A Red Oak man was arrested Thursday night on an assault charge. Police says 28-year old Travis Ray Thompson faces a Simple Assault charge after he was taken into custody at around 11:45-p.m.  Thompson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 cash bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids police say they’ve arrested a 14-year-old suspect in the shooting death of a 15-year-old. Authorities say the 14-year-old faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Aaron Richardson. The 14-year-old has been taken to the Linn County Juvenile Detention Center.

FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) — The Van Buren County attorney has determined two Fairfield police officers didn’t violate the law when they opened fire on a vehicle carrying two teenagers. County Attorney Abraham Watkins says that after reviewing an report by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, he determined officers Kathy Blumhagen and David Wall acted lawfully when they fired in the direction of the car. The shooting happened in early June.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A state medical examiner says the death of a toddler found unconscious in a car seat at a Waterloo day care was accidental. Dr. Michele Catellier indicated that 18-month-old Brody Harrelson died of mechanical or positional asphyxia from a car seat strap. No charges have been filed. Police say the boy was buckled into the seat for a nap and was found unresponsive later on June 17th.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Officials in two Iowa counties are considering separate plans for new or expanded psychiatric hospitals. The Broadlawns Medical Center in Polk County plans to expand its in-patient psychiatric unit to help address a shortage of services for people with serious mental illnesses. In Scott County, a majority of county supervisors say they’re inclined to back Strategic Behavioral Health’s efforts to build a 72-bed hospital in Davenport.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported after a car and pickup truck collided Thursday evening, west of Red Oak. Officials say a 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser driven by 18-year old Toni S. Jackson, of Red Oak, was traveling south on G Avenue just after 5-p.m., and had entered a curve in the road that transcends to 210th Street, when the vehicle was struck by a 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup that was also entering the curve from the east on 210th Street, heading toward G Avenue. The vehicles collided in the middle of the curve.

The driver of the pickup, 21-year old Tanner Allensworth, of Red Oak, was cited for failure to yield half the roadway upon meeting another vehicle. Damage from the crash amounted to $4,700. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by Red Oak Police and Red Oak Fire Department personnel.

The Iowa State Patrol said late Thursday evening that one Cass County resident died while another was seriously injured during a head-on collision early Thursday afternoon, on Highway 92. The Patrol says a 2011 Ford Focus driven by 67-year old Mary Lou Ranney, of Massena, was traveling west on Highway 92 at around 1-p.m., when for reasons unknown, the car crossed the centerline about three-miles west of Massena, and hit a 2010 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup, head-on.

Ranney, who was wearing her seat belt, died at the scene. The driver of the pickup, 72-year old Robert James Bagshaw, of Massena, who was not wearing his seat belt, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to CHI Health/Creighton Hospital, in Omaha. Dispatch reports said he was suffering from severe back pain.

Following the impact, the car came to rest on the westbound shoulder of the road facing south, while the pickup came to rest on the eastbound shoulder, partially in the eastbound lane of traffic, facing northeast.

Deputies with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Massena and Cumberland fire and rescue personnel, and Medivac Ambulance, assisted the patrol at the scene of the crash. Funeral services for Mary Ranney are currently pending at the Steen Funeral Home in Massena.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new report says more Iowa schools and districts are falling short of annual targets set through the No Child Left Behind law, and state officials say they want revisions to the federal benchmarks.

The report released Thursday says more than 1,000 schools out of roughly 1,330 in the state did not meet certain targets on student population and demographics. There was an increase in the number of schools considered “in need of assistance” on certain progress.

Department Director Ryan Wise says despite the report, he feels the majority of Iowa schools and districts are not failing. He says the law must be revised on the congressional level to develop a better system of accountability. Several states have been granted waivers from components of the law, which passed in 2001.

(Updated 9:30-p.m. w/plate info.)

A woman from Afton reported to the Union County Sheriff’s Department, Thursday, someone stole a maroon, 2001 Dodge 3500 flatbed pickup truck from behind a residence in the 600 block of East Kansas Street, between E. Kansas and E. Fillmore Streets, in Afton.

The truck, which has tool boxes on the side and one on the back, has Iowa license plate DJE 071. Attached to the truck was a 2007 Lane flat bed trailer, with Iowa license plate CM 9283. On the flatbed trailer were a child’s pink Polaris ATV and an Orange Yamaha Raptor ATV. The loss is estimated at $19,500 altogether.   Afton Police Chief John Colter says the vehicle, trailer and ATV’s were believed to have been taken sometime between 3:30- and 4:30-a.m, Thursday.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Afton Police Department at 641-347-5255 or the Union County Sheriff’s Office at 641-782-7717.

(Update 2:26-p.m.)

Law enforcement and rescue personnel responded to a head-on collision this (Thursday) afternoon southeast of Cumberland, on Highway 92 (or, Richland Road). The crash near 71728 Richland Road was reported at around 1-p.m. One person, a 70-year old male, suffered from severe back pain and was being transported to CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center by LifeNet helicopter. The second victim, whom family members reported on social media, was a woman who died at the scene.

The names of the victims have not officially been released. The accident was under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol. No other information is currently available.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A mistake by state defense lawyers enabled a plaintiff’s attorneys to release an email suggesting the University of Iowa athletics department discriminated against their client and other male candidates during a coaching search.
A spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said it inadvertently failed to mark as confidential the email and thousands of other university documents provided to Michael Scott’s attorneys.

Scott is suing the university for gender bias, contending he was passed over for a job opening on the track and field staff repeatedly because he’s a man. His claims were bolstered last week when his attorneys exclusively gave The Associated Press a copy of the 2013 e-mail in which the head coach told assistants there was a “mandate from the administration to hire a female.”

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were injured during a three-vehicle crash that took place last Wednesday (Sept. 2nd). As we mentioned that evening in our online report, the accident happened at around 5:42-p.m. near the intersection of Highway 71 and White Pole Road (Highway 6), east of Atlantic.

Officials provided more information about the crash in their report issued Thursday (today). Authorities say a 1999 Ford Mustang owned and driven by 25-year old Garrett Lee Cooper, of Atlantic, was traveling east on White Pole Road when he slowed to make a turn. Cooper’s car was hit from behind by a 2011 Dodge pickup owned and driven by 49-year old Dennis Loy Peterson, of Adair.

The impact caused Cooper’s car to be shoved into the path of a westbound 2013 Chevy Equinox, owned and driven by 58-year old Marcia Gail Gettler, of Adair. Gettler, and a passenger in Cooper’s vehicle, 20-year old Jessica South, of Atlantic, were transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital by Medivac Ambulance.

Damage to all three vehicles amounted to $14,000 altogether. Officials say Peterson was cited for Failure to Maintain Control.

Members of the Boards of Supervisors in Cass and Adair County will gather Friday morning in Atlantic and Greenfield, respectively, to canvass the votes of Tuesday’s School Elections. In Cass County, the Supervisors will meet in their Board Room at 8:30-a.m. Their canvass of the election results is their ONLY business for the morning.

In Greenfield, the Adair County Supervisors will meet at 9-a.m. to begin their canvass and regular session. On their agenda as well, is a report from County Engineer Nick Kauffman, with regard to a Union Step Raise and/or Longevity Raise for two County Employees in the Secondary Roads Dept.

The Adair County Board will also hold a Public Hearing on an Ordinance to Establish a Policy For Construction and Reconstruction of Roadways and Bridges on the Adair County Secondary Road System, followed by the first reading of the Ordinance, and consideration for the second and third reading, and possible approval of the Ordinance.