The Atlantic Police Department reports nine arrests occurred over a little more than the past two weeks:

• On Aug. 17th, 27-year old Jason Mark, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI.
• Aug. 16th, 42-year old Monty Casteel, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense.
• Aug. 15th, 39-year old Mitchell Mullins, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense.
• There were three arrested on Aug. 14th: 29-year old Devin Garnder, of Atlantic, was arrested for Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. He turned himself in on the charge and was later released on bond; 33-year old Jenny Clark, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI; and, 18-year old Dante Watkins, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Aug. 14th, on two Cass County warrants for Violation of Probation.
• On Aug. 10th, 19-year old Noah Mienders, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 2nd Degree.
• On Aug. 7th, 43-year old Timothy Snyder, of Kimballton, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Violation of a No Contact Order.
• And on Aug. 1st, 22-year old Kolby Fulk, of Walnut, was arrested for Fraudulent use of registrations, False report of an indictable offense, interference with official acts, and driving while barred.

Each of the defendants were booked into the Cass County Jail. The Atlantic Police Department said also: 53-year old Paul Prall, of Atlantic, was cited into court for Harassment in the 3rd Degree, and provided with a court date. And, on Aug. 9th, 28-year old T.J. Anderson, of Atlantic, was cited into court for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

(Radio Iowa) – Thousands of senior citizens in Iowa are being given kits that can render their unused medications worthless and harmless as part of an effort to reduce the misuse of prescription drugs. Trina Radske-Suchan, president of Community Health Partners in West Des Moines, says the disposable drug deactivation kits are about the size of a zip-lock sandwich bag and they’re simple to use.  “So, it could be a pill, it could be a liquid, it could be a film, you put them into the bag and add water to it and then you seal it, you shake it up, and then you dispose of it,” Radske-Suchan says. “It’s environmentally safe and everything degrades.”

C-H-P Community and the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative or RALI of Iowa are partnering with a state agency on the effort. She says, “We worked with the Iowa Department on Aging and we were able to get 5,800 of these kits out to seniors through the home meals delivered program.” The kits are being delivered — along with meals — at four Area Agencies on Aging across the state. A state report says the number of opioid-related overdose deaths in Iowa is falling gradually, from a peak of 206 deaths in 2017 down to 136 deaths last year. It’s hoped the drug deactivation kits can help keep more prescription drugs from falling into the wrong hands.

Radske-Suchan says, “With our opioid epidemic nationwide but also in Iowa, it’s a really great prevention activity that we can do by providing all the means and information to families on how to discard their unused medications.” The partner agencies include Milestones Area Agency on Aging in Muscatine, Heritage Area Agency on Aging — headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging in Waterloo, and Aging Resources of Central Iowa, based in Des Moines.

The pandemic, the recession, the drought, and the derecho have ramped up the stress levels facing all of us. The Guthrie County ISU Extension and Outreach service reminds you, that when it all becomes too much for you to deal with, the Iowa Concern Hotline is available 24/7. ICH offers free, confidential assistance with financial concerns, legal education and stress counseling.

You can call Iowa Concern Hotline at (800) 447-1985 or visit www.extension. Iastate.edu/iowaconcern.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Creston Police Department reports three arrests. A little after 2-a.m. today (Wednesday), 30-year old Cody J. Courtney, of Thayer, was arrested at 403 E. Townline in Creston, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or Subsequent Offense. Courtney was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond. He was also being held on a Madison County Warrant for Failure to Appear on the original charge of Possession of Paraphernalia ($300 bond) and a Polk County Warrant for Criminal Mischief 4th degree ($1,000 bond). The Creston Police K9 “Jax” assisted in Courtney’s arrest.

Late Tuesday night, 46-year old Shannon Gandee, of Creston, was also arrested at 403 E. Townline, for Possession of a Controlled Substance 1st Offense. She was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1000 bond. The Creston Police K9 “Jax” also assisted in her arrest.

