Voters in Fremont County this week overwhelmingly approved a $5.5-million bond issue to pay for the construction of a new law enforcement center/jail. According to the Daily NonPareil, 20-percent of the registered voters turned out for the special election, and more than 72-percent agreed it was time for the county to have a new jail and law enforcement facility.

The current jail is more than 124-years old, and has been cited by State inspectors for not being handicapped accessible, and for its inability to adequately separate sentenced and non-sentenced prisoners. And, since there isn’t enough space to segregate male and female inmates and juveniles, the latter two types of individuals must be sent elsewhere.  Another problem faced by the current Fremont County Jail…which was built in 1889…is the settling of the foundation, which creates more problems with jail cell doors opening and closing properly.

In addition to Fremont County, Adair, Mills and Montgomery counties have all passed bond issues to replace old facilities in recent years.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Senate Democrats are offering modifications to a Medicaid expansion proposal. They say they’d waive doctor co-pays for patients who get annual physicals and choose healthy behaviors to better align with Republican plans. Republican Representative Walt Rogers calls the changes tweaks.

CAMBRIDGE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified the body of a man found in a central Iowa farm field. Barton Tingley was found Thursday in a rural area about seven miles southeast of Cambridge. The county medical examiner will perform an autopsy today to determine the cause of death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is close to breaking a state record for the longest stretch without a reported tornado. It’s been 349 days since a tornado touched down in the state. Officials call the streak impressive because digital technology and spotter networks today are so comprehensive.

GRAND JUNCTION, Iowa (AP) — An eastbound coal train and westbound train carrying cargo containers collided yesterday. The wreck derailed 35 train cars. Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says there are no injuries.

GRAND JUNCTION, Iowa (AP) — Union Pacific Railroad is updating information from a morning collision between two trains in central Iowa. An eastbound coal train and westbound train carrying cargo containers collided Thursday morning derailing 13 coal cars and 22 cars of the intermodal cargo train —which carries ocean-going containers on flatbed cars. That’s more train cars than originally reported. Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says there are no injuries.

The crash shut down a section of the company’s mainline track near Grand Junction about 60 miles northwest of Des Moines. The cause of the 6:20 a.m. collision is not immediately clear.

Davis says the derailment has halted traffic on main tracks between Chicago and the company’s Iowa and Nebraska destinations. Trains are being detoured. Cleanup is expected to be finished late Friday.

A man from Pottawattamie Couty was sentenced today (Thursday) to 10 years in prison on a methamphetamine charge. 50-year old John Theodore Beaman, Sr., of Council Bluffs, was sentenced in United States District Court in Council Bluffs on a charge of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Senior United States District Court Judge Robert W. Pratt sentenced Beaman to 120 months in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Beaman was also ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment for the Crime Victim Fund.

Beaman remained in the custody by the United States Marshal’s Service pending designation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons facility at which he will serve his sentence. Beaman was sentenced based upon his plea of guilty, which was entered on February 8th, 2013. Beaman was sentenced for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in and around Council Bluffs, Iowa, from late 2009 to July of 2011. During the course of the conspiracy, approximately eleven pounds of methamphetamine were distributed.

As a part of the conspiracy, Beaman frequently distributed methamphetamine from his residence, which was only about 84 feet from the property of an elementary school. Previously sentenced in association with this investigation were: David Lynn Fisher, who was sentenced to 117 months imprisonment, plus 5 years of supervised release; Steven Lacey Etherington, who was sentenced to 150 months in prison, plus 5 years of supervised release; Nicholas Joseph Franks, who was sentenced to 133 months imprisonment, plus 5 years of supervised release for the drug trafficking conspiracy, and 120 months imprisonment, plus 3 years of supervised release for a firearms conviction, with the sentences to run concurrently; and Lisa Marie Barrett, who was sentenced to 60 months in prison, plus 5 years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the SouthWest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, and the case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.