(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa couple found guilty of helping their son flee the country rather than stand trial for attempted murder have been paroled after serving a fraction of their prison sentences. Two years ago, then 19-year-old Ali Younes was accused of tackling a woman on the University of Iowa campus, choking her until she passed out and stealing her 20-thousand dollar earrings. Younes was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and stay at his family’s home until his trial, but court records show he cut off the monitor and flew to Jordan.

Investigators say Lima and Alfred Younes drove from their home in Sutherland, got 21-thousand dollars in cash after selling a vehicle in Omaha and rented a van to take their son to Chicago, where he flew to Jordan with his grandmother. Last August a jury found Lima Younes guilty of aiding her son’s escape and her husband pleaded guilty a month later. LimaYounes was paroled after serving over seven months of her five year prison sentence.

Alfred Younes, also sentenced to five years, was released from prison after serving over five months.

(Radio Iowa) – The jobs numbers are out for May and Iowa Workforce Development director, Beth Townsend, says they are positive.

She says there was some growth in jobs.

Townsend says there are some issues on the horizon.

She says the Tyson closing in Perry and the other announced layoffs will start to show up in the June and July unemployment numbers. But she says the job conditions remain very good for the works impacted by those company moves.

Townsend is confident in the I-W-D process.

Unemployment rose above three percent at the end of 2023 and has been moving down slightly since the start of the new year. The May rate this year is the same as one year ago.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is calling on the E-P-A and the Biden Administration to raise Renewable Fuel Standard volumes so they keep up with the amount of biofuels our factories can churn out. Grassley says the agency didn’t boost the Renewable Volume Obligation — or R-V-O — levels far enough last year. He says it’s an “insult” for those levels to be so low and the result is a stifled industry and a discouragement of outside investment, which is costing green jobs in Iowa.

Grassley, a Republican, is joining with Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar in calling for a boost in R-V-O volumes in order to keep pace with biofuels production and availability. Sixteen other senators signed on.

The letter to the E-P-A highlights environmental benefits from an increase in biofuels production, including how biomass-based diesel can cut carbon emissions by more than 70 percent. Grassley says there are significant economic advantages for the entire supply chain, from the farmer to the consumer.

Iowa is the nation’s top producer of both ethanol and biodiesel. The letter to the head of the EPA says: “America’s environmental and energy security depend on the widespread production, availability, and use of biofuels. Biofuels play a particularly critical role in emissions reduction for heavy-duty transportation – including aviation, shipping, rail, and trucking – while opening up economic opportunities for American farmers. A strong RFS and broad availability of homegrown agricultural feedstocks are critical for ensuring we keep up the progress we have made in decarbonizing our roads, seas, railways and skies.”

(Radio Iowa) – With bird flu cases confirmed in at least nine northwest Iowa dairy herds, there may be new requirements for some dairy cattle exhibited at county fairs and the Iowa State Fair this summer. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig expects to make an announcement soon.

Cows enter a more than 300-day lactating cycle and produce milk after giving birth to a calf. In early 2022 after bird flu reemerged in Iowa poultry operations, Naig cancelled live bird shows at fairs and other exhibitions to try to curb the spread of the virus. Iowa law requires county fairs to have a veterinarian inspect all livestock, poultry and birds as the animals arrive on the fairgrounds for shows and exhibits.

(Radio Iowa) – A class of Iowa State University students got a first hand look at severe weather this spring in a course on identifying how storms develop. Dave Floury is one of the course instructors.

Floury, who is in the Atmospheric Sciences Department at I-S-U, says some students had been storm chasing, but wanted a more structured and safe experience.

He says they talked about the science of how thunderstorms and tornadoes form, and then went on an eight-day trip to observe them.

Their trip started in central Kansas, when to northeastern Colorado, then southwest Iowa and southwest Kansas. They also got a tour of the national Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. And finished up by running with storms in northern Oklahoma and southwest Missouri.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is among 24 state attorneys general asking a Florida judge let former President Trump speak publicly about the search of his Mar-A-Lago resort. A special prosecutor has asked the judge overseeing the classified documents case against Trump to issue a gag order.

Bird was part of the team that drafted a legal brief that argues the gag order would muzzle political speech.

Bird served as Fremont County Attorney and then as Guthrie County Attorney before being elected as the state’s attorney general in 2022. This is the second time Bird has been one of the leading attorneys general in drafting a brief to oppose a gag order on Trump. The first was related to federal charges that accuse Trump of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird testified at Iowa House Budget Subcommittee hearing. (RI file photo)

In this latest brief, Bird and the other attorneys general says a gag order in the classified documents case would deny Americans the right to hear what Trump has to say about the most heated political issue of the day. The special prosecutor says Trump’s comments on the case have endangered law officers involved in the investigation and threatened the integrity of the proceedings.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office has released a report on arrests from over the past four weeks. Most recently:

• On June 19th, 36-year-old Aaron Macias of Atlantic, was arrested on a warrant for Harassment 3rd Degree.
• On June 17th, 33-year-old Dustin Potter, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Violation of Probation; and, 33-year-old Benjamin Barnes of Griswold, was arrested on a warrant for a Sex Offender Registry Violation.
• On June 16th, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 46-year-old Angela Logemann of Atlantic, for Simple Assault.  Logemann held pending her later release on her own recognizance.
• On June 13th, 33-year-old Bradley Haley of Clarinda, was arrested in Cass County on a warrant for Failure to Appear.  He was held pending his later release on his own recognizance.
• On June 12th, 41-year-old Zachary Frank of Atlantic, was arrested on a warrant for Violation of Probation, as well as Driving While Barred and Improper Rear Lamps; and, 24-year-old Jackon Sally of Atlantic, was arrested on warrants for Violation of Probation.  He was additionally charged with Sex Abuse 3rd Degree.
• There were two arrests June 10th, in Cass County: 71-year-old Samuel Miller  of Atlantic, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or subsequent offense.  Miller was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance; and 37-year-old Aaron Shamblen of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Driving While Barred, OWI 1st Offense and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.  Shamblen was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance.
• June 6th, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 65-year-old Reggie Martin of Bridgewater, for OWI/1st Offense.  Martin was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance.
• On the 4th, 39-year-old Robin Grieshaber of Cumberland, was arrested for Drug Trafficking – Methamphetamine, Driving with No Valid Driver’s License and Interference with Official Acts.  Grieshaber was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release.
• June 3rd, 27-year-old Jacob Johnson of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication.  Johnson was booked into the Cass County Jail where he remained until his time was served.
• On the June 2nd, 23-year-old Justin Elimo of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication.  Elimo was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance.
• And, on May 30th, 20-year-old Phillip Germann of Anita, was arrested on for OWI/1st Offense and Operating without a Valid Driver’s License.  Germann was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release.

Unless otherwise mentioned, the above listed subjects were booked into the Cass County Jail.

“All criminal charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in the court of law.”

** Please Note:  The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is now using:  civil@casscoia.us as the preferred email address for any digital civil service processing needs.  Thank you.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two poeple were arrested this week on separate warrants. On Monday, 32-year-old Devon Elizabeth Gbekin, (no known address) was arrested on an Out of County/State Warrant. Gbekin was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

And, on Tuesday, 52-year-old Glen Eugen Gallagher, of  Omaha, was arrested on a warrant for Violation of Probation. He was taken into custody at the Douglas County, NE, Jail and held in the Mills County Jail on a $2,000 bond.