(UPDATE 12:45-p.m.: The woman was found safe last night. She was located by the Iowa State Patrol and was residing in Anita, according to law enforcement.)

A south central Iowa woman is missing since July 26th from the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. The family of 36-year old Stephanie J. McClellan, of Leon, says her van was found abandoned on I-80 in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area around July 19th. Some personal items were turned into Omaha Police Department on July 20th, and Stephanie was treated in an Omaha Emergency Room on July 21st.

The last image Stephanie posted on Facebook. Used with her family’s permission.

She was last seen getting a driver’s license Omaha/Council Bluffs area July 26th. Stephanie is a white female, 5-feet 8-inches tall. She weighs about 135 pounds, and has blue eyes. If you have any information about her location, please call the Leon Police Department 641-446-7733 or Omaha PD/Council Bluffs Police Departments.

A cigarette tossed out the window of a pickup Friday night in Pottawattamie County, resulted in the arrest of an Oakland man on an OWI charge. The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office says a Deputy on Patrol observed 24-year old Regan Mitchel Moore, allegedly toss the cigarette at around 9:40-p.m., on Highway 59, near the intersection with Highway 6. He also saw the truck swerve over the fog and center line markings on the road. A traffic stop ensued, during which Moore was arrested for OWI/1st offense, and cited for littering.

At around 12:20-a.m. Saturday, a Pott. County Deputy observed a pickup swerving over the road near Wabash Avenue and the East South Omaha Bridge Road. During a traffic stop, the driver, 50-year old Steven Kurt Feekin, of Council Bluffs, also displayed signs of impairment, according to the report. He was arrested for OWI/1st offense.

A couple of hours later, 30-year old Tyler J. Christiansen, of Sioux City, was arrested after a passenger in his pickup called authorities to warn them Christiansen was intoxicated. A traffic stop in the 26,000 block of Sycamore Road, resulted Christiansen’s arrest for OWI/1st offense.

Sunday evening, 46-year old Christopher Sean Provancha, of Hancock, was arrested on a charge of OWI/1st offense. His arrest followed a reported traffic accident on Highway 6, where the suspect vehicle, a van, had reportedly entered a ditch. A caller told authorities they observed both airbags on the vehicle had deployed, and that the driver was attempting to drive the vehicle out of the ditch.

At around 10-p.m. Sunday, 38-year old Bobby Joe Shughart, of Avoca, was arrested in Avoca for OWI/1st offense, after he was pulled over for failure to have license plates on the 2002 Ford Taurus he was driving, and for erratic driving. Also arrested for OWI/1st offense late Sunday night in Pott. County, was 41-year old Andrew William McClelland, of Hastings, who was pulled over for crossing the center line and swerving.

And, a Treynor woman, 23-year old Janeva Dalton Rodgers, was arrested at around 5:30-a.m. Monday, on an active Council Bluffs Police Department warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Public Intoxication. The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office reports also, 37-year old Dwaine Linn Price, of Omaha, was arrested at around 2:20-a.m. Monday, on a warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault causing bodily injury. Price was arrested following a traffic stop on a vehicle with no registration plate lamp.

Two people were arrested on drug charges Monday evening in Pottawattamie County, after a Deputy was dispatched to check out a suspicious vehicle in the area of 270th Street and Hickory Road. The 2005 Saturn Vue was parked behind a grain bin. An investigation resulted in 32-year old Sarah Loretta Graves, of Hartley, being arrested for Possession with the intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and for having a concealed weapon.

A second occupant of the vehicle, 33-year old Christopher David Cacek, of Newton, was arrested for Possession with the intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia.

During the investigation, authorities discovered 38.5 grams of a white crystal substance and 2.5-grams of a green leafy substance, a glass pipe, digital scale and 15 small plastic baggies. They also located two Tasers, and a silver knife with a 10-inch blade

One person was arrested over the Labor Day weekend, and charges filed against another man following a shots fired incident in Neola. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says a Deputy was dispatched to the area of 4th and 2nd Streets in Neola at around 2:15-a.m., Sunday. The Deputy met with neighbors, who said 54-year old Scott Ivan Boyer, of Neola, had fired two or three shotgun rounds in the direction of his son, 23-year old Darrell Jerome Boyer, also of Neola. The incident occurred near other residences.

Deputies tried to make contact with Scott Boyer, but he refused to come to the door, and shut the blinds in the home. Darrell Boyer advised his neighbors that his dad struck him in the head with a propane tank, causing him to bleed profusely. Deputies made contact with Darrell Boyer at Jenny Edmundson Hospital, where he was being treated prior to Council Bluffs Police arresting him on an unrelated warrant. Scott Boyer faces charges that include Reckless Use of a Firearm without Injury, and Domestic Assault with Intent or Weapon.

