(Griswold, Iowa) — Officials with the Noble Initiatives Foundation in Griswold have announced the organization working to build a new childhood development center in Griswold, has received large grant to further their goal. According to NIF Board Member Steve Baier, the Foundation received a $500,000 grant through the Charles E. Lakin Foundation for their ongoing effort to raise nearly $2.6 million for a proposed 8,800-square-foot facility.

The funds will ensure completion of the facility, Baier said, which will be named the Charles E. Lakin Child Development Center of Griswold. Crews have been hard at work pouring the concrete for the foundation. When complete, the Lakin Child Development Center should be able to house nearly 100 children throughout the day, including those aged six weeks to four years old, and a separate area for before and after school care for elementary-age kids. The facility would also include four classrooms and a gym.

The childcare center will provide year-round child care, including full-time, drop-in, and before/after school care. It will be located south of the Griswold Elementary School.  Fundraising efforts for the center went public in July, 2022.

If construction goes smoothly, Baier says the hope is to have the facility up and running by the fall of 2023. An official groundbreaking is scheduled for March 25th. More information is available on the organization’s website and Facebook page.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Nebraska was arrested at around 10-p.m. Friday, in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Office reports deputies arrested 49-year-old Rafael Hernando, of Omaha, on an active Montgomery County warrant for driving while license suspended. Hernando was being held in the Montgomery County jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has set a goal of getting rid of the state income tax by the end of 2026, but Reynolds decided not to push for an interim step this year. “We would have probably taken a look at it this year, bringing it down just a little bit more, but I wanted to kind of take a look, just watch what was happening with the environment, with inflation and recession,” Reynolds said. “We would have, I think, been OK, but I just focused on education reform this year and then really taking a look at government and how we provide services to Iowans.”

Reynolds and the rest of the nation’s governors are meeting in Washington, D.C. this weekend and the governor made her comments at a forum today sponsored by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Reynolds, who is chair of the Republican Governors Association, said 15 of her fellow Republican governors are proposing tax reductions in their states this year. “The great thing about Republican governors is we’re very competitive,” Reynolds said, “…which means I’m going to have to continue to cut taxes for Iowans.”

Reynolds has signed three tax cut packages since taking office in mid-2017. The one she signed a year ago has ended state taxes on retirement income and will reduce Iowa’s individual income tax to a single rate of three-point-nine percent in 2026. “But it’s not just cutting taxes and I think we’ve had some states that have had some difficulty with that,” Reynolds said. “They cut taxes, but they didn’t keep state spending in check and therefore ran into some issues down the line.”

The state budget plan Reynolds presented the legislature in January would spend just 82% of the tax revenue the state is projected to collect in the next fiscal year.

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says the governor is in Washington, D.C. doing “a victory lap” for enacting policies that benefit corporations and wealthy Iowans.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department said Friday afternoon (2/10/23), that a man reported missing Thursday afternoon, was found deceased, during a search of Lake Manawa. A search of the lake early this morning resulted in the recovery of an ATV and helmet believed to belong to 33-year-old Nicholas James Erisman, of Council Bluffs. They were found in open water. The Midwest Dive Team responded to Lake Manawa and recovered Erisman’s body. Authorities say at this time, no foul play is suspected. The incident is being treated and an accident.

Nicholas Erisman

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The Council Bluffs Police Department and the family of a missing man are requesting your help in locating 33-year-old Nicholas James Erisman, of Council Bluffs. Erisman was last seen around noon on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. He was wearing a red, white and black ice fishing jacket. Nicholas was also wearing a red and white helmet, brown overalls and boots.

Nicholas left his residence riding his red ATV. He was believed to be heading to the area of Lake Manawa.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Shelby County Sheriff Neil Gross has issued a report on numerous arrests that took place between January 18, 2023 and Jan. 30, 2023. Beginning with the most recent arrests:

• On January 30th, 48-year-old Lester Eugene Rhodes Jr, of Woodbine, was arrested following a traffic stop on Linden Rd. Rhodes was transported to the Shelby County Jail and Charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, Keeping Vehicle or Premises for Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving while License Denied, Suspended, Canceled or Revoked. At the same time and place, 38-year Sara Ann Wilson, also of Woodbine, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
• There were two separate arrests on January 27th in Shelby County: 25-year-old Kaylee Renae Roach, of Lewis, was arrested on a Shelby County Warrant for Violation of Probation; And, 42-year-old Justin John Seigner, of Wall Lake, was arrested on a Shelby County Warrant for Failure to Serve Time.
• Two people were arrested January 21st, also on separate charges: 64-year-old Phalen Lloyd Green, of Omaha, NE was arrested following a traffic stop on Hwy 191. Green was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, Contraband in a Correctional Facility, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Keeping Premises or Vehicle for Controlled Substance, Failure to Maintain Control, and Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability; And, 37-year-old Zachary Thomas Scheffler, of Harlan, was arrested on several active Shelby County Warrants for Violation of Probation and Failure to Appear.
• 35-year-old Richard Dean Pierce III, of Red Oak, was arrested January 20th, on an active Shelby County Warrant. Pierce was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Theft 2nd.
• And, on January 18th, Shelby County Deputies arrested 37-year-old Tiffanie Ann Newcomb, of Kirkman, for Driving while Barred, Eluding, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Interference with Official Acts, Open Container, 2 counts Fail to Obey Stop Sign or Signal, and Failure to Use Seat Belt.

Note: Criminal charges are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – A man convicted by a jury in December on charges that include two felony counts of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree, was sentenced today (Friday), to 25-years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently. 59-year-old Allan Sievers, of Walnut, will be eligible for parole in 17 1/2-years.

Sievers was ordered to register with the State’s Sex Offender Registry upon release from his sentence for parole, probation or work release. He must also submit a DNA sample, and ordered not to have contact with the victim(s) for a period of five-years.

Online court records show Sievers’s jury trial on a Count 3 felony charge of Lascivious Acts with a Child will take place April 4, 2023, at 9:30-a.m. Two other charges of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree were dismissed by the Court, in Dec. 2022.

Sievers had been arrested on the four charges in Sept., 2020.