Black Hawk County

It's pressuring a landfill that could reach capacity in 10 to 13 years.

The agency is looking to haul trash to Black Hawk County or other regional facilities.

This could mean higher prices for residents.

Because, you know, the further away that you have to take it, you know, the cost goes up just from the hauling alone.

Sand and Iowa Democrats have called attention to Lane's travel between Iowa and Kansas to spend time with what he called his blended family and financial and legal issues involving his running mate, state legislator Derek Wolf of Hudson.

According to court documents, Wolf and his Blackhawk County farm have been the subject of at least four legal proceedings since 2025.

The various proceedings addressing unpaid obligations totaling nearly $1 million included outstanding payments on mortgages, loans, livestock, services, and products.

Most of those cases have been settled or dismissed, and the Lane campaign told the Des Moines Register that all Wolfe's debts have been paid in full.

In some parts of the country, blue-spotted salamanders are all over the place, but in Iowa, the species is endangered.

It exists only in Black Hawk and Linn Counties, and the salamanders there are genetically distinct from the blue-spotted ones anywhere else.

Iowa Public Radio's Gavin McGough joined a salamander hunt at a state park near Waterloo to learn more about an effort to conserve the creatures.

92.421 degrees west.

Some of them are more dark than others, but some of them have some, some pretty vibrant blue spots on them all over their, their back and their sides and their feet, and they just look like a little tiny little, uh, little salamander that lives under logs.

It hasn't always been hard to find a blue spotted.

Amy Davison manages the Hartman Reserve Nature Center, a Black Hawk County park across the Cedar River from George Wyth.

People used to see blue spotted salamanders all over Hartman, and that was one of the reasons why they wanted to start this project was they kinda disappeared and we were like, "What happened? Where did they all go?"

So yeah, they had asked me, I was asked to put my name in to run.

So District 3, I'm sitting in the, I sit in the very southwest corner of Black Hawk County, and Black Hawk County happens to be the very southwest corner of the northeast district, which is District 3 for Iowa Corn.

I went down in August for orientation, and that allowed me to sit in on the last, uh, board meeting for the current directors and get me up to speed.

I obviously didn't have any vote at that time, but, uh, having been elected, I took over September 1st.

A judge granted WCF's petition to appoint a receiver to take over Wolf's home and farm on September first.

WCF officials also filed a report of potential fraudulent activity against Wolf with the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office in February over how he allegedly disposed of livestock.

In a January letter to Wolf's father-in-law, former Iowa Cattlemen's Association president David Petty, a WCF attorney alleged that Wolf was selling cattle in Petty's name.

WCF has a security interest in Wolf's livestock, and the bank's attorney wrote that selling the animals under Petty's name would be tantamount to theft.

Petty denied the allegation to the Register in August.

He said at the time that he had not received the letter from WCF's attorney, despite the bank filing a document in court that confirmed delivery of the letter to Petty's home.

According to a farm receiver's report filed in Black Hawk County on October second, Petty and Wolf kept their cattle together on Petty's pastures and, and neither has marked who owns which livestock.

Petty did not respond to calls seeking comment the week of October fifth.

Concern about the condition of the cattle on Wolf's farm and also big discrepancies in the livestock count.

The receiver who does work for Hertz Farm Management expressed, quote, concerns regarding the condition and welfare of the cattle, particularly those located in Blackhawk County, because the animals lack adequate shelter as winter approaches, end quote.

And the receiver asked the court to provide direction regarding selling off some of these livestock as quickly as possible before weather conditions deteriorate because some of them don't have adequate shelter.

Another line from this receiver's report, quote, the cattle appeared to be in poor physical condition and inadequately nourished.

No shelter was observed and the pasture and lot were extremely muddy, end quote.

This was on Derek Wolf's property in Blackhawk County.

And there were pictures, included photographs, that that showed cattle that appear to be not getting enough food.

The receiver also pointed to some big discrepancies in the livestock inventory.

When I talk to people, they don't realize what we're doing now.

So last year, Brett Barker, who is my house district representative, former mayor of Nevada- Decided that they've been trying to do this for a while, but decided it was important that Story County, Blackhawk County and Johnson County, which all have state universities in them, should go to districts to elect their local representation.

Always done at large, as far as I know.

And it was just, in my opinion, it's a Republican grab for more power because they don't