FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Corrections Department says a Fort Dodge prison inmate serving two life sentences for the death of two western Iowa residents, has died at a local hospital.  A department news release says 62-year-old Jerimiah Connolly died Saturday of end stage emphysema. He was being taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City when he was diverted to the local hospital.
He had been serving his sentence at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.

The life sentences stem from two convictions for first-degree murder in Pottawattamie County. In November 1980 he was arrested and charged with killing 80-year-old Alanson Beach and 83-year-old Mina Beach. Connolly began the sentences on Nov. 3, 1981.

A man from Adair County was arrested Tuesday evening in Creston. Creston Police say 26-year old Zachary McNeeley, of Greenfield, was arrested in the Highway 34/Industrial Parkway area, for OWI/2nd offense and Driving While Suspended. McNeeley was being held in the Union County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee visited a biorefinery in Corning Tuesday to highlight his support of the Renewable Fuels Standard — and his criticism of the Obama Administration’s decision to scale back ethanol production levels. “The government says they’re going to implement standards, implement a plan. They need to stick with it not only because there are thousands of jobs at stake, but also because they were the ones that created the mandate causing people to make huge investments,” Huckabee says. “They’ve made those investments and they shouldn’t have the government now pull the rug out from under them.”

The Environmental Protection Agency’s guideline for 2016 ethanol production is below 2007 levels. Huckabee says billions of dollars has been invested in the ethanol industry and it’s working. “Fuel costs for the average American are down by 16 percent due to the Renewable Fuel Standards. The enviromental impact has been significantly improved because of RFS,” Huckabee says. “Now you have the very government that urged people to get into renewable fuels trying to dial the whole program back. That, frankly, makes no sense.”

Huckabee is also questioning President Obama’s focus on climate change. Huckabee says the country “needs a commander-in-chief, not a weather-obsessed meteorologist.” Huckabee says Obama might take ISIS more seriously if he learned “they didn’t recycle.”

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop in Villisca at around 2:15-a.m. today (Wednesday), resulted in the arrest of two men on drug charges. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says 45-year old John Leon Lynn Bowen, of Villisca, faces a felony, Possession of Methamphetamine charge, while 36-year old Joshua Duane Mohn, of Red Oak, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Sheriff’s deputies were assisted in conducting the stop by Montgomery County K9 “Rush.”

An investigation into several Fremont County burglaries that occurred Nov. 29th, resulted in the arrest of two people, Tuesday. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says the burglaries occurred at a farm residence near Sidney. Among the items taken was at least one firearm. A search warrant executed by Fremont and Mills County deputies in Pacific Junction, Tuesday, resulted in the recovery of several pieces of stolen property, as well as drug paraphernalia.

Taken into custody for Possession of Stolen Property and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, was 35-year old Leo Alan Edwards, of Pacific Junction, who was brought to the Mills County Jail. Charges against Edwards are currently pending in Fremont County. 25-year old Sonia Danielle Smith, of Hamburg, was arrested in Glenwood. Smith was charged with Burglary in the 3rd Degree, Theft in the 2nd Degree, and Possession of Contraband in a Correctional Institution. Additional charges are pending. Smith was being in the Fremont County Jail on a $15,000 cash only bond.

Authorities are looking for anyone who may have purchased items over the past few weeks from either Smith or Edwards. Officials believe items may have been sold through Craigslist in either Council Bluffs or the Clarinda areas.