The Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Friday (today), said as the result of an ongoing investigation, 32-year-old Jodi Lynn Bailey, of Wiota, was arrested Wednesday, on a Sheriff’s Office warrant for three charges of Sex Abuse 2nd Degree (B Felonies) and three charges of Child Endangerment (D Felonies). Bailey was taken to the Cass County Jail where she remains held on $100,000 bond.

On April 5th, as a result of a traffic stop, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 29-year-old Kaseem T. Brewington and 28-year-old Sidney Mannan, both of Schenectady, NY, on one charge each of Possession of Marijuana 1st Offense (Serious). Subjects were cited and released.

And, on April 6th, 33-year-old Jessica Lynn Pedrin, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in Cass County on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Pedrin was taken to the Cass County Jail where she remains held without bond.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Thursday, of Bobby Brice Horn. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says Horn was arrested in the 2500 block of 130th Street in rural Clarinda, for Possession of drug paraphernalia.

Bobby Horn

(Radio Iowa) – One of Iowa’s Republican representatives in Washington is reacting negatively to President Biden’s call on Thursday to seek out ways to curb gun violence through legislation. Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull says he’ll oppose the president’s call for “red flag” laws and any new federal rules to restrict gun purchases and ownership. “We have to be very careful what we’re doing here,” Feenstra says. “Our founding fathers enshrined the Second Amendment in our Constitution. I stand up for our Constitution. Our Constitution says that we have a right to bear arms and the Biden administration is trampling on our Second Amendment rights here.”

The president wants to ban assault weapons, crack down on “ghost guns” that are self-assembled, and eliminate the exemption on lawsuits against gun manufacturers. Feenstra says they’re all troublesome.  “I’m really concerned and there’s going to be a lot of discussion starting next week, Monday, on this issue,” Feenstra says. “It seems like what Biden wants to do is blatantly step on our Constitutional rights, on the right to carry, and to have law-abiding citizens have guns.”

Feenstra has spent the last two weeks of Easter Recess traveling in the district, meeting with residents and touring industries. He will return to Washington on Monday.

A dog traveling in a 2000 Chevy Impala in Union County, jumped into the driver’s lap, causing her to lose control, Thursday, resulting in a collision. The Union County Sheriff’s Office says 41-year-old Melinda Ann Foland, of Afton, was driving the car northbound in the 1700 block of Osage Street at around 12:11-p.m., when the incident occurred. When she lost control, her car entered the southbound lane. 74-year-old Wayne E. Hill, of Afton was driving a 2010 Ford Escape. He saw the car cross into his lane, and honked his horn. He also took evasive action to the point of attempting to exit the road, but his SUV was sideswiped by the car.

The driver’s side curtain airbags deployed on the SUV, Hill brought his  vehicle to a stop off the roadway to the west. As the result of airbag deployment, he suffered from swelling below his left eye. A front seat passenger in his vehicle experienced pain in her chest. Both Hill and his passenger refused medical treatment at the scene.

The car came to rest in the northbound lane of travel.  Both vehicles were declared a total loss, with the dollar amount of loss estimated at $16,000.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University study finds nearly two-thirds of women surveyed admit they’re drinking more alcohol, more frequently, since the onset of the pandemic. Susan Stewart, an I-S-U professor of sociology, says she found coronavirus-related anxiety and women’s social and demographic characteristics brought more daily drinking, drinking earlier in the day, and binge drinking. “It’s really troubling because drinking among women had already been on the rise for a number of years and their levels of drinking are now almost matching those of men,” Stewart says. “I don’t think that’s gotten a lot of attention and to find they’re drinking even more than that is a real concern.”

Some sunny day when COVID is no longer a concern, is it possible these numbers will drop back to where they were before the pandemic, or will drinking now be a more permanent fixture — and problem — for women?  “We don’t know yet, as researchers, the extent to which this is going to be a temporary blip,” Stewart says. “I hope so, as the pressures become less on women, because we know that the pandemic has taken a particular toll on women in terms of having to do home schooling, and working from home, and taking care of children, and things like that.”

Stewart says there are persistent barriers to women getting treatment for alcohol overuse, further complicating the troubling trend of women’s increased alcohol use. “Because women are responsible for the care of the family, they might feel like they don’t have the time to even address their substance use issues,” Stewart says, “or they worry that their children might be taken away, or that they’ll be perceived as a bad mom if they reach out for help.” The report revealed married women displayed the greatest increases in alcohol use compared to other women during the pandemic. The I-S-U study focused on alcohol and women in the past year, but were men asked about their drinking habits since COVID arrived? “I didn’t but there have been a number of studies published at the national level of both men and women and they’re finding the same thing,” Stewart says. “They’re finding upticks in drinking, binge drinking, problem drinking, since the pandemic. This is not an issue that’s just exclusive to women.”

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Gynecology and Women’s Health.