Two men were arrested on separate charges in Creston, Wednesday. Creston Police say 54-year old Robbie Dohrn, of Creston, was arrested at around 9:30-p.m. on a Clarke County warrant for Failure to Comply with a Court Order. Dohrn was released to the custody of Clarke County Deputies. And, at around 4:35-p.m., 29-year old Eric Shinn, of Creston, was arrested on two Union County warrants for Failure to Appear on a Reckless Driving charge, and Failure to appear on a Harassment in the 3rd Degree charge, along with Disorderly conduct. Shinn was being held in the Union County Jail on a $900 bond.

Officials with the Iowa DOT report Audubon, Bedford and Treynor are three of 10 Iowa communities that have been selected to participate in the Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning program in 2018. The award-winning program integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action to assist community leaders and volunteers in making sound and meaningful decisions about the local landscape. The other 2019 visioning communities includeCoggon, Durant, Hinton, Royal, Sumner, Van Meter and Walcott.

Since 1996, 255 Iowa communities have benefited from the Community Visioning program. To qualify for the program, a community must have a population of fewer than 10,000 residents, existing transportation-related issues and a committee of volunteers willing to dedicate their time and talents to the visioning process.

The Community Visioning program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Extension and Trees Forever, an Iowa-based nonprofit focused on planting trees and native plants. In addition, professional landscape architects offer expertise in creating conceptual design plans for the communities.

(Radio Iowa) — The Internal Revenue Service is highlighting the importance of keeping your tax information safe this week. I-R-S spokesman, Christopher Miller says “National Tax Security Awareness Week” is especially important based on the trend this year. “We’re seeing a large increase in bogus e-mail and phishing (fishing) scams that seek to steal people’s tax data,” Miller explained.  Phishing is when someone uses an email address that looks legitimate, but is not and they are trying to get your personal information. He says the reports of the problem are up dramatically this year. “We saw a 60 percent increase in bogus emails and phishing scams — and what’s perhaps most disturbing about that — before that in the three previous years we saw a decline. So we know that the crooks are back at the phishing game,” Miller says.

Miller says the scams can be very sophisticated. “So if they get an email in their inbox that looks like a trusted source has sent it to them — like a bank or credit card company or even the I-R-S — be very cautious. Don’t open any of the links, because that’s where people get into trouble,” Miller says.  He says once you open the links they ask you for personal information that can use to file a tax return in your name. He says they will try all avenues to get to you and it may be someone close to you. “Thieves may have even compromised your friend’s email address so it might look like your friend is sending you a message, but they are spoofing that address with a slight change in text. Maybe a letter or two is change. So, be sure that look at your friends who are sending you messages that seem a bit suspicious,” Miller says.

If the email is asking you for things like your Social Security number or bank information — that’s a big clue that it is a phishing attempt. “Remember the I-R-S doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email to ask for personal information,” Miller says, “in fact, no reputable agency or business will ask for personal information over the email.” Miller says you can help them try to stop these attacks. “If you get one of these phishing email scams in your inbox, we want to you take the entire thing and copy it and put it into another message and send it to the I-R-S,” Miller says. “You can send suspicious emails to phishing at I-RS-Dot-gov (phishing@irs.gov), and we’ll try to track it or potentially shut it down.”

One recent campaign used emails with subjects like “I-R-S Important Notice,” “I-R-S Taxpayer Notice” and other variations to demand a payment or they threaten to seize the recipient’s tax refund.

Authorities say a semitrailer heading the wrong way on an interstate in central Illinois collided head-on with a school bus carrying members of a girls high school basketball team, killing the driver of the truck and an adult on the bus. The truck driver was identified by police as a 34-year-old man from Iowa. His name was not immediately released. Illinois State Police say eight girls on the bus were injured in the head-on crash Wednesday night on Interstate 74 near Downs, about 115 miles southwest of Chicago. Police say the bus driver and a coach also were injured.

Police say preliminary reports indicate the truck was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes. The bus was heading westbound. Normal West High School athletic director Stan Lewis told The (Bloomington) Pantagraph the junior varsity girls’ team was returning from a game. Lewis said later, that some junior varsity players also made the trip. Police say 72-year-old Charles Crabtree of Normal, Illinois, was the bus passenger who died. He was a volunteer with Normal West.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines authorities say a second teenager has died after the stolen car he was driving crashed into a delivery van. Police identified him Wednesday night as 17-year-old Des Moines resident Jair Sanchez-Banos. His passenger, 16-year-old Des Moines resident Emilio Esteban Garcia, died earlier. The car was reported stolen a little after 8:10 p.m. Monday after it was left running unattended. A vehicle matching its description was seen about 30 minutes later where gunshots rang out several blocks northwest.

Police say an officer soon spotted the suspect vehicle and tried to pull it over. It raced away but crashed into a U.S. Postal Service van and then into trees and fencing. A gun was recovered from the car. Police say the van driver was not injured.

Police in Red Oak report 45-year old Tiffany Lea Palmer, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 4:45-p.m. Wednesday. Palmer was taken into custody for Failure to File SR-22 Insurance. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

A traffic stop in Adams County at around 10:15-p.m. Wednesday, resulted in a man being arrested on drug and other charges. The vehicle was pulled over on Highway 25, for speeding. Upon further investigation, Dirk Parrish, of Lenox, was placed under arrest for Possession of a Controlled Substance (methamphetamine) 1st Offense, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving Under Suspension. Parrish was also cited for speeding and failure to provide proof of insurance.