(Radio Iowa) – Honor flights for local military veterans to fly to Washington D-C. to visit the memorials honoring their service and sacrifice will begin again next month. All expenses are paid for those veterans through donations, and the Sioux City Musketeers hockey team presented a check Thursday to sponsor the next 84 World War Two, Korean and Vietnam veterans making the flight to the nation’s capital. Travis Morgan along with team owner Lloyd Ney presented a check for 85-thousand700 dollars to honor flight representatives in Sioux City

“We were able to raise almost 90-thousand dollars in jersey sales during last year and this year to sponsor one of the greatest causes you could possibly ask for,” he says. Vietnam veteran, Richard Storm of Sioux City flew on the last honor flight back in October. He served in Vietnam for one year starting in March of 1970. “When we got off the plane until we got on the bus, the entire concourse was lined with volunteers, welcoming us back, cheering, and sorry, I get a little teared up here, I told my children and my grandchildren this is the welcome back we never got,” Storm says.

Storm says after coming home from his Vietnam service he was looked at differently than he is today, so he did not talk about his service for years. “For years and years, I mean, I never said anything about my service and never told my children about it. I never showed them pictures, didn’t join veterans groups until maybe, probably about 15 years ago, just never was involved,” Storm says. ” And I would say in the last 10 years, you know, it’s been an honor to be a Vietnam veteran. We’re a brotherhood, and we’ll be all I think for the rest of our lives.”

This will be the 9th Midwest honor flight, and it will leave on May 14th.

CLIVE, Iowa — A southwest Iowa man has now won two big lottery prizes in two years. Today (Friday), Delbert Littleton, of Atlantic, claimed the first of eight top prizes of $100,000 available in the “Power 10X” scratch game. In June 2020, he had won a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life lotto game, and chose to receive his winnings in the lump-sum option of $390,000.

As with his first win, Littleton said he was in his kitchen when he realized this week that he’d hit big. “It kind of took my breath away,” he said. “My heart started racing. I went into the living room and had to sit down for a second. And once I collected my thoughts, I went ahead and called my wife on the phone. And I had to pull the phone away from my ear because she yelled as soon as I told her!”

When he realized he won big in 2020, Littleton said he and his wife danced for joy in the kitchen. This time, he startled their dog a bit. “He probably thought I was crazy because I was just running around,” Littleton said. “He got up real quick and his ears perked up and he just looked at me. He probably thought something was wrong.”

The 64-year-old Littleton, who works at an assisted-living facility, said he bought some tickets in the Power 10X game because it was new. He ended up with three winning tickets in a row: A $20 winner that he redeemed for two more tickets in the game. One of those was a $10 winner and the other won a $100,000 prize.

Power 10X is a $10 scratch game that just began sales on April 5. Its tickets feature green-and-yellow graphics of arcing electricity. Prizes in the game range from $10 up to $100,000. Littleton bought his $100,000-winning ticket at Murphy USA, 1903 E. Seventh St. in Atlantic.

After his 2020 win, Littleton said that he and his wife, Jodi, followed through on their plans to buy a new house and get new vehicles. With this win, he has concrete plans again. “I’m getting kind of tired of doing the push mower thing,” he said “So I’m going to get a riding lawnmower. And the rest, we’re going to be able to take more in vacation this year and the rest of it, just stash it like we did the first time.”

Littleton said he considers this win “a little icing on the cake.” “It gives me a nice perspective on retirement,” he said. “It makes the thought of retirement a little more relaxing.”

Des Moines, Iowa — Gov. Kim Reynolds, today (Friday) issued a disaster proclamation for Howard County in response to the April 12 severe weather. The governor’s proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to respond to, and recover from, the effects of this severe weather in Howard County.

In addition, the proclamation activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program for qualifying residents, along with the Disaster Case Management Program, for Howard County. The Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program provides grants of up to $5,000 for households with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of three. Grants are available for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food, and temporary housing expenses.

