Sheriff’s officials in Union County say a man who has mental issues, was confused and off his meds, crashed his car into a pond last week. According to their report released today (Monday), 70-year old Larry Clayton, of Thayer, left his residence at around 4-a.m. April 12th to get donuts in Osceola. About five-hours later, he drove his 2001 Chevy Malibu around a residence at 1696 Highway 25. He also drove through two locked gates and into a pasture before exiting and traveling to a home at 1680 Highway 25, where he drove around a farm building and into a pasture, where he eventually became stuck in water from a pond overflow area.

His vehicle sustained about $3,000 damage. Gates owned by a woman from Creston sustained $310 damage during the incident. Clayton was transported by a Union County Deputy to the hospital in Creston for evaluation and treatment.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County report a Carter Lake man turned himself-in to the Pott. County Jail late Friday morning. 23-year old Steven Brian Stinson was wanted on Pottawattamie County warrants for Probation Violation and Dissemination and exhibition of Obscene Materials to minors.  Stinson was booked into the Pott. County Jail on the charges.

Friday night, Pott. County Deputies arrested 31-year old Corey Andrew Stephens, of Oakland, for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree, after allegedly throwing a jack stand at a residential window air conditioner unit in Oakland, causing about $200 damage. Stephens was also arrested for Disorderly Conduct.

Friday evening, 44-year old David Lee Ambrose, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/2nd offense, after his pickup was pulled over for speeding and because Ambrose wasn’t wearing his seat belt.  Early Sunday morning, 33-year old Lacey Jo Epley, of Walnut, was arrested for OWI/2nd offense, after her vehicle was pulled over for crossing the center line of the road, as well as the fog line. Lacey Epley was arrested after she failed a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT), with a Blood Alcohol Content tested at .179, or more than twice the legal limit.

Saturday night, 35-year old Jess Tyler Lammers, of Holdrege, NE., was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia following a traffic stop, in Neola. Lammers was found to be in possession of two pieces of drug paraphernalia used to smoke marijuana. And, Saturday morning, 36-year old Rachelle May Fennell, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, after deputies were called to investigate a woman who went to a residence in rural Council Bluffs at around 3:10-a.m., claiming she crashed her car. The report says Fennell tested .145 on a Breath Test for alcohol. She was subsequently arrested for OWI and cited for Failure to Maintain Control, as well as Failure to show proof of insurance.

KJAN 8-a.m. Area & State News w/News Director Ric Hanson

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The Creston Police Department reports five people were arrested recently and one incident of vandalism was reported. Authorities say 42-year old Tami Burgoyne, of Creston, was arrested Sunday morning at her home for Domestic Assault. She was transported to the Ringgold County Jail and held, pending a bond hearing.

Saturday afternoon, Creston Police arrested 65-year old Rodney Bell, of Creston, for Public Intoxication and Simple Domestic Assault. Saturday morning, 20-year old Adrian Routh, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, for Theft in the 5th Degree. Bell and Routh were released from jail on a Promise to Appear later, in court.

Friday evening, 36-year old Joshua Jones, of Gravity, was arrested in Creston on a Union County warrant for Failure to Appear on a Child Support matter. And, Friday afternoon, 38-year old Dustin Seley, of Creston, was arrested on a Dept. of Corrections warrant for Parole Violation. Seley was being held without bond in the Union County Jail, while Jones’ bond was set at $500.

And, Creston Police say a female residing in the 600 block of S. Bureau Street reported Friday morning, that someone had slashed three tires on her vehicle that was parked near her home. The incident happened sometime between 8-p.m. Thursday and 8-a.m. Friday. The loss was estimated at $525.

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

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URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) – A dive team has recovered the body of a man from a pond in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale. Police were first called to the Extended Stay America hotel around 9 p.m. Saturday, where a man reported that his brother and another man had been swimming in the pond near the hotel when one of them went missing. Officers couldn’t find him Saturday night.

The Polk City dive team was called in early Sunday morning, and divers found the body a little before 2 p.m. Police haven’t released the man’s name. An autopsy was ordered.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say customs officials near the Canadian border have taken into custody a man suspected of fatally shooting his girlfriend in a suburb of Des Moines. The man was picked up Sunday at International Falls, Minnesota. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials recognized his car from information in a release put out by police in Johnston, Iowa, where the slaying occurred.

Police say the man has yet to be formally charged. The victim’s been identified as 34-year-old Agnes Yarlee. She was found wounded Saturday night by officers sent to investigate several reports about gunshots at an apartment complex. Police say she died at the scene.

