Authorities in Council Bluffs are asking for your help in finding a special needs woman who jumped out the window of a facility at 2065 Nash Boulevard late Wednesday evening. Bluffs Police Sgt. Dave Dawson says 21-year old Kyla Jones left the area in an unknown direction after she leaped from the building at around 8:50-p.m., Wednesday.

Kyla Jones

The woman was last seen wearing a dark gray long sleeve shirt and grey sweatpants. She’s 5-feet five-inches tall, and weighs about 162-poounds. Jones left her cell phone behind when she took off, and police say they’ve exhausted all leads in trying to find her.

If you see Kyla Jones, call your local police department, immediately.

A juvenile was arrested and later cited into juvenile court, following an assault which occurred Wednesday afternoon on a school bus. Red Oak Police say 11-year old Jackson Michael Kelly, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 4:30-p.m. on a Serious Assault charge, for allegedly striking another student on the bus.

Kelly was later released into the custody of his mother, Holly Ann Kelly, and will appear in juvenile court at a later date.

A single-vehicle accident Wednesday afternoon just east of Marne, resulted in a passenger in the vehicle being flown to a hospital in Omaha. According to reports, 16-year old Lily Elliott, of Marne, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Creighton University Hospital. The teen was injured when the van she was riding in slid through the intersection at 580th Street and Eastland Road, and crashed at around 2:35-p.m.

The accident happened, as the driver of the 2010 Dodge Caravan, 37-year old Jamie Elliott, of Marne, tried to slow down for the stop sign at the intersection. The van skidded into the north ditch and hit a utility pole. The driver and two other children in the van were not hurt.

Patrons of the Red Oak Community School District will be able to participate in the district’s facilities planning process, during a regular meeting of the Red Oak School Board on Dec. 15th, beginning at 6-p.m. in the Red Oak Technology Center. The Daily NonPareil reports, the district’s facility planning process, known as Tiger Vision, accelerated after Red Oak Community Middle School was temporarily shut down over the Labor Day weekend. Facility recommendations were made in September, and the board has since mulled how it wants to proceed on the project that could include a $12.5-million high school addition.

The addition would make room for middle-schoolers in the current high school classrooms. Tiger Vision proposes consolidating the district into a two-building campus instead of having separate, stand-alone buildings across the city for preschool, kindergarten through grade 3, grades 4 and 5, grades 6 through 8 and grades 9 through 12. Superintendent Terry Schmidt told the paper in an email that no decision would be made concerning “Tiger Vision” until another opportunity is given for public input – questions or concerns.

Governor Terry Branstad will be hosting his family’s Thanksgiving celebration today (Thursday). “Thanksgiving is a special holiday, it’s truly an American holiday where we really celebrate the founding of our nation, the pilgrims coming to America, the hardships that they overcame,” Branstad says. He says the holiday is a time to reflect on what we have.

“I think it’s also an important time for us to just say thanks to everyone who has done so much to give us the freedoms and opportunities that we enjoy in this country — especially our military veterans,” according to Branstad. The governor will be joined by his wife Chris, his kids and grandkids and some special friends for the holiday. He has this message for Iowans.

“We wish a very blessed and enjoyable Thanksgiving to all Iowa families,” Branstad says. Branstad pardoned two turkeys earlier this week in an annual ceremony, but he does plan to have the traditional turkey on his plate for the big dinner.

“I’m a white meat eater, and my role is carving the turkey. Chris basically prepares it and I carve it,” Branstad explains. “We have other members of the family bring other food items as well.”
The governor is attending the annual community Thanksgiving service at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines today where parishioners dress in period garb. That service begins at 10 a-m.

(Radio Iowa)

The turkey gets all the attention during the Thanksgiving holiday, but another bird is creeping back into the spotlight this year. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz, says after several years with their population being down, pheasants are making a comeback. “One of the traditions in Iowa was doing the pheasant hunt before the Thanksgiving meal and with improved bird numbers this year we’ve been getting pretty positive reports and I expect they’ll probably be a few more folks bringing back that tradition,” Bogenschutz says.

The pheasant season opened October 25th, and while the first few weekends are generally some of the best hunting, he says several factors have combined to make the prospects better for hunting now. “Our bird numbers were improved and on top of that we kind of had the late crop harvest, so it was a little challenging the opening week and week after there,” Bogenschutz says. “People had good success, but the birds figured out those crops were there, and most of those crops are gone now and that’s providing a few more birds that weren’t available to hunters.”

He says the latest snowfall also is a benefit to hunters. “Birds can make use of road ditches or even crop fields before we had snow and blend in pretty well, but now when things turn white the birds aren’t so comfortable just being out there in the open. That helps hunters, they can concentrate on the good areas of habitat, and that’s probably where the birds will move to as well,” Bogenschutz explains. A final count on the pheasant harvest won’t come until March, but Bogenschutz likes what he’s heard form hunters thus far.

“It’s just anecdotal reports, but they have all been positive. Folks are really pleasantly surprised with the bird numbers and the success they have been having,” Bogenschutz says. “I think that’s going to lead to probably our best bird harvest that we’ve had in a number of years.” Hunting hours for the pheasant season are 8 a-m until 4:30 p-m each day. The daily limit is three rooster pheasants. The season closes on January 10th.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad is facing hours of questions under oath about his administration’s treatment of a gay former state administrator. The governor was being questioned in a deposition Wednesday by an attorney for Chris Godfrey, the former workers’ compensation commissioner. Godfrey has filed a lawsuit against Branstad and aides alleging he was singled out for harsh treatment because he’s openly gay.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska bank president and an Iowa teenager who kept their cool and saved others will be honored during halftime of the Nebraska-Iowa “Heroes” football game on Friday. Gene Willers is president of Midwest Bank in Pilger, and on June 16th he saved eight people from an EF4 tornado. Eighteen-year-old Austin Benson of Winterset will be honored for helping a friend thrown from a horse last Fourth of July.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City clown who was in a coma for more than a week following an August car accident is on the road to recovery. As Happy the Clown, Anne Grady has been putting smiles on the faces of children and adults for the past 30 years. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports she was in a coma for 12 days after a multi-vehicle wreck on August 27th near Sheffield.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids man has pleaded guilty to distributing heroin that caused an overdose death. Federal authorities announced the conviction on Wednesday. Ramon Freeman appeared in federal court Monday.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department reports the arrest of a Villisca man Wednesday afternoon. 23 year old Jeremy Scott Dolph was arrested on charges of domestic assault from a reported incident the evening of November 25th. Dolph is being held on 3-hundred dollar bond.