The cause of a fire in Anita late Tuesday (March 9th) was unknown, as of the last report. Firefighters from Anita and Wiota were dispatched to the scene at 306 Elm Street, at around 11:49-a.m.  Dispatch reports indicated the residents were out of the home and safe. Anita Fire Chief Josh Peach said the fire caused minimal damage to a patio on the back of the home, and no damage to the house itself. No injuries were reported.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican lawmakers are blasting Ames school officials for material used in a Black Lives Matter Week of Action in the district. Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann, of Wilton specifically cites online resources for teachers that classify voter I-D laws as voter suppression. “You’re indoctrinating kids with this garbage,” Kaufmann said, “and so I want to know how you can justify presenting one side of a blatantly wrong viewpoint.” G-O-P lawmakers called four officials from the Ames district to the statehouse for a House Oversight Committee hearing.

Anthony Jones, the district’s equity director, says the goal was to affirm black and L-G-B-T-Q students and improve their mental health and academic outcomes. “Letting them know that we see them, we hear them, we care about them,” he said, “and we appreciate them.” Representative Holly Brink, a Republican from Oskaloosa, says some of the L-G-B-T-Q material discussed in Ames classrooms was not age appropriate, making some children confused and unsettled.

“I do care about the mental health of our children, their mental welfare and when I hear individuals and children suffering, it concerns me a great deal,” Brink said. “…I just hope that you learn it’s education, not indoctrination.” Representative Rick Olson, a Democrat from Des Moines, says state regulations direct schools to take steps to integrate students.

“As a lawyer, I don’t hear anything coming from the table that the Ames school district did something wrong or illegal,” Olson says. The statehouse hearing lasted nearly two hours. Three Republicans mentioned police officers in Ames saying their children are being bullied at school and one had their car vandalized. An Ames School Board member asked G-O-P lawmakers to forward these and other complaints they’re receiving, with names redacted.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has approved a bill that would remove the requirement that license plates be attached to the front bumpers of SOME vehicles. Front plates would still be required on commercial vehicles, like semis and delivery trucks, but antique vehicles and newer, luxury vehicles that require gluing or drilling into the bumper to mount a plate would be exempt.

“The rest of the cars, the vast majority of cars, are still going to have a plate.” That’s Dan Zumbach, of Ryan, one of 29 senators who voted for the bill. Seventeen senators opposed the move. Senator Kevin Kinney of Oxford, a retired Johnson County Sheriff’s deputy, says a front license plate is a tool for law enforcement.

“I can think of at least three investigations which were serious investigations in which we were able to apprehend the suspect because of the front license plate,” Kinney says. Kinney says one was a convenience store robbery and the other two were bank robberies where the front license plates were recorded on security footage the crime scene. Another senator said the bill would be a financial hit for a company in Marion that makes license plate frames for front bumper plates. If the bill becomes law, police would not be able to make traffic stops solely on the basis of a missing front license plate.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office released a lengthy report on arrests and incidents dating back to February 26th.

• On March 7, 2021 the Page County Sheriff’s Office arrested Steven William Wells (51) of College Springs, IA. on a Page County Warrant for 3 counts of Violation of Probation. Wells was arrested at a residence in Clarinda, IA. Wells was transported to the Page County Jail where he was booked in on $10,000.00 bond pending further court proceedings.
• On March 5, 2021 the Page County Sheriff’s Office arrested Tamara Melinda Humphrey (48) of Atlantic, IA for Driving under suspension. Humphrey was arrested near the intersection of North Center Street and West Lowell Avenue in the city limits of Shenandoah, IA during a traffic stop. Humphrey was transported to the Page County Jail where she was booked into jail pending further court proceedings. The Shenandoah Police Department assisted the Sheriff’s Office at the scene.
• On March 3, 2021 the Page County Sheriff’s Office arrested Brandon C. Davidshofer (35) of Omaha, NE on a valid Page County Warrant for OWI 2nd Offense. The warrant was issued in 2014. Davidshofer was arrested at 500 Main St in Coin, IA. He was transported to the Page County Jail and held on $2000.00 cash only bond and booked in for holding pending further court proceedings.
• On March 1, 2021 the Page County Sheriff’s Office arrested Alexandria Gabrielle Miller (25) of St. Joseph, MO on a valid Page County Warrant for Violation of Probation at the Page County Sheriff’s Office. Miller was unable to post the $10,000.00 bond and was booked into the Page County Jail pending further court proceedings.
  On March 1, 2021 at approximately 2:49 PM the Page County Sheriff’s Office initiated a traffic stop on a 2016 Chevrolet Equinox on HWY 71 near 290th Street for a traffic violation. During the Traffic stop, Jill Ann Thieman (48) of rural Braddyville, IA was arrested for OWI 1st Offense. Thieman was transported to the Page County Jail where she was booked in pending further court proceedings.
• On February 26, 2021 the Page County Sheriff’s Office arrested Steven William Wells (51) of College Springs, IA for Driving while license is Barred. The arrest stems from a traffic stop in College Springs, IA. Wells was transported to the Page County Jail where he was booked in pending further court proceedings.

