DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa attorney has filed documents in state court challenging the validity of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ appointment of an eastern Iowa judge. Lawyer Gary Dickey says Reynolds failed to appoint Judge Jason Besler within 30 days as required by the Iowa Constitution. Reynolds filed the paperwork to appoint Besler in June five days after the deadline had passed. She says she made the appointment by the deadline verbally to her chief of staff but acknowledges no documentation exists to prove it.

Dickey, who served as former Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack’s chief attorney, filed documents Thursday seeking permission of the court to challenge Besler’s appointment. Dickey also seeks to move it from eastern Iowa, where Besler sits as a judge, to Des Moines to avoid having fellow district judges ruling on his status. In October Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady said the governor’s word that the appointment was timely deserves respect unless resolved differently through the legal process.

An organization whose mission of “Veterans helping Veterans,” is looking to assemble gift packages for about 50 Cass County Veterans who reside in county care facilities.

Ben Batholomew

Cass County Deputy Ben Bartholomew says the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association (CVMA) is asking for the public to help them put together gift packages to deliver to Cass County Veterans residing in the five assisted living facilities in Cass County.

Bartholomew says the goal of their program is reaching out to veterans to provide them with whatever they may need.

(Some of the items veterans in a care facility may need and enjoy include: a package of socks; T-shirts or a package of white T-shirts; Cologne; Soaps and body wash [Old Spice is a popular item]; Crossword puzzles, word search puzzles and other activities to keep the mind active; and decks of cards.)

Deputy Bartholomew, of Atlantic, is a Marine Corps Veteran and a three-year member of the nationwide CVMA.

He says “The CVMA is an organization of all [combat] veterans who ride motorcycles.”

(He said they help with financial issues from time-to-time, but most often it’s spending time with veterans, especially those who are elderly and/or need help with PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]. Bartholomew says 22 veterans each day commit suicide due to PTSD and other issues. CVMA members respond to their needs, by talking with vets 24/7, in hopes those numbers can be reduced.)

Veterans, he said, are more willing to open-up to fellow service members about their experiences than they are family members.

Anyone wishing to contribute new items for Veterans’ gift packages, can drop them off in specially marked boxes located in Cass County, at: the Atlantic Hy Vee;Olsens BP in Atlantic; The Tiger Mart in Griswold, and Casey’s General Store in Anita. Those items will be collected between now and a few days after Thanksgiving, while you’re conducting your “Black Friday” shopping, and the days after. They’ll gather all the items afterward and begin to assemble the gift packages the first week of December, with delivery through Cass County soon thereafter.

(Radio Iowa) — Almost one-third of Iowa’s counties…including Adair, Adams, Audubon, Guthrie, Fremont, Harrison, Madison, Ringgold and Sac…are considered “maternal care deserts” in a new report. Stacey Stewart, president of the March of Dimes, says 29 of Iowa’s 99 counties are critically lacking when it comes to health care specifically for pregnancy. Stewart says women in those counties are at greater risk of complications from childbirth, including the death of the mother, the baby, or both.

“A maternal care desert is a county that lacks even the basic obstetrics services to help mothers safely deliver their babies,” Stewart says. “The county will not have even one hospital that offers obstetrics services and also not have any OBGYN or certified nurse midwife.” Nationwide, about 35-percent of all counties fall into the maternal care desert category and Stewart says a majority of them are rural counties. “About 20% of all the women who live in maternal care deserts actually live in urban and metropolitan areas,” Stewart says. “It doesn’t mean that just because you live in an urban area, all of the sudden you’ve got all the resources available to you that you need.”

More than 700 American women die in childbirth each year and some 50-thousand suffer life-threatening complications, making the U-S the most dangerous developed country in which to give birth. Women of color are most at risk of facing complications, and black women are more than three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes. “We have in the U.S. some of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the world,” Stewart says. “Our rates of maternal mortality have doubled over the past 25 years. What it means is that women are dying at higher rates as result of pregnancy and childbirth as compared to women in other developed countries around the world and that simply is unacceptable.”

