Home Care In Montezuma, IN

Grab your battered fedora and dig with us through history. Steven Spielberg, Javier Bardem and Steven Zaillian are reviving their planned take on Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes, switching venues from the big screen to a miniseries backed by Amazon.

Still based on a script by famously blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, the project, once called Montezuma and now known more simply as Cortes, focuses on the brutal historical confrontation between Cortes and Aztec leader Montezuma in 1519 after the former led an incursion into Mexico. Pushing through the area looting the riches and bringing smallpox and disease in his wake, Cortez was eventually captured and held as a prisoner/guest by Montezuma. He managed to turn the tables, though, making the Aztec leader his puppet as his forces began devastating attacks on the Aztec population, leading to Montezuma’s death at the hands of his own countrymen. Later, it appears that he fathered a son on Montezuma's daughter after she had been converted to Christianity, married to a series of Spanish noblemen and widowed several times.

"It is a privilege to tell this epic story – one that is full of drama and conflict within this huge, historical spectacle where two distant civilizations clash at the height of their reign," Bardem says in a statement. "The best and worst of human nature came to life in all its light and darkness. As an actor, there is no better challenge than to serve such a unique project that I have been passionate about for years, and I am thrilled to be working with this dream team of Steven Spielberg, Steven Zaillian and Amazon."

When it was a film in 2014, Spielberg was considering directing. It's not yet known if he'll be more than a producer on the series, but Bardem will star and Zaillian has been at work on a new version of the script, splitting the story across four episodes.

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Reigning for nearly 30 years at the beginning of the 15th century, Montezuma consolidated and expanded the Aztec dominion to its greatest point in history before his grandson, Montezuma II, lost it all to Cortes. Unlike previous games, however, the Aztecs will initially only be available at launch to players that pre-ordered the game; they will unlock for everyone else free of charge after 90 days.

The Aztecs’ unique ability is that their builders can rush the construction of districts. That’s certainly nice, though not especially exciting in and of itself. However, it makes much more sense once you factor in their unique unit, the Eagle Warriors. While previous Civ games featured the other elite Aztec class, the vicious Jaguar Warriors, Eagle Warriors (who also replace the basic warrior unit) distinguished themselves by being exceptionally good at capturing slaves. Eagles then turn defeated enemies into builders for your empire. Note that this does not work on barbarians, however.

Montezuma’s leadership ability, Gifts for the Tlatoani, helps keep up your empire’s happiness during all of that aggressive expansion by boosting luxury resources. Empire-wide happiness has been eliminated in favor of local city happiness. This is driven by a new resource, amenities, which can be generated by buildings and luxury resources. Aztec luxuries generate additional amenities for nearby cities, not just the one where they reside. Each different, improved luxury resource within the Aztec empire also boosts the fighting power of the military.

Finally, the Aztec unique building is the Tlachtli, a sports arena in the entertainment district. It generates amenities, faith, and great general points for the Aztecs. Included in the pre-order bonus is also a new wonder, which will be available to all civs. Huey Teocalli is a step pyramid which served as the center of human sacrifice for the Aztecs. It’s not yet clear what effect the wonder will have, but, presumably, it will generate at least faith, perhaps related to killing enemy units.

The Aztecs are clearly designed for early game warmongering. Eagle Warriors give them a fighting advantage right out of the gate, and the extra builders acquired as slaves, in concert with their ability to boost the building of districts, creates a feedback loop between conquering enemies and accelerating your own city construction. Montezuma’s ability to get more out of luxury resources helps keep happiness up to support all that aggressive expansion.

Capital Clicks

A project led by Iowa State University researchers will receive funds from the U.S. Department of Energy to help the city of Montezuma set up the state’s first electricity microgrid, which will reduce electricity costs in the community.

The project, proposed by the researchers and Montezuma Municipal Light & Power, would build a “small-scale electricity network,” replace aging substations and other equipment and put in two electric vehicle chargers, according to a news release.

The microgrid would generate power through solar panels and a battery storage system, and can work both independently and as part of the larger grid.

This project is one of 17 chosen for award negotiations through the Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas program, according to a Department of Energy news release, with programs based in 20 states and 30 tribal nations.

Project leaders are asking for about $9.5 million in federal funding. With an additional $2.4 million in funding from Montezuma and ISU, the total project investment totals almost $12 million.

