The Mills County Public Health Department reports four more, positive cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Mills County. One of the newly confirmed cases is a person 18-to 40-years of age, the others are age 41-to 60. One individual contracted the virus through close contact, while the others contracted it through community spread.

The latest cases bring the total to 79 in Mills County, with 38 persons having recovered. Officials say 2,655 residents of the county have been tested. And, “Going forward Mills County Public Health and [the] Mills County Emergency Management Agency will only be sending out weekly reports, following a briefing of the Mills County Board of Supervisors during their regular meetings on Tuesday morning, and NOT for every confirmed case.

Officials continue to encourage residents be safe, practice social distancing and hand washing procedures, along with other measure to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Officials with the Glenwood Police Department, Monday (today), issued an update to their earlier reports with regard to a shooting incident that took place last Thursday. Their latest report says “At approximately 11:12-p.m., the Glenwood Police Department responded to a shooting at 506 S. Locust Street. Upon arrival, a 17-year old male victim was identified and sent to the hospital via medical helicopter.

“The suspect’s vehicle was located by Mill County Deputy’s, north of Glenwood, where the suspects then fled on foot. An extensive search led to the apprehension of two minor aged suspects, a 17-year old male from Omaha, and a 15-year old female from Council Bluffs. Both have unrelated charges of Burglary [in the] 3rd Degree.”

Officials said also, that on Friday, July 31st, at about 11:30-a.m., Glenwood Police arrested a third suspect: a 17-year old male from Glenwood, at an address in Glenwood. He too faces a charge of Burglary in the 3rd Degree. All three of the teenage suspects will have additional charges levied against them as the investigation continues.

The investigation remains on-going, with the Iowa DCI and Mills County Sheriff’s Department assisting. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Glenwood Police at 712-527-4844.

Audubon Mayor Barb Jacobsen has declared a “Water Alert” for the City, through the end of September.  According to the City, “When moderate but limited supplies of water are available, the Mayor shall, through appropriate means, call upon the general population to employ prudent restraint in water usage, and to conserve water voluntarily by whatever methods available.”

Residents should refrain from watering yards and gardens, and use commercial car washes instead of private washes, to conserve water.

One person was arrested this (Monday) morning, following a stabbing in Council Bluffs. Authorities say at around 5:41-a.m., Council Bluffs police and fire personnel were called to the 3500 block of 5th Avenue for a stabbing that had just occurred. Upon their arrival, officers located 37-year old Anthony Carman, of Council Bluffs, bleeding heavily from a deep laceration to his abdomen.

Troy Finley (CB-PD Photo)

Carman was able to tell the officers that he and 55-year old Troy Finley, of Council Bluffs, had been involved in an altercation, and that Finley had stabbed him with a knife. Finley fled from the area prior to the officers getting to the scene. Carman was taken by ambulance to Nebraska Medicine; he is in stable condition and is expected to recover.

At around 9:50-a.m., a Council Bluffs police officer spotted Finley riding a bicycle near 30th Street and West Broadway. Finley refused to stop and attempted to elude the officer, but officer’s K-9 partner was able to apprehend Finley, who was taken to Mercy Hospital to receive treatment for a dog bite. Finley was then booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail on charges of (Felony) Willful Injury, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Eluding, and Interference with Official Acts.

Two people were arrested on separate charges over the past few days, in Mills County. The Sheriff’s Office reports 25-year old Wyatt Kane Bailey, of Red Oak, was arrested Saturday night, for OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $2,000. And, at around 9:30 this (Monday) morning, 36-year old Travis Mitchell Long, of Honey Creek, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Service his sentence in Mills County. Long was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

And, a Nebraska man was injured during an accident Saturday night in Mills County. Authorities say 30-year old Elijah Edmonds, of Plattesmouth, NE., was traveling west on Lambert Avenue at around 9:55-p.m., when he failed to stop at a T-intersection with Lincoln Avenue. His 2019 Ford continued through the intersection for reasons unknown, and struck a two-car garage belonging to property owners at 309 E. 3rd Street. Edmonds was transported by Malvern Rescue to the UNMC in Omaha.

The vehicle was considered a total loss, which damage estimated at $7,000.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say one woman has died in an apartment fire in downtown Fort Dodge. The Messenger reports that the fire happened Sunday afternoon, when firefighters were summoned to Central Avenue for reports of smoke coming from an apartment. Arriving fire crews found heavy smoke in the apartment and upon searching it, found an unresponsive woman inside. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials have not released her name. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Three G-O-P members of a key committee say they plan to block state regulators from expanding their authority to turn over private property for wind energy developments. Some Iowa counties have passed local zoning ordinances restricting where wind turbines may be placed. Critics say those restrictions would be overruled by the proposed Iowa Utilities Board rules — because if the board approves a wind farm project, eminent domain authority could be used to convert private property for the public use of renewable energy generation. Senator Zach Whiting of Spirit Lake says he has a number of concerns about the dramatic expansion of eminent domain authority the Utilities Board appears to give itself.)

Private property rights and utility development have been a flash point for lawmakers from both parties for years. In 2006, then-Governor Tom Vilsack vetoed legislation that limited the power of local governments to seize private property for commercial development through the eminent domain process — and 87 percent of the Iowa legislature’s members voted to override that veto. A year ago, Governor Kim Reynolds said she favored local control and opposed statewide regulation of where wind turbines may be located.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor has rejected two-thirds of the Democratic state attorney general’s requests to join multi-state lawsuits. Gov. Kim Reynolds’ actions were made possible by an unusual compromise that has allowed her to repeatedly block the state’s involvement in challenges to Trump administration policies. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller agreed in May 2019 to seek Reynolds’ approval before he would join mult-istate lawsuits, and Reynolds in turn vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have prevented the state’s top lawyer from joining any multi-state suit unless the governor or Legislature requested it.

Miller says the compromise importantly is temporary and won’t hamstring future Iowa attorneys general.

(Updated 8/5/20) – A man and a woman from Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, NE., died early Sunday morning during a single-vehicle crash in Mills County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 21-year old Senior Airman Nicholas David Johnson, of Union, New Jersey, and 21-year old Olivia Hope Johnson, died at the scene of the crash. The accident happened at around 4:50-a.m., when the 2020 Subaru WRX Nicholas Johnson was driving, went off of the road as it was traveling west on Bunge Avenue. The car entered the north ditch, vaulted across Allis Road and struck a tree before coming to rest on its top.

Mills County Deputies assisted the State Patrol at the accident scene. Officials say Olivia Johnson had her seat belt on, but Nicholas Johnson did not. Officials did not say how or whether the two were related.