CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) –  A Cedar Rapids organization is transforming more than two dozen shelter beds into transitional housing in hopes of helping people make permanent changes in their lives. Mission of Hope decided recently to remove 28 shelter beds at two buildings and to reopen the shelters as transitional housing in the spring. Executive Director Kim Reem told The Gazette the group made the decision after coming to the conclusion it was “enabling people to continue to live in crisis.” She noted the group was feeding lunch to some of the same people it served when it opened 17 years ago.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a Sioux City man has died in a collision at a rural intersection in Plymouth County. The crash occurred around 11:40 a.m. Tuesday, about 10 miles south of Le Mars. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office says 26-year-old Evan Nettleton was driving west when his vehicle collided with a northbound pickup truck driven by 42-year-old Timothy Wolfswinkel, of Dallas Center. Nettleton was fatally injured. The sheriff’s office says Wolfswinkel didn’t halt at a stop sign. He and his two daughters, ages 4 and 5, were taken to a Sioux City hospital. The collision is being investigated.

A traffic stop on a speeding vehicle in Fremont County early this (Friday) morning, near Percival, resulted in the arrest of two people on drug charges. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports the traffic stop happened at around 12:50-a.m. in the area of 200th Street and 200th Avenue. Deputies made contact with the driver 26-year old Allen James McGinnis, of North Platte, Nebraska, and a passenger, 36-year old Pamela Louise Cahoy, of Thurman, Iowa.

Pamela L. Cahoy

Allen J. McGinnis (Photos courtesy the Fremont Co. Sheriff’s Office)

A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted, which resulted in the discovery of approximately 9.04 oz of a brown liquid that field tested positive for methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia. After entering the jail, it was discovered that Cahoy had approximately 10 grams of a crystalline substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine, concealed in a body cavity.

McGinnis was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, (methamphetamine), and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Cahoy was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, (methamphetamine), Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Introducing Drugs into a Correctional Facility. Additional charges are currently pending.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Few states have changed politically with the head-snapping speed of Iowa. In 2008, its voters propelled Barack Obama to the White House. In 2012, Iowa backed Obama again. But by 2016, Donald Trump easily defeated Hillary Clinton in Iowa. Republicans were in control of the governor’s mansion and state legislature and held all but one U.S. House seat and both U.S. Senate seats. Democrats are hoping the state could be swinging back. Tom Vilsack, Iowa’s only two-term Democratic governor in the past 50 years, says Republicans have “gone too far to the right and there is the slow movement back.”

WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018 even as she lost 15 of her district’s 16 counties. Axne won by offsetting her losses in rural counties with an overwhelming victory in urban Polk County. Despite that urban strength, Axne has returned again and again to those rural counties she lost. Axne says that’s because people who supported her opponent deserve representation in Washington. That could be true, but her effort also could help answer the question of whether rural residents will vote for a Democrat who lavishes attention on their issues and repeatedly visits their communities. As one voter put it, “If you come personally, I’ll consider voting for you.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — President Donald Trump likes to joke that America’s farmers have a nice problem on their hands: They’re going to need bigger tractors to keep up with surging Chinese demand for their soybeans and other agricultural goods under a preliminary deal between the world’s two largest economies. Yet skeptics are questioning how much China has committed to buy — and whether American farmers would be able anytime soon to export goods to China in the quantity Trump has promised: $40 billion a year, according to Trump’s trade representative, Robert Lighthizer. For perspective, U.S. farm exports to China have never topped $26 billion in any year.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Omaha, Nebraska, man will face attempted murder charges after allegedly firing shots at an Iowa State Patrol trooper in Sioux City, Iowa. The incident happened Thursday morning when a trooper pulled over a vehicle and found a 27-year-old passenger had a warrant for his arrest. The man resisted arrest and as they struggled, the trooper used a stun gun. The man ran away and during a chase he allegedly fired two shots at the pursuing trooper. The shots missed. After a search, officers found and arrested the man. The state patrol says it’s unclear what charges the man will face but that one will be attempted murder. The driver wasn’t arrested.

(Radio Iowa) — Teen drivers who will be turning 21 now have another option for getting a driver’s license that reflects that milestone. Department of Transportation spokesperson, Darcy Doty, says state law now allows drivers to update their license on the D-O-T website.

