(Radio Iowa) – The pandemic found many people dusting off their bicycles that had been sitting in the garage as they looked to get out of the house. Bike Central owner Kevin Richards in Le Mars says the interest is bikes followed along with a bigger pattern. “There was a huge uptick in sales all across the recreation industry, and particularly in bicycles. We are seeing that maintained and I anticipate that as the weather gets nicer we will continue to see an increase in the number of people — at least in inquires or looking to purchase. Or even just doing some repairs on their existing bicycle,” Richards says.

Richards says they took action as they started to see the interest in bicycles going up. “This last fall we were pretty well made aware that bicycles were going to be in short supply. We made the decision to really bring in a lot of service parts that we normally don’t keep on hand, because if we need a service part that we don’t have, we can usually get it within a day,” according to Richards. “Knowing that there would be some supply problems, we started stocking in a supply of repair parts.”

The Bike Central shop owner says the majority of bicycles come from southeast Asia and the global spread of the COVID virus forced plants and shipping to shut down, leading to the lack of supply. Richards says the parts companies are hesitant to ramp up production. “I do know that a lot of the equipment manufacturers — the people who make the shifting and the gearing — have decided to not really increase production because they’re not sure that this isn’t just a bubble in demand in the biking industry,” Richards says. “So we are kind of constrained to what they are going to produce. And I believe from certain conversations that they’ll be certain parts that we won’t’ be able to see until the fourth quarter of 2022.”

He says the types of bikes sold give an indication that a lot of people are just looking to get out of the house and do something. “Most sales are what I would call an active bike geometry. So something that is suitable for trail riding around here, city riding. Obviously we don’t have a lot of mountains,” he says. He says for now they will try to help people fix up the bikes they have available until they can look at a new bike once the supply gets back to normal. Richards says the interest in Le Mars is even higher after it was learned they will be hosting RAGBRAI this year.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa households with more than one vehicle could be ineligible for food stamps if a Senate G-O-P plan inserted in a budget bill becomes law. The plan also calls for a new system to investigate an Iowan’s financial situation to determine if they’re eligible for food assistance or Medicaid coverage. Senator Mark Costello, a Republican from Imogene, says the goal is to more quickly find out who is and who is not eligible for public assistance.

“To help people that need the resources to have them and not waste them on people that are really not eligible and do not need them so much,” Costello says. Tom Chapman, director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, says the proposed asset limit is very low.

“It also says that households with more than one vehicle would be at risk of losing their eligibility for food stamps,” Chapman says. “Just the fact of owning two cars, especially in rural Iowa, doesn’t mean that people don’t need help to get food.” Chapman says that could disqualify one out of every six Iowans who are receiving food assistance today.

Senate Republicans passed a bill earlier this year outlining these income verification plans, but House Republicans didn’t advance it.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa teenager found unconscious Monday night at a hog site in northern Kossuth County has died. According to the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office, emergency personnel were dispatched to a hog-site building about five miles southwest of Swea City just after 9 p.m. Monday after a person was found unconscious. Upon arrival, a female was found unresponsive and was transported to Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona. The female had reportedly been assisting in the cleaning and power washing of the facility and was found lying on the floor by another person who was also working in the area.

The female, identified as 17-year-old Victoria Marie Parra Lerdo of Rockwell City, was pronounced dead at the hospital. The State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny will be conducting an autopsy to determine a cause of death.

(Radio Iowa) – For a second time this year, the Iowa House has voted to require insurance companies to provide equal reimbursement rates for in-person AND virtual mental health services. The insurance industry opposes the move and it stalled in the Senate. House members voted to attached their proposal to a bill that calls for a study of how to better track how many inpatient psychiatric beds are available in Iowa hospitals.

Representative Eddie Andrews of Johnston says the study be done by year’s end, so legislators can implement any proposed changes in 2022. “We need to do something about mental health,” Andrews says. “As a matter of fact, two years ago I had zero desire to run for office or any knowledge, but what moved me is the changes that we can make to our mental health system.”

The House decision to merge the two issues into one package will force senators to either agree to both proposals, abandon both, or form a 10-member conference committee to hammer out a compromise.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – Two men and a woman from western Iowa were sentenced to federal prison on drug charges Monday, in Council Bluffs U-S District Court. Court records show 31-year-old Jessica Joy Martinez, of Carroll, will serve 10-years in prison. 40-year-old Shaun Lee Walker, of Council Bluffs will serve 11 1/4 years in prison, and 28-year-old Jonathan Samuel Dings, of, of Glidden, was sentenced to 13.3-years (60 months) in prison. Each was convicted on Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine charges.

Each defendant was ordered to serve five years of supervised release to follow their prison terms and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund. There is no parole in the federal system.

On January 10, 2020, Carroll County law enforcement served a search warrant on Dings’ residence in Glidden. While conducting the search, law enforcement learned Martinez and Walker planned to supply Dings – that day – with approximately a pound of methamphetamine they obtained from Omaha, Nebraska. Dings was to sell the methamphetamine in Carroll and Audubon Counties. Law enforcement attempted to intercept the load car containing the methamphetamine that was driven by Walker with Martinez as a passenger, in Audubon, which resulted in a pursuit
occurring before Walker and Martinez were arrested.

The investigation was conducted by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, Audubon Police Department, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Agency. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.