This is a must-watch episode of Southeast Iowa Today. John Bain sits down with Jefferson County supervisor candidate Jerry Leonard — a former Democrat now running as an Independent — and gets straight to why he left the two-party lane. Leonard says voters are fed up with both parties and that neither one is doing enough for ordinary people. At the county level, he argues, party label doesn’t matter. “When you vote for Jerry, you’re not voting for a party but an individual who will work for you.” He describes himself as “the most conservative Liberal you’ll ever meet and the most liberal Conservative you’ll ever know.” Topics include county organization, gender, data centers, solar, conservation, and the tax base. It all happened September 24, 2026.

A full week after the September 17, 2026 Henry County Board of Supervisors meeting, Kadie Johannson of KILJ used this show’s video to write her story—then spent more energy nitpicking the word “lawsuit” than explaining why the board accused Auditor Robin Detrick of withholding information.

This episode plays the meeting footage, compares same-week coverage from Tracy Lamm of the Burlington Hawkeye (who also described a civil liberties lawsuit tied to a former employee), and asks why terminology became the story while taxpayers still face the bill. Joe Buffington’s delayed retirement date is already costing the county. Whether the former employee’s civil liberties claim becomes a full lawsuit or is handled through ICAP, the public is on the hook.

The bigger issue isn’t a court case number. It’s what the board says it wasn’t told—and why local coverage arrived late, leaned on someone else’s video, and still didn’t go deeper.

John Bain reviews the August 31, 2026 Jefferson County Board of Supervisors meeting in which supervisors authorized ICAP to pay a lawsuit settlement that one supervisor described as $3,000. Public records and reporting indicate the actual payout was $250,000 in Osborn et al. v. Moulding et al., a civil-rights case over an alleged November 2024 warrantless search tied to a child-welfare complaint. Bain walks through Iowa Code Chapters 21 and 22 on open meetings and records, the sparse meeting minutes, the settlement terms (including restrictions on County Attorney Chauncey Moulding’s contact with one plaintiff), and why he argues taxpayers across participating ICAP counties have a stake in how the matter was handled.

John Bain reports from the Henry County Board of Supervisors meeting, where Planning & Zoning Director Joseph Buffington has left the county in a bind: he still has not provided a retirement date. That delay has already cost taxpayers an extra $25,400—a 29% increase in payments to RUSS. In other business, supervisors learned of a federal lawsuit filed against the county by former auditor’s office employee Blair Rosenbeck. The board is only now finding out. Why the delay? It all happened September 17, 2026.

On this episode of Southeast Iowa Today, John Bain wraps the 2026 cruise-in season at Your Choice Family Restaurant in Wayland. Fun crowd, cool cars, and a very orange 1969 Chevy Suburban. September 8, 2026.

Coming up on Southeast Iowa Today: September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month—a time to speak up, share resources, and break the silence around mental health. Host John Bain highlights warning signs such as hopelessness, withdrawal, and talk of ending one’s life, and reminds viewers that help is free, confidential, and available 24/7 at 988 or 988lifeline.org.Then J.J. Feehan and John Feehan join the conversation to talk about turning loss into action. They and their partners are bringing the 3rd Annual Pete’s Legacy Main Street Mile to downtown Mount Pleasant on Saturday, September 26, 2026—a community run that honors a friend’s memory and raises awareness for suicide prevention.

The Southeast Iowa Today America 250 Tour continues with a stop at the Flight 93 National Memorial. John Bain guides viewers through the 2,200-acre national park that honors the 40 passengers and crew who fought back against the terrorists on September 11, 2001, preventing a planned attack on the U.S. Capitol. What was once a working coal mine has been transformed into a serene landscape of healing and remembrance.