Glenwood Police report the arrest today (Thursday), of 44-year old Dominic Hargis. The Glenwood man was taken into custody on a Page County warrant charging him with Sexual Abuse and Lascivious acts on a minor. Hargis’ cash only bond was set at $12,000. No other information was released.

Firefighters and Rescue crews from Griswold, Elliott and Red Oak were called to a residential fire southeast of Griswold this (Thursday) afternoon. The call about a blaze at 56171 Yankton Road went out at around 12:48-p.m.  Griswold Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Carlisle told KJAN News the first firefighter on the scene reported smoke coming from what appeared to have been the kitchen area. A neighbor, Rush Electric quickly shut-off the propane and disconnected the power, which Carlisle said was a great help and time saver.

Carlisle said when he arrived on the scene, flames were shooting through the roof. Crews were able to quickly knock down the flames, and no injuries to firefighters were reported. A cat in the home died from the smoke and/or fire, however. The home sustained extensive damage and was thought to be a total loss.

An initial investigation leaned toward an electrical outlet in the kitchen as the cause, but the fire remained under investigation. Medivac Ambulance, the Cass and Montgomery County Emergency Management Agencies were on the scene, along with Deputy Ben Bartholomew from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

Ric Hanson/photo

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A county prosecutor in Iowa who was sued for threatening to charge a 14-year-old girl with sexual exploitation of a minor for sending suggestive photos of herself to a boy, has agreed to drop the case. The girl and her parents filed the federal lawsuit in November, aiming to block Marion County Attorney Ed Bull from bringing charges. An agreement to dismiss the case was filed Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa says Bull agreed to pay the family’s $40,000 attorney fees. The Knoxville High School student sent the Snapchat photos to the boy early last year. The photos showed no nudity. Her parents say Bull misused his position of authority to impose “his own sexist moral standards” on her.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Sometimes the early bird doesn’t get the worm. Police in Iowa are looking for a would-be bank robber who showed up to two West Des Moines branches before they opened on Wednesday. A security recording shows a man wearing a bandanna over his face trying to enter a Marine Credit Union branch at around 8:15 a.m. – nearly three hours before it opened.

Police Sgt. Tony Giampolo told The Des Moines Register) that employees in the parking lot watched the guy yank on the doors before fleeing upon realizing they were locked. Giampolo says a similarly dressed man tried to enter a nearby First National Bank branch at around 8:45 a.m., but it wasn’t scheduled to open until 9. He says the man fled when he spotted an officer inside who was alerting the staff about the earlier robbery attempt.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office is asking for your help in solving a burglary. Sometime during the early morning hours Wednesday, someone stole numerous tools and cash from a business in Exira. Authorities did not say which business was hit by the burglar.

Anyone with information about the incident, or who may have seen anything suspicious, is asked to contact the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office at 712-563-2631, or Crimestoppers at 712-563-2234.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say another newborn has been turned over to state custody under Iowa’s safe haven law. The Iowa Human Services Department said in a news release Thursday the child was born July 6 and released to state custody. The department didn’t say where the birth took place.

It’s the 28th time the law has been used to protect the welfare of an infant since the law was approved following a 2001 case in which a teenage mother in eastern Iowa killed her home-delivered newborn.

The law lets parents hand over custody of babies up to 14 days old without fear of prosecution.

Despite last week’s death threat, the founder and director of Eastern Iowa Atheists says he’ll continue his mission. Justin Scott, from the Bremer County town of Denver, says he seeks out city councils that open their meetings with prayer and asks to be allowed to give a secular invocation instead. Scott says all went relatively smoothly at last Wednesday’s city council meeting in Oskaloosa.

“They were very welcoming and really appreciated my request,” Scott says. “I got no push-back from the city. They definitely made sure their meetings were absolutely inclusive to everybody which is exactly our goal in our efforts. We want to make sure if cities are doing this, that they are including all voices and all world views.”

Scott says his invocations are centered on the power of humanity and not of any type of deity. A U-S Supreme Court case in 2014 made it clear that prayer -is- allowed before city council meetings, but he wants to make sure everyone is being invited to the table. Scott says he’s been giving invocations all across the region.

Scott says, “We’re less focused on doing any kind of prayer or seance or ritual and more focused on just reminding elected officials why they are there and who they’re representing.”  Prior to last week’s Oskaloosa city council meeting, Scott was told by a local reporter that someone had threatened to kill Scott if he gave his atheist invocation. Scott applauds the city and the police department for making him feel very safe.

“Thankfully, there was a very calm, mature response to my invocation,” Scott says. “Even those that were not pleased with me being there were respectful. They came up during public comments, made their opinions known but for the most part, it was ‘Iowa nice,’ if you will.”

In April, Scott says he became the first atheist to deliver an invocation before a regular session of the Iowa House of Representatives.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The former finance director of a drug treatment agency has taken a plea deal in her embezzlement case. Court records say 37-year-old Amy Howell pleaded guilty Monday to felony ongoing criminal conduct and to misdemeanor unauthorized use of a credit card. Prosecutors dropped forgery and theft charges in return for Howell’s pleas. Her sentencing is scheduled Aug. 28.

Prosecutors say Howell stole more than $82,000 from the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of Central Iowa, which is headquartered in Marshalltown. The agency provides substance abuse prevention and treatment services in Hardin, Marshall, Poweshiek and Tama counties.

Prosecutors agreed in the plea deal to recommend a suspended 25-year prison sentence and five years of probation on the criminal conduct charge and seven days in jail on the credit card count, plus restitution.

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

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A lawsuit against the Iowa Corrections Department says an inmate was kept in prison for more than five months after he’d completed his sentence. The Sioux City Journal reports that Sioux City resident Jacob Schmidt is seeking from the state more than $40,000 in compensation and nearly $3,300 in wages he says he earned in prison but the state kept.

The lawsuit filed June 30 in Woodbury County District Court says corrections officials knew or should have known that Schmidt had finished his sentence from a 2007 conviction on July 15, 2015, yet he wasn’t released until Dec. 23 of that year. Iowa attorney general’s office spokesman Geoff Greenwood said Wednesday the state will be reviewing the lawsuit before filing an answer in court. He declined to comment further.