Iowa residents may fish without a license on June 6, 7 and 8 as part of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources free fishing weekend. Free fishing weekend allows Iowans an opportunity to try fishing without purchasing a license. All other regulations remain in place.

“We are experiencing some excellent fishing across the state right now at Green Valley Lake, Little River Lake, Hawthorne Lake and our trout streams and our fisheries at Rice Lake, Silver Lake and Lake Miami are being improved to provide better fishing in the future,” said Joe Larscheid, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Fisheries Bureau. We hope that someone who gives fishing a try during free fishing weekend will enjoy the experience and want to go fishing more often and become a license holder,” Larscheid said.

Free fishing weekend is scheduled during what is traditionally the time when bluegills are close to shore and aggressive. “This is a great time to take kids fishing because the chance for success is pretty good,” he said. The best way to catch bluegills, according to Larscheid, is to use small tackle – little hooks, a bobber no larger than a quarter, 4-pound test line and small bait.

Anyone catching their first fish is encouraged to take a photo of it and send it in to receive the DNR’s first fish award. The DNR will commemorate the event with a certificate suitable for framing and the submitted photo.

Information on the first fish program is available in the Iowa Fishing Regulations and online at http://www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing/MasterAnglerFirstFish.aspx

Qualifying fish caught during free fishing weekend are also eligible for master angler recognition. For bluegills, the minimum length for master angler award is 10 inches.

Authorities in Audubon report two people were taken into custody, one of them after a brief pursuit, Wednesday. According to the Audubon Police Department, the arrests were the result of a joint investigation involving the Audubon Police Department and the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office. Both agencies had been looking for 29 year old Elyaxel Vasquez of Fort Dodge, with regard to felony warrants and a parole violation.

When authorities observed Vasquez inside a local business in Audubon, he fled on foot. After a short foot chase, Vasquez was apprehended and taken into custody on the warrants. Also arrested in connection with the incident, was 29 year old Brittany Marie Vasquez, of Audubon. She was charged with Interference With Official Acts. Brittany was subsequently released on her own recognizance.

Elyaxel Vasquez, who was wanted on Webster County warrants for Theft in the 2nd and 3rd degree as well as for violating his parole,  was being held in the Audubon County Jail awaiting extradition.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says no serious injuries were reported following an accident Wednesday evening a couple of miles southwest of Stanton. Authorities say a 1998 Pontiac Sunbird driven by 22-year old Ashely Dumler, of rural Stanton, was traveling north on Q Avenue, a county gravel road, when the left front tire of the car blew out.

The vehicle went out of control and entered the east ditch, where it continued until hitting a fence owned by Kit Johnson, of rural Stanton. The accident happened at around 4:45-p.m. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $1,500. The fence sustained $500 damage.

Deputies were assisted at the scene by personnel with the Stanton and Red Oak Fire and Rescue Departments.

Police in Red Oak report the arrest of two individuals Wednesday evening. Just before 9-p.m., 39-year old Dale Joseph Langenfeld, Jr., of Red Oak, was arrested on a charge of Driving While Revoked. His bond was set at $1,000. And, at around 8:10-p.m., 26-year old Skyler Lee Baker was arrested on an active Montgomery County warrant for a Probation Violation. Baker was being held in the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on $5,000 bond.

The murder trial of a Council Bluffs man has been moved to late June. The Daily NonPareil report 36-year old James Cain Harris faces first-degree murder charges stemming from the 2003 stabbing of Nelson Alvarez-Hernandez. The Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office told the paper Harris’ jury trial is set to begin on June 24th.The trial was originally slated to begin Wednesday morning.

CARROLL, Iowa (AP) — Officials in western Iowa are investigating the theft of hundreds of metal flagpoles used for the Memorial Day holiday. The American Legion in Carroll says it reported the theft of a trailer from its property Monday morning. The trailer had about 300 flagpoles that were supposed to be placed with American flags to line the roads of the city cemetery. The Legion says a second trailer with a few hundred more flagpoles was stolen Monday night.

The Carroll Daily Times Herald reports the trailers and flagpoles were later recovered, though no arrests have been made in the case. Legion officials believe the thief or thieves were trying to sell the flagpoles for scrap metal. A least two Carroll area salvage yards refused to buy the roughly 550 flagpoles.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CARROLL, Iowa (AP) — Officials in western Iowa are investigating the theft of hundreds of metal flagpoles used for the Memorial Day holiday. The American Legion in Carroll says it reported the theft of a trailer from its property Monday morning. The Daily Times Herald reports the trailer had about 300 flagpoles that were supposed to be placed with American flags to line the roads of the city cemetery.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A former treasurer for a Dubuque police unit has pleaded not guilty to theft in connection to missing funds from the volunteer organization. The Telegraph Herald reports 26-year-old Allen Berger entered his plea Tuesday on a charge of second-degree theft. Berger is accused of taking funds from the bank account of the Dubuque Auxiliary Police unit and transferring them into a personal account. Police believe Berger misappropriated nearly $4,000 between April 2012 and February 2014.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowans can fish without a license during an annual free fishing weekend being held June 6th through 8th. Although a license isn’t necessary on the free-fishing weekend, other regulations remain in place.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa says wide receiver Blake Haluska will miss his senior season and that receiver A.J. Jones and running back Barkley Hill have left the program. Haluska, a Carroll, Iowa native, is out for next season with a shoulder injury. He joined the Hawkeyes as a walk-on in 2010 and played three games last year without a catch.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal agents say they have exhausted all leads in the search for a man suspected of fatally shooting an Oregon county road weighmaster before possibly fleeing to the Midwest. A U.S. Marshals spokesman says a driver spotted the vehicle believed to have been driven by 41-year-old Dirck White of Edgefield, Wash., on April 5 near Des Moines, Iowa.

Dirck White (Clackamas Co., OR Sheriff’s Dept. photos)

The witness told police a man was firing a handgun from the car. The Iowa State Patrol responded, a state patrol spokesman said, but couldn’t find the suspect’s car or the person who made the call.

Suspect vehicle

A Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman says the witness called on a disposable phone, which required police to search for more than a month to track down the witness who made the call.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed information KJAN received from the Roland Funeral Home late Tuesday night, with regard to an accident Tuesday afternoon that claimed the life of an Atlantic man. Authorities said late Wednesday afternoon, that 68-year old Dennis Oathoudt, of Atlantic, died when the truck he was driving experienced a mechanical malfunction..apparently a blown tire…and crashed into the wall of a building at a private airport near Dallas Center.

The accident happened at around 1:45-p.m. Tuesday, at the privately owned Husband Field about three-miles west of Dallas Center.  Officials say the truck driven by Oathoudt hit a cinder block wall, causing him to suffer fatal injuries. The accident remains under investigation.