A Council Bluffs man accused of 1st degree murder in connection with the shooting death of his wife, has appeared in court via closed-circuit video from the Pottawattamie County Jail. The Omaha World-Herald reports 55-year old Darwin Cox made no comment during his first appearance before a judge Friday morning. Cox was charged with the October 15th shooting death of his wife Millisa.

Court documents say Cox called several people the morning of the shooting to say he’d shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself, but officials said the wound he suffered was only superficial. The judge appointed an attorney for Cox, who remains in the Pott. County Jail on $500,000 bond. His next court appearance will take place Dec. 4th.

A man convicted in July 2009 on a charge of 3rd degree sexual abuse in Page County, was arrested early this (Saturday) morning near Red Oak.

Jeremiah Grayeagle

Montgomery County Sheriff’s officials say 28-year old Jeremiah Grayeagle, of Villisca, was arrested at around 12:45-a.m. on a warrant for sex offender area violation. Grayeagle was taken into custody at Mensa Corporation, about one-mile west of Red Oak. He was being held in the Montgomery County jail on $2,000 bond.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s officials say 28-year old Jeremiah Grayeagle, of Villisca, was arrested at around 12:45-a.m. on a warrant for sex offender area violation. Grayeagle was taken into custody at Mensa Corporation, about one-mile west of Red Oak. He was being held in the Montgomery County jail.Grayeagle is being held on $2,000 bond.

Police in Shenandoah have issued a warning to residents in the community about a man who is allegedly exposing himself to children. Police Chief Kris Grebert told the Omaha World-Herald a man thought to be in his mid-20’s, was driving a four-door gold colored car. He allegedly exposed himself to a young girl who was riding her bike. The incident occurred at around 2:30-p.m, Thursday.

Late last month, Shenandoah School Superintendent Jeff Hiser sent out an alert to parents about a man who exposed himself to students walking home from a bus stop. The vehicle the man was driving was described as a gold Chevrolet Malibu.

Republican Congressman Steve King says it’s too early to tell whether Texas Senator Ted Cruz has the kind of staying power to keep him in the hunt for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. “As I watch him and I listen to what he has to say — and we’ve had some intense, one-on-one conversations — he’s very well anchored in the fundamentals,” King says. “I do believe that he is a full-spectrum, constitutional conservative and there’s no question he’s a very smart guy, so we will see.” Cruz, who has been a senator since January, has catapulted into the national spotlight with his stand against “ObamaCare” and Cruz is due in northwest Iowa Saturday to hunt with King and speak at a King for Congress fundraiser in Le Mars.

King suggests Cruz realizes the “extraordinary ride” he’s been on in terms of garnering the public’s attention and the adoration from some activists within the G-O-P. “Anybody that steps up into the national arena and picks up all the press that a person like Ted Cruz is now and others have and will in the future, is that staying power — is it theirs or does the public lose its attention span?” King asks. About six-hundred Iowans have purchased tickets to hear Cruz speak at this evening’s Iowa G-O-P’s fundraiser in Des Moines. As for the reason Cruz gained the national spotlight this September and October, King says it’s unlikely Republicans will push again to “defund ObamaCare” in early 2014 when the temporary spending measure for government operations runs out and the country’s debt limit is reached.

“I don’t think the will to take that up again and have that kind of a showdown over a shutdown or a debt ceiling is going to happen in this congress,” King says. According to King, Republicans failed to act when they had their best shot at getting rid of “ObamaCare” in the first four months of 2011 after the Republican “wave” election of 2010. And King sees no “leverage point” in congress now to accomplish that goal before President Obama leaves office. “This is a very determined administration,” King says. “They’re already rolled in more than $600 million into trying to get a website up that works. They would put $2 or $3 or $5 or $10 billion into that to make that work. It is all hands on deck now. They will find a way to grind this thing into implementation.” If the Affordable Care Act is to be “undone,” King says more Americans will have to complain about health care premium increases. However, King isn’t sure that will happen.

“I think the American people won’t come to a sudden realization of how bad ObamaCare is. I think it’ll be dripped into them a few thousand people at a time until they’ve just accepted it,” King says. “That’s my concern and then if what happened in the United Kingdom back in the late 1940s happens here, I think the American people will slowly forget about the freedom they once had.” King made his comments during taping of the Iowa Public Television program “Iowa Press.”

(Radio Iowa)

Congressman Steve King says Republicans need to “respect” Congressman Tom Latham’s decision to support the deal that ended the government shutdown. Some Republicans, including Tea Party activists, have started talking about recruiting a candidate to challenge Latham in a Republican primary. “I can’t imagine me supporting that,” King says. “I’ve, as much as I can, stayed out of primaries, especially in the state of Iowa here.” King, a Tea Party favorite, voted against the deal, but Latham voted yes. “When you look at his voting record down the line, it’s been a solid conservative record,” King says. “And there are many places we can go to improve the House of Representatives without going to Tom Latham.”

Latham’s friendship with the top Republican in the House — Speaker John Boehner — plus Latham’s position on the powerful House Appropriations Committee are valuable assets for the state of Iowa, according to King. “He has his reasons for making his decision and I have mine for making mine and we want Tom Latham to be effective in his influence in the leadership circle in the House of Representatives,” King says. “If that’s a factor in his decision, then we should respect that.” King’s vocal opposition to immigration reform has prompted Republican insiders to suggest King himself might face a primary challenge from a pro-business conservative. King scoffs at that. “Rumors about a primary opponent? I think my antennae are pretty good and we can’t find a whisp of smoke of such a thing,” King says.

While long-time Republican Governor Terry Branstad and the Libertarians who are now the elected leaders of the Iowa G-O-P have had some very public spats, King isn’t picking sides. He’s casting himself as a sort of peacemaker. “I’ve been about the business of unifying this party and I don’t want to see the Republican Party marginalized. I don’t want to see the ‘Establishment’ wing pushed off. They have been an essential core of the Republican Party. They drive a lot of the economic agenda and, of course, they drive a lot of the fundraising side of this,” King says. “I don’t want to see the Libertarian side drift off of the other sides of this party because they are constitutionalists and they stand for the rule of law.”

King made his comments during a taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs this weekend on Iowa Public Television

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds will be in western Iowa this coming week. Next Friday (Nov. 1st), Reynolds will take a tour of Molded Products, in Harlan. The event begins at 10-a.m.  Reynolds will move on to take a tour of Sullivan Supply in Dunlap, at 11:30 that same day, and from there it’s on to Sioux City, where she will visit the Sioux Community Schools. Governor Branstad will appear at the Mapleton Community Center at 4-p.m. Friday, to learn about the communities’ tornado recovery efforts. Mapleton was hit by a massive EF-3 tornado on April 9, 2011. The twister wiped out most of the western half of town, and the community is still working to rebuild.