(Emerson, Iowa) – Sheriff’s Deputies attempting to initiate a traffic stop Saturday night near Emerson, were lead on a chase that ended with an arrest. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the incident began at around 9:24-p.m. with a traffic stop in the 1300 block of A Avenue. The driver of the vehicle began to elude deputies, resulting in the pursuit, which traversed several miles on gravel roads, at speeds of up to 94 miles per hour.

The driver made several attempts to lose pursuing officers. The vehicle turned onto 110th Street and westbound into Mills County. Once on pavement, the vehicle increased speed to 110 mph. It came upon the intersection with Highway 59 and hit a large bump, causing damage to the vehicle, but it continued westbound on Brothers Avenue, before turning north onto 395th Street, where it came to rest due to mechanical damage.

The driver, 61-year-old James Edward Wiese, of Red Oak, was arrested on an aggravated misdemeanor charge of Eluding. His passenger was released without charges.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was assisted during the incident, by the Montgomery County Communications Center, Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa State Patrol and Henderson Fire Department,

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Sunday afternoon, arrested 21-year-old Chad Stanley Padilla, of Red Oak, on a trio of charges. Padilla was taken into custody for: Disorderly Conduct; two counts of Interference with Official Acts – one of which is a Class D felony; and a Simple Misdemeanor charge of Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. Padilla was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa G-O-P’s chairman says there will be layer upon layer of safeguards for voting in the 2024 Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses that will kick off the G-O-P’s presidential campaign.  “Any system we use will have multiple checks and it will be open to anyone in the media, any Republican to take a look at it,” Kaufmann says. Jeff Kaufmann was just re-elected to another term as chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. He also led the party during the 2016 and 2020 Iowa Caucuses.

“We’re going to be aware of all the shenanigans that can potentially occur, especially if it’s just the GOP,” Kaufmann says. “We all know if it’s just the GOP Caucuses, there’s going to be a lot more people interested in the GOP not being able to get this right.” The Democratic National Committee voted earlier this month to replace the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses and have the South Carolina Primary kick-off voting as Democrats select a presidential nominee.

Kaufmann says he’s not ready to give up on Iowa Democrats somehow getting that decision reversed. However, Kaufmann has assembled a committee to consider what needs to happen to ensure an Iowa voter doesn’t participate in the Iowa G-O-P’s Caucuses AND in the Democratic Party’s Caucuses, if they’re not on the same night. “We are having conversations about that very potential problem,” Kaufmann says, “and that would not be in the spirit of the Caucuses and we are searching for solutions.”

Kaufmann says the pressure’s on because there will be Republicans in other states lobbying to end the Iowa G-O-P’s first in the nation status if something goes wrong here next year.”We are working overtime and have been in terms of how to make sure that this Caucus, that’s entirely funded by the party unlike a primary — taxpayer dollars don’t go into this and making it right and making sure the country and the 168 (Republican National Committee) members know…we can handle this,” Kaufmann says. “And we will.”

Kaufmann made his comments during this weekend’s “Iowa Press” program on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – Arizona Republican Kari Lake is urging Iowans to ask the presidential candidates who’ll be campaigning here where they stand on election integrity.  “I don’t care is they call us election deniers,” Lake said. “I’m an election reform advocate. That’s what I am.” Lake lost her 2022 race for Arizona governor by 17-thousand votes. She’s asking the Arizona Court of Appeals to revive her lawsuit alleging illegal voting and problems with ballot printers cost her the election. Lake, an Iowa native, drew large crowds at events in Bettendorf and Ankeny this weekend.

“We’re off the sidelines. We are ready to hire people — I say ‘hire.’ I mean, ‘vote for,’ but we’re really hiring them for the job — who are going to go and represent us and give us back our government,” Lake said, “because we’re tired of it being tied up with a bunch of crooks and criminals.” Lake’s events had the features of an Iowa Caucus campaign stop. After addressing the crowds from a stage, she lingered to speak with individual Iowans, but Lake told reporters she’s a big supporter of Donald Trump’s campaign to return to the White House and does not plan to run for president herself.

(Muscatine County, Iowa) – A collision between an SUV and a pickup truck Sunday afternoon north of Muscatine, left three people dead and six others injured. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2019 Toyota Highlander SUV was traveling east on County Road F-70 at around 2:30-p.m., at the same time a 2012 Dodge Ram pickup was traveling north on Highway 38.

The SUV failed to stop at the controlled intersection and was struck by the pickup truck. The name of the dead and injured were not immediately released. The accident remains under investigation.

The patrol was assisted at the crash scene by Muscatine Sheriff’s Deputies and Police, Wilton Fire and Muscatine Fire/EMS.