The Creston Police Department reports the driver of a vehicle involved in a police pursuit early this (Friday) morning, was arrested on numerous charges. 28-year old Cody John Courtney, of Thayer, was arrested on the east side of the Creston City Limits at around 1:45-a.m., and charged with Felony Eluding, Reckless Driving, Interference with Official Acts, and Possession of a Controlled Substance with the Intent to sell. Courtney was being held without bond, in the Union County Jail.

And, just after 7-p.m. Thursday, Creston Police arrested 20-year old Gregory Dale Welcher, of Thayer, at a residence in the 200 block of S. Elm Street, in Creston. Welcher was arrested on an Adams County warrant and held in the Union County Jail on a $500 bond.

Sheriff’s officials in Taylor County report 58-year old Che Blake, of New Market, was arrested Thursday, on a charge of Simple Assault. She was taken into custody in the 300 block of Lafayette Street, in New Market,  and was later released from the Taylor County Jail on $300 bond.

BOONE, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa woman accused of fatally stabbing a man in the home they shared has taken a plea deal. Boone County District Court records say 59-year-old Mary Myers pleaded guilty Thursday to willful injury and voluntary manslaughter. Her sentencing is scheduled for May 18. Prosecutors dropped a charge of first-degree murder in exchange for Myers’ pleas.

Boone police say Myers went to the Boone police station on Jan. 16 and said she’d stabbed 65-year-old Joe Wirth during a fight. Officers went to the home and found Wirth dead with several stab wounds. Investigators think he was killed two days earlier.

Governor Kim Reynolds has signed the so-called “sanctuary cities” bill into law. She did it Thursday without making any public statement about it. In February, Reynolds sent a fundraising email praising legislators who crafted the bill. Reynolds said the effort sent a message to “far left liberals in Des Moines and Iowa City” who’ve been considering moves to delay or deter deportation for people in the country illegally.
It’s unclear what may happen now. Bill backers said during debate in the House and Senate there are “some” law enforcement agencies that aren’t fully cooperating with federal immigration agents. The bill calls for withholding state funds from any city or county that fails to detain undocumented immigrants when federal authorities ask. Critics say a warrant is required for that kind of a request.

(Radio Iowa)

The State Board of Regents approved the first reading Thursday of proposed tuition increases of nearly four percent for Iowa State University and the University of Iowa and nearly three-percent for U-N-I. Student leaders spoke before the vote, with U-N-I leader Drew Stensland speaking first.  “It is the students’ stance that tuition be held to as low of an increase as possible with the budget constraints that the university faces,” Stensland says. “Quality education is absolutely vital to students who attend U-N-I, but the reality is that the cost of going to U-N-I in comparison to our peer institutions is anything but advantageous.”

He told the Regents they have to make sure the cost of education does not get too high for students. “I don’t envy the decisions that you have to make, and looking forward it is up to you to make sure that you look forward and make sure that the students who come after me have the awesome experience that I am having,” Stensland says.  Iowa State University student body president Cody West says he supports the “differential” approach to tuition which charges different amounts for different programs. “Of all the approaches that we have seen — this one seems to make the most sense to me and the students that I represent,” West says. “This concept is a logical, factual one that will benefit the financial security of the universe. but I would be remiss to say that I fear it has far reaching consequences that are to complex to comprehend at times.”

West is ending his term and says in the state budget cuts cannot continue if I-S-U is to maintain its quality. “I-S-U continues to remain in a delicate balance of accessibility and quality. The only option that remains to ensure a quality education is to place this on the backs of students, West says. “I know that I and many of my peers may not have had the opportunity to attend and continue our education if we had enrolled in I-S-U this fall. For the last time as student body president I want to warn the legislature — they are heading down a dark and unforgiving path.”

University of Iowa student president Jacob Simpson called on the school to continue working to make school affordable. “Financial aid policies and practices must be reviewed and reformed to increase retention and graduation rates and to decrease student debt,” Simpson says.  Simpson says the school cannot continue to take cuts in state support. “The University of Iowa community as a whole should continue to encourage the governor and the Iowa Legislature to fund our institution at an appropriate level because of our invaluable service and our impact on the state, nation and the world,” according to Simpson.

Regent Larry McKibbon of Marshalltown told the students there is one person who can have the final say on the issue. He encouraged the students to set up a meeting with the governor. “I believe the governor would absolutely make time to listen to you and the things that you talked about today,” McKibben says. McKibben says the continued cuts in state funding have hurt the universities and he says they should give back 12 million dollars cut from the budgets. He says he understands that it is difficult for the legislators to make these budget decisions — but he says the students have delivered the message that it is difficult if they do not provide the funding. The Board of Regents will have their second and final reading on the tuition proposal in June.

(Radio Iowa)