The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports 42-year-old Suzanne Kay Labatista was arrested Tuesday morning for Eluding. The woman was taken into custody after a Sheriff’s investigator who was called to the area of Super Saver, overheard on his radio, a male subject had just slashed some tires at the scene. And, at around 4-p.m. Tuesday, Pott. County Deputies took custody of 57-year-old Timothy Andrew Frieze, of Council Bluffs.

Frieze was picked-up from the Lincoln, NE Treatment Center and transported back to Pott. County, where he was wanted on warrants for Harassment in the 1st Degree – Forcible Felony, and Assault causing bodily injury or mental illness without intent. His bond was set at $3,000. He was also being held for another agency.

**UPDATE (Council Bluffs, Iowa) – A man and a woman from Chicago, IL, arrested Tuesday afternoon in Council Bluffs face multiple charges associated with the theft of mail from numerous states/communities, and drug charges. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports 37-year-old John Doe and 29-year-old Savannah Shavon Shandor were arrested at around 1:40-p.m., after several agencies were involved in a mail theft case that began on Simms Avenue in Council Bluffs, and eventually turned into a vehicle pursuit.

Both suspects face charges that include: Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; Possession of Marijuana/1st offense; Possession of Burglary tools; Providing False Identification information, and Theft in the 5th Degree. Bond for John Doe was set at $3,900. Shandor faces an additional felony charge of Eluding. Her bond was set at $9,600. Authorities recovered paraphernalia that included a grinder, glass pipes, unknown medical pills, and loose marijuana, along with prybars and brass knuckles.

Mail stolen from the following areas was also recovered: Council Bluffs; the Chicago area; the Las Vegas area; Elm Creek and Hershey, NE., and Hudson, CO. In addition, authorities found: checkbooks and checks; multiple receipts; an Office Depot Starter pack; multiple note books with handwritten notes; multiple ID’s, license plates, credit cards and gift cards; 4 cell phones; a Bluetook earpiece, and a USB drive.

**Authorities initially referred to the male subject as “John Doe,” because they could not confirm his identity due to the numerous ID’s they found. Late this afternoon, Postal Inspectors did confirm his true identity, but they have not released that information. Both suspects were transferred to Omaha.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA — This (Wednesday) evening, May 4th, at 7pm, local residents and community leaders will gather at the Council Bluffs Public Library to discuss how Pottawattamie County should spend our next disbursement of American Rescue Plan COVID Recovery funds. Pottawattamie County is set to receive an additional $9 million in federal recovery funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. County residents are calling on the Board of Supervisors to survey the county to identify the most immediate needs of our community and to join in listening session Town Halls hosted by United Today, Stronger Tomorrow & Coalition members.

You’re invited to join members of your community in discussing the most responsive and responsible way to spend an additional $9 million in federal Covid recovery funding coming to Pottawattamie County, in May. The County Board of Supervisors – who tasked with spending these funds – have been invited to attend, as well as other local elected officials.

The goal is a friendly dialogue, and civil conversation. Refreshments will be provided.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Firefighters and other emergency personnel were dispatched at around 4:50-a.m. today (Wednesday), to a residential fire at 106 Cedar Street. Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel says flames were showing when the first crews arrived on the scene.

Cappel said apparently, no one was in the residence.

Chief Cappel said an investigation into the cause of the blaze is underway, and will take some time. No injuries were reported. The house was considered a total loss. Atlantic Police, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies and Cass County Emergency Management assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa) – Planners in Pella are anxiously awaiting the Thursday opening of this year’s Tulip Festival. Pella Historical Village spokesperson, Valerie Van Kooten, says they are prepping for lots of visitors during the three-day run. “We are expecting probably some of our largest crowds ever. If advanced ticket sales are any indication — the buses that are coming in — I think people are ready to get out,” she says. It will be the first time things are like they were before the pandemic. “We had, what we kind of called a tulip time light last year, where we didn’t have parades. We needed to control crowds in one area, so we had a lot of the events but we didn’t have parades to encourage people not to gather in one area,” Van Kooten explains. “So this year we’re back totally to where we were three years ago in 2019.

