United Group Insurance

Southwest Iowa woman and child injured in an accident southwest of Tingley

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Mount Ayr, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Ringgold County, Tuesday evening, released details on an injury accident that occurred Saturday evening, southwest of Tingley. Authorities say 32-year-old Tasha Lanae Picard, of Shannon City, was driving east in Ringgold County Road J-23 at around 7:10-p.m., when she turned to travel south on Highway 169.
As her pickup made the turn, the driver’s side door lock mechanism malfunctioned, causing the door to pop open. Picard fell out the the truck, which ran over her leg, causing severe injuries. The truck continued without anyone at the wheel, and entered the east ditch before crashing through a barbed wire fence and came to a stop after hitting a concrete box culvert.
Tasha Picard, and her approximately 4-year-old daughter, were injured and transported by EMS helicopter to Mercy Hospital downtown, in Des Moines. The Sheriff’s Office says the child was not secured in restraint device prior to the accident.
Picard faces charges that include:
  • NO VALID DRIVERS LICENSE
  • FAILURE TO PROVIDE PROOF OF FINANCIAL LIABILITY-ACCIDENT
  • FAILURE TO MAINTAIN OR USE SAFETY BELTS-ADULT
  • and FAILURE TO USE CHILD RESTRAINT DEVICE.

Summer workouts underway for Iowa football

Sports

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Summer workouts are underway for the Iowa football team. The Hawkeyes return a lot of experience from last year’s team that finished 10-4 and they will be in search of a third 10-win season in the last four years. Senior guard Connor Colby says much of the focus in the summer is on strength and conditioning.

A big focus of the off-season has been new offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s bid to turn an anemic Hawkeye offense around. Colby says the changes for the offensive line have been minimal.

Junior receiver Kaleb Brown emerged in the second half of last season after transferring from Ohio State. He says for the receivers the changes have been significant.

Running back Leshon Williams finished with 821 yards of rushing last season and is confident the offense will show improvement.

Williams says the running backs will be much more involved in the pass game.

Defensive end Deontae Craig is part of an outstanding defense that returns eight starters. He says the workouts have been spirited since the players returned to campus.

Craig says after spending a few weeks at home in May he was ready to return to campus.

Iowa’s defense has the makings of another outstanding unit but defensive tackle Yahya Black says it is a new season and a new challenge.

Glenwood Police report, 6/18/24

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report two arrests: On Monday, 31-year-old Dakota Haner, of Pisgah, was arrested on a Harrison County Warrant. His bond was set at $500. And, today (Tuesday), 44-year-old Barbara Riley, of Glenwood, was arrested for driving while barred. Her bond was set at $2,000.

Heavy rains cause Great Lakes to Rise, create issues

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

More than seven inches of rain have fallen from Sunday night through Monday in the Iowa Great Lakes area, causing lake levels to get near records. Dickinson County Emergency Management will implement a five mile-an-hour rule for all watercraft starting today (Tuesday) at 4 p-m. Captain Greg Harson of the D-N-R Law Enforcement Bureau says they hope to reduce the wake impact against the shoreline.

Harson says the change from drought to excess rain has already impacted boaters as docks are underwater.

The record flooding levels happened back in 2018. Dickinson County Emergency Management reports Big Spirit Lake and East and West Okoboji are about a half foot away from that level as of this morning (Tuesday).

(By Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio via Radio Iowa)

UPDATE: Manilla man dies of self-inflicted gunshot wound following a chase last Friday

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Sac City, Iowa) – In update to our previous report, the Sac County Sheriff’s Office says a man from Crawford County died Friday, following the pursuit of a stolen vehicle. The Sheriff’s report follows:

JANET MARY BAUMHOVER, 83, of Audubon (Mass of Christian Burial 6/29/24)

Obituaries

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

JANET MARY BAUMHOVER, 83, of Audubon, died June 17, 2024, at Audubon County Memorial Hospital in Audubon. A Mass of the Christian Burial for JANET BAUMHOVER will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 29th (2024), at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Audubon. Schmidt Family Funeral Home in Audubon has the arrangements.

Public visitation with family will be held from 4 -7 p.m., with the conclusion of a prayer service at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, June 28, 2024, at the Schmidt Family Funeral Home of Audubon, IA.

Interment will take place at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery in Audubon. A luncheon will be provided following the interment at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Hall.

JANET BAUMHOVER is survived by:

Her husband – Leonard Baumhover.

Her sons – Doug (Susan) Baumhover, of Lake View; Danny Baumhover, of Kansas City, MO, & David (Yinia) Baumhover, of Atlanta, GA

Her daughter – Cheryl (Larry) Krestan, of Melbourn, FL.

