LAKE CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a house fire in west central Iowa has killed four people. The fire in Lake City started sometime before 1:45 a.m. Tuesday and was discovered by a police officer on patrol.  The state fire marshal’s office says three children and one adult were killed.

Lake City Police Chief Bobby Rist says one of his officers noticed smoke coming from the south edge of town. The officer followed the smoke to the house and found it ablaze.  Rist says the smoke and flames prevented the officer from getting into the house.

Investigators say the fire is not considered suspicious, but the cause is being investigated. Lake City is a town of about 1,700 residents that sits about 75 miles northwest of Des Moines.

A Griswold man was arrested last week on a Mills County warrant charging him with Burglary in the 3rd degree. Sheriff’s officials in Mills County say 29-year old David Allan Minard was taken into custody in Cass County at around 9:35-a.m. Nov. 7th. His bond was set at $10,000.

Last Thursday, Mills County authorities arrested 52-year old Randall Alan Ross, Sr., of Glenwood, on a charge of OWI/1st Offense. Ross was brought to the Mills County Jail. On Saturday, deputies arrested three individuals: 36-year old Joseph Lee Miller, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Driving While Suspended. Bond was set at $300; 36-year old Sean Eugene Hicks, of Emerson, was arrested for Tampering with a Witness. His bond was set at $2,000. And, 24-year old Seth Ryan Peters, of Glenwood, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense and Open Container. Bond was set at $1,300.

On Sunday, 36-year old Micheal Lee Butcher, of Glenwood, was arrested in Mills County on a charge of Disorderly Conduct. Bond was set at $300, and, 29-year old Trevor Wayne Steadman, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for being a Fugitive from Justice, and on a Mills County warrant for Eluding, Criminal Mischief and Interference with Official Acts. He was being held without bond on the fugitive charge, while his bond for the other charges amounted to $25,000.

The City of Harlan’s Streets and Alleys Committee held a public meeting Monday night in the Therkildsen Center to discuss the possibility of changing 6th and 7th Streets to all one-way, from Cyclone Avenue to Chatburn Avenue (Highway 44). The Therkildsen Center filled with over 50 people, including several business owners attending the meeting to give an opinion on the changes. Harlan City Councilman Keith Kaufman said the reason behind the changes was to generate interest from non-local people in coming to the downtown area. City Administrator Terry Cox said there were several concerns from the crowd.

He said “Overall it was the safety of kids, a speed factor with taking the parking off and where the cars will park. Also the snow removal and where cars will park during removal.” Cox said several businesses had their own concerns. A petition was also passed around that was signed by 55 residents against the change to 6th and 7th Streets. Cox says the matter of making 6th and 7th Streets one-way has been brought up several times in the past.

“This was brought up 12 years ago and 8 or 12 years before that. It was brought up as a discussion items to see if there was any improvement to do it back then and now this time.” For now, Cox said no decision will be made. “There will be another streets and alleys meeting to recommend to the council to go further or any changes or they will recommend they will stay the same. That’s where we are at right now.”

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

A bridge over Long Creek in Shelby County is closed for the next five months, while crews work to replace the structure, which is located in the 2100 block of 1500th Street. The site is just east of the intersection of 1500th and Umbrella Road. Shelby County Emergency Management officials urge emergency responders to plan alternate routes to reach residences located in the area. If you have any questions, call the County Engineer’s Office at 712-755-5954.

The director of the C-I-A resigned last week, in part, due to the F-B-I reading his emails and learning of an affair. A longtime critic of the F-B-I, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the whole episode with retired Army General David Petraeus should be a reminder to everyone that our private communications really aren’t likely all that private. “Anything that I put on my iPhone or Blackberry, I guess I just figure it’s all going public,” Grassley says. “I wouldn’t be surprised but what the FBI’s listening in to this phone call. Whether they have a legal right to do it or not, I don’t know. I presume they wouldn’t be doing anything that’s not legal.”

Grassley, a Republican, says the climate of our nation’s capitol has forced him to take a mindset that leans more to the paranoid.  “If the FBI’s not spying on me, probably the Russian embassy and the Chinese embassy is as well,” Grassley says. “Everything you do here in Washington, you’ve just got to consider it’s public.” Under federal law, the F-B-I needs a judge’s approval on a warrant to monitor -recent- communications. Agents only need a prosecutor’s okay, not a judge, to read electronic messages that are at least six months old.

(Radio Iowa)