(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report a Nebraska woman was arrested Thursday, on drug charges. 43-year-old Lydia Robinowitz, of Omaha, was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her bond was set at $1,300.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office today (Friday), released a report on arrests deputies conducted during the month of January, 2024. Listed from most recent to the earliest arrests:

On January 29th, Deputies in Shelby County arrested 46-year-old Quentin Vaugh Huber, of Pleasant Hope, MO, following a traffic stop, for OWI/1st offense, Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability, and Speeding.

1-28-24: 36-year-old Anna Michelle Fry, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop, for OWI/1st offense, and Improper Rear Lamps.

1-27-24: 70-year-old Brent Allen Petersen, of Shelby, was arrested following a traffic stop, for OWI/1st offense, two-counts of Child Endangerment, Speeding, and Driving on Wrong Side of Two-way Highway.

1-26-24: 65-year-old Jeffery Lane Clak, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop, for OWI/2nd offense, and Insufficient Number of Headlamps.

1-24-24: 57-year-old Tracey Lynn Baker, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop and charged with Driving while License is Suspended.

1-23-24: 41-year-old Matthew Lee Seville, of Shelby, was arrested following a traffic stop in Shelby. Seville was charged with Driving while Revoked.

1-22-24: 41-year-old Michael Craig Dance, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Dance was charged with Driving while Barred, Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability, and Dark Window or Windshield.

1-21-24: 31-year-old Kyler Bryan McCarty, of Shelby, was arrested following a traffic stop, and charged with OWI 1st, and Speeding.

Three people were arrested on separate charges January 20th: 54-year-old Michael Clinton Evers, of Earling, was arrested following a call for service at Hwy 59 and Hwy 37. Evers was charged with OWI/1st, and Failure to Maintain Control; 39-year-old Reid Jeffrey Hemminger, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Hemminger was charged with Driving While Suspended and Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability; and, 26-year-old Justin Andrew Dickinson, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Dickinson was charged with Driving While Suspended and Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability.

1-17-24: 46-year-old Brian Anthony Wood, of Woodbine, was arrested following a traffic stop on Hwy 44 in Shelby County. Wood was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Keeping Premises or Vehicle for Controlled Substances, Possession of Controlled Substance, OWI 1st, False Reports to 911, Disorderly Conduct, Violation of Conditions of Restricted License, and Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability.

There were two arrests January 8th in Shelby County: 41-year-old Jessica Lea Katz, and 25-year-old Austin Tyler Young, both of Omaha, NE, were arrested following a call for service in the 1400 block of Highway 44. Both were charged with Theft 2nd, Possession of Controlled Substance, and Ongoing Criminal Conduct.

1-7-24: 54-year-old Kellie Jean Olson, of Irwin, was arrested following a traffic stop on Hwy 37. Olson was charged with OWI 1st, Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability, and Driving on the wrong side of a two way Highway.

1-3-24: 23-year-old Layne Anikin Scheffler-Haakinson, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop in Harlan. Scheffler-Haakinson was charged with OWI 1st, Failure to Maintain Control, and Open Container.

And, on January 1st, 51-year-old Jeffery Lynn Harrison, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop in Harlan. Harrison was charged with OWI 1st.

Note: Criminal charges are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

AMES, Iowa (WHO-TV) — Researchers at Iowa State University have found a possible way to create blood stem cells, which could potentially eliminate the need for bone marrow transplants. Blood stem cells are only produced once in our lifetime during the embryonic stage, according to Raquel Espin-Palazon, PhD., who led this research at ISU. She said that these blood stem cells stay in our bone marrow for life.

Her team discovered that a microbial sensor that helps identify and block bacterial infections also plays a role in creating blood stem cells. Meaning, their discovery can allow for a way to create human-derived blood stem cells inside the lab. Their research was published in Nature Communications.This discovery is important, particularly for people with blood disorders, like leukemia. Typically, these patients receive bone marrow transplants as a treatment to get blood stem cells.

However, there are complications to this procedure. First, it can be difficult to find a match. Recipients of the transplant can also develop graft-versus-host disease, a condition where the donor’s bone marrow or stem cells attack the recipient. Espin-Palazon said this disease results in 50 to 60% of bone marrow transplants. Therefore, her research brings experts one step closer to having human-derived blood stem cells, which can help in treating blood disorders.