Her sisters – Lois (Jack) Hinners;  Margy (Dale) Renner; Annette (Ed) Haberl, & Kathy (Lee) Stein.

Her brothers – Leon (Nancy) Schulte; Myron (Shari) Schulte; Joe (Patty) Schulte, & Gary (Mary Ann) Schulte.

6 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren, in-laws, other relatives and friends.

Ex-Charles City school leader sues entire school board over her ousting

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The former superintendent of the Charles City Schools is filing suit against all current members of the district’s school board. In April, then-Superintendent Anne Lundquist was placed on paid administrative leave amid allegations that “raises questions about Dr. Lundquist’s fitness for duty and ability to serve as an employee of the Charles City Community School District,” according to School Board President David Schrodt.

In a statement, Lundquist says, “I was shocked by the school board’s actions towards me. I have done nothing wrong. This situation has been devastating, for me and for my family.” Lundquist was to retire at the end of this school year on June 30th, but never returned to the post she had held since coming out of retirement in April 2022.

Lundquist filed a lawsuit against all five current school board members: Schrodt, Bruce Koebrick, Dara Jaeger, Kathryn Fox and Josh Mack. She is pursuing “damages in a fair and reasonable sum and for punitive damages” and has requested a jury trial. Schrodt says the board will meet with its attorney in closed session Friday.

Iowa’s attorney general makes appeal for tips as new cold case unit launches

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is urging Iowans to call in tips to a new cold case unit in her office.

Iowa briefly had a cold case unit to examine unsolved murders, but it was financed with a federal grant and closed down more than a dozen years ago. The legislature has provided Bird’s office with over half a million dollars and she’ll be hiring three investigators to review the more than 400 unsolved murders or missing person cases in Iowa.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird held a news conference to discuss formation of a cold case unit in her office. (RI photo)

Steve Ponsetto, a retired state trooper and Division of Criminal Investigation agent, will lead the office. He says they will review homicides and cases involving unidentified human remains as well as people who’ve gone missing under suspicious circumstances if local investigators have exhausted all leads.

The attorney general held a news conference today (Tuesday) at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to preview the project, which will be launched July 1st when the next state budgeting year starts. Polk County Sheriff Kevin Schneider has had a group of retired officers volunteer to go through records and evidence for the over 100 unsolved cold cases in Polk County — and he thanked legislators for providing the money to launch a state-funded cold case unit.

Jody Ewing founded the Iowa Cold Cases website in 2005 as a service to the families of victims and she joined the attorney general at today’s (Tuesday’s) news conference.

Bird says her office has prosecuted two cold cases in the past 18 months.

There are more than a quarter of a million unsolved murders in the U-S and most states have a cold case unit.

Slain Perry principal to be honored as Iowa Character Champion

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The principal of Perry High School, who was killed while trying to protect students during a shooting rampage at the school in January, is being honored with a posthumous award for his actions. Dan Marburger is being named Iowa’s Character Champion for 2024 by the state program that recognizes individuals and organizations for their role in the six pillars of character. Iowa Character program coordinator Hilary Ortman says Marburger was a hero.

The six pillars of character include: Caring, Citizenship, Fairness, Respect, Responsibility, and Trustworthiness. The program, based at Drake University, is honoring others, including this year’s Citizens of Character, Alan Steckman of Mason City and Carter Hammer of Sioux City; and Katie Hoover of West Des Moines as the Educator of Character.

Dan Marburger (Perry Community School District photo)

Ortman says The Iowa League of Heroes is also being singled out as the Business of Character — the group that brings costumed superheroes to the hospital beds of children.

Ortman is calling on all Iowans to consider the importance of character in those around them.

Each of the recipients will be recognized at a dinner on August 2nd at the Prairie Meadows Conference Center in Altoona with a televised special of the recipients to be aired later. See the full list of this year’s award recipients at IowaCharacterAwards.org.

(UPDATED) – Sand says some prison time should be required for theft of tax dollars

News

June 18th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand says it’s time to change state law so there’s mandatory prison time for anyone convicted of large scale theft of taxpayer funds. Sand defines “large scale” theft as anything over 10-thousand dollars.

Sand says red flags about bookkeeping are showing up in several of the audits his office has done for small Iowa communities and counties. While it can be hard to find people in rural Iowa with the skills to manage local government accounts, Sand says that can’t excuse everything.

Sand made his comments this weekend on an episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. Last week, Sand’s office released an audit that found the small southwest Iowa town of Lorimor had a quarter of a million dollar budget deficit. The town’s clerk had been fired by a different city in 2013 after auditors found she’d mishandled 27-thousand dollars in that city’s accounts.