Sheriff’s deputies in Fremont County, Thursday, arrested two women in Tabor on charges related to the delivery of methamphetamine. During the investigation, 38-year old Manda Watson and 39-year old Angela Brooks, were found to be in possession of more than 25-grams of meth. They each face a Class-B Felony charge of Conspiracy to Deliver over 5 grams of Meth. Watson and Brooks were being held in the Fremont County Jail without bond, pending an initial appearance before a magistrate.

Watson

Brooks

Authorities say the pair were arrested at around 8:45-p.m.Thursday, during a narcotics investigation in Tabor that was being conducted by deputies with the Fremont County K9 Unit, Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and the Tabor Police Department.

Sheriff’s Deputies stopped a 2006 Cadillac SRX driven by Manda Watson, at the intersection of Jackson Blvd and Franklin Street, which is less than 1000 feet from the Fremont-Mills School.

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

JAMAICA, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa mayor and her husband have been arrested after sheriff’s deputies say they found a marijuana growing operation in the couple’s basement. The Des Moines Register reports that 50-year-old Jamaica Mayor LaDonna Kennedy and her husband, 58-year-old Randy Kennedy, were arrested Wednesday night and charged with manufacture with intent to deliver marijuana, possession of a controlled substance and two counts of failure to affix a drug stamp.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Some possible Democratic 2020 presidential candidates haven’t hesitated to tangle with President Donald Trump when he has attacked them, but others say they plan to ignore him. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown recalls when Trump slammed him over the closure of a General Motors plant he poked Trump for seeking “an Ohio Democrat to blame” while Republicans held power in the state. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker says he doesn’t want to waste his time on negativity when voters want to hear a positive message.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa landowner who claims she wasn’t paid enough by oil pipeline builder Dakota Access to compensate her for damage to her farmland has won a $250,000 jury verdict in Iowa court. Judith Lamb, who owns 150 acres near Ames, says the $90,100 a county compensation board gave her to allow the pipeline to run through her land isn’t enough.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly survey of rural bankers in parts of 10 Plains and Western states suggests banks are growing increasingly concerned about farm loan defaults in 2019. More than 4 of every 10 bankers questioned for the January Rural Mainstreet survey said they expect farm loan defaults to be the year’s biggest challenge. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting the Melcher-Dallas Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the Marion County Attorney’s Office with an investigation into a missing teenager. Authorities say on Monday, January 14th, 2019, 14-year old Liberty Boley was reported missing to the Melcher-Dallas Police Department.  Liberty, a freshman at Melcher-Dallas High School, has not been seen since.

14-year old Liberty Boley

She is a 5 foot 7 inch, white female, with light brown hair, blue eyes, and wears glasses. Liberty was last seen at Melcher-Dallas High School at approximately 2:30 p.m, Monday, wearing a black and white tee shirt, purple sweatshirt, black leggings, and brown Ugg boots. Liberty has medical conditions that require regimented medication and she may be without those medications.

The girl is considered endangered and the public’s assistance is requested in finding the location of Liberty. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Liberty Boley is asked to contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Office at 641-828-2220.

Nineteen Iowans have applied with the State Judicial Nominating Commission to fill the vacancy on the Iowa Supreme Court that occurred when Justice Daryl Hecht retired December 13, 2018. Among the applicants, from this area, was: Patrick Tott, District Court Judge, Third Judicial District, Sioux City; and Molly Weber, Assistant Attorney General, Iowa Attorney General’s Office, Adel.

The nominating commission will meet Wednesday, January 30, in the Iowa Supreme Court Courtroom on the fourth floor of the Judicial Branch Building to interview the applicants who were not previously interviewed for the vacancy created when Justice Bruce Zager retired last fall. An interview schedule will be posted on the Iowa Judicial Nominating Commissions website.

The public is invited to observe the interviews in the courtroom. The interviews will be live streamed and the videos archived on the Iowa Judicial Branch YouTube channel.

Immediately following the interviews, the commission will begin deliberations to select a slate of three nominees from the group of applicants.  Once the commission selects its slate of nominees, the commission will forward those names to the governor. The governor will then have thirty (30) days in which to appoint the new justice.

With the exception of the commission chair, membership on the commission is limited to one six-year term. Terms are staggered. The Iowa Constitution requires that commission members be chosen without regard to political affiliation.

Ric Hanson photos

(Update 8:46-p.m.) Atlantic Fire and Rescue and Medivac Ambulance were called to the scene of an explosion at R&B Feeds, Thursday night. The incident at 200 Oak Street was reported at 7:13-p.m. Upon arrival, no smoke or flames were visible, but a garage door was blown-out, the upper structure elevator sheet metal was partially blown-off, and there was more, extensive damaged. The building was not occupied, and no injuries were reported.

Upper center shows damage to part of the elevator building

Garage door bowed-out

Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees told KJAN News an approximately 3-inch diameter gas line in the basement of the building that was connected to a water heater, corroded and began to leak. A furnace in the basement ignited the gas. A combination of the gas, and grain dust created a large, but brief explosion that caused the damage.

Alliant Energy responded and was conducting repairs late Thursday night. Fire crews remained on the scene until around 8:30-p.m.  Atlantic Police and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

The Sac County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) are investigating a shooting that took place at around 12:30-a.m. Wednesday, at a residence in Lake View. The victim was identified as 55-year old Richard Vossberg, of Lake View. Vossberg was transferred to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Authorities say Vossberg was shot by an unknown man that showed-up at his home. After examining the crime scene and conducting interviews, law enforcement concluded Vossberg had been targeted by the assailant, and that there is no general threat to the public.