Tuesday afternoon, 50-year old Matthew Baulder, of Panora, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center in Creston, on a Union County Warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. Baudler was released from the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa county says that a clinic failed to report up to 3,000 negative coronavirus test results, as concerns about inaccuracies in the state’s official pandemic data continued to mount even as schools use it to determine their fall plans. Webster County Public Health department spokeswoman Kelli Bloomquist says her agency uncovered the clinic’s failure to report negative tests last week, and the clinic belatedly submitted the 3,000 results.

The state system rejected the submissions, but a subsequent review confirmed that many tests had not been entered. The new information dramatically reduced the county’s 14-day positivity rate, which the state is using to determine whether school districts must return for at least 50% in-person instruction.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne is calling on U.S. Postmaster General Louis De Joy to resign. Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says there is growing proof the postmaster general has intentionally made changes to slow delivery of the mail. “Over this past month I’ve heard increasing concerns from Iowans,” Axne says.

Axne says the changes are jeopardizing the health of Iowans who depend on the Postal Service for their prescription drugs and Social Security checks, plus small business owners are seeing delivery of their packages delayed. “The list goes on and on,” Axne says. “We should not be jeopardizing Iowans’ access to these necessities, especially during a pandemic.”

Axne hosted an online forum about the Postal Service yesterday (Tuesday). Kimberly Karol, president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union, says postal employees appreciate the public support. “We really need them to show their support by choosing the Postal Service for their mailing and shipping needs,” Karol said.

A recent Pew survey found 91 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Postal Service. Postmaster General De Joy started the job in mid-June. De Joy announced yesterday he was suspending recent changes until after the fall election. Critics charge removing mail-handling equipment and reducing employees’ hours endangered delivery of millions of ballots that voters will be mailing this fall. Axne says yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) announcement doesn’t change her view that De Joy should resign.

(Radio Iowa) – Four sailors who are preparing the U-S-S Iowa submarine for duty in Connecticut are in Iowa the next couple of days helping with the derecho recovery. Bradford Vanorden is from New Jersey says the decided to help out after hearing about all the damage here. “We wanted to be able to give back to our sponsor state, so what we did is we did a collection drive and we got a bunch of supplies and tools and we drove them out here on Monday,” Vanorden says. He has never been to Iowa before. “It was really actually quite amazing yesterday driving through Cedar Rapids and seeing just how much damage there was in that area. It reminded me a lot of — being from New Jersey — I lived through Hurricane Sandy and Irene and it reminded me a lot of what happened there,” according to Vanorden.

Image from ussiowassn797.org.

Crewmember Keith Miller is a Des Moines native. “The damage is really, it’s just insane, not something I thought I’d be coming back into,” Miller says, “I heard the stories — but seeing it first-hand is completely different.” Vanorden says they would normally be preparing for the submarine’s completion in September of 2022. “Our day-to-day operations are mostly training and working on qualifications to get ready for when we will actually be standing watch on the boat and then preparing for taking operational control of the various systems that will be turned over to us by the shipyard,” according to Vanorden. “And then throughout the construction process where we eventually will have full control of the boat, getting ready to test it and get it underway.” The vessel is expected to be commissioned sometime between Nov. 2022 and Jan. 2023.

Miller is looking forward to serving on the ship named for his home state. “I am pretty excited to get the opportunity. It’s one of the military’s most advanced pieces of equipment and you have the honor of building that and shaping that and getting it ready for the future,” Miller says. “And if you think about the average life span of the submarine — somewhere in the next 30 years — we are bound to experience some sort of action, some sort of conflict. So, it’s good to be shaping it up and being sure everything is good to go to protect America.”

The sailors worked at Union Park in Des Moines Tuesday and today (Wednesday) will assist with clean-up at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. They will finish with clean-up in eastern Iowa on Thursday and Friday. The submarine is the fourth naval vessel to be named after the state of Iowa.

Police in Red Oak report the arrest Tuesday afternoon, of 22-year old Jade Jaylene Bogart, from Omaha. She was taken into custody on a warrant for Theft/Forgery of a lottery ticket. Bogart was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond. And, at around 10:50-p.m. Tuesday, Red Oak Police arrested 20-year old Tia Marie McArdle, of Red Oak, on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond, pending at court appearance.