Shenandoah Elks Lodge 1122 is the host for the next Veterans Town Hall scheduled for Wednesday, July 18. The lodge is located at 701 south Fremont Street, in Shenandoah.  Veterans, caregivers, Family Members or anyone who has a vested interest in Veterans information and updates is invited to the Veterans Town Hall, beginning at 6 p.m. Subject matter experts from the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System will be on hand to provide current and topical information to the public. A question and answer session will also be included, in addition to information tables.

Questions about this event may be addressed to jennifer.scales1@va.gov or calling 402.995.4719.

The president of a national abortion-rights organization says the Iowa Supreme Court acted “absolutely appropriately” in striking down a 72-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion. Ilyse Hogue is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. She told reporters outside of the Iowa Capitol that Friday’s ruling upholds precedent, the rights of Iowa women and their “dignity and respect.”

Hogue says U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley should consider those issues when advancing any U.S. Supreme Court nominee chosen by President Donald Trump to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Grassley is Iowa’s senior senator and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hogue has said she believes a pick from a circulated conservative list of possible candidates could eventually overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that upheld a woman’s right to an abortion.

OSAGE, Iowa (AP) — An audit has determined that nearly $6,000 in property taxes and delinquent charges was undeposited or improperly deposited in Mitchell County, where a former clerk pleaded guilty to theft.
The state auditor’s office also said in a news release Friday that a $787 tax payment was improperly diverted to pay a portion of Tracey Mooberry’s taxes in March 2016. Mooberry worked as a clerk in the county treasurer’s office from 2011 until May 2016. She was given a year of probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor misconduct in office. Authorities say the thefts occurred in the last few weeks of her employment. The county attorney has said the money was paid back.

Mooberry was on the Mitchell County Conservation Board and the Osage School Board when the charge was filed. She’s since resigned both posts.

The City of Atlantic’s Parks & Recreation Department is asking for help with the fireworks on Wednesday, July 4th, at the airport. The help is especially needed with clean-up on Thursday, July 5th. If you are available and would like to help our community in this way, please contact Seth Staashelm on the Parks & Rec cell phone, 712-254-0637. He’ll give you more information on what help is needed and times to be there.

An official with Anita Municipal Utilities said today (Friday), that a Boil Water Advisory issued Tuesday, has been lifted. The Advisory was issued after water pressure in the system was lowered as crews were replacing a valve on the water tower. The Advisory was issued as a precautionary measure, over concerns bacteria may have entered the system during the low pressure event. But again, the BOIL WATER Advisory in Anita is no longer in effect, and you may resume using the water supply as usual.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County say one person died and two others were injured during a collision Thursday afternoon. Deputies were dispatched at around 3:52-p.m. to Old Lincoln Highway near Prairie Lane, for a two vehicle accident with injuries. The first deputy to arrive on the scene advised dispatch both drivers were pinned in their vehicles. Crescent Fire and Rescue were able to extricate the drivers from their vehicles

A preliminary investigation indicated 30-year old Bubby Kobes, from Missouri Valley, was driving a 2018 Chevy Impala northbound on Old Lincoln Highway. 53-year old Thomas Madsen, from Missouri Valley, was driving a 2005 Ford F-250 southbound on Old Lincoln Highway. Their vehicles collided as they were negotiating a curve near Prairie Lane.  Madsen was transported to a local hospital for treatment of serious injuries. Medical personnel declared Kobes to be deceased at the scene. A passenger in his vehicle, 36-year old Jason Doiel, of Modale, suffered minor injuries. The accident remains under investigation.

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled a three-day waiting period for women seeking an abortion is unconstitutional. The waiting period was part of a state law passed LAST YEAR that bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. The 20-week-ban part of the law took effect in May of 2017. Republican lawmakers argued requiring a women to wait three days after her initial appointment for an abortion gave her time to consider all options and medical risks. This ruling overturning the three-day waiting period aligns with the court’s 2015 decision on so-called “telemedicine” abortion. Three years ago, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned Iowa Board of Medicine regulations that required a doctor to conduct a physical exam before a medication-induced abortion.

The state law passed THIS YEAR that bans nearly all abortions was put on hold until all court challenges are completed. Abortion opponents are hoping President Trump will appoint a justice to the *U.S.* Supreme Court who will side with the four conservatives already there and overturn Roe v Wade. That’s the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that legalized abortion in the country.

(Radio Iowa)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A jailed former Iowa youth basketball coach is charged in a new federal indictment with enticing several minors to produce sexually explicit images and videos. A superseding indictment returned Wednesday against former Iowa Barnstormers coach Greg Stephen adds five counts of sexual exploitation of minors and one count of possessing child pornography. The indictment alleges that photos and videos of five minors were found on a hard drive that investigators seized during a search of Stephen’s Monticello home.

It alleges Stephen persuaded the minors to masturbate for the purpose of making images of them between 2010 and 2013. It’s unclear whether the alleged victims were Stephen’s players. Stephen has been jailed since he was arrested in March, when investigators alleged he secretly recorded adolescent players disrobing in hotel bathrooms. The new indictment retains the original charge against Stephen, knowingly transporting child pornography.

Even though some lakes and rivers are unsafe due to flooding, Iowa’s waterways will be swarming with boats this weekend as there’s a very hot forecast and the 4th of July holiday is just ahead. Susan Stocker, the boating law administrator with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the agency is launching its annual Operation Dry Water campaign today (Friday). Stocker says, “It is a heightened awareness to make sure that people understand that using alcohol, drinking alcohol and operating a boat is very dangerous and very hazardous.”

Last summer, 38 people were arrested in Iowa on a charge of Boating While Intoxicated.  “The blood-alcohol content for operating a motor boat is the same, .08, as it is for driving a car,” Stocker says. “When people are out operating their boat, they’re out on the water having a good time, but as soon as they’re done, then they have to get in their vehicle and take their boat home.”  She says a boat operator is just as potentially deadly on the water as they would be on land.  “Being out on the water, even if you are not impaired, the wind, the waves and the sun have an effect on your reaction time,” Stocker says, “so when you add alcohol, then it becomes much more dangerous.”

She reminds boaters to always wear your life jacket, as 85-percent of drowning victims weren’t wearing one. Stocker also touts taking a boating safety education course. She notes 71-percent of deaths occurred on boats where the operator didn’t receive boating safety instruction.

(Radio Iowa)