According to the release, the project will take around four years to complete. Zhaoyu Wang, project leader and ISU associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, said in an email they hope to start the project in late 2024 or early 2025.

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Wang said the microgrid project will serve as a model for rural utilities, modernizing the community’s power system and offering more reliability and resistance.

“This is so much more than an R&D project because it will directly benefit more than 1,400 Montezuma residents and generate significant impacts on surrounding counties,” Wang said in the release. “It shows Iowa State University is working to bring real benefits to Iowans and boost local economies.”

Once in operation, the microgrid will generate 3 megawatts of renewable energy to local communities, county offices and small businesses, according to the release. Energy costs are estimated to drop by 18%, shrinking transmission costs by 34% and energy purchases by 3.5 gigawatt hours.

Montezuma Municipal Light & Power will also save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, the release stated.

“This is a huge benefit for our customers and for local economic development because it provides long-term rate stability from the solar and the battery energy storage systems,” said Montezuma Municipal Light & Power Superintendent Kevin Kudart in the release. “Our reliability will increase with the new, more modern switchgear, and our outage time will be reduced by having new controls. And we’ll promote good customer relations by providing vehicle charging stations.”

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Jury trials resumed earlier this week in both district and county courts in the 22nd Judicial District, which includes Montezuma and Dolores counties.

The pandemic forced a near-total suspension of jury trials in the district and in Colorado through orders from former Colorado Supreme Chief Justice Nathan B. Coats and 22nd Judicial District Chief Judge Douglas Walker.

With vaccines becoming more widespread, Walker adopted a plan this month to resume in-person jury trials with added safety protocols.

The potential jurors go through a health screening, are required to wear masks, and are kept separated. During jury selection the jury pool, which can reach more than 100 people, are divided in different rooms with a video feed of the jury selection process.

Trials can be watched by the public via a live feed at Montezuma County Court webpage. The first trial since March 2020 was held this week.

The selected six-person or 12-person jury is spread out in the courtroom during the case, rather than all in the jury box. During the trial, printed copies of evidence must be shown electronically, rather than passed around to jurors. Witnesses testify in a box surrounded by Plexiglas, and the number of lawyers allowed for each side is limited.

Hundreds of cases are set for trial every year, and the pandemic court closure led to a backlog and “very full dockets” for the six prosecutors in the district attorney’s office, said Assistant DA Will Furse.

“It is a lot, but not insurmountable,” he said, of the caseloads. “We have been able to litigate and resolve cases throughout the pandemic.”

In a typical year, about 12 cases, about one per month, proceed to a trial. Judicial districts in larger cities are facing even larger trial backlogs.

In general, all other court cases continue to being held virtually over Webex, with defendants and lawyers tuning in via video conferencing for procedures, motions, testimony, hearings and sentencing. The format, which is also open for public viewing virtually, will continue for the time being.

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the courts closed down to avoid spread of the virus, then adjusted to hold virtual proceedings.

At Montezuma Combined Courts, restrictions were temporarily loosened in late summer that allowed cases to be held in person with a limited amount of people allowed in the courtroom. In November, all cases went back to being held in the virtual format because of the surge in cases.

Because of the pandemic restrictions and court limitations, county court summonses during the first half of the pandemic were also delayed for 90 days or longer. Now, the court is busy catching up on procedures and hearings for those cases.

The county court Wednesday docket for per se cases – the defendant does not have a lawyer – increased to 90 to 100, up from 30-40 prepandemic, Furse said.

To avoid violating the defendants’ right to a speedy trial within six months because of pandemic delays, the Colorado Judicial Department and Colorado Supreme Court had to adjust the rules.

In many cases, defendants who entered a not-guilty plea and were set for trial agreed to a continuance and waive right to a speedy trial.

But some defendants did not agree to the continuance, so special permission was granted to judges to declare a mistrial during a health crisis to avoid a speedy trial violation. After a mistrial, prosecutors have 90 days to hold the trial, or longer if the health crisis continues.

Furse said the mistrials option was declared by judges in the 22nd Judicial District in several cases because of the speedy trial situation caused by the pandemic, but most defendants agreed to the continuance.

He added the convenience of virtual court proceedings improved attendance of defendants who otherwise may have missed the court date because of lack of transportation, illness, job duties, or living out of the area.

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