CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have arrested a northern Iowa man who allegedly led them on a high-speed chase on Interstate 35 in a stolen pickup. The Globe Gazette in Mason City reports that 29-year-old Adam Benjamin Collings, of Cresco, was charged Tuesday with first-degree theft, eluding law enforcement and reckless driving. The chase began in Clear Lake and ended in Worth County. Authorities say Collings fled an Iowa State Patrol trooper who attempted to stop the red 2004 Ford pickup truck he was driving.

Authorities say speeds topped 100 mph as he merged onto Interstate 35 northbound. He also allegedly made an unsafe pass around a semi using the highway’s right shoulder. Authorities say Collings was arrested after he lost control and stopped in a median.

Police in Creston report two people were arrested on separate drug-related charges, Wednesday. At around 8:40-a.m., 34-year old Arturo Marin, of Afton, was arrested in the 300 block of N. Division Street, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense. Marin was later released on a $1,000 bond. And, at around 11:10-a.m., 30-year old Christopher Woolums, of Creston, was arrested in the 800 block of W. Montgomery Street, on three Union County warrants for: Theft in the 5th degree; Failure to Appear on original charges of two-counts Controlled Substance Violation, and, Failure to Appear on a Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or subsequent offense, charge. He was also charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or subsequent offense. Woolums was being held in the Union County Jail on a $30,300 bond.

Creston Police said also, a woman residing in the 400 block of N. Maple Street, reported that sometime on Tuesday, someone broke into her home and took a Playstation 3, and a Samsung 6 cell phone. The loss was estimated at $200. On Dec. 7th, a resident of Norwalk reported to Creston Police, that at around 9-p.m. Friday, someone broke into his vehicle while it was parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Creston, and took a bag containing hunting gear/outerwear. The loss was estimated at $200.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs man accused of repeatedly threatening to kill the city’s mayor and other city employees has pleaded guilty to first-degree harassment. The Daily Nonpareil in Council Bluffs reports that 33-year-old Chase Points faces up to two years in prison and a $6,250 fine. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

Points was arrested after two incidents at City Hall. Authorities say Points left a handwritten note on Mayor Matt Walsh’s desk that said, “God is going to cut you down.” He later allegedly mentioned the note on Facebook and added, “If these stupid (expletive) don’t want to give ma job, kill them all.” Walsh has said he doesn’t think the threats are political. He says Points told him he’s homeless, going through hard times and can’t find work.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A judge has ordered the city of Council Bluffs to refund more than $230,000 in fees to local landlords on grounds that the charges exceeded the work done by the city’s previous rental inspection program. The Daily Nonpareil in Council Bluffs reports that the lawsuit covered a time-frame spanning from January 2010 through January 2015. Anyone who was a registered rental property owner in Council Bluffs during that time is likely entitled to repayment funds.

The court order says the city charged $725,013 in rental inspection fees during the time-frame. Of that amount, the court found that the program’s total actual costs were nearly $487,000. Omaha attorney Rodney Dahlquist, who represented the plaintiffs, called the ruling a victory for landlords and taxpayers.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A jury has convicted an eastern Iowa man of attempted murder amid allegations that he tried to organize the murders of three witnesses from behind bars so they couldn’t testify against him. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that 38-year-old Justin Lee Dewitt, formerly of North Liberty, was convicted Tuesday of three counts. Dewitt was an inmate at the Muscatine County Jail after he was arrested in Johnson County for trying to coordinate the murders of four people, including two children. While he was incarcerated, authorities say Dewitt tried to coordinate the murders of three witnesses from his Johnson County case so they couldn’t testify.

Authorities say Dewitt spoke twice to someone he thought had a connection to a contract killer, but the contact was really an undercover law enforcement officer.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department reports the arrest at around 9:20-p.m. Wednesday, of 24-year old Ryan James Corder, of Red Oak. Corder was arrested in the 700 block of Skyline Drive, on a valid Cass County warrant for Theft in the 3rd Degree. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports a Greene County woman was injured and then arrested following the pursuit and chase of a stolen pickup truck late Wednesday night. Kylene Rabourne, of Grand Junction, was transported by Panora EMS to the Guthrie County Hospital for medical treatment after the vehicle she was driving failed to negotiate a curve in the road during a pursuit, and wrecked into a field. The woman was found after law enforcement searched the area for about two-hours. Rabourne was booked into the Guthrie County Jail on nine traffic violations and criminal charges of: Interference with Official Acts, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Theft of a Motor Vehicle and Carrying Weapons. Rabourne also has two outstanding warrants for her arrest in Greene and Webster Counties.

Accident scene following pursuit (Guthrie Co. S/O Facebook page photo)

Authorities says that at around 10:05-p.m. Wednesday, a Guthrie County Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a white Chevrolet Silverado near Highway 141 and Justice Road in Bayard. During the course of the traffic stop, the vehicle sped away from the deputy southbound on Justice Road at speeds of nearly 100 MPH. The vehicle turned west on 130th St. and the deputy attempted a PIT maneuver on the pickup without success. The vehicle continued westbound on 130th St. until it turned north on Hickory Ave. (See the pit maneuver video clip here: https://www.facebook.com/guthriecountyso/videos/1968127973234302/?t=3)

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Congressman Steve King, a republican from Kiron, questioned the Google C-E-O Sundar Pichai Tuesday about alleged political biased search results. King asked during a House Judiciary Committee hearing why Google isn’t more transparent about the one-thousand member team which handles search results.

“If we don’t know who the thousand are, and we can’t look at their social media, and we can’t see the algorithms to understand the results of the work they are doing behind closed doors, and yet the public believes it’s an open forum with a balanced exchange and open access to information when, of course, it’s not,” King says.  He says the company could face action if it doesn’t provide more information.

“We either need to know who they are and look at their social media, and if that doesn’t solve this problem than the next step is to publish the algorithms, and if that doesn’t happen, then the next step on the line is Section 230, the amendments to Section 230. And the step on the line beyond that is the Teddy Roosevelt step,” King says.

The Teddy Roosevelt mention refers to the former president’s “trust busting,” where he broke up large companies with monopolies. “I don’t want to regulate anything, but neither do I want to see a society so polarized and so divided that the will of the American people can’t be expressed at the ballot box,” according to King.  King told the Google C-E-O that there is “a very strong conviction” by Republicans that the search algorithms are written with a bias against conservatives.

King says Democrats don’t agree with that — “because of course it benefits them.”

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments, Wednesday, from two public-sector unions that are challenging a 2017 law that limits collective bargaining rights. The law bars most public unions in the state from negotiating things like health insurance and overtime in employment contracts. But it doesn’t apply to unions made up of at least 30 percent public safety workers. Lawyer Mark Hedberg, representing AFSCME Iowa council 61, says the law is unconstitutional because it gives some public safety workers fewer collective bargaining rights than others. “Campus police are excluded. They do the identical work of any other police force in the state of Iowa,” Hedberg says.

The attorney representing the state, Matt McDermott, says lawmakers had legitimate reasons for the differing policy.  “They were trying to limit the number of people that would be subject to these enhanced bargaining rights,” McDermott says.

He says that would ensure that some police would still be working if others went on strike. The Iowa Supreme Court heard the arguments and will issue a ruling at a later date.