(Omaha, NE) – Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol arrested an Iowa man following a pursuit in Omaha, early this (Friday) morning. Authorities say at approximately 1:40 a.m., a trooper observed a westbound Dodge Durango speeding on Interstate 80 near 60th Street in Omaha. The trooper attempted a traffic stop, but the driver refused to yield and accelerated. The trooper initiated a pursuit.

The vehicle continued westbound, exited I-80 at 84th Street, crossed the median, lost a tire, and reentered I-80 westbound at a high rate of speed. The trooper continued pursuing as the vehicle fled westbound before exiting I-80 at 144th Street, where the driver turned around and reentered eastbound I-80. As the suspect vehicle reached the downtown area, it entered I-480 northbound.

The vehicle exited and reentered I-480 multiple times, running red lights on surface streets. The driver then reentered I-480 toward Iowa. Just before the Missouri River bridge, the vehicle hit a patch of ice on the roadway, lost control, and crashed into a concrete barrier. The driver was then taken into custody without further incident.

The driver, William Ganzhorn, 51, of Woodbine, Iowa, was transported to UNMC with non-life-threatening injuries. Ganzhorn was cited for flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, fictitious license plate, and numerous traffic violations.

KEOKUK COUNTY, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports that on Thursday, February 1, 2024, investigators with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Ottumwa Police Department, and Keokuk County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at 21891 Highway 78 near Ollie. The search warrant was part of an effort to locate 40-year-old Craig Smith, who was reported missing on January 20, 2024.

During the search, investigators found the remains of an adult. The condition of the remains is preventing law enforcement from making a positive identification. Evidence and statements collected during the investigation have led investigators to tentatively identify the remains as those of Craig Smith. The State Anthropologist, the Office of the State Medical Examiner, and the DCI Crime Lab are working to make a positive identification.

Jeffrey Gautreaux

This (Friday) afternoon, DCI agents charged 44-year-old Jeffrey Gautreaux with Murder in the First Degree and Abuse of a Corpse. Gautreaux, who lived with his stepfather, 63-year-old Steven Grant, at the Ollie address, was arrested without incident at the Keokuk County Sheriff’s Office on February 1. Gautreaux and Grant were initially charged with drug offenses. Grant has been released from custody.

This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to contact the DCI at 515.725.6010 or at dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us.

A criminal charge is merely an accusation and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says he opposes a bill introduced in the Iowa House that would let 20 percent of House or Senate members force a vote on the use of eminent domain for proposed carbon pipelines.

The House bill, which cleared a subcommittee this week, would let 11 senators or 21 state representatives file a petition to intervene in Iowa Utilities Board proceedings and lawmakers would decide whether pipeline projects get eminent domain authority to seize property from unwilling landowners.

Governor Kim Reynolds told Radio Iowa she will not support any retroactive changes that would affect applications already filed for carbon pipeline construction permits.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver on the “Iowa Press” set on Feb. 2, 2024.. (Photo courtesy of Iowa PBS)

Whitver says there are widely varying views among the 34 Republicans in the Iowa Senate.

Whitver says there has been legislation introduced in the senate that would require pipeline companies to fully restore farmland that’s dislodged along the pipeline route and that may be considered this year.

Whitver says he’d be interested in reviewing, but doesn’t have an opinion yet on another proposal that would speed up the court process for resolving property disputes along the pipeline routes.

Whitver made his comments during taping of Iowa Press which airs tonight (Friday) at 7:30 on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled it was not illegal for Des Moines Area Community College to pay a man a significantly higher salary than a woman who was doing the same work. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is joining with dozens of her Republican colleagues in criticizing President Biden’s actions and policies regarding the U-S border with Mexico. Hinson has signed a letter with more than 60 other G-O-P House members, calling for the president to reverse his executive actions which she says “undermine U.S. border security.”

On his first day in the White House, Hinson says Biden “immediately took executive action” to halt border wall construction and issued a moratorium on deportations and immigration enforcement.

Hinson says Biden has been “systematically and unilaterally unraveling policies that secured our border and deterred illegal immigration.” She says one of the results has been a “flood of deadly drugs” pouring into communities across the country, including in Iowa.

The president released a statement last week, saying he’s waiting on a bipartisan bill to emerge from the Senate that would provide him with more options and “new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed.” Biden says he’s waiting on Congress to provide the funding he requested last fall to secure the border, including money for more border patrol agents, immigration judges, asylum officers and inspection machines to intercept drugs.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council will hold a rare, special session, Saturday afternoon. During the 1-p.m. meeting at City Hall, the Council will enter into a closed session pursuant to Iowa Code, with regard to the evaluation of an individual’s professional competency, and “whose appointment, hiring, performance or discharge is being considered,” and because “that individual requests a Closed Session.”