FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A man charged in the killing of his girlfriend’s mother in Fort Dodge earlier this year has pleaded not guilty. The Messenger reports that 29-year-old Mark Russell, of Fort Dodge, pleaded not guilty on Monday to first-degree murder in the January beating death of 45-year-old Angela McLeod. Police were called to McLeod’s home on Jan. 20 for a domestic dispute report and found her gravely injured. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say in court documents that they believe Russell used a golf club to beat McLeod. Russell was found competent to stand trial in May following treatment for mental illness. Russell’s lawyer says his client has a history of schizophrenia.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors are set to meet 9-a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16th, in an electronic session (See meeting access details below). On their agenda, in addition to regular discussion with regard to the Manure Management Plan (MMP) and COVID-19, is a presentation by Kimberly Dickey and Bo McGee, with NextEra Energy. They’re expected to provide the Board with an update on the Heartland Divide Phase II Transmission Line.

Officials have said once completed, up to 71 GE wind turbines will be capable of generating up to 200 megawatts of renewable energy. It comes with a 42 mile transmission line that would transmit the power from the wind farm in Audubon County, to a substation located in Adair. Subject to local and state approvals, the project is scheduled to begin operations by the end of 2021. Phase I of the Heartland Divide wind project was a 103 megawatt farm that went into commercial operation in December 2018.

Conservation Director Dominic Johnson will provide the Board with an Annual Report along with Conservation updates and plans.

And Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman will present the Adair County Supervisors with an agreement to purchase a motor grader, along with various project updates.

Meeting access information:

Dial in Number: (605) 313-6157         

Access Code: 526272#

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report four arrests took place last week. Friday morning, 43-year old Sean Michael Gochenour, of Missouri Valley, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant charging him with three counts of Failure To Appear.  His bond in the Mills County Jail was set at $150,000.

Thursday afternoon, 41-year old Christopher Michael Peterson, of Grimes, was arrested at the Polk County Jail, on a Mills County  warrant for Contempt of Court. Peterson was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

On September 9th, 48-year old Dallas Dewayne Heath, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for Failure to Appear on a Child Endangerment charge. Heath was being held on a $5,000 bond.

And, on Sept. 8th, 40-year old Christopher Michael Fronce, of Omaha, was arrested following a traffic stop on I-29. Fronce was taken into custody for Driving While Barred. Bond was set at $2,000.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Cass County Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustees will meet 8-a.m. Wednesday (Sept. 16), in Conference Room 1 (Just inside the Main entrance/atrium). During the meeting, the Board will hold a Public Hearing on the Plans, Specifications and Form of Contract, for Bid Package #2 – 2021 Addition/Renovation Cass County Health System.

Back on Aug. 26th, CCHS announced construction would begin August 31st, on their main entrance parking lot, Lot A. The parking lot renovation is being completed in two phases, which allows half of the parking lot to remain open to patients and visitors only. The project is expected to last through November.

The parking lot construction kicks off the first phase of CCHS’s master facility plan initiative that includes parking lot renovations, electrical upgrades, remodel of the Atlantic Medical Center clinic, as well as several other updates.

The Creston Police Department says a woman residing in the 100 block of N. Sycamore Street, reported an incident of Theft, Monday. The woman said sometime between 3-a.m. and 6-a.m., Monday, an unknown man entered the garage at her residence and took a camping tent. The loss was estimated at $100.

A District Court Judge has sentenced a northeast Iowa man to prison for receiving and distributing child pornography. 24-year old Hunter Morgan Uhde, of Thornton, was ordered to serve a little more than 13-years in prison, plus five years of supervised release to follow his prison term. Uhde is also required to pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund and $27,000 in restitution. He will have to comply with the State’s sex offender registry requirements upon release.

Authorities say on February 14, 2020, Uhde pleaded guilty to Count One of a two-count Indictment. The investigation began in February 2019 with a tip from the Homeland Security Cyber Crimes Center based on activity through the “Kik” app in relation to a username associated with Uhde between November and December 2018. A search warrant was conducted on Uhde’s residence in Coralville, Iowa. Agents found multiple electronic devices containing child pornography. Uhde admitted to possessing child pornography on his phone and participating in illicit activities involving child pornography.

