Audubon Police Chief Matt Starmer reports three recent arrests. On Monday, 40-year old Nancy Beth Nelson, and 41-year old Melissa Lynn Chambers, both of Audubon, were taken into custody on charges of Theft in the 5th Degree. Nelson was charged, appeared before a magistrate and remained in the Audubon County Jail on other charges.  Chambers appeared before a magistrate, pled guilty and was released.

And, on Oct. 20th, 36-year old Brandon Lee Glisson, of Boone, was arrested in Audubon on an active Boone County Warrant.  Other agencies assisted in handling the arrest, including the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, Adair County Sheriff’s Office, and the Iowa State Patrol.  Glisson was turned over to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office following his arrest.

A traffic stop in Audubon County early this (Tuesday) morning, resulted in the arrest of a man on drug and other charges. The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports 39-year old Anthony Joseph Miller, of Kimballton, was taken into custody at around 1-a.m. on charges of OWI/3rd offense, Possession of Marijuana, having no driver’s license, no insurance, and other violations. Miller was pulled over in the 2600 block of Goldfinch Avenue and brought to the Audubon County Jail, where his bond was set at $6,000.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of setting fire to a Sioux City house has pleaded not guilty. Court records say Jesse Bigeagle entered written pleas Friday to charges of arson, criminal mischief and burglary. The records say Bigeagle entered the home early on Sept. 19, went to the basement and started a fire there before leaving.

No injuries have been reported. The house is considered a total loss. The records say Bigeagle had lived at the house.

The Harlan Police Department said in its latest report today (Tuesday), there was one person arrested over the past week and on, non-injury accident. Officials say on Oct. 22nd, 21-year old Hana Jane Jacobsen, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Jacobsen was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with OWI and speeding. The previous day (Oct. 21st), 22-year old Marcus Tyler Morgan, of Harlan, was cited by Harlan Police, for Driving While Suspended.

The H-P.D. said also, there were no injuries and no citations issued following a collision between vehicles driven by Olivia Petersen, of Harlan, and Lauren Andersen, of Kirkman. The accident happened Oct. 22nd at the intersection of 19th and Lincoln Avenue, when Andersen failed to yield as she pulled away from a stop sign. Petersen’s 2005 Chrysler Sebring struck Andersen’s 2008 Chevy Impala on the left front side. As a result of the impact, the Sebring spun 90 degrees and came to rest facing west on Lincoln Street. The Impala continued west and ended-up in a yard on the northwest corner of the intersection.

This Saturday, October 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (local time), the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and its local law enforcement, community and tribal partners will give the public its 14th opportunity in seven years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Individuals can take pills and other solid forms of medication to one of almost 5,000 collection sites manned by more than 4,000 partners nationwide (Liquids, needles or sharps cannot be accepted, however). You can find nearby collection sites at www.DEATakeBack.com or by calling 800-882-9539. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Locally, prescription drug drop off sites can be found at the Atlantic Police Department inside the City Hall building, in Red Oak at the Hy-Vee Store (Montgomery County Sheriff’s drop-off site), and at the Glenwood Police Department, and Walgreens, in Council Bluffs.

Nationwide last April the public turned in 450 tons (900,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at almost 5,500 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,200 of its state and local law enforcement partners. Overall, in its 13 previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 8.1 million pounds—more than 4,050 tons—of pills.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — A state audit is questioning Iowa State University’s use of donations to buy an airplane used largely by former President Steven Leath to work on his piloting skills. A report released Tuesday says the school failed to get required written permission from the executive director of the Board of Regents for the $498,000 purchase. It says Iowa State should consider requesting reimbursement from Leath, now the president of Auburn University, for a March 2016 trip in which he was flown to his North Carolina home.