The cold weather has slowed the tulip growth a bit — but she says that is a good thing. “They’re just coming into their peak and I think they’ll be at their peak probably this weekend and into next week. So, it’s a rare year when they haven’t yet hit their peak by tulip time but this might be the year where they’re going to be good for another week or two,” she says. Different varieties of tulips are planted to try and ensure there’s always the color for the festival. “We plant early varieties, middle varieties and late varieties and the early varieties are coming up to be finished. The middle varieties are just blooming on full bloom and the late varieties are coming up and starting to show color,” according to Van Kooten. “So there’s always something blooming at Tulip Time, but they can’t all bloom at the same time because of the way they’re planted for early, middle or late.”

She says they learned from the changes they made in the scaled-back celebration. “It’s funny because as we meet and plan and everything, we all kind of have to think twice about how we did things, you know, three years ago and we learned a lot during the pandemic of things that work and things that don’t and some of the things we put in place during the pandemic will stay. So it wasn’t all bad. We learned a lot about our festival and about our visitors,” Van Kooten says.

You can find a full schedule of events at the website: pellahistorical.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Cold, wet weather is keeping many Iowans from mowing their lawns, but some are swearing off the chore for the entire month as a way to help out tiny yet vital pollinators. Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green is leading by example through taking part in No Mow May as bees emerge from dormancy and need flowering plants as crucial foraging habitats — even though he was scared of getting stung as a kid. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to see just how critical they are to our food chain and for providing pollination for crops and being that linchpin of our food supply,” Green says. “So, as mayor, I’m really excited that I have this opportunity to educate other residents and hopefully get them excited about bees and butterflies and other pollinators.”

Cedar Falls residents are encouraged to limit or skip their lawn mowing during May, and the city council voted to not enforce the ordinance requiring eight-inch tall grass and weeds to be cut for the month. In his proclamation, Mayor Green calls No Mow May a “community science initiative.” “This gives us the opportunity to bring in schools and families and to help them build up a monitoring program in their own yards,” Green says, “and hopefully get kids excited about doing research. I would love to see kids out, counting the number of bees per square yard on a given day and reporting that out.”

Iowans who take pride in their landscaping may be slow to come around to the idea, and Green admits he was initially hesitant to get onboard. He says it took a mind shift. “I hate dandelions and so having been one who would have the yard herbicided and just make it as pristine as possible like a golf course,” Green says. “It’s just taken me some time to realize that that kind of approach to lawn care is damaging to the environment.”

City residents are encouraged to register their intent -not- to mow as well as the size of their yards. Some are posting signs to let neighbors know, they’re not being lazy, they’re helping promote pollinator-critical habitat.

(Harlan, Iowa) –  A traffic stop by a Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputy resulted in a pursuit that ended in a foot chase, in Harlan. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says the incident happened early this (Wednesday) morning, when a Deputy attempted to stop a vehicle just north of Harlan, on Highway 59. When the vehicle failed to yield, the Deputy and a Harlan Police officer began a pursuit in and around the area of Defiance.

The vehicle then went back south bound where another Shelby County Deputy did set stop sticks up on the road. The vehicle then traveled into Harlan and attempted to make a turn when it lost control. The suspect later identified as Spencer Hodges took off of foot. An alert was put out to citizens to stay in their residence and not to answer the door. With a Shelby County K9 unit, a Shelby County EMA drone, Crawford County Sheriff’s office deputies, and Harlan police officers assistance, the suspect was apprehended.

Hodges was was found to have an active arrest warrant out of Nebraska. The vehicle his was driving was allegedly stolen out of Nebraska. Once the suspect was in custody, the alert was cancelled.

A traffic stop a little after 11-p.m. Tuesday, in Red Oak, resulted in an arrest. 26-year-old Dylan Elwood Taylor, of Red Oak,was arrested for Driving While Barred. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

Firefighters and other emergency personnel were dispatched at around 4:52-a.m. today (Wednesday), to a residential fire at 106 Cedar Street. Dispatch reports said the home was unoccupied, because the utilities had been shut-off. Police, however, said a neighbor pulled a man from the structure. The home was said to be fully engulfed on the east side. The incident remains under investigation. No other information was immediately available.

Photos by Ric Hanson/KJAN News