Authorities however, encourage the public to report any suspicious activity, no matter how insignificant it may appear to be. Anyone with information about the Lake View incident is asked to contact the Sac County Sheriff’s Office at 712-662-7127.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety report a Montgomery County man was sentenced to Thursday to prison, on Federal charges. 40-year old Kevin Duane Staley, of Red Oak, was sentenced to six and one-half years (78 months) in federal prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

His arrest followed an investigation that began in October 2017, when the Red Oak Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation became aware of firearms violations involving Staley, who was 39-years old at the time. On May 30, 2018, Agents from the Division of Criminal Investigation obtained a federal arrest warrant for Staley, who was charged with one count of possessing of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and a second count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. On September 5, 2018, Staley entered a guilty plea to count two of the federal indictment.

In addition to his term of imprisonment, Staley is required to pay a $100 Special Assessment Fee, and will be on supervised release for three years following his release from federal prison.  After his sentencing, Staley was remanded to the custody of the US Marshal’s Office.                        

The committee working on the Atlantic facilities improvement plan presented their latest project proposal to business and community leaders on Thursday at the Atlantic High School auditorium. After looking further into the project some adjustments were made to improve safety and get the most out of the project budget of 9.5 million dollars.

The two major adjustments were eliminating the proposed street that would have connected Linn Street to 14th Street to the west of the middle school and moving the synthetic turf from the Trojan Bowl to the high school field.

After consulting with law enforcement it was determined that there was a safer alternative to the street going through. The parking spaces in front of Washington school would be eliminated to create an off street drop off zone. Bus drop off and pick up would all occur in the parking lot behind the middle school to alleviate bus congestion from 14th street. This was already the drop off zone in the morning so it made sense to officials to make it the pick up area as well. A new faculty parking lot just to the west of Washington would be constructed by removing at least a portion of the tennis courts that sit there now.

The field turf was moved to the high school facility to better accommodate activities and practices at the high school. The field would be used by the soccer teams for practice and games, the football team for practice, and for marching band practice. This adjustment would also eliminate the previous proposal for construction of a team building at the Trojan Bowl.

Updates at the Trojan bowl would still include a new 4-lane track that would accommodate the newly widened natural grass playing surface and improved sloping around the perimeter. A new press box and addition of a visitor press box along with new ADA compliant bleachers. A new concrete apron would be put in place around the facility as well along with a new concession/restroom/storage building.

The proposal also has tennis courts being built north of the track at the high school and new shotput and discus areas to the south to eliminate competition for space between track and soccer in the spring.

The baseball and softball complex improvements include; new dugouts, batting cages, concessions, and press boxes. Terracing of the hill behind the fields is also proposed to help water run-off issues.

The committee said two public forums are being planned to inform the community of the plan.

The proposal is scheduled to go in front of school district voters on April 2. Early voting on the project starts March 4. Polls on April 2 Bond election are scheduled to be open from noon to 8:00 p.m., with early voting at 8:00 a.m. on election day at the Cass County Auditor’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) — Despite a weak ag economy, 2018 was a good year for farm equipment sales, a big deal in Iowa where John Deere is the state’s largest manufacturing employer. A report shows tractor sales in the U-S rose seven-percent from the previous year, while combine sales jumped 18-percent. Curt Blades, with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, mainly credits farmers replacing old equipment.

“You may’ve had a farmer that was typically on a three- or four-year replacement cycle who made the decision to stretch that out to four years or five years,” Blades says. “At some point, they just simply need to replace some equipment. That’s what we have found has been driving the market really for the last 18 months.”

Blades says 2018 started strong thanks to federal tax reform and a strong U-S economy helped all year, but then came the trade war with China and other drags on the farm economy.  “If we’re talking about a farmer making a half-million dollar investment,” he says, “they’ve gotta’ feel good about the economy and they’ve got to feel like it’s something they want to do.”

Despite tariffs and the trade war, Blades expects farm income will go up a little this year. He also likes the new Farm Bill, but worries the partial federal government shutdown will delay its implementation.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa’s law enforcement community is asking senators to establish a new penalty for making GENERAL threats directed at public places where people gather. Individuals currently may be charged with arson for making a bomb threat — and it is a crime in Iowa to threaten to terrorize or harass an intended victim — but Kelly Meyers, a lobbyist for the Iowa County Attorneys Association, says prosecutors are seeking a direct way to charge those who make general threats.

“Putting something out there maybe on social media, if you will. ‘You’d better not go to school tomorrow or bad stuff’s going to happen,'” she says, “or putting a threat out there that there could be a school shooting.” Three senators reviewed the proposal this (Thursday) afternoon and all three endorsed the concept. Cyndi Pederson, a lobbyist for the Iowa Fraternal Order of Police, is urging lawmakers to act.  “Any time you can add potential penalties for persons threatening public active shooter events I think is a good thing,” she said.

The bill as currently drafted calls for a felony charge against those accused of threatening serious injury or death to people in “a public place, school building or any occupied structure.” The Iowa Association for Justice — the group representing trial lawyers — is registered in opposition to the bill. “If many of these school threats are a bullied kid who’s reaching out for help, do we really want to make them a felon?”  That’s Lisa Davis-Cook, a lobbyist for the group.

Bill backers say they’re open to a lesser charge. Susan Cameron Daemen is a lobbyist for the Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association. “We do believe there needs to be something so these children or juveniles, if they are juveniles, have an opportunity to get treatment or help, if that’s what they need,” she says.

The bill will next be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.