The report notes that 52 of 76 trips on the aircraft were used for Leath to obtain his instrument rating. Given its limited use for “clear business” reasons, the audit questions whether the purchase served a university purpose. The university is defending the purchase, saying the plane facilitated Leath’s fundraising activities.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports that sometime between Oct. 11th and 18th, someone stole 37 bridge planks from the Union County Secondary Roads’ storage lot, located at 1701 Commerce Road. The planks were valued at $2,368. Anyone with information about the crime should call the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office reports also, an Adair County man escaped injury after he swerved to miss a deer and his pickup went into a ditch. 49-year old Rodney Wayne Carroll, of Greenfield, was traveling south on Highway 25 at around 7:30-a.m. today (Tuesday), when several deer came out of a ditch and crossed the road in front of him. Carroll’s 2017 Ford F-150 Supercrew pickup sustained $3,000 damage during the accident.

Now that Iowa’s abandoned its so-called stop-gap effort to cut health insurance premium costs, both of Iowa’s U.S. senators are among the dozen Republicans supporting a bipartisan bid in the Senate to prop up the nation’s ailing individual insurance market. Senator Joni Ernst says the bill will hopefully limit 2018 premium increases for 72-thousand Iowans who buy individual health insurance policies. “I am willing to look at whatever is presented to find a pathway forward for Iowans. We are running out of time. There is no doubt about it,” Ernst said. “…I do understand the frustrations that exist out there and, believe me, that’s why I am trying to get a bipartisan plan through. Hopefully it will provide some sort relief for those Iowans.”

Ernst made her comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television. Today (Tuesday), during a conference call with Iowa reporters, Senator Chuck Grassley said the plan would accomplish two major things. Grassley says, “One would legally put money into the insurance companies to lower premiums for people that are under the poverty level by 250% and give them help with co-pays and high deductibles.” There are tens of thousands of people just in Iowa, Grassley says, who could use this financial boost to pay for their health insurance premiums. “That is something that Obama did but the courts said he didn’t have the authority to do it,” Grassley says. “The president wants to abide by the law that he took an oath to uphold so he’s not going to continue what Obama did because the courts said it was illegal so he wants Congress to enact this.”

The other main goal of the legislation, according to Grassley, is to make it easier for states to get a waiver from the federal government, something Iowa was just forced to table. Grassley, Ernst and 10 other Republicans, along with a dozen Democrats, are backing the bill. Ernst calls it a “short term fix.” “Which isn’t a perfect plan, but it allows the states greater flexibility. It allows those co-sharing payments to continue,” Ernst said. “We have to look beyond that and that means we are going to have to work on finding a much more long-term, permanent solution.”

Earlier this month, President Trump announced the end of cost-sharing payments to insurance companies. The payments are part of the Affordable Care Act, designed to cover some of the costs of insurance policies for the sickest Americans. Trump has given mixed signals about the bipartisan bill pending in the Senate that would continue those payments, but Ernst says Trump is likely to sign it if Congress can pass it. And she says the bill will hopefully limit 2018 premium increases for 72-thousand Iowans who buy individual health insurance policies.

(Radio Iowa)

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say firefighters from at least eight departments responded to a blaze that heavily damaged a building at an egg facility on the west side of Charles City in northern Iowa. Firetrucks were dispatched a little before 5 p.m. Monday, and their crews remained at the Zoetis facility until nearly 11 p.m. One firefighter suffered a minor leg injury. Zoetis spokesman Bill Price said Tuesday from the company headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, that no employees of the animal health company were injured.

He says several thousand chickens that produced eggs for vaccine manufacture were killed. Price also says the fire cause is still being investigated.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four recent arrests. Authorities say 32-year old Jacob Ryan Jones, of Glenwood, and 27-year old Jennifer Lea Neal, a homeless person, were arrested Oct. 20th and 23rd respectively, on warrants for Probation Violation. Neal was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail. Jones’ bond was set at $300, while Neal’s bond was set at $5,000. And, 22-year old Destiny Nikole Smith, of Malvern, was arrested Oct. 20th on a warrant out of Council Bluffs with regard to Child Endangerment, and for Violation of Probation. Her bond was set at $7,000.

40-year old Michael Raymond Carver, of Glenwood, was arrested by Mills County Deputies on Oct. 19th, for Driving Under Suspension and No SR-22 Insurance. His bond was set at $1,300.