The Disaster Case Management Program addresses serious needs related to disaster-related hardship, injury, or adverse conditions.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – When the Cass County Board of Supervisors meet 9-a.m. Tuesday, April 19th, one of the topics up for discussion and/or possible action, is a proposal/request to have Cass County becoming a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary County. Supervisor’s Board Chair Steve Baier tells KJAN News the issue was brought up during the County Republican Forum held April 4th. Baier says “It was suggested at that time that they get language being used in other counties across the State. Phil Hetrick got the information, and [Supervisor] Mark O’Brien is managing” [the matter].

The Iowa Firearms Coalition says Iowa adopted “shall issue” Permits to Carry Weapons in 2010 and became a “constitutional carry” state in 2021, but is one of only six states that do not recognize Second Amendment rights in their constitutions. More than a dozen southwest Iowa county Boards of Supervisors have chosen to make their county’s a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary. A total of 36 out of 99 Iowa counties have made the same decision. Those that haven’t include Cass, Adair, Harrison, Shelby and Audubon Counties.

Iowa 2nd Amendment Sanctuary Counties (as of 4/15/22)

If approved, a Second Amendment sanctuary, also known as a gun sanctuary, would prohibit or impede the enforcement of certain gun control measures perceived as a violation of the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms – including universal gun background checks.

The movement for second amendment sanctuaries spread in 2018 following multiple high profile mass shootings, which advocates then called for more rigorous gun control laws.

Across the country, more than a thousand local governments have declared themselves second amendment sanctuaries, meaning they have no intent of following federal gun control measures. However, many critics agree second amendment sanctuaries will not hold up in court.

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors will discuss and/or act on: ARPA funding for daycare facilities; a Resolution for approval of the Cass County 5-year Construction Program, and a Resolution of ARPA disbursements.

They’ll receive a report from Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken with regard to Secondary Roads Department Activities, and other reports. The Cass County Supervisor’s meeting takes place in the Boardroom on the main floor of the Courthouse, in Atlantic.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a district court ruling — and U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer’s name will be listed on the June Primary ballot. The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected the challenge two Republicans filed to three signatures on Finkenauer’s nominating petitions. The proper date was not listed on the signature lines. If the Supreme Court had ruled the three signatures were invalid, Finkenauer would not have had enough signatures to qualify for the Primary ballot.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said just last year the legislature passed a law outlining the specific reasons for rejecting signatures on nominating petitions, but that law did not address missing or incorrect dates on the subject line.

Election officials must mail absentee ballots to overseas voters by April 23rd. The secretary of state’s office indicated Monday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for printing the ballots. If the Supreme Court’s decision had been delayed, the district court judge’s ruling would have prevented Finkenauer’s name from being listed on ballots. The Iowa Supreme Court justices just heard arguments from attorneys representing the two sides in this case on Wednesday.

U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer says today’s (Friday’s) unanimous decision from the Iowa Supreme Court shows she met every requirement to be on the Democratic Primary ballot. Finkenauer says the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision is a victory over an attack “orchestrated by Washington Republicans and allies of Senator Grassley.” Finkenauer is one of three Democrats vying for a spot on the General Election ballot to challenge Grassley’s bid for reelection.

Finkenauer says Washington elites tried to undermine the democratic process to save Grassley from having to face her in November. Alan Ostergren is the attorney who represented Republicans challenging three signatures on Finkenauer’s nominating petition. He says the only reason the issues were litigated is because Finkenauer barely turned in enough signatures.

Ostergren says the Iowa legislature needs to pass a law making it clear what must be on a nominating petition and what the consequences are for failing to have that information present.

(Radio Iowa) – The legislature has sent the governor a bill that gives local officials a shot at getting a temporary court order to immediately shut down bars that are the site of frequent fights and gunfire. The bill would let city and county attorneys sue a bar for creating a public safety nuisance and get a temporary injunction that would close the bar until after the conclusion of a trial. Representative Cindy Winckler, of Davenport, says the current process of revoking the state liquor license to get the bar closed takes too much time.  “Local control is important,” Winckler says.

