Red Oak Police report a hit and run accident was investigated on Saturday night in Red Oak. Officers were called at 8:00pm to the 300 block of East Prospect Street for damage to the drivers door of a legally parked vehicle. The vehicle was a 2003 Lincoln Aviator owned by Devin Francis Meek of Red Oak and it was legally parked facing westbound. It appeared that someone backed out of a nearby driveway from the South and backed into the side of the vehicle. The owners of the driveway advised officers that a lot of people use the driveway to turn around on that street. Damage to the Lincoln was estimated at $1,500. No further information is known at this time.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest Monday morning of a Red Oak man after an altercation. Officers were dispatched at 7:32am to the intersection of 1st Avenue and North Broadway Street for an altercation between two males. Officers determined that 37-year-old Daniel Bruce Clemons Jr. of Red Oak threatened another man with a knife. Clemons Jr. had left the scene and officers were able to track him down at the intersection of West 2nd Street and West Washington Avenue. He was taken into custody and charged with Assault while Displaying a Dangerous Weapon. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 cash bond.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials have acknowledged that secret waiting lists for psychotherapy appointments at Omaha’s U.S. Veterans Affairs Department hospital were used far longer than previously reported.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that a VA investigation dated Sept. 30, 2015, says the lists were used as far back as 2006 and were still used after the VA prohibited them in 2010 and after a 2014 scandal that eventually showed chronic delays, false paperwork and secret lists at VA hospitals across the nation.

The World-Herald reported last month the discovery of a separate, unauthorized Omaha list earlier this year. VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System Director Don Burman told the newspaper the VA made changes after the 2015 investigation. But he says some problems weren’t fixed properly, allowing use of a waiting list to recur.

***The Amber Alert was cancelled in the 2:00pm hour after the two youngsters were recovered safe. The Nissan they were driving was spotted by a motorist on I-235 just north of downtown Des Moines and followed until police were able to pull the vehicle over.

An Amber Alert was issued in Iowa this (Monday) afternoon, for the abduction from the Denison Area, of a 12-year old Caucasian female by a 13-year old Caucasian male. The girl was identified as Beyonce Carrasco, 5-feet 8-inches tall, weight 82 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes, and was last known to be wearing gray, UnderArmor shorts and a dark gray Monarch shirt or blouse. She has a mole on her nose.

The suspected abductor is 13-year old Rodolfo Penaflor, Jr., who is 5-feet 4-inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. He also has black hair and brown eyes. They are believed to be traveling in a white 2016 Nissan Sentra with Iowa license plates EYB982.

Beyonce

Rudolpho

Corporate sponsorships are the norm now for sports stadiums and arenas, but the Iowa Department of Transportation says there’s been very little interest in them for state highway rest areas. The director of the D-O-T’s Highway Division, Mitch Dillavou, told the Transportation Commission last week that they tried to gain sponsorships after a federal rule change. “Four or five years ago we were given permission by the Federal Highway Administration to have a sponsorship program at our rest areas…which allowed people to pay for sponsorships and get their name on the sign. They could have some advertising on the sign and we could receive money to offset the cost of our rest area maintenance and upkeep,” Dillavou explains.

But he says they didn’t get a lot of response when they offered sponsorships for the 38 rest stops. “We had eight originally, the second time around we had none, zero — and the ones that had it didn’t show any interest in it,” Dillavou says. Dillavou says the sponsorships of the eight rest stops amounted to around 55-thousand dollars. He says the lack of interest in the sponsorships is due in part to the F-H-A’s restrictions of what can be placed on the signs by the sponsor. The commission discussed the issue as part of a review and update of its rules.

(Radio Iowa)

The Glenwood Police Department reports two arrests took place, Sunday. 47-year old Philip Sales, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Providing False Information, and on Mills County warrants for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Driving Under Suspension, and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drugs. Bond for the offenses amounted to $4,600 altogether.

And, 29-year-old Seth Peters, of Glenwood, was arrested Sunday, for Public Intoxication. His bond or surety was set at $300.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa foster care officials are leading efforts to recruit and retain foster families as the state deals with a shortage of available homes. The Sioux City Journal reports that over 4,000 children are in need of a foster home in Iowa. Western Iowa has the greatest need for foster families because it has the highest child removal rate in the state. An Iowa Department of Human Services Child Welfare Bureau official says it’s the result of a more active juvenile justice system and a higher rate of drug use in the western part of the state.

Foster care providers say there’s also a demand for African-American, Hispanic and Native American families, as well as families willing to take teenagers, children with special needs and sibling groups of three or more.

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — A court has scheduled separate trials for the Iowa parents of a 4-month-old baby whose maggot-infested body was found in a swing in his family’s home. Twenty-eight-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn and 20-year-old Cheyanne Renae Harris, both of Alta Vista, have pleaded not guilty to charges of child endangerment and first-degree murder in the death of their son, Sterling Koehn. Koehn’s trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 3 in New Hampton. Harris’ trial is set to begin Jan. 31.

Authorities say deputies and medics called to the couple’s apartment on Aug. 30 found Sterling dead in the swing. A medical examiner found maggots in his clothing and skin that indicated he hadn’t had a diaper change, bath or been removed from the seat in over a week.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says two people were arrested on separate OWI charges, and one was taken into custody for Public Intoxication, recently. At around 11:30-p.m. Saturday, 35-year old Christopher Lawrence Adkins, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense and Carrying Weapons, after authorities investigated a property damage accident involving an SUV he was driving.

At around 5:50-p.m., Saturday, 52-year old Ismael Rodriguez-Ramirez, (residence not listed), was arrested at the Casey’s Store in Crescent, for Public Intoxication.

And, at around 7:50-p.m. Friday, Pott. County Deputies arrested 56-year old Carol Ann Gusman, of Underwood.  She was taken into custody after authorities received word a motorist was following a tired or intoxicated driver in the Underwood area, and that at one point the vehicle went into a ditch. The suspect vehicle, a 1994 Honda Accord, was located in the area of L-34 and Juniper Road, traveling southbound very slowly. The vehicle also had a very loud or defective exhaust. After the vehicle pulled over for the Deputy, Guzman admitted she had consumed between two and four beers earlier in the evening. She was subsequently placed under arrest.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater today (Monday), reported a woman from Casey was arrested last Thursday night on a Cass County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Theft in the 4th Degree. 48-year old Pamela Joann Murphy, of Casey, was taken into custody in Greenfield by Adair County Deputies and turned over to Cass County Deputies. Her bond was set at $2,000. On Friday, 27-year old Lukus Jamal Garner, of Des Moines, was arrested on Adair County warrants for Failure to Appear in Court, on original charges of Driving While License Under Suspension, Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, and Operating a vehicle without a registration card or license plate. Garner was released later that same day on $1,000 bond. And, 24-year old Rigoberto Barrera-Cruz, of Lenox, was arrested Nov. 12th in Adair County, for Driving While Barred. He was later released on $2,000 bond.