A study finds record ethanol and biodiesel production in Iowa in 2016 had a significant impact on the state’s economy. The report says renewable fuels supported more than 42-thousand Iowa jobs and generated 2-point-3-billion dollars in household income for Iowans. Study author John Urbanchuk says because the fuels are produced in the state, impacts on the state economy are even more important.

“What makes the industry so important to Iowa is that virtually all of the feed stock that’s used by that industry is produced in the state,” Urbanchuk says. “The economic impact, all the dollars spent on that stuff, circulate back through the Iowa economy. That’s a bit more important for Iowa than it is for some of the other states.”

He says the amount of ethanol that was exported to other countries also helped the state’s economy. “We looked at the volume of export on the U.S. side and figured Iowa’s share of production roughly represents that of the trade and calculated what the impact, coming from trade is,” Urbanchuk says, “and that is not inconsequential. It points out the fact that foreign trade is not only a fairly large component but a growing component of economic activity for Iowa as well.”

Urbanchuk says while ethanol production expanded in Iowa in 2016, biodiesel expansion was even greater. “We saw a very small increase in total U.S. ethanol capacity in 2016,” he says. “Iowa’s capacity also expanded in terms of production capacity and that helped them a little bit as well.”

Iowa’s 43 ethanol plants produced a combined record of 4.1-billion gallons of ethanol last year. The study was by conducted by A-B-F Economics and was commissioned by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

(Radio Iowa)

Lawmakers are aiming to finish the work of the 2017 Iowa legislative session this week, but it will require a flurry of votes in the House and Senate. A series of bills outlining more than seven-point-two BILLION dollars in spending for the next state budgeting year have been drafted, but none have reached Governor Terry Branstad’s desk yet. “I think it’s going to be a very productive session, under difficult circumstances,” Branstad says.

Lower-than-expected state tax revenue prompted a round of cuts to the CURRENT year’s state budget. An updated and even more depressed report on revenue in March forced Branstad to recalculate HIS plan for the NEXT state budget. Republican lawmakers have decided to go even LOWER than Branstad, by about 38 million dollars. “I think the legislature has been working diligently and a number of significant improvements in our public policy are being made,” Branstad says.

Policy-related bills that are already law have dramatically changed Iowa’s collective bargaining law and the system for compensating injured workers. The G-O-P has control of the legislature’s debate agenda, since Republicans outnumber Democrats in both the House and Senate. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the G-O-P spending plans close some state parks and will wind up causing tuition hikes at the state universities and community colleges. “As this Republican budget sees the light of day, it cuts vital services to all Iowans,” Bolkcom says.

Bolkcom says the problem is all the “give aways” promised to businesses in the form of tax CREDITS — not just reducing taxes, but in some cases, prompting the state to write checks to businesses that get more credits than they owe in taxes.  “The 99 percent, they’re paying for all these give-aways,” Bolkcom says, “and here we are, balancing the budget on their backs.”

A bill still pending in the state senate would let doctors prescribe marijuana as treatment for a number of chronic and debilitating conditions, but Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake says the bill is “pretty broad” and House members would prefer something “more limited.” “Happy to work on it. Happy to have a bill that is helpful to people,” Upmeyer says. “But we’ve got to be able to have a bill that we also have enough support for to make work.”

Upmeyer says, at a minimum, legislators will at least extend the current state law that decriminalized possession of cannabis oil as treatment for chronic epilepsy. That law is set to expire July 1st.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republicans have had plenty to celebrate this legislative session, as they pushed through a conservative agenda, but none seem to be enjoying the final task of balancing the budget. Lawmakers could complete work as soon as this week on a roughly $7.24 billion budget that cuts funding for services including health care, higher education and court services.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — One of two men imprisoned for the 1983 robbery killing of an Iowa bartender is getting another chance to challenge his conviction with the trial court. The Quad City Times reports the Iowa Court of Appeals has sent B.C. Pendleton’s case back to Scott County District Court in Davenport. The appellate court ruled Pendleton didn’t get an adequate opportunity to argue against a summary judgment, and that the court record is incomplete.

DENVER, Iowa (AP) — A couple is restoring a 150-year-old church believed to be the second-oldest in Black Hawk County because of fear it would otherwise disappear like so many other churches in rural Iowa. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Martha Reineke and her husband, William Cozart, are restoring the former East Janesville United Methodist Church southwest of Denver, Iowa. They plan to reopen it as a country wedding chapel and community events center.

WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) — An iconic Madison County, Iowa, covered bridge _ pictured on the cover of the best-selling novel “The Bridges of Madison County” _ has been destroyed by fire, and authorities say they suspect it was intentionally set. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office tells the Des Moines Register that the fire at the Cedar Bridge was reported around 6 a.m. Saturday. Officials say the bridge was fully engulfed by the time firefighters got to the bridge near Winterset in south-central Iowa.