Authorities in Harlan report two people were charged following an investigation into a disturbance at a residence, on Sunday. Officers called to the 3000 block of 12th Street to investigate a disturbance, later charged 24-year old Stephanie Bird, of Harlan. Bird faces a simple assault charge for allegedly striking her mother, Nancy Bird, also of Harlan.

20-year old Lacey Bird, of Harlan, was charged with assault causing injury, for allegedly assaulting Stephanie Bird, and with criminal mischief in the 5th degree for kicking in the screen door on the Bird residence. Complaints were filed against both subjects at the Shelby County Clerk of Courts Office.

Harlan Police report also, two female drivers were transported to Myrtue Memorial Hospital, following a collision on Dec. 4th. Officials say a 2014 Dodge driven by Brenda Buck, of Harlan, was traveling eastbound on Durant Street, when she attempted to turn north onto 4th Street. As she did so, her vehicle was struck by a westbound 2013 Ford, driven by Becky Martin, of Harlan. Buck was cited for Failure to Yield. Damage from the collision amounted to $6,000.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A task force created to study errors in Iowa’s database of ineligible felon voters is expected to disband without finding a permanent solution to the problem. Secretary of State Matt Schultz formed the group after finding 12 cases in which mistakes in the list’s 50,000 entries resulted in the rejection of ballots from eligible voters. Schultz said that the group would develop a “long-term solution to fix” the database’s inaccuracies.

Records obtained by The Associated Press show it took until Aug. 29 for the group to hold its first and only meeting. Former Secretary of State general counsel Charlie Smithson coordinated the group and defended its work. He says the meeting got government agencies talking to each other about the problem and led to incremental progress on short-term solutions.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – A marijuana charge against Iowa State star Bryce Dejean-Jones has been dismissed by a judge, just hours after he was arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors. Ames police spokesman Geoff Huff said Dejean-Jones was arrested around 3 a.m. Thursday after police were called to his apartment because of noise complaints. Officers executed a search warrant because they said they smelled and later found marijuana inside the residence.

Dejean-Jones was charged with gathering where marijuana is used, a serious misdemeanor, and two simple misdemeanors; a nuisance party regulation and a noise ordinance violation. Story County Attorney Stephen Holmes told The Associated Press the pot charge was dismissed by a judge in Dejean-Jones’s initial court appearance for a lack of probable cause. The two simple misdemeanors remain pending.

Sheriff’s officials in Audubon County report a man wanted on an outstanding warrant has turned himself-in. 50-year old Mitchell Lee Thompson, of Audubon, appeared at the Sheriff’s Office at around 9-a.m. today (Thursday). Thompson was charged with Forgery and Theft in the 2nd Degree, in association with an incident which occurred at a business in Exira on Nov. 5th.

Thompson appeared before a magistrate has has since been released. His preliminary hearing was set for Dec. 29th.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State star Bryce Dejean-Jones has been arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors after police were called to his apartment because of noise complaints. Ames police spokesman Geoff Huff says Dejean-Jones was arrested around 3 a.m. Thursday. He’s charged with gathering where marijuana is used, a serious misdemeanor, and two simple misdemeanors; a nuisance party regulation and a noise ordinance violation.

Huff says the marijuana charge is roughly the equivalent of a drunken-driving charge and that a fine and probation is more likely than jail time. Dejean-Jones is in his first season at Iowa State. He is averaging 17.1 points a game. He remained at the Story County Jail on Thursday morning on $1,600 bond. Detention officer Clark Blue says no attorney information for Dejean-Jones was available.

UPDATE – A judge in Story county ruled today that Ames police did not have probable cause for the arrest and dropped the charges.

Republican Congressman Steve King tried, but failed to get House approval of his attempt to “cut off funding now” so President Obama’s executive order on immigration cannot be implemented. King asked the Republican-led House Rules Committee for permission to put his plan forward for a House vote, but he was rebuffed. “It’s time that we stood up and fight now rather than fund now and fight later,” King said in a video statement posted on YouTube.

Sometime today (Thursday) a House vote is expected on a massive spending plan that will keep most of the government running through next September. A vote to prevent Obama’s action on immigration will come in January, G-O-P leaders say, after the new congress is sworn in and Republicans have control of both the House and the Senate.  “We’re sitting here with a majority in the House and soon a majority in the Senate, but waiting for the Senate is waiting too long because if we wait, we are then compelled to fund now and fight later, if we fight at all,” King said. “I say, instead, cut the funding now. Start the fight now.”

King’s alternative plan would have funded federal government operations through January 31st. “That seats the new Republican majority in the Senate, it seats the expanded (Republican) majority in the House and it makes us stronger in fighting this president,” King said. “We will have to put him in a political straight-jacket or there won’t be anything left of the Constitution by the time we elect another president.” The spending plan congress is expected to pass only funds the Department of Homeland Security through February. That’s the agency which oversees most immigration policy.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The former operator of the Argosy riverboat casino in Sioux City has filed another appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. The Sioux City Journal reports that the former Argosy operator, Belle of Sioux City, a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming Co., is appealing a Nov. 7 ruling by Judge Eliza Ovrom.

She ruled that the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission acted within its authority in granting a license for what has become the land-based Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City. Argosy says Ovrom should not have ruled that Argosy failed to prove that the commission erred or abused its powers.

Argosy attorneys also filed a motion to combine the case with another appeal before the court. That appeal challenges the judge’s order to shut down the Argosy.

A man from Colorado was arrested for the third-day in a row, Wednesday, in Creston. Creston Police say 51-year old Jeffrey Armstrong, of Loveland, CO, was arrested just after 11-a.m., Wednesday at the intersection of Spruce and Adams Streets, and charged with Public Intoxication. Armstrong, who was initially arrested Monday evening for OWI//1st offense, was arrested again Tuesday at the Creston Amtrak station for Public Intoxication. His latest arrested resulted in him being held in the Union County Jail on $300 bond.

And, officials say Kristopher Allen Goettert, of Davey, FL, was arrested Wednesday in Creston, on a charge of Disorderly Conduct. The man was released on a promise to appear later, in court.

Creston Police said also, the Crest Haven Nursing Home reported on Monday, someone stole three bottles of cough suppressant. The incident took place sometime between 9:50-a.m. and 10:30-a.m., on Dec. 4th. The loss was estimated at $15.

With Ric Hanson.

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