ROLFE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have confiscated homemade, chemical-based explosives from the home of a student in the northern Iowa town of Rolfe. Ron Humphrey of the State Fire Marshal Division says about a quarter pound of the explosive was found Thursday and that the material could have seriously injured someone, had it exploded.

Pocahontas County Sheriff Bob Lampe says an adult and a juvenile have been detained and will be charged. Classes in the Pocahontas Area Community School District were dismissed early Thursday afternoon as a precaution. Superintendent Joseph Kramer says there were no direct threats against the school, its students or staff members.

A traffic stop late Thursday night in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of a woman on a warrant out of Page County. According to Red Oak Police, an SUV driven by 35-year old Malissa Ann Bissell, of Red Oak, was pulled over at around 9:50-p.m. , on the 2400 block of Highway 48.

After officers learned Bissell was wanted for Theft in the 5th degree, they placed her under arrest and transported her to the Page County line, where one of their deputies took her to the jail in Clarinda. Bissell was being held in the jail on $300 bond.

Three southwest Iowa cities will save interest money over the life of loans for water quality projects. According to the Daily NonPareil, 27 cities will save a total $1.3 million through the state revolving fund interest rate reduction program. Carson, Malvern and Farragut received loan interest rate reductions from 3 percent to 1.75 percent. Carson will save more than $33,830 over the life of a water project loan, while Malvern will save over $29,180 on a project loan. In Farragut, the city will save a little over nearly $17,693 on a loan.

In total, the program has provided low-cost financing worth more than $2.3 billion to more than 500 Iowa cities. The state program allows communities to take on lower startup costs without needing a reserve. Assisted projects typically include upgrades or the construction of public wastewater or drinker water systems.

Officials say the ultimate goal is for those savings to translate to lower water rates for Iowa residents.

The two major party candidates for the U.S. Senate disagreed over some familiar issues during their third and final debate in Sioux City last night, but their argument over who had the “pure heart” of a devoted Christian sparked an intense exchange. Republican Joni Ernst brought it up first when a debate moderator asked what set her apart from Democrat Bruce Braley. “Soundbites do have consequences and I believe that I have a pure heart, willing to serve Iowans, where Congressman Braley behind closed doors has poked fun at our senior senator, Chuck Grassley,” Ernst said. “I don’t call that building bridges. I call that burning bridges, congressman.”

Braley immediately responded, saying he had apologized to Grassley and to Iowa farmers for his remarks at a Texas fundraiser in which Braley warned that Grassley — a farmer who isn’t a lawyer — would become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee if Republicans win the U.S.Senate. “So if you’re questioning my pure heart, senator, I can tell you that I’ve been an elder in my church. I’ve taught Sunday School to adults and children. I’ve never seen a corporation sitting next to me in the church pew and yet you believe that their interests outweigh those of women in Iowa when it comes to contraception,” Braley said.

Ernst replied: “Oh again, very misleading. I have said I support a woman’s right to contraception.” Ernst agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling which says some family-owned corporations like the Hobby Lobby chain do not have to provide their employees insurance that covers contraception if the family has religious objections. “But that doesn’t mean a woman can’t get reliable, safe birth control,” Ernst said. “She can still go to her doctor and receive birth control. It’s not outlawing birth control.”

Braley says no business should be able to select the types of contraception their employee insurance plans cover. “She supports a Supreme Court decision that allows employers to interfere with an individual woman’s health care decisions about her contraception,” Braley says. During a discussion about taxes, Ernst touched on her support for a “flatter, fairer, simpler” tax, like a national sales tax instead of a federal income tax.”I say, ‘Scrap the IRS,'” Ernst said. “Let’s start all over again.” Braley replied. “Senator Ernst’s answer to everything is ‘Scrap it.’ Scrap the IRS. Get rid of it. Get rid of the Department of Education. Get rid of the EPA.” And Ernst responded.

“I don’t believe in a bloated federal bureaucracy,” Ernst said. “We need to return a lot of that power to the states.” The candidates began the debate by addressing concerns about Ebola and both said it may be necessary to temporarily ban flights into the U.S. from west Africa. Midway through the debate both candidates denounced the negative campaign advertising swamping Iowa’s airwaves. Braley supports efforts to reign in the outside spending, but Ernst says they’re “exercising political free speech” and “that’s a right.”

The debate was held at Morningside College in Sioux City and sponsored by T-V stations K-C-A-U in Sioux City and W-O-I in Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa)