COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs man has been arrested after police say he threw a large, plastic playhouse at an officer. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 34-year-old Joseph Stoddard was arrest early Friday on suspicion of twice violating a no-contact order, second-degree burglary, disorderly contact, interference with official acts and three counts of assaulting an officer.

Police say Stoddard was destroying property Thursday night at the house of a 32-year-old woman he had been charged with burglarizing on Sept. 21st. Police say when officers arrived, Stoddard would not allow them inside, then threw the playhouse at an officer as he tried to escape. The officer was not injured.

Stoddard was eventually stunned with a Taser. He remains in the Pottawattamie County Jail on $15,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A band of storms produced some sightings of tornadoes in northwest Iowa Friday night, but there were no reports of injuries or significant damage. Kathy Stodola is duty officer for the Iowa emergency management department. She says that there was a report Friday evening of a roof torn off a building in Cherokee county.

The National Weather service says it received four reports of tornadoes, three in Sioux county and one in Cherokee county. Stodola said she expected the weather service to do an evaluation on the ground after daylight today (Saturday).

One person suffered from severe back pain after his vehicle struck a bridge west of Marne, early Saturday morning. Dispatch reports about the crash came in at 6-a.m., and indicated a 31-year old male from Avoca was injured in the crash that happened on Marne Road (Highway 83), at the Indian Creek Bridge. The driver indicated to authorities that when he swerved to avoid a semi was partially in his lane on the narrow crossing, his Nissan Versa struck the bridge. The semi continued on and did not stop.

No other information is currently available.

One person suffered life threatening injuries and was transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha Friday night, following a fiery crash on the west  side of Council Bluffs. Bluffs Police say fire and rescue personnel were called to the scene of a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 29 southbound near the 53.5 mile marker, at around 8:10-p.m. When officers arrived on the scene, they found flames coming from the vehicle and an unresponsive male was still inside.

Council Bluffs Fire personnel were able to extinguish the flames and remove the male occupant from the vehicle. The man, whose name was being withheld pending notification of family, was believed to be the only occupant of the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Officials say at this time, the cause of the accident is still under investigation and it is unknown if speed or alcohol were contributing factors. Anyone who may have witnessed the accident is asked to contact the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Traffic Unit at (712)328-4948

w/ Chris Parks

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The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports an arrest Friday of a Stanton man.   At approximately 7:50pm deputies arrested 18-year-old Matthew Steven Wood of Stanton following a traffic stop in the 400 block of Broad Avenue in Stanton.  Wood was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.  The Montgomery County K9 unit assisted deputies with the investigation during the stop.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The superintendent of Sioux City schools says he won’t block plans by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to hold an event at a district high school. Superintendent Paul Gausman announced Friday that despite complaints and a threatened protest, he won’t stop Trump from using West High School on Tuesday for a campaign event.

The Sioux City Journal reports a 2012 West High graduate organized a petition calling for the district to not allow use of the school for Trump’s event. He’s now planning a protest at the site. Former student Francisco Valadez says Trump shouldn’t be allowed to use the school because of his views on immigration.

Gausman says many candidates have held events at Sioux City schools, so it’s not fair to exclude Trump.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says a Glenwood man will not face a kidnapping charge in connection with an incident in which he is accused by a girl of molesting her eight years ago. Daniel Walden was charged with kidnapping, sexual abuse and indecent contact with a child. He appealed the kidnapping charge alleging Iowa law requires it to be filed within three years.

Prosecutors say a girl complained last year Walden locked her in a bedroom of his home and molested her. Walden denies ever touching her. Justices said Friday they must uphold the Legislature’s kidnapping filing limitation and dismissed that charge.

Walden faces trial on the remaining charges. He could have faced life in prison if convicted of kidnapping. The sexual abuse charge carries a maximum 25 years.

Law enforcement personnel and firefighters from Cass County lined the bridges and overpasses to Interstate 80 this (Friday) afternoon, as a contingent of Patriot Guard riders, veterans and Emergency Services personnel escorted a piece of history through Iowa on its way to Colorado.

Members of the Marne Fire Department salute a piece of the World Trade Center as it goes by the Marne Interstate Exit to honor the fallen of 9/11. Photo courtesy Ashley Haupert

An Iowa State Patrol Trooper leads the WTC Beam convoy along I-80 in Cass County. (Photos courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County Emergency Mgmt. Agency)

A five-foot long, more than 3,000-pound piece of steel which was part of a World Trade Center wall that fell during the 9-11 attacks, was carried on a trailer pulled by a pickup with custom graphics. An American flag covering the beam fluttered in the wind as it made its way west on I-80 between 1:30-and 2-p.m., today (Friday).

The steel beam is being transferred to the Poudre Fire Authority in Ft. Collins, CO. Members of the Poudre Fire Authority’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, Colorado Task Force 1, were tasked and dispatched to the scene of the World Trade Center Twin Towers collapse shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The team worked for several weeks to locate victims.

A ceremony to mark the arrival of the beam in Ft. Collins is set to take place Saturday. For more information, go to www.poudre-fire.org/what-s-new/wtc-artifact-journey. A map will be updated on the half-hour as the beam and its escort travels westward.

Photo from the Omaha Fire Dept. Facebook page

Photo from the Stuart Volunteer Fire Dept.’s Facebook page

Firefighters from Minden stand ready to honor the WTC beam convoy as they prepare to pass by. (Minden Fire & Rescue Facebook page photo)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Nine employees have now been fired or resigned amid a widening investigation into security breaches at a maximum-security Iowa prison. Four former tower guards at Anamosa State Penitentiary were charged this month as part of a federal investigation into the smuggling of cell phones and drugs inside the prison. A fifth person who didn’t work at Anamosa is accused of supplying marijuana and prescription drugs that guards used and traded among themselves.

The tower guards had already left employment when U.S. Attorney Kevin Techau announced the charges against them Oct. 6. Since then, five others have departed as a result of the investigation. Prison spokesman Matthew Eivins says the five others aren’t charged with criminal activity but the investigation found serious violations of “work rules that relate to security practices.”