The March of Dimes is launching #BlanketChange, a social and video advocacy campaign focused on the iconic receiving blankets used to swaddle nearly every newborn baby. Other counties listed as “maternal  care deserts” include: Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Franklin, Grundy, Hancock, Ida, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Jones, Keokuk, Louisa, Lyon, Pocahontas, Winnebago and Worth.

A Cass County woman was arrested Thursday afternoon on drug and other charges, in Pottawattamie County. A Deputy conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle, ended-up arresting 26-year old Destiny Jo Fuller, of Griswold, for Driving While Barred, Possession of a Controlled Substance – Marijuana, and Interference with Official Acts. Authorities say Fuller was in possession of a “Green leafy substance” weighing 11.5-grams.

A man from Walnut was arrested Thursday morning, in Pott. County. Authorities say 31-year old Robert Dale Hackwell was arrested at Oakland Foods on warrants for Violation of a No Contact Order, Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree (destruction and/or vandalism of property as a hate crime), and Child Endangerment. Hackwell was being held on a $2,000 bond for the Child Endangerment charge, and without bond on the other charges.

Pott. County Deputies arrested 40-year old Steven Uriah Brule, of Underwood, Thursday afternoon, on a Pott. County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. Brule was being held without bond in the Pott. County Jail. And, 54-year old Jesus Acosta Robles, Jr., of Sgt. Bluff, was arrested at around 2-a.m. today (Friday), on a Fugitive from Justice warrant out of Nebraska. Robles was taken into custody following an investigation into a rolling disturbance that was reported at around 1L25-a.m., on Interstate 80 eastbound where a female caller advised she was in a vehicle and the male driver would not let her out. The woman at least one other female were dropped off at the 17 mile marker. Robles’ vehicle was later stopped by a State Trooper after it was seen “all over the roadway.”

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 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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A woman from Creston reported to police, Thursday, that sometime between Oct. 5th and Nov. 1st, someone broke into her home in the 100 block of N. Division Street in Creston, and stole several pads of checkbooks and several mounted tomahawks. The loss was estimated at $2,000, as of the latest report.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — White, working-class voters fueled Donald Trump’s rise to the White House, but days ahead of the pivotal midterm elections there’s concern among Republicans that these same voters might abandon the GOP in states including Maine, Iowa and Minnesota. Democrats are targeting 21 House districts carried by President Barack Obama in 2012 that shifted to Trump in 2016.

These districts are testing the strength of the Trump-era political realignment. With the election days away, Democrats have cause for optimism.

CARTER LAKE, Iowa (AP) — The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has opened its new casino on the Iowa-Nebraska border. The tribe held a ribbon-cutting Thursday for the Prairie Flower Casino on tribal land in Carter Lake, Iowa, an Omaha suburb. The casino will be open all year, around the clock for patrons who are at least 21 years old. Ponca Tribe Chairman Larry Wright Jr. says proceeds from the casino will directly benefit tribal citizens and Carter Lake. He says the city will receive annual financial contributions from the casino, and tribe members will get more sustainable funding for services such as health care, job training, cultural education and land preservation.

Officials from Iowa, Nebraska and Council Bluffs are suing federal officials who approved the project, which will compete with state-licensed Iowa casinos.

A traffic stop in Red Oak at around 10:15-p.m. Thursday resulted in the arrest of two people, including a woman wanted on a nationwide warrant. Red Oak Police say 27-year old Christina Leann Thomas, of Richlands, NC., was arrested on the Colorado warrant for Larceny (2nd Degree Theft, resulting in a loss of $1,000-to $10,000). Larson was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail. 19-year old Matthew Cody Thomas, also of Richland, NC, was arrested for Driving While License Suspended. His bond was set at $566.

Their arrests took place after the couples’ vehicle was pulled-over in the Red Oak McDonald’s parking lot.