Red Oak Police, Sunday afternoon, arrested 52-year old Julie Ann Biggerstaff, of Red Oak, on a felony drug charge. She was taken into custody at around 2:36-p.m. for Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Deliver, which is a Class “B” felony. Authorities say they seized 22.88-grams of meth after Biggerstaff was pulled over, during a routine traffic stop. She was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending an appearance before a magistrate.

A fiery accident involving an SUV this (Sunday) morning in Fremont County, has resulted in a death. According to the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office emergency crews and law enforcement responded at around 4:30-a.m., to a single vehicle accident that happened in the 3800 block of Iowa Highway 2.

Upon arrival, they found a 2007 Jeep that exited the south side of the roadway and struck a tree. The vehicle was also fully engulfed in flames. One person was found deceased inside the vehicle after the fire was extinguished.

Authorities say an autopsy will be performed by the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny. The identity of the victim and the cause of death will not be released until the autopsy is complete.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Shenandoah Police, along with Farragut and Shenandoah Rescue.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lawmakers are supposed to be rounding the last corner of the legislative session as an unofficial adjournment date approaches, but Republicans who control the Legislature haven’t finalized key steps including approving a state budget or explaining how they’ll deliver promised tax cuts. Republican leaders have been working privately to come up with spending targets that lawmakers will use to craft the next state budget. Legislative leaders indicated Thursday they were close on dollar figures.

It’s unclear how long lawmakers will remain at the Capitol. Their reimbursement for daily expenses ends April 17, and that’s traditionally the target for concluding the session. This year, many legislators are eager to hit the campaign trail for midterm elections. Rep. Chris Hall, a Sioux City Democrat and ranking member of the House’s top budget committee, worried key decisions could happen too quickly.

Lawmakers approved, after mid-year cuts, a roughly $7.2 billion budget for the spending year that ends in June. A budget forecasting panel recently predicted the state was on pace to have about $7.5 billion for the budget that begins July 1. What the Legislature will do with that anticipated increased revenue remains unclear.

Republicans have long promised changes to Iowa’s tax system, including tax cuts.
For people like Iowa State University senior Cody Smith, tax cuts make no sense. Gov. Reynolds approved more than $35 million in mid-year budget reductions last month. Last session, lawmakers approved about $118 million in cuts to the fiscal year 2017 budget. The state also borrowed $141 million from emergency funds last year.

The Iowa Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s three public universities, announced last week it would raise tuition because of declining state funding. Smith said the Legislature’s reduced funding makes higher education less affordable, leading many to leave Iowa for other opportunities.

Jason Bardsley, a state patrol trooper in western Iowa, said tight budgets already mean the state has as few as five officers on duty overnight. He said the state should work to replenish staffing levels. On Monday, lawmakers will hold a public hearing on Gov. Kim Reynolds’ plan to cut personal income taxes. The plan was announced in February but a final version still isn’t available. Reynolds and other Republicans also have said they would consider cutting corporate tax rates.

Amid the budget talk, local officials are closely watching Republican proposals to reduce or eliminate “backfill” payments to local governments. Those payments, which total $152 million a year, replace lost funding from the Legislature’s 2013 tax cuts for commercial and industrial property owners. Rep. Pat Grassley, a New Harford Republican who helped advance a bill to reduce backfill payments, said the issue isn’t tied to this year’s proposed tax cuts. But, Grassley said, the state can’t afford to keep funneling more money into local coffers.

Another possible thorn in state budget talks is an escalating dispute between the United States and China. The countries are in a back-and-forth over tariffs on products like soybeans, pork and ethanol. Reynolds indicated her staff was tracking the possible impact to Iowa’s budget priorities if the state’s agricultural industry faces a risk of significant losses.

(Corrects headline to delete “sentenced” & replace with “found guilty“)  — Cass County Attorney Michael Hooper reports an Audubon County man was found guilty during a Cass County trial last week, of two felony counts Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree. 51-year old Tim Smith faces a prison sentence of twenty-five years, with a mandatory term of incarceration of seventeen and a half years before he is eligible for parole. Sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2018. Hooper says “Because these charges are what we call forcible felonies, Smith must be sentenced to prison and is not eligible for probation. The only real decision for the Court at sentencing on June 11th is whether Smith’s sentences will be ordered to run concurrent or consecutive. Meaning, Smith will be either sentenced to twenty-five years or fifty years in prison.”

Tim Smith

On November 30, 2017, Tim Smith was charged in Audubon County with one Count of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree. The next day, on December 1, 2017, he was charged in Cass County with one count of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree, both being Class B Felonies. On March 13, 2018, the cases were consolidated for trial, meaning Smith would stand trial in both counties at the same time. Pretrial motions were heard by the Court this last Monday and trial started Tuesday morning after a lengthy jury selection process lasting most of the day on Tuesday. Evidence was presented by the State showing that Tim Smith sexually abused a child under the age of 12 at different times in both counties. The case was submitted to the jury around noon on Thursday and a verdict was reached thirty minutes later.

