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

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State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald is asking Iowa’s governor to ensure Iowa taxpayers don’t foot the bill for the judgment the former communications director for Republicans in the Iowa Senate won from a jury last week. “We do have a tight budget and now we have this $2.2 million for those scoundrels up in the Republican senate to pay,” Fitzgerald said.

A jury awarded the money to Kirsten Anderson who filed a lawsuit charging her complaints about sexual harassment were disregarded and she was fired from her job on the Senate Republican Caucus Staff for complaining. Anderson’s bosses say she was fired for poor work and nothing else. Fitzgerald says testimony in the trial brought appalling behavior to light and he says Governor Kim Reynolds immediately should have insisted on changes in the legislature. “She is the leader of this state. She’s the leader of the Republican Party,” Fitzgerald says. “She should have demanded a change….that we have professional operation in every area of state government.”

Reynolds told reporters last week she has a “zero tolerance policy” when it comes to sexual harassment in the state agencies she oversees, but Reynolds says she has no control over personnel policies in the legislature, which is a separate branch of state government. Senate Republicans will meet privately this Friday. One Republican senator has publicly called for Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix to step down from his leadership post. The second-ranking Republican in the state senate has issued a statement supporting Dix.

(Radio Iowa)

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (July 25, 2017) — Thousands of people have responded to the emergency call for blood and platelet donations issued by the American Red Cross in early July, but the organization says there continues to be a critical summer blood shortage. Eligible donors of all types are urgently needed.

After issuing the emergency call, the Red Cross has experienced a 30 percent increase in blood donation appointments through mid-July. About half of the appointments were scheduled by donors using the free Blood Donor App or at redcrossblood.org. Despite this improvement, blood products are still being distributed to hospitals as fast as donations are coming in, so more donations are needed to meet patient needs and replenish the blood supply.    

Nearly 61,000 fewer blood donations than needed were given through the Red Cross in May and June, prompting the emergency call for donations in early July. The shortfall was the equivalent of the Red Cross not receiving any blood donations for more than four days.

To schedule an appointment to donate, use the Blood Donor App, visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). Donation appointments and completion of a RapidPass online health history questionnaire are encouraged to help reduce the time it takes to donate.

As a special thank you, those who come out to give blood or platelets with the Red Cross July 26 through Aug. 31 will be emailed a $5 Target eGiftCard™.

Police in Creston report the arrest late Monday afternoon, of 31-year old John Vanscoy, of Creston. Vanscoy was arrested near the intersection of Sumner/New York Streets on a charge of Driving While Barred. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) – A woman arrested after authorities found 19 neglected dogs and three dog carcasses on her south-central Iowa property has been given two years of probation. Court records say 41-year-old Lindsey Morrow pleaded guilty Monday to 22 counts of animal neglect before she was sentenced in a Warren County courtroom. Prosecutors dropped other charges in exchange for her pleas. The Indianola woman’s probation requirements say she can’t own any pets while under the state supervision.

Morrow was arrested in February after the dogs were found on properties in Sandyville and Indianola.

The Iowa Association of Realtors has released its sales report for June and president Cindy Miller of Burlington says it’s a record breaker. IAR members sold 5,389 homes last month. That’s up 5.3-percent compared to June of 2016 (5,120 homes).

It’s also the most homes sold in Iowa over a one month period, according to IAR records. June and July are typically the busiest months for home sales in Iowa, but Miller says there are several factors that boosted sales a bit more than usual. “Well, (mortgage) rates are still low and the weather has been fairly good, so people have been out looking for houses,” Miller said. “We have a lot of first-time home buyer programs out there that get people into a house with very little down, so they’ll still moving.”

The median sale price of a home in Iowa last month was $165,000 — up from $156,000 a year ago.

(Radio Iowa)

Mexico’s foreign ministry says that “according to preliminary information” 25 of the migrants inside a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas were Mexican. A ministry statement issued Monday night said that based interviews by Mexican consulate personnel and contact with local authorities “we can say that of the 10 people who lost their lives … four were of Mexican nationality.” The statement also said that of the 29 people hospitalized, 21 are Mexican. The tractor-trailer was found parked outside a Walmart in San Antonio. The people were discovered inside early Sunday. The driver, James Matthew Bradley Jr., now faces a federal human smuggling charge that carries the possibility of the death penalty.

Bradley, and Pyle Transportation Inc., of Schaller, the northwest Iowa trucking company he was driving for, both claim they don’t know how or when the illegal immigrants got into the trailer. Bradley called his fiancee Sunday from a jail more than 1,000 miles from home and briefly described the gruesome events. Darnisha Rose says James Matthew Bradley Jr., who she called a generous person, claimed he had no idea how so many people came to be crammed inside his trailer in the Texas heat.

The 60-year-old Bradley, a diabetic whose criminal history includes a conviction in a felony domestic violence case, told Rose that he’d stopped his truck at a San Antonio Walmart and went inside to use the bathroom. He claimed that when he returned to his truck, he noticed the trailer rocking back and forth.
He said he’d heard nothing before that.

A man and woman from New Mexico were arrested Monday afternoon on drug and other charges, in Adams County. The Sheriff’s Office reports deputies conducted a traffic stop at around 5:45-p.m. on a vehicle traveling 80 miles per hour in a 55 zone on Highway 34 at mile marker 60. The driver, 30-year old Kimberly Levi, told deputies she did not have a license. A records check indicated her license was revoked. A male passenger in the vehicle, 42-year old Shawn Lee Begay, had an expired license. Both are from the Naschitti Chapter House, New Mexico.

A k9 search of their vehicle resulted in the discovery of four plastic containers, each with a high grade of dispensary marijuana, and a resealable foil container of marijuana, along with a glass pipe. Levi and Begay were charged with Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Levi was also charged with Driving While Revoked. Their bonds were set at $1,000 each.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

SCHALLER, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa trucking company linked to the deadly case of immigrant smuggling in Texas has a history of safety and tax violations and financial problems. Public records show that Pyle Transportation Inc. failed to pay federal employment and trucking taxes for years, has faced lawsuits over unpaid wages owed to drivers, and has been ordered to pay penalties for violations of federal safety rules. The company says it had sold the truck found in Texas and was delivering it to the purchaser.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A former eastern Iowa police chief has been sentenced to two months in federal prison for stealing a police gun and lying to a federal agent. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports 48-year-old Jeffrey Filloon was sentenced Monday. The former Tama Police Chief had pleaded guilty to several charges in February.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa State Fair’s famous butter sculptures will celebrate “Little House on the Prairie” this year. The Des Moines Register reports Laura Ingalls Wilder will be sculpted out of butter and displayed next to the butter cow when the fair begins on Aug. 10.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Mexico’s foreign ministry says that “according to preliminary information” 25 of the migrants inside a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas were Mexican. A ministry statement issued Monday night said that based interviews by Mexican consulate personnel and contact with local authorities “we can say that of the 10 people who lost their lives … four were of Mexican nationality.” The statement also said that of the 29 people hospitalized, 21 are Mexican.