In a related incident, a Deputy was investigating the shots fired call in Neola, when a Cadillac was seen driving away from the area the shots came from. As the Deputy and his backup  approached, the driver, identified by witnesses as 23-year old Darrell Jerome Boyer, of Neola, reversed the car at a high rate of speed.

The witnesses ran out of their house in the 100 block of Mendel Street, and told Deputies Boyer had just stolen their vehicle. They also mentioned he had no right or privilege to drive their vehicle. A records check indicated Boyer has multiple warrants for his arrest, and he was barred from driving through the State of Iowa. The car was found abandoned Sunday afternoon. Boyer was taken into custody at around 12:30-a.m. Monday, on charges of Theft in the 2nd Degree and Driving While Barred.

School Board elections in the area will be held next Tuesday, Sept. 12th. In Adair County, voters in the Nodaway Valley School District will have to choose between several people running for the At-Large Director seat, and two candidates for the District 2 Director seat (to fill a vacancy).

Candidates for the lone At-Large seat include: James Campbell; Maureen Lonsdale; Terri Lee Raasch, and Melissa Schwartz.  Candidates for the District 2 seat, are Melissa S. Larson and Kevin Wissner. Officials say Tyson J. Sickles is running unopposed for the Nodaway Valley School Board in Director District 1.

There are no challenges for the Adair-Casey School District Board of Education, where Megan Kading, Jeff Leonard, and Mark Williams are running unopposed for three At Large seats.

Elsewhere: Jim Knott is unopposed for DMAC Director District 3; and, Dennis Davis is unopposed for SWCC Director District 1

DES MOINES, Iowa — The dog days of summer are behind us and with the last push of vacation travel, the Iowa departments of Public Safety and Transportation are reminding Iowans of the “Steer it, Clear it” law that took effect July 1, 2017.

Do you know what to do in the event of a fender bender where no one is injured? Iowa’s amended law (House File 313 to amend Iowa Code 321.262) requires the drivers of vehicles involved in a crash where there are no serious injuries to move the vehicles out of the driving lanes of traffic.

The change was made to improve the safety of those involved in the crash, as well as others on the roadway. There are approximately 55,000 crashes in Iowa every year. For every minute a lane is blocked, the risk of a secondary crash increases by roughly 2.8 percent. That means the likelihood of another crash happening in the area of the first crash is very high after about 30 minutes.

Pat Hoye, Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau Chief, said, “No one wants to be stuck in traffic. Seeing a crash ahead can cause anxiety and frustration by drivers caught by the delay. Clearing minor crashes off the road quickly keeps traffic moving and reduces the risk for all drivers.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Officials at a central Iowa jail want to open three empty housing units amid an increase in inmates, but county supervisors hope for other efforts to reduce the jail population. The Des Moines Register reports that Polk County Jail has seen a daily average of more than 1,000 inmates this year.

Jail director Frank Marasco asked the county Board of Supervisors in May to open the three housing units and add an additional 15 detention officers to staff them. County supervisors hope to use deterrence efforts to prevent low-level offenders from ending up behind bars instead of granting the $1.1 million request.

Marasco says the safety of those in the jail is at risk until something is done to address the high number of inmates.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following a rollover accident Friday evening, near Creston. Authorities say 24-year old Courtney Lynne Wilson, of Moss Point, MS., who was wearing a seat belt, was traveling east on 110th Street at around 5:30-p.m., when a rear, passenger side spare tire blew out. and caused the 2008 Chevy Malibu to go out of control. The vehicle entered the north ditch and rolled over. Damage was estimated at $3,000. The car was declared a total loss.

Sioux City’s 185th Air Refueling Wing has gotten back the first tanker aircraft that has been upgraded with the latest digital cockpit instruments. Lieutenant Colonel Shawn Streck, 185th Maintenance Commander, says the instrument panel replacement program known as the “block 45” replaces most of the remaining analog gauges in the cockpit of the aging K-C-135 with new instrumentation and L-C-D displays: He says the jet was built in 1958 and most of the instruments were original to aircraft, so this upgrade puts them on par with the current civilian aircraft.

The block 45 program replaces the radio altimeter, autopilot, digital flight director and other gauges with computer module updates. Streck says during the next 12 months the 185th expects to have five of its K-C-135’s have the new cockpit instruments installed. That should keep the 1950’s era aircraft viable for years to come. “Our maintainers take amazingly good care of these aircraft. And they’re maintaining them at a level that they will be able to fly until 2040-2050,” Streck says. “So block 45 is a good fit to modernize them to make sure that they can stay at the standard that we want to keep them.”

Streck says the new technology means the planes will likely be flying long after he retires. He says he is 43 and plans to retire sometime between when he is 53 and 57. “Unless we get different airplanes, we very well could be flying these same planes 15 years from now. And there could be another generation that takes them 10 or 15 years past that. I would not be surprised to be seeing these tails on this ramp 30 years from now,” Streck says.

The mid-air refueler returned to Sioux City after 60 days at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma where the new systems were installed.

(Radio Iowa)

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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