Espin-Palazon told WHO-TV, “We are not there yet, and that’s why we are working towards having that knowledge, how nature makes our blood stem cells. Okay, now we know what to activate, let’s do it in the dish, and let’s make our own blood stem cells for those people who need those.” The research team has another paper currently under review, and it helps further their research. Espin-Palazon said she’s hoping to see a cure for blood disorders by using a patient’s own blood stem cells within her lifetime.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston arrested a woman on a trio of drug charges, Thursday afternoon. 45-year-old Starr Gayle Cure, of Creston, was arrested the Creston/Union County Law Enforcement Center at around 3:30-p.m. She faces charges that include: Failure to Affix Drug Stamp – 7 or more grams; Possession of a Controlled Substance – Marijuana 1st Offense, and Intent Manufacture Deliver Methamphetamine/more than 5 grams but under 5 kilograms.

Cure was taken to Union County Jail and later posted a $31,000 cash or approved surety bond before being released.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – After a bill advanced out of sub-committee on Wednesday, Iowa Teamsters 238 is calling for members to demonstrate their opposition to the bill. SSB 3158 would look to change the certification requirements for collective bargaining units. Under the bill, a union could be decertified if the union employer failed to submit a list of employees to the Public Employment Relations Board.

In his statement, Teamsters 238 Principal Officer Jesse Case argues it will effectively end all public sector unions in the state.

“The bill says that employers would have to submit a list of employees to the State of Iowa, and if they don’t the union would have to sue those employers in district court. And if we don’t people would lose their unions. That means every year our union alone, just local 238, would have to sue between 50 and 100 school districts, cities, and counties…that’s a bad law,” said Case.

In a video posted on Teamsters 238 YouTube page, Case promised to “fight back” saying they plan to organize protests, rolling strikes, and concerted activity in businesses across the state.

DES MOINES, Iowa (WHO-TV) — Teachers in Iowa could soon be allowed to carry firearms in schools if a new bill introduced on Wednesday by House Republicans is passed.

HSB 675 would allow anyone to obtain a professional permit to carry weapons if they’re an employee of a school district, private school, or college that hasn’t opted out of the professional permitting of employees. In order to be issued a permit the employee must be eligible to carry a weapon, must complete one-time legal training, and must complete a firearm safety training course. Armed staff would also have to complete annual live scenario training and quarterly firearm training. School employees who are issued the permit would be entitled to qualified immunity from criminal or civil liability.

Last year the Cherokee School District and Spirit Lake School District passed policies that would allow certified school staff members to carry firearms. Both districts eventually ended the policies after struggling to find an insurance company that would provide a full policy with armed school staff.

The bill would also require school districts with an enrollment of at least 8,000 students to employ, and retain, at least one private school security officer or school resource officer at each building where students grades 9 through 12 attend. To support the employment and retention of the security officers, the Department of Education would be required to create a school security personnel fund that would match moneys provided by the school districts up to $50,000 a year.

The bill is scheduled to be discussed at a House subcommittee meeting at 12:30 p.m. on Monday.

(Des Moines, Iowa [KCCI]) – A proposal from Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds would consolidate the state’s 32 mental health and substance abuse regions into seven unified behavioral health districts. The bill advanced through an Iowa House subcommittee Thursday.  A bill to change how the State provides mental health services is advancing at the Iowa Statehouse. It’s one of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ top priorities this year. About 25% of adults who have a serious mental illness also struggle with substance abuse. Governor Reynolds’ bill would allow the two illnesses to be treated at the same time.

Her bill, HSB 653, would consolidate Iowa’s crisis resource programs and give the state more oversight. Currently, mental health resources are broken up across the state into 13 regions. Substance abuse disorder programs are broken up into 19 regions. Reynolds’ new bill would combine those two systems, consolidating the state’s 32 regions into seven new “behavioral health districts” statewide.

Each district would have a local advisory board. The state would implement performance measures, define district boundaries and decide what services each district would be required to provide. The new districts would be live and fully operational by July 2025. Behavioral health districts would not include disability services. The Department of Health and Human Services Aging and Disability Network would oversee those services instead.