After forensic examination of Uhde’s devices, Uhde was found to have possessed 1,400 images and two videos of child pornography. The matter was investigated by United States Department for Homeland Security and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Iowa Department of Public Health’s Coronavirus dashboard today (as of 10-a.m. Tuesday), said there are 508 new (Positive) COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths have taken place, since 10-a.m. Monday. Officials report there: is a total of 75,275 Positive cases to-date (2,983 since Monday); 2,705 new Negative cases (For a total of 630,386); 54,257 Iowans have recovered from the virus, and there have been a total of 1,233 deaths since the pandemic began. IDPH reported 707,186 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19.  Officials reported an 8.6% positivity rate over the last 14 days.

Of those who died, 855 had a pre-existing condition, and 651 of the deaths took place at a Long-Term Care (LTC) facility. In the KJAN listening area: Adair and Union Counties have one more positive case each, of COVID-19. Guthrie County has four more cases.

Across the State, hospitalizations are up 12 to 284. The number of patients with COVID-19 who are in an ICU is 71 (1 less than Monday); 36 people were admitted to a hospital with symptoms of the virus, and 29 patients are on ventilators. In western/southwest Iowa, hospitals report: two less patients are hospitalized for a total of 11; one more person was placed in the ICU (6 total); no people were admitted to a hospital, and one person remains on  ventilator.

There are two more LTC outbreaks, at 36, with 869 patients/staff testing positive, and 396 have recovered.

Here are the latest positive case numbers for southwest/western Iowa (County; Positive Case #’s; number of persons who have (recovered); {deaths since the outbreak began}.

• Cass County: 122 cases; (113); 2 deaths
• Adair County: 57 cases; (40); 1 death
• Adams County: 27 cases; (21)
• Audubon County: 46 cases; (29); 1 death
• Guthrie County: 205 cases; (151); 5 deaths
• Montgomery County: 83 cases; (78); 5 deaths
• Pottawattamie County: 1,828 cases; (1,555); 36 deaths
• Shelby County: 234 cases; (222); 1 death.
• Madison County, 184; (147); 2 deaths
• Harrison County, 162 cases; (149); 2 deaths
• Union County: 105 cases; (84); 3 deaths.
• Mills County: 149 cases; (105); 1 death.

(Radio Iowa) – Donald Trump, Junior, headlined a campaign rally in Treynor, Monday. He told the crowd of about 250 that Joe Biden is camouflage for the radical left. “You’re not moderate Joe with Kamala Harris as your VP. You’re not moderate Joe with Beto ‘hell yeah I’ll take your AR15′ as your gun czar, right,” Trump said, as some in the crowd booed. “You’re not moderate Joe stealing Bernie Sanders’ platform…like that’s literally his policy. That is a radical, Marxist policy.”

FILE PHOTO (A-P) Donald Trump Jr., speaks as he tapes his speech for the first day of the Republican National Convention from the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

According to the president’s 42 year-old son, “Democrats are no longer Democrats, they’re communists.” As his father did in 2016, the younger Trump has a populist message, accusing Biden of being a globalist when it comes to communist China. “For 50 years, he’s been telling us, ‘No, no, no if we make them really rich and successful, maybe they’ll be like us,'” Trump, Jr. said. The president’s oldest son joked that Trump Derangement Syndrome is worse than Covid-19 and the crowd in Treynor cheered.

“We don’t have the benefit of billions of dollars in the media. What we have the benefit of is hardworking Americans who have had enough, who want to live their American Dream,” Trump, Jr. said. “We have you guys.” One of the loudest crowd responses was when the president’s son mentioned his father’s nomination for the Nobel Prize.

Nebraska Democrats responded to Trump’s appearance less than 20 miles from Omaha, saying no member of the Trump family has any credibility to talk honestly with voters after the president admitted to downplaying the pandemic.