“The law allows the person to go online and request that replacement card to come in the mail — and that way they will have that horizontal license,” Doty says. Teen drivers all have a license that has the information lined up vertically. The different orientation in licenses was created to help casinos, bars and other organizations which need to verify ages.

“Which we have been told that makes it easier for those establishments that require that additional verification that the person is 21 when they are entering that facility. And it makes it a lot easier to see that on a horizontal card versus a vertical card and then reviewing that date of birth to make sure that person really is 21,” according to Doty.

She says the online option was not available until the recent law change. “Our goal is to be able to provide a lot of options for customers, and that option is they can come into our service center, they can request that option online and they can also utilize our kiosk options as well,” Doty says. The law also requires the D-O-T to send out a notice to drivers who will turn 21 that they can make a change in their license.

“We are sending the information out about 90 days before the person is eligible to receive that horizontal care,” Doty says. “And the it’s really a reminder to says ‘don’t come in before that 21st birthday’ — you really need to be 21 in order for that vertical card to change into a horizontal card.” Doty says regular licenses are issued when someone is 17 or 18 and won’t expire for eight years — and making the change in your license when you turn 21 is not required. It does cost ten dollars to get the replacement license.

WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018 even as she lost 15 of her district’s 16 counties. Axne won by offsetting her losses in rural counties with an overwhelming victory in urban Polk County. Despite that urban strength, Axne has returned again and again to those rural counties she lost.

Axne says that’s because people who supported her opponent deserve representation in Washington. That could be true, but her effort also could help answer the question of whether rural residents will vote for a Democrat who lavishes attention on their issues and repeatedly visits their communities. As one voter put it, “If you come personally, I’ll consider voting for you.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — President Donald Trump likes to joke that America’s farmers have a nice problem on their hands: They’re going to need bigger tractors to keep up with surging Chinese demand for their soybeans and other agricultural goods under a preliminary deal between the world’s two largest economies.

Yet skeptics are questioning how much China has committed to buy — and whether American farmers would be able anytime soon to export goods to China in the quantity Trump has promised: $40 billion a year, according to Trump’s trade representative, Robert Lighthizer. For perspective, U.S. farm exports to China have never topped $26 billion in any year.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Omaha, Nebraska, man will face attempted murder charges after allegedly firing shots at an Iowa State Patrol trooper in Sioux City, Iowa. The incident happened Thursday morning when a trooper pulled over a vehicle and found a 27-year-old passenger had a warrant for his arrest. The man resisted arrest and as they struggled, the trooper used a stun gun.

The man ran away and during a chase he allegedly fired two shots at the pursuing trooper. The shots missed. After a search, officers found and arrested the man. The state patrol says it’s unclear what charges the man will face but that one will be attempted murder. The driver wasn’t arrested.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports three arrests. On Monday, 41-year old Rafael Partida, of Omaha, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear. Partida was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $1,000 bond. Last Sunday, 21-year old Kolby Austin Fulk, of Walnut, was arrested on a charge of Driving While Barred (Aggravated). Fulk was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on his own recognizance. And, on Dec. 17th, 38-year old Jeremiah David Sims, of Atlantic, turned himself in at the Cass County Jail on a District Court for Failure To Appear. Sims was booked at the Cass County Jail and released upon time served.

(Noon News)

A crash in eastern Iowa’s Henry County Christmas evening resulted in one person dead and two injured. The Iowa State Patrol said the driver of a 2015 Buick Encore, 66-year old Craig Meyocks, of Dammeron Valley, UT, died in the crash that also caused his passenger, 64-year old Brenda Meyocks, of UT, to be injured. The driver of a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica, 65-year old Robert Lee Sykes II, of Iowa City, was also injured. All three were transported to the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City. All three crash victims were wearing their seat belts. The accident happened at around 6:15-p.m.

The Patrol says the Chrysler was traveling westbound on Highway 218 at the crossover and attempting to cross the southbound lanes. The Buick was southbound in the right lane. Authorities say when Sykes failed to yield and entered the southbound lanes, his vehicle was struck broadside by Meyocks’ Buick. Afterward, the Chrysler came to rest in the southbound lanes. The Buick came to rest in the west ditch.

The accident remains under investigation.