyed it – 76 percent had a positive experience and 99 percent said they would hunt an IHAP site again. Pheasants were the most hunted species.
These areas are regularly patrolled by Iowa DNR conservation officers and are treated like public hunting ground, with the noted exception that it is private property, and trapping and fishing on the area is not allowed.
“This program is only available because landowners were willing to participate in it. Hunters should respect private property, stay on the land enrolled in the program and pick up after themselves,” Hickman said.
Site maps are available at www.iowadnr.gov/ihap showing boundaries, which species would be most likely attracted to the habitat and the location of a checkout box where hunters are asked to leave their comments on the program.
Walk-in public hunting through IHAP is available between September 1 and May 31. The IHAP is supported with money from Federal Farm Bill and Habitat Stamp.
Cass County Health System is hosting a free community workshop titled “Tools for Troubled Youth” on Wednesday, November 14th from 1 to 3:30 pm at the Cass County Community Center. The workshop will be presented by H. John Lehnhoff, PhD.
Dr. Lehnhoff
The workshop focuses specifically on youth and includes material for families and professionals. Suicide risk and self-harm will be covered during the workshop. Dr. Lehnhoff says “Childhood years can be stormy at times under best of conditions, and not every problem is a mental disorder or a family dysfunction. This program helps untangle which is which, and offers tips and topics which can assist navigation of the pathways toward success and safety for youth.” .
Dr. Lehnhoff has practiced Clinical Psychology since receiving his doctorate from the University of Nebraska’s Clinical Psychology program in Lincoln. He has served as the Director of a community mental health center office, engaged in private practice, and was Clinical Director and Clinical Consultant at Omaha’s Richard Young Center (now Lasting Hope Hospital) for 16 years. Since 2003, he has served as a Clinical Psychologist Consultant for CHI Health Behavioral Services in Nebraska and Iowa.
Cass County Health System is inviting parents, families, teachers, school staff, law enforcement, community members, and more to attend this workshop. It is a free event, but reservations are requested. To reserve your spot, or if you have any questions, please call 712-250-8020.
Police in Harlan have arrested two people on drug charges. 45-year old Michael Dean Bierman, and 48-year old Terri Lynn McCord, both Harlan, were arrested today (Tuesday), following a search warrant that was executed in the 900 block of Farnam Street.
McCord was transported to the Shelby County Jail where she was charged with prohibited acts penalties, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bierman was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with two counts of possession of controlled substance, prohibited acts penalties, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Monday, Harlan Police cited 18-year old Kyle David Confere, of Harlan, for in the theft 5th degree, following a call for service in the 1000 block of Chatburn Avenue.
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