BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An attorney for the Army Corps of Engineers is asking a judge to sign off on the Corps’ conclusion that the Dakota Access oil pipeline doesn’t harm American Indian tribes. The Corps wants U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to rule in favor of its August 2018 finding that no more environmental study is needed on the $3.8 billion pipeline. The pipeline has been moving North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois for more than two years.

The Standing Rock Sioux want the pipeline shut down and more study done. The tribe fears an oil spill could contaminate the Missouri River. The Bismarck Tribune reports that a Justice Department attorney argues that the Corps “carefully and reasonably considered the environmental impacts” before it permitted the pipeline.

Pipeline developer Texas-based Energy Transfer says the line is safe.

NORTHWOOD, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a northern Iowa dog breeding operation has been found been guilty of animal neglect. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that 66-year-old Barbara Kavars, of Manly, was found guilty Friday of 14 counts of misdemeanor animal neglect in connection with the operation of a puppy mill.

Prosecutors say Kavars was holding Samoyed dogs in inhumane conditions when officials raided her operation on Nov. 12 and took about 150 dogs. Court records say 17 dogs had fur matted by feces, skin conditions leading to fur loss, painful wounds, intestinal parasites and other maladies. One dog had to be euthanized.

Officials say the dogs’ kennels lacked food and had water containers filled with ice. Kavars denied wrongdoing and testified she fed and gave water to the dogs every day.

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

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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AMES, Iowa (AP) — In the liberal strongholds of Des Moines’ west side and the Iowa State University campus in Ames, not once was South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg asked by voters recently about the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Buttigieg offered a nuanced view, suggesting that impeachment is a symptom of the deep divisions that would await a new president, who he argues will be tasked with uniting the country.

It’s not that the investigation into the president’s request for foreign help in his reelection effort is an afterthought for Democrats whose votes in Iowa will start the nominating process. Quite the opposite. Instead, it’s that the impeachment inquiry is so ingrained in the 2020 campaign that there’s little point in bringing it up. Democratic voters say they don’t expect that the president will be removed from office, so they are concentrating instead of selecting the strongest opponent to unseat him.To that end, Democratic voters appear to be marching more uniformly than their party’s candidates, who, as a group, have offered at times uneven responses to the prospect of an incumbent president facing impeachment while seeking reelection.

Questions to candidates about impeachment in early voting states have been often sporadic at best. There’s little point in trying to convince early primary and caucus audiences, it would seem. While polls show Americans overall divided over Trump’s impeachment and removal from office, Democrats are firmly in support of both the proceedings and the outcome.

Fully 89% of Democrats approve of the House of Representatives’ decision to conduct an impeachment inquiry, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Ninety-three percent think Trump has done things that are grounds for impeachment. A recent Quinnipiac poll, in addition to finding 9 in 10 Democrats expressing approval of the impeachment inquiry, found 85% of Democrats saying they think Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

(Update 5:57-a.m.) The Atlantic Fire Department and Medivac were called to the MidTown Apartments at around 5:47-a.m., for a report of smoke from an unknown origin in Building #1 at 1209 E. 8th Street. An initial investigation determined someone set-off a fire extinguisher, and there was no smoke. The incident remains under investigation.

The Iowa State Patrol has identified a bicyclist who was struck and killed Thursday evening, in Muscatine County. Authorities say 56-year old Michael Joseph Mann, of Muscatine, was riding his bike southbound on Moscow Road, south of 140th Street, when he was hit from behind by an SUV at around 4:50-p.m. Mann died at the scene. The driver of the SUV was identified as 59-year old Timothy Lee Miller, of Muscatine. The accident remains under investigation.

A person being pursued by an Iowa State Patrol Trooper early this (Saturday) morning, in Story County, died in a crash. The Patrol says a Trooper initiated a traffic stop on I-35 southbound near Story City at around 12:25-a.m., when the vehicle sped-off. At Exit 121, the 1997 Toyota Avalon crashed and struck a parked 2016 Volvo semi which was parked in the rest area. The unidentified driver of the Toyota died at the scene. No further details have been released.

Red Oak Police report the arrest at around 1 o’clock this (Saturday) morning, of 54-year old Bradley Dean Gary, of Red Oak. Authorities say Gary was taken into custody in the 2400 block of North Broadway. He was placed under arrest on a valid Pottawattamie County warrant for OWI/2nd offense, an aggravated misdemeanor, and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond was set at $2,000.