Representative Ross Paustian, of Walcott, says over a two-year period, police were frequently called to a bar in downtown Davenport.  “I think it’s unconscionable to allow a business with more than 2000 calls for service to remain open,” Paustian says. “House File 2340 will help cities deal with this public safety problem.”

Davenport officials made four unsuccessful attempts to get state officials to yank the liquor license for Shenanigans Irish Pub in downtown Davenport. The bar closed at the end of 2019 after the landlord terminated the lease. If the governor approves the bill, cities and counties could seek to a temporary court order to shut down bars where there’s been an assault, illegal use of guns or at least three riots over the course of a year.

(Radio Iowa) – The chief operating officer of the group which now owns the Field of Dreams movie site says the plans they have announced for development there will not take away from the past and future memories. The Thursday announcement of an 80 million dollar investment by “Go the Distance Baseball” has generated a lot of comments. C-O-O Dan Evans says they plan to build nine new ballfields, dormitories for teams, a hotel, and other phased-in improvements. “The Field of Dreams is a great place. And people have had some grand plans through the years and for whatever reason, it just didn’t come to fruition,” he says. “We wanted to make sure we were in a place where we could make an announcement knowing that this was going to move not only to the finish line but in a situation where it would be I think the greatest baseball softball destination in North America.”

He says they waited to make the announcement until they had all the design, engineering studies, renditions with the architects, and the financing questions answered. “We wanted to make sure the property looks and acts the same. So whoever wants to come to see the Field of Dreams movie site is not going to see a movie site that is compromised,” he says. The site came back into the national spotlight after Major League baseball held a game at a field built near the site. Evans says the landscape allows them to build there without impacting the image that fans already know.

“If you’re on the Field of Dreams movie site if you had been in the Major League stadium this year for the game, or in August, upcoming, you would not be able to see the build,” according to Evans. “And that was absolutely an urgent thing for us. We didn’t want to do anything that altered the pristine image of the Field of Dreams. And we believe we’ve accomplished that.” Evans says they want to eventually have the field become the home of high school state championship games. “We would love to we would love to be the site of the finals for both the baseball and the softball, high school tournaments here in Iowa. We want to be Iowa’s epicenter of baseball and softball,” he says.

Evans says that fits in with what they want to accomplish. “You know, we’re pushing our cards, our chips into the middle of the table, simply because we think what is there, is there a better venue than ours will be in the future. We’d love to share our facility with the youth of Iowa. And we can’t think of a better venue than that one,” Evans says. He says all the fields will be surrounded by corn to bring the feeling from to the original field to them. “We want to make baseball and softball a vehicle for kids to improve their character, learn agriculture experience, rural Iowa, but also perhaps see the game as a way to progress through a university education,” he says. “And then what we have is we have a better society, we have better kids that are able to contribute more.”

He says nine baseball-softball fields to the north end of the property will be ready for play in the summer of 2023.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, Friday (Today), reported on three arrests that took place this week. There were two arrests on Monday:

• At around 12-a.m., 42-year-old James Bernard Block, of Cumberland, was arrested in Adair on an Adair County warrant for Failure to Appear on a Theft in the 4th Degree charge (a Serious Misdemeanor). He was released Tuesday afternoon on a $1,000 cash or surety bond. Also arrested at the same time in Adair, was 42-year-old Brandon James Wilson, of Council Bluffs. He was wanted on an Adair County Felony warrant charging him with three counts of Burglary in the 3rd Degree. Wilson remains in the Adair County Jail on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.

At around 12-a.m. Tuesday, 30-year-old Bryan Dean Schultz, of Greenfield, was arrested in rural Greenfield on an Adair County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense (an Aggravated Misdemeanor). He was later released on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development says the labor force increased in March and the unemployment rate went down. The unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percent in March to three-point-three percent. I-W-D says the labor force increased by that same amount in March compared to February. The number of Iowans with a job was up by 10-thousand, which is more than 39-thousand more than one year ago. I-W-D says despite those positive numbers a different seasonally adjusted survey sent to employers shows 15-hundred jobs lost in March. The agency says this decline marked the first drop since August 2021 and was due to cutbacks in private service industries