Republican Congressman Steve King says he’s hearing from landowners who’re complaining the government’s “eminent domain” authority has been used to seize their private property for the Bakken oil pipeline that’s being built through his district. “I absolutely do have concerns about the use and abuse of eminent domain,” King says. “And I have a complete disagreement with the Supreme Court decision from about 2005, the Kelo decision, which concluded private property could be taken for private use.”

King is not opposed to construction of the pipeline, but King suggests Iowa officials should have decided whether the pipeline was “a public utility” before granting developers permission to seize property for the project. “When they make a mistake in the court and essentially rewrite our constitution…we run into problems like this,” King says. King’s Democratic opponent is Kim Weaver of Sheldon.

“I am not in favor of the pipeline at all,” Weaver says. The first time Weaver drove by a construction site where land was being cleared for the project, she stopped to take a picture. “As a lifelong Iowan, as the great-granddaughter of people who homsteaded in South Dakota and my dad told me the pipeline is actually going through a corner of the old family farm, I’m adamantly opposed,” Weaver says.

The underground pipeline will ship crude oil from North Dakota, through South Dakota and diagonally through 18 Iowa counties enroute to a refinery in Illinois. Company officials notified the Iowa Utilities Board that nearly 60 percent of the pipeline work in Iowa had been completed by October 9th. Federal authorities have joined local officials to investigate a recent arson fire that destroyed about two million dollars worth of pipeline equipment positioned in Jasper County.

(Radio Iowa)

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies, Tuesday, arrested a Red Oak woman on a valid warrant for three counts of Unauthorized Use of a Credit Card. 23-year old Ashley Dawn Eden was taken into custody at around 8-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where she was booked-in, and later bonded out.

Red Oak Police report a man and a woman were arrested on drug charges Tuesday evening. 37-year old Becky Jo Hegarty, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 400 block of E. Prospect Street, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Hegarty was taken into custody at around 6:35-p.m. and subsequently released on a citation with a date to appear later, in court. And, at about the same time, 54-year old James Scott Malmquist, of Red Oak, was arrested following the execution of a search warrant at 411 E. Prospect Street.

Malmquist was charged with Theft in the 5th Degree, and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Pills. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa crime lab analyst fired after posting a rant against black people on Facebook has to pay back $3,800 in unemployment benefits. An administrative law judge has ruled that former Division of Criminal Investigation criminalist Amy Pollpeter was fired for work-related misconduct and therefore was ineligible to collect unemployment insurance.

FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — Corrections officials say a convicted murderer who had been imprisoned for more than 43 years has died at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. Officials announced Tuesday that 74-year-old Elbert James Hinkle was found Monday unresponsive on a restroom floor. Crews attempted CPR and rush Hinkle to a Fort Madison hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Hinkle was serving a life sentence for 1st degree murder from Polk County. His sentence began in February 1973.

KEOSAUQUA, Iowa (AP) — A Van Buren County attorney is set to stand trial over accusations of sexual harassment, intoxication and retaliation against employees. The Hawk Eye reports that Abraham Watkins’ civil trial is scheduled to begin Thursday. The Van Buren County Board of Supervisors filed a petition in district court in Keosauqua (Kee-oh-SAH’-kwuh) last month requesting that Watkins be removed from office. The trial is set to begin Thursday.

NASHUA, Iowa (AP) — An appeals court has overturned the life sentence given to a Charles City man suspected of killing a retired Clarksville grocer but convicted of weapon-related charges. The court ordered Friday that Randy Patrie be resentenced. He was suspected in the 2012 death of Carl “Ken” Gallmeyer, found dead in a rural Nashua home. Investigators found Gallmeyer’s guns and other items in Patrie’s home. Prosecutors charged Patrie with weapons crimes. He was sentenced to life because of his prior convictions.

The Iowa State Patrol reports two people were injured during an accident Tuesday afternoon in Pottawattamie County. Authorities say 23-year old Dalton Jones and 38-year old Jordan Sollazo, both of Council Bluffs, were transported by Crescent Rescue to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs. Both were wearing their seat belts.

The accident happened at around 4:30-p.m. on Old Lincoln Highway, north of Council Bluffs.  Officials say a 2012 Honda Pilot driven by Sollazo was nearly stopped heading northbound and intending to turn west into a private drive, when the Honda was struck from behind by a northbound 1997 Saturn, driven by 23-year old Tammi Pickett, of Council Bluffs.

The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by deputies with the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office and Crescent Rescue.