(Radio Iowa) – Giving Iowa voters a chance to clarify the line of succession at the top of state government is on the legislature’s docket again this year. In 2018 when then-Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds took over as governor, the state’s attorney general said it appeared from his reading of the Iowa Constitution that Reynolds did not have authority to name Adam Gregg lieutenant governor. The House has approved a proposed amendment to Iowa’s Constitution making it clear new governors have the authority to appoint a new lieutenant governor. Critics like Representative Adam Zabner of Iowa City say the proposed amendment should include having at least 34 members of the Iowa Senate vote to confirm a new governor’s choice for the second highest position in state government.

“My concern is the lack of oversight from the legislature on who would be chosen for this position,” Zabner says. “For a position as important as lieutenant governor, I think it’s very important that the legislature have a say in at least confirming the appointment and making sure that it is a reasonable person.” Eighteen Democrats voted against the proposal. Representative Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny, was among the Democrats who joined Republicans to pass it. Matson says the proposed constitutional amendment is written in clear language for voters and other details could be outlined in state law. very understandable

“Personally I’m supporting this amendment because it still provides an option for a future legislation to establish by statute any additional requirements they would like to actually filling that vacancy,” Matson says. It takes a significant amount of time for lawmakers to propose an amendment to the state constitution and the discussion on this topic started in 2019. If the Senate approves the resolution House members approved this week, Iowans will vote on the proposed amendment in the 2024 General Election.

(Radio Iowa) – The Wright County community of Eagle Grove is remembering a tragedy that made worldwide headlines 50 years ago tonight (Thursday). An explosion rocked the downtown business district, leveling the Chatterbox Cafe, a Coast-to-Coast store and a jewelry story. Fourteen people were killed, including a firefighter and the son of former governor Robert Blue. In a 2010 interview, then-Eagle Grove Fire Chief Gary Lalor reflected on the catastrophe. “There was one person in the Coast-to-Coast store living in an upstairs apartment and I do believe there were 12 people in the cafe,” Lalor says. “If memory serves me, we had one firefighter died of a heart attack enroute to the call actually within a few feet of scene, so quite a tragedy.”

Firefighters from several area communities battled the flames through the night. The Iowa National Guard and the Iowa State Patrol assisted in the search and rescue effort for victims in the rubble. Cranes were used in the effort from nearby Fort Dodge. Lalor says it’s still unclear what caused the blast. “I don’t believe they ever came to an absolute set-in-stone reason for this,” he says. “The utility company reconstructed I think every piece of pipe out of all the buildings and I don’t believe they ever came to an absolute conclusion.”

Chief Lalor died in 2016. A plaque honoring the memory of the victims was placed on the outside wall of the Ben Franklin store in Eagle Grove in 1993. No formal ceremony is planned to remember the victims on this anniversary.

(Radio Iowa) – A central Iowa elder care facility is being fined after a resident endured something reminiscent of a horror story from Edgar Allan Poe. Multiple media outlets are reporting that the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Urbandale is being fined $10,000 by the state after a resident was mistaken for dead. Reports say the unidentified woman had been in ill health and was found by a staffer early on January 3rd with open eyes and no detectable pulse or breathing.

The woman was placed in a body bag and taken to a funeral home, where she was found, about an hour later, still alive and gasping for air. She was rushed to the hospital and was eventually returned to the care center, where she died two days later.

ATLANTIC, IOWA – In January, the American Heart Association launched HeartCorps, a new initiative in conjunction with AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cass Health was selected as a host site for HeartCorps and is pleased to welcome Killy Buliche to this new role.

Buliche is employed by the American Heart Association as a HeartCorps Service Member and works alongside Cass County Public Health to support our local Pacific Islander community in preventing and managing chronic diseases through education and interventions. Over the next year, she will work to strengthen and supplement efforts to drive health equity, including controlling blood pressure, improving nutrition security, reducing tobacco use, and promoting health and wellbeing in our local Pacific Islander community.

Photo cutline: The Atlantic Public Library invited Cass County Public Health to display information for American Heart Month. HeartCorps Service Member Killy Buliche shows off the heart health information that is presented in English, Spanish, and Chuukese.

“I really like to help other people in our community and to make them healthy. I like to help – that’s how I am,” said Buliche. She is originally from the Micronesian island of Lekinoch and has lived in Atlantic for almost 20 years.

According to the American Heart Association, nearly half of all Americans have high blood pressure. People living in rural areas and under-resourced communities face the highest death rates due to hypertension. Heart disease is the number one killer worldwide, with strokes ranking second. The goal of HeartCorps is to help meet public health needs of local communities by providing support to communities who are underserved, as well as providing pathways to good quality public health-related careers.

Update #2: On 02-02-23 at 10:00am the Council Bluffs Police Department received information from the Shreveport Louisiana Police Department that they have Devin Akins in custody. At this time all suspects involved in the case have been arrested.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – An official with the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division today (Thursday), reported three people wanted in connection with a murder investigation, have been taken into custody. At around 6:30-p.m., Wednesday, 20-year-old Angelina Michaelson, of Council Bluffs, turned herself-in to authorities, and was being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail. At around 6:30-a.m. today (Thursday), 19-year-old Trebor Carman, and 20-year-old Dontre Hudson, were arrested by the Southwest Iowa Fugitive Task Force, at a location in Omaha. Both were transported to Douglas County, NE. Corrections, and are awaiting extradition to Council Bluffs. One other suspect, 30-year-old Devin Adkins, remains at Large. (No photo available)

Three other suspects, who are 20-years of age, were also arrested, as we previously announced. They include: Keshawn Houtz-Mayfield; Traavon Thomas and Treianna Hudson. All of the suspects are from Council Bluffs. Each of the suspects face Felony charges of 1st Degree Murder and Robbery in the 1st Degree. The charges are the result of the January 8, 2023 shooting of 19-year old Tucker Dobberstein, who was found inside of an apartment, shot in the chest.

If you have any information regarding the location of the remaining suspect, Devin Atkins, please contact your local law enforcement agency.

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(Atlantic, Iowa) – The seven member Cass County Compensation Board will meet 7-p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in the basement meeting room at the Cass County Courthouse, in Atlantic. The Board will elect officers for their Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary.

Afterward, they will discuss compensation of elected officials, followed by consideration and action on compensation recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.