Nearly seven months after Highway 25 south of I-80 in Adair County closed for two separate bridge projects, officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation said Thursday, work on the bridges is finished, and the road is once again open for travel. One of the bridges is over the Middle River, about 1.2 miles south of I-80. The second bridge is over North Turkey Creek, about 4.6 miles south of I-80. Both re-opened Thursday.

The bridge on Highway 71 just south of I-80, also opened Thursday afternoon. Bridge traffic had been down to one-lane, controlled by a stop light for north- and south-bound traffic.

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 22 for stealing nearly $5,400 from a store he managed in northern Iowa’s Charles City. Floyd County court records say 34-year-old Joseph Raveling pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft. Prosecutors say he stole the money from a Dollar General store during December 2016 and January 2017. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a suspended five-year prison sentence, three to five years of probation and that he pay restitution of nearly $3,800. The judge is not bound by the plea agreement, however.

(Radio Iowa) — The leader of the labor union which represents some 20,000 state employees presented his contract proposal to the Reynold’s Administration Thursday. AFSCME Council 61 president, Danny Homan says they are requesting the return to the contract language used before the new collective bargaining law was passed. He says they want language excluded by the revised law returned, along with a three-percent across the board pay increase in July of 2019 and July of 2020.  The law restricted the bargaining rights of state unions. Republicans retained control of the House, Senate and Governor’s office, and Homan says he has no idea of the state will agree to go back to the bargaining law they used to have. “I would like to think at some point in time that somebody would decide that it makes sense to propose and deal with language makes sense for the state,” Homan says.

He says the change in the law is not working. “Right now there are no rules, a lot of departments just do whatever it is they want to do, and I think it would make sense to not operate that way,” Homan says. “It’s not up to me.”  Homan says the pay raise is not extravagant. “We’re coming off a contract where we got one percent each year. So, I’m not proposing an inflated amount, I am proposing what I believe to be a reasonable proposal,” according to Homan.

Negotiators representing the Reynolds Administration will make a counter-offer on December 19th.

Police in Red Oak report 30-year old Cody Alton Snyder, of Red Oak, was arrested a little after 11-p.m. Thursday, following a traffic stop. Snyder was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports his deputies early this (Friday) morning, arrested 56- year old Karen Green, of Shenandoah. Green was arrested at her residence on a valid Fremont County Warrant for a violation of Probation (original charge – Delivery of Methamphetamine).

She was transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center and held on a $5,000 bond. Deputies were assisted by officers with the Shenandoah Police Department.

Karen Green