That same day (Feb. 26th), at around 11:07 PM, Page County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a motor vehicle accident on the HWY 2 Bridge over the Nodaway River. This is approximately 1 mile east of Clarinda, IA. The Deputies located Clara Sue Davison (29) of rural Clarinda, IA near the accident scene. The vehicle, a 2012 Dodge Journey, is registered to Darren Davison of the same address in rural Clarinda, IA.

Clara Davison stated that she was not driving the vehicle and didn’t know who was when the vehicle that was traveling east on HWY 2 crossed the center line of the bridge and struck the north railing prior to coming to rest in the westbound lane of the bridge. Davison was transported to Clarinda Regional Health Center by Clarinda Ambulance service with unknown injuries.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Clarinda Police Department, the Clarinda Fire Department, and the Clarinda Ambulance Service. Clara Davison was cited into the Page County Magistrate on charges of Public Intoxication. Damage to the Davison vehicle was estimated at $14,500. Damage to the bridge is estimated at $6,000.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An organization representing Iowa’s Hispanic population has filed a lawsuit to challenge a new Iowa voting measure passed with only Republican votes a day after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it into law. The League of United Latin American Citizens is represented by Washington-based voting rights lawyer Marc Elias in the lawsuit filed in state court in Des Moines. The law shortens time for voters to cast mail ballots, reduces days voters can request a ballot and shortens the time polls are open on Election Day. The lawsuit claims it creates an undue burden on the fundamental right to vote citing numerous violations of voters’ constitutional rights.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa journalist recounted getting pepper sprayed and arrested while covering a protest for racial justice last year, testifying in her own defense at her widely-watched trial on charges stemming from the incident. Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri told jurors she was running away from a scene where riot police had shot tear gas to disperse protesters outside a mall in Des Moines, Iowa. She said that after she rounded the corner of a Verizon store, she saw an officer charging at her and she put her hands up and said she was press. She said she was grabbed, pepper sprayed and arrested anyway. Sahouri and her former boyfriend are charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts. Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Wednesday.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A 33-year-old Georgia man has been sentenced for using information from dozens of University of Iowa employees to obtain federal tax refunds. Federal prosecutors say Edoghogho Collins Oloton, of Sandy Springs, Georgia, was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say Oloton worked with other people to launder dozens of money orders bought with the fraudulent tax refunds. The scheme netted more than $60,000 from tax refunds from University of Iowa employees. More than $1.4 million in illegal funds passed through bank accounts associated with the scheme between February and April 2015.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A 24-year-old man is facing life in prison after being convicted of killing a 4-week-old child in 2018. A Fayette County jury on Tuesday convicted Dean Alan Hettinger, of Westgate, of first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. Prosecutors say 4-week-old Holten Smith was hospitalized in Sumner in April 2018. KCRG-TV reports the child died a month later. Doctors said he had a brain bleed and an autopsy found 36 rib fractures. Hettinger was one of the child’s caretakers. He faces a mandatory life sentence plus up to 50 years when he is sentenced.

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is preparing the Missouri River reservoirs for spring runoff and potential flooding — which is expected to be minor-to-moderate this spring. Kevin Low, a hydrologist with the Missouri Basin River Forecast Center, says the mountain snowpack normally peaks in the next few weeks, just before the start of spring.

“We’ve usually accumulated about 80% of the seasonal peak snow-water equivalent in the mountains and so the mountain contributions to the 2021 runoff season is coming into focus,” Low says. “Our March water supply forecast suggests a below-normal runoff season covering April through September.” Low says the risk of flooding for the coming spring is very low.

“Flood risk for the Missouri basin is lower than normal,” Low says, “given the dry soil conditions, lack of Plains snow, and average to lower-than-average mountain snowpack.” Low says the flood forecast is nothing out of the ordinary, which is a good thing.

“The outlook indicates the likelihood of minor to moderate flooding along the Little Sioux River in northwest Iowa as well as minor to moderate flooding in the lower portion of the basin,” Low says. “The Missouri River itself is likely to see minor flooding from Rulo, Nebraska, downstream. All of this is very typical.” The Corps of Engineers is predicting Missouri River runoff at about 80-percent of normal this year.