(Council Bluffs) – Officials with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, reported three arrests were conducted over the past couple of days:

• 43-year-old Scott Wayne Casson was arrested Sept. 2nd in Treynor, for Violation of Probation.
• 52-year-old Edward Anthony Gomez, of Omaha, Nebraska, was arrested Wednesday, after Deputies were called to the Minden Casey’s for a reported incident of theft. Gomez was charged with Theft in the 5th Degree (Larceny under $300); That same day, 25-year-old Schuyler Mitchell Lee Heisser was arrested following a traffic stop. He was charged with Driving While License Suspended or Revoked.

All three subjects were later released from custody.

DES MOINES– Gov. Kim Reynolds today (Thursday), announced her appointment of Stacy Ritchie as a district court judge in Judicial Election District 5A.  Ritchie, of Adel, currently serves as an Assistant Dallas County Attorney. She received her undergraduate degree from Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota and her law degree from the Drake University Law School.

Ritchie fills the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of District Court Judge Richard B. Clogg. Judicial Election District 5A includes Dallas, Guthrie, Jasper, Madison, Marion, and Warren counties.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says there is “no cause for panic” about the rise in Covid cases in Iowa, especially among children and teenagers, and no need to change the state law which prevents mask mandates in schools. “The virus — it’s here to stay,” Reynolds said late this morning, “which means we have to find a way to live with it in a responsible, balanced and sustainable way.”

During a news conference in her statehouse office, Reynolds said “it’s obvious” vaccines are the best tool to counter Covid-19 and that’s why she got a Covid shot this spring, but she said some Iowans may have “really justified reasons” for not getting vaccinated. “I believe the government’s role in a public health crisis is to provide the public reliable information so that they can make their own informed decisions, “Reynolds said. “I also believe this approach is more effective than mandates that attempt to dictate other people’s behavior.”

The governor told reporters Iowa’s Covid vaccination rate is rising — by about “a tenth” of a percent per day — and Reynolds said she’s leaving it up to Iowans to decide how to manage the virus under the normal course of their daily lives. “Over 18 months, Iowans have come to understand that this is a long game,” Reynolds said. “We know that virus activity can and does fluctuate. We have shown we can respond and adapt without abandoning the reasonable and balanced approach that has proven effective.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds (RI Photo)

Twenty-two percent of Covid cases confirmed by testing in the past week were among Iowans under the age of 18. Another 20% were among Iowans between the ages of 18 and 29. According to Reynolds, 99% of new cases in the state are linked to the more contagious Delta variant of Covid. Reynolds said resources in some Iowa hospitals are being stretched by Covid cases as well as other kind of health emergencies and workforce issues.

“In November of last year when Covid was surging, hospitalizations rose to an all time high of 1527. We don’t want to relive that experience and thankfully it’s unlikely that we will,” Reynolds said. “The situation is different now, most notably because we have a vaccine.” The governor cited federal data indicating 66.4% of Iowans above the age of 12 have had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. The Iowa Department of Public Health’s website shows 49.2% of Iowa residents are fully vaccinated.

(Radio Iowa) – A central Iowa man arrested for his alleged involvement in the January 6th break-in at the U-S Capitol is going back to jail for violating the terms of his release. Forty-two-year-old Doug Jensen of Des Moines was caught using a cellphone to get online and watch videos after a judge had released him to home confinement in July with the provision he was not to get online.

Douglas Jensen (Polk County Jail photo)

The judge says it’s unlikely Jensen will follow the terms of his release, and ordered him to return to jail while awaiting his trial. He faces seven charges — including obstruction of a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has issued a written statement of support, but is apparently not adding her name to the list of G-O-P lawmakers who’re asking the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn a 2018 ruling on abortion. The court’s 2018 ruling said women have a fundamental right to an abortion under Iowa’s constitution. The Associated Press reports two groups representing 60 Republican members of the Iowa legislature have filed a legal brief this week. It asks the court to toss out what the document describes as an erroneous ruling.

In a written statement, Governor Reynolds says it was one of the most liberal abortion decisions in the country and should be overturned. The make-up of the court has changed since it ruled three years ago that a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion was unconstitutional. Governor Reynolds has appointed four of the seven justices now serving on the Iowa Supreme Court.

Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls says it’s time for Iowans to make their voices heard in opposition to extreme abortion laws, like the one that just went into effect in Texas that bans abortions after the sixth week of a pregnancy. The Texas law gives citizens the right to sue anyone they think is violating the law.