The bill advanced through a House subcommittee Thursday. It’s now eligible for discussion by the full House Health and Human Services committee.

WOODBURY COUNTY, Iowa [KCCI]— Officers acted with legal justification when they shot and killed a northwest Iowa man last October, according to a report from the Iowa attorney general’s office. Officers were called to a scene in Woodbury County on Oct. 29, 2023, after reports of a shooting. Responding law enforcement engaged in a standoff with a suspect that lasted over five hours, according to the attorney general’s report.

The suspect, Walter Sulsberger, 44, of Hornick, admitted during the standoff to fatally shooting his father in the head, the report says. Sulsberger allegedly set fires on the property and slaughtered cattle while positioning himself on a hill with an illegally modified semi-automatic weapon. Armored law enforcement vehicles approached Sulsberger shortly before 3 a.m. on Oct. 30, leading to “a heated gun battle,” the report says.

Sulsberger died from multiple gunshot wounds. The attorney general’s office determined the shooting was legally justified.

(Radio Iowa) – Community college overall enrollment in Iowa was down slightly in 2023. Amy Geiske works in the Bureau of Community Colleges in the Department of Education. “This year we saw credit enrollment level off down just point-three percent from last year since peak recessionary enrollment in 2012 there’s been an average annual decline in enrollment about at about two-point-three percent (2.3%) that’s in line with national trends,” she says. But that enrollment decline appears to be slowing. “As we saw in the fall 23 enrollment, there’s just a slight uptick, so we hope to see that in next year’s annual report,” Geiske says.”

Credit Hours are holding steady with a point-zero-five decrease in student credit hours, so almost even. Credit hours totals a little over one-point-five million, with an average credit hours at 13-point-one per student.” The number of high school students taking community college classes continues to increase. “This past year over 52-thousand high school students enrolled in joint enrollment This is up from over 50-thousand in the previous year,, so a five-point-six percent (5.6%) increase in headcount joint enrollment,” she says. The high schooler’s taking those college classes have a major impact.

“In total, joint enrollment students comprise 45 percent of all headcount enrollment at our state’s community colleges this past year. That’s a record high,” Geiske says. “At two colleges, N-I-C-C and DMACC, joint enrollment students accounted for over 50 percent of their headcount enrollment. And we have six colleges where they were over 30 percent of total credit hours.” She says the success rate of students who graduated or transferred from a community college to another school was up three percent to nearly 53 percent.

(Radio Iowa) – Advocates of the Alzheimer’s Association from across Iowa will meet at the state capitol on Monday to ask state legislators to support two priorities that will improve early detection, diagnosis and care. Lauren Livingston, spokeswoman for the organization’s Iowa chapter, says they’ll urge lawmakers to strengthen Iowa’s Dementia Services Network by placing a dementia service specialist at each of Iowa’s six Area Agencies on Aging. “What these positions can do is really help families to navigate care planning, help them find local resources to help support them through their journey with dementia,” Livingston says. “They can even perform memory screenings and ultimately, help families keep their loved ones at home longer and reduce those costs of care for families and the state.”

Another key priority for the Alzheimer’s Association and other agencies like the American Cancer Society is to ensure Iowans have access to what’s called biomarker testing, which determines if someone is at greater risk for a given disease. “One example of that could be a PET scan, which is something that is used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, however, it’s very expensive and is not well covered by insurance,” Livingston says. “So what this bill would do is have insurance coverage of these biomarker tests to be able to diagnose people earlier, which would cut costs for the families and the state.” Iowans who are interested in dementia issues can be a part of the lobbying effort in Des Moines on Monday.

“You can visit alz.org/iowa and right at the top there is a link, you can click on to register,” Livingston says. “You can join us at the State Historical Building starting at 11 a.m. We’ll have lunch and training so you can get up to speed on what these bills are and how to talk with your legislators, and then we’ll walk up to the Capitol at 1 p.m. and meet with the legislators.”

Advocates will convene in the capitol rotunda and meet with their legislators from 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday. Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. In Iowa, more than 66,000 people have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia, and there are nearly 100,000 family and friends caring for their loved ones with the disease.