COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – A man from Henderson, Iowa, 39-year-old Garret Allen Horgdal, was sentenced Tuesday, January 31, 2023, to 84 months in prison following his plea of guilty to being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. After he is released from prison, Horgdal will serve three years of supervised release.

On March 8, 2022, a Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputy stopped Horgdal and found him in possession of three loaded firearms. Horgdal was prohibited from possessing any firearms because of his prior felony convictions and his drug use.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, Mills County Sheriff’s Department, and Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement investigated the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – Officials with the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa report 24-year-old Christopher Logan Meadows, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced Tuesday (January 31, 2023), to 37 months in prison following his plea of guilty to being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. After he is released from prison, Meadows will serve three years of supervised release.

On January 17, 2022, law enforcement was called to Harrah’s Casino and encountered Meadows. Meadows ran from officers and threw something on the roof of a car wash, which was later located and identified as a Glock .45 caliber handgun. Meadows was prohibited from possessing firearms because he is a felon and was a drug user.

The Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case, which is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans on the House Education Committee have voted to require Iowa’s three public universities to explain terms and concepts used in courses taken by students who plan to be teachers. Republican Representative Skyler Wheeler of Hull says if the bill is approved by both the House and Senate, the report would be due at the end of this month. “I could see why they don’t want to talk to us about what anti-racist and anti-oppressive teaching and learning is,” Wheeler said as he read other phrases in the bill aloud. “…Equitable science teaching — I’m actually very curious to know what that is.”

The bill also calls for a new legislative committee to be established this summer to review the reports from the Colleges of Education at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I. Democrats opposed the bill. Representative Mary Madison of West Des Moines says the bill is hostile toward teachers. “It’s hard to recruit people who will stay because just as a teacher, it’s like you don’t believe (and suspect): ‘They must be up to something,'” Madison said. Representative Art Staid of Cedar Rapids accused Republicans of going on a witch hunt. “There was a guy by the name of McCarthy that did similar things and looked into everything everywhere,” Staid said, referring to televised hearings U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy led in the 1950s to question people he accused of being communists. “…Is this the road we’re going to continue to go down?”

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says college students complain to him they’re being indoctrinated with liberal concepts. “Can’t wait to hear the definition of compulsory sexuality and how that is used in an educational setting. Can’t wait,” Holt said. “Not a witch hunt, just interested.”

In 2021, Holt and other Republicans accused the dean of the University of Iowa Dental School of suppressing comments from conservative students in a group email about diversity training. The dean publicly apologized and retired a year earlier than planned.

(Radio Iowa) – A Delhi church is supporting the Amish community following a deadly crash last week that left four members dead. Pastor Keith Pitts of the Delhi United Methodist Church, says he was notified of the accident right away. “Over the course of the two few days, I received multiple calls from people in Delaware County in the community, saying, ‘Pastor, what can we do? How can we help? ‘,” Pitts says. Twenty-two-year-old Ervin Borntreger of Delhi died in the crash on Highway 20 in Grundy County, along with his one-year-old son Marlin Borntreger. Two other family members, two-year-old Rebecca Borntreger and four-year-old Emma Borntreger, also died, while nine other passengers were injured. Pitts was a friend of Ervin Borntreger and says he went to the head of the Amish community to see what they could do to help.

“They’d been inundated with food and all kinds of other things they can they told me that even though they wouldn’t come out and actually say it, they can definitely use some financial support and help. And so they had gotten permission for our church to do some fundraising,” he says. They raised more than five-thousand dollars in less than 24 hours. Pitts says he attended the wake on Monday and met with the family, letting them know that help was coming their way – and they’re very grateful.

“They’re all doing fine. They’re all recovering. But obviously, this is a pretty traumatic, has a pretty traumatic impact on the Amish community and on our community here,” Pitt says. “It’s eye-opening, you know, about how fragile life is.” Pitts says as of Tuesday, one person still remained in the hospital, but everyone else had been released – including Ervin’s wife, who was able to make it to her husband’s wake. He says the church hired Ervin when they needed new windows put in. “He was just a very, very kind man, you know, for 22 years old. He’s a very mature man, a man deeply rooted in his faith and his cultural beliefs, but very committed to working hard, and just being kind to everyone, and being a friend to everyone. I’m gonna miss him a lot,” Pitts says. Donations have been coming in from all over the state. Pitts says that the outpouring of love has been heartwarming to witness. He says it is important to continue the support.

