The Page County Sheriff’s Office today (Thursday) reported that at around 10-p.m. Sunday, deputies were dispatched to 504 Main Street in Blanchard, for a Domestic situation. During the investigation, 20-year old Hayden Allen Taylor, of Blanchard, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault, a simple misdemeanor. Taylor was transported to the Page County Jail and held without bond until seen by a Magistrate.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Department reports 33-year old Laurel Curtis McDonald, of Exira, was arrested Monday evening, October 22nd, on three-counts of child endangerment. The charges are the result of an investigation in the 2000 block of 290th Street. McDonald was released the following day after his appearance before the magistrate. 32-year old Skielynn Laverne Stephens, of Audubon, was charged Thursday, October 25th, with 17 counts pertaining to Violation of a No Contact Order. She is currently in the Audubon County Jail serving time on a unrelated case.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man has been given two years of probation for lying to Medicaid about care he provided for his father. The Telegraph Herald reports that 35-year-old Nicholas Brown also was recently sentenced to a two-year prison term, suspended, and told to pay more than $1,000 in damages to the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. He’d pleaded guilty to fraudulent practices and tampering with records.

Court documents say Brown was a caregiver for his father who documented his services in order to be reimbursed by Medicaid. The documents say that, between Oct. 22, 2016, and Sept. 19, 2017, Brown submitted records that falsely claimed he performed certain duties for his father.

A report of a reckless driver Wednesday morning in Pottawattamie County, resulted in the arrest of a Cass County man. The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office reports just before 10-a.m., a deputy was notified by dispatch of a reckless driver on 290th and Highway 92, driving west bound. Caller then stated that the vehicle, a black Jeep was pulled over on 220th Highway 92. Upon further investigation, 23-year old River Dean Pecha-Nichols, of Griswold, was arrested for OWI/1st offense.

An inmate at the Pott. County jail faces additional charges after he allegedly communicated Wednesday, with a woman from Atlantic, against the rules of an Order of Protection filed against him.  34-year old Jeremy Thomas Reed, of Omaha, was charged with Violation of an Order/Contempt of Court. Bond on the charge was set at $2,000.

And, a man was arrested Wednesday afternoon on a “General Purpose Complaint,” after a deputy on patrol in the area of Terrace Street and West Main Street in Treynor, noticed a Brown F150 Truck traveling eastbound on West Main Street. The vehicle had a defective windshield and a damaged rear license plate, both in violation of Iowa Code. The deputy later initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 31500 Block of Highway 92 and arrested the driver, 35-year old Cody Miller-Bittner Carrigan, of Henderson.

The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce has announced that Atlantic has been recognized as a “Neighborhood Champion” for the fifth year in a row by American Express. Atlantic will participate in the 8th Annual Small Business Saturday on November 24th, to support small businesses. Bailey Smith, Executive Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce said, “We’re excited to partner with all of the Atlantic Area businesses to create shopping incentives and activities to celebrate Small Business Saturday.”

Founded by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday® is a day to celebrate the small businesses that help support our community. American Express created the Neighborhood Champion Program to help rally communities around Small Business Saturday and is working alongside numerous business organizations to support local Small Business Saturday celebrations throughout the country. Participating organizations include: the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), the International Downtown Association, the Latino Coalition, the National Main Street Center, the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Smith says American Express recognizes communities that have strong participation. The on-going Shop Local Initiative, presented by First Whitney Bank & Trust, and overall community support has helped Atlantic achieve the national recognition. She added “It’s a great opportunity for Atlantic to receive positive, national exposure. Atlantic has everything you need and this day is just an added reminder for the community how important their support and participation in shopping local is to keeping Atlantic a vibrant place to live.”

November 24th marks the 8th annual Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to supporting the local businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and preserve neighborhoods around the country. Small business owners can learn more about taking part in Small Business Saturday and download free marketing materials on www.shopsmall.com. Consumers can visit www.atlanticiowa.com to find merchants to shop at on Small Business Saturday.

(Radio Iowa) — A caravan of around seven- thousand Central America refugees continues through southern Mexico on its way to the United States to seek asylum. Some U-S Officials say they aren’t convinced everyone in the group is seeking asylum and President Donald Trump may send our military to the border to deal with the large number of migrants. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says there is the set process to be admitted to the United States. “We have proper procedures for immigrating into the United States. For those that wish to seek assylum — they need to declare that and they need to go through their proper hearings,” Ernst says.

Ernst says she’s confident federal officials are keeping an eye on the caravan’s progress through Mexico: “We know that Homeland Security is on top of this, they are monitoring it daily, hourly actually,” according to Ernst. “So, I have full confidence that we’ll be able to handle the situation as it might come up. But I know the president is working with Mexico as well to monitor the situation.”

Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mike Lee of Utah called on the Trump Administration to seek an agreement with Mexico to assist in accommodating the stream of migrants traveling through Mexico seeking asylum. The senators noted acknowledgements by former Obama administration officials that potential security threats are exploiting immigration vulnerabilities to enter the United States. Grassley also said the president is justified in his threat to send troops to defend our nation’s southern border and to stop what Grassley describes as the “attack on national sovereignty” from the caravan.

(Radio Iowa) – A delegation of five Kazakhstani judicial professionals are visiting Iowa this week to observe how the U-S system of justice work. It’s a program of the Iowa International Center, where Janet Norton oversees the International Visitors Programs. “They were selected to come and learn basically a best practices type of program. So, they’re meeting with a broad range of individuals involved in the judiciary in one fashion or another to discuss various aspects of how the courts run here,” Norton says.

They are observing the U-S District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in Des Moines and Iowa 5th District Court in action. They are also meeting with the Iowa State Bar Association and faculty and students from Drake University Law School and the Drake Legal Clinic, and are visiting the Polk County Jail. Norton says they are also sharing some things about their system. She says from what she’s heard there are some similarities in the types of cases that come through the court.

And she says there are some differences in how cases make their way through the court. “They are working on developing more of a juvenile court system in Kazakhstan and focusing on young people’s issue, as apposed to the standard courts,” according to Norton. “They have some type of juvenile system currently, but they are looking at expanding.” Norton says it has been interesting to see them talk with their American counterparts about the system. “They witnessed the sentencing of someone who had been brought up on drug charges. And there was a conversation around the rate of incarceration, the number of people being sent to prison, and the differences between the two countries,” Norton says. “I found it interesting that they said in Kazakhstan their rate of incarceration is lower.”

The group visited Washington, D-C before coming to Iowa and is set to return home on Sunday.