Due to the fact that the case was submitted to the jury during the noon hour, the Clerk of Court had ordered pizza for the jury to eat during their deliberation process. Hooper said “The jury reached their decision so quickly, I can only imagine how much faster it would have been had we not ordered them pizza.”

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office reports a Clearfield man, 32-year old William Ray Webb, was arrested Saturday, at the intersection of Quail Avenue and 170th street. Webb was charged with Operating While Intoxicated (1st Offense), and was being held at the Taylor County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 22-year old Nikolus Brenton Schooling, of Red Oak, was arrested today (Sunday), at around 3:15-a.m., for Public Intoxication and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Schooling was taken into custody in the 500 block of N. 5th Street, in Red Oak, and held at the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.  And, Red Oak Police report 36-year old Thomas Bentley, of Omaha, along with 26-year old Olivia Margaret Kruse, of Red Oak, were arrested today (Sunday), at around 2:23-a.m., for Public Intoxication. Both were being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond, each.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:35 a.m. CDT

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — The adoptive grandmother of a central Iowa teenager who starved to death has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting she didn’t seek medical attention for the dying girl. Sixty-three-year-old Carla Bousman, of Perry, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to neglect of a dependent person and six other charges in the May 2017 death of 16-year-old Sabrina Ray. Bousman also admitted that she locked Sabrina’s two sisters in a room with the girl as she was dying.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa woman is facing charges that she took $71,000 from the company where she worked as a part-time bookkeeper. The Scott County Sheriff’s Department says 42-year-old Jennifer Michele Farmer-Thiesen is charged with an ongoing criminal activity and first-degree theft, both felonies. Deputy Eric Roloff says in an arrest affidavit that from June 2015 to December 2017, Farmer-Thiesen used her company’s credit cards to make personal purchases totaling $71,000.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating a report of a sexual assault at Iowa State University. Deputy Chief Carrie Jacobs says a woman reported the assault to campus police Thursday evening but further details were not immediately available. Jacobs says the woman is not a student and it’s unclear if she was assaulted on or off campus.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The owners of a former Sioux City riverboat casino have agreed to pay $1.5 million to a nonprofit group that had filed a lawsuit over unpaid revenue-sharing funds. The Sioux City Journal reports that the Community Action Agency of Siouxland and the Belle of Sioux City reached a settlement last month. Belle operated the Argosy Sioux City riverboat casino.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — The adoptive grandmother of a central Iowa teenager who starved to death has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting she didn’t seek medical attention for the dying girl. Sixty-three-year-old Carla Bousman, of Perry, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty neglect of a dependent child and six other charges in the May 2017 death of 16-year-old Sabrina Ray.

The Des Moines Register reports Bousman also admitted that she locked Sabrina’s two sisters in a locked room with the girl as she was dying. She also admitted concealing evidence after Sabrina died. Authorities say Sabrina weighed 56 pounds and was severely malnourished when she died.

Sabrina’s adoptive parents, Marc Alan Ray and Misty Jo Bousman-Ray, face several felony charges in Sabrina’s abuse and death, including first-degree murder. They have pleaded not guilty.

Police in the northwest Iowa town of Sheldon responded at around 2:36-a.m. Saturday, to a report of a man laying in the middle of the street in the 1100 block of south 3rd Avenue. Upon officers’ arrival, they found an unresponsive male and began life-saving measures, but those attempts were unsuccessful.  The male, who was later identified as 32-year old Joshua Andrew Rook, of Sheldon, was transported to the Sanford Sheldon Hospital by the Sheldon Community Ambulance Team where he was pronounced dead.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was contacted and responded to assist the Sheldon Police Department in the investigation of Rook’s death.  An autopsy will be performed by the State Medical Examiner’s office on a future date.  The investigation into the incident is ongoing and law enforcement has no reason to believe that the public is in any danger.  More information will be released as information becomes available.

The Sheldon Police Department was assisted by the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Sheldon Community Ambulance Team, the Sheldon Fire Department, and the O’Brien County Attorney’s office.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa woman is facing charges that she took $71,000 from the company where she worked as a part-time bookkeeper. The Scott County Sheriff’s Department says 42-year-old Jennifer Michele Farmer-Thiesen is charged with an ongoing criminal activity and first-degree theft, both felonies.

Deputy Eric Roloff says in an arrest affidavit that from June 2015 to December 2017, Farmer-Thiesen used her company’s credit cards to make personal purchases totaling $71,000.

The Quad-City Times reports Farmer-Thiesen allegedly concealed the purchases by altering the company’s Quick Book’s software.