“The most important thing we can do is pray for these families and just pray for their homes and, in their healing, both physically and emotionally. This is a huge, huge tragedy, and no parent should have to outlive their child, especially so young,” he says. Pitts says there are several ways you help out the family. Monetary donations can be made at the Delhi United Methodist Church, Heritage Bank in Delhi, and the Delhi Thrift Store.

There is also a Go Fund Me page at: https://gofund.me/508e9175

(Radio Iowa) – House Republicans are proposing a 106 million dollar increase in general state aid to public schools for the next academic year. That’s a three percent increase and it’s higher than Governor Reynolds and Republicans in the state senate have proposed. Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for the Urban Education Network AND the Rural School Advocates of Iowa, says it would be the second highest increase for public schools in 14 years. “So good that it’s the second highest,” Buckton says, “but you’re still going to hear from school leaders that it doesn’t meet what they need to continue to do the work of schools without some rearrangements of budget and rearrangements of staff.”

Buckton says schools with decreasing enrollment will be able to keep classroom teachers, but may have to cut the most expensive programs, like apprenticeships and fine arts. Dave Daughton, a lobbyist for the School Administrators of Iowa, says a five percent increase would maintain services. “A 3% increase for districts with declining enrollment is not a 3% increase because of the way the funding formula works,” Daughton says. “It means they may get some additional funding, but it won’t be 3% and in some cases it will be less than the prior year.” Over half of Iowa school districts have declining enrollment. Republican Representative Craig Johnson of Independence says the bill will be approved soon, to give school boards time to complete budget plans by April 15th.

“I know there’s a lot of ‘this and that’ that goes on with the funding for schools, but the important thing is it comes down to the bottom line,” Johnson says. “We are increasing funding.” The House G-O-P’s proposed funding increase for Iowa’s public school districts is roughly equal to the amount of money lawmakers expect private school parents will get in the coming year. The state-funded Education Savings Accounts will be available to low income parents who enroll a child in private school this fall.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday (today), approved the hiring of Gwendi Rice as Dispatcher/Jailer, at a rate of $18.50/hour. They also appointed Kaye Klemish as Summitt Township Trustee, and they accepted the resignation of Brad Wilson, Grand River Township Trustee. In other business, the Board authorized the Chair to sign a Child Abuse Prevention Grant Drawdown, and they acknowledged receipt of the Southern Iowa Trolley FY21 & FY 22 Audit.

Adair County Auditor Mandy Berg explained a proposed FY23 Maximum Tax Levy to KJAN News.

A public hearing on the FY 23 Proposed Maximum Tax Levy, was set for 9:15-a.m. February 22^nd.

The Adair County Supervisors approved County Engineer Nick Kauffman’s request for Wage Progression, with regard to Dave Spieker. And, they set the date and time of a Public Hearing to change the level of service on Elk Avenue in Summit Township and Kent Avenue in Richland Township, as Feb. 22^nd, at 9:20-a.m.

(Radio Iowa) – There’s been a rash of mass shootings nationwide lately, including last week in Des Moines where two teenagers were killed and an adult was wounded in what police say was a gang-related incident. Five shooting rampages in Iowa, California and Washington left 24 people dead in less than a week. Iowa U-S Senator Chuck Grassley calls the slayings tragic.  “This sort of violence is just indisputably wrong. We can’t tolerate this sort of thing. We’ve got to concentrate on the people doing the killing, and protect the constitutional right to own firearms.”

On Tuesday, police say a man carrying an A-R-15-style rifle and 13 full clips of ammunition walked into an Omaha Target store and started firing. Law officers responded quickly, shot and killed the suspect and miraculously, no one else was even injured. Grassley was asked if he sees any possible solutions coming at the federal level that could curb the killings. “It’s very important that we take advantage of all the things that were in the bill that passed last year to stop gun violence,” Grassley says, “particularly the emphasis upon making sure that people that have mental health issues, that their name is in the databank and they can’t legally buy a gun.”

Grassley says significant efforts are being made to prevent people who might be a threat from getting a firearm, at least legally. “When people illegally get guns, I don’t know how you pass a law against people just breaking the law,” Grassley says, “and I’ll bet you in most of these killings, people have their guns illegally.”

There were six homicides in Des Moines during January, all six involved guns.