DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Iowa want to limit the powers of the state’s attorney general, citing frustration that the Democrat joined lawsuits opposing the actions of President Donald Trump. Attorney General Tom Miller joined six lawsuits in 2018 that aimed to obstruct Trump’s policies, which included separating families of immigrants on the southern U.S. border and requiring additional citizenship information on the 2020 census. Miller’s office was also involved in 26 amicus briefs and 50 letters to federal agencies opposing the Trump administration’s actions.

The Des Moines Register reports that Rep. Gary Worthan’s sponsored measure would require Miller’s office to get permission from the governor, the General Assembly or the Executive Council before joining any out-of-state lawsuits. Miller is the longest-serving sitting state attorney general in the U.S.

Officials with the Carroll Community School District announced Thursday, that Dr. Casey Berlau, shared CAM/Nodaway Valley School District Superintendent has accepted the Superintendent’s position at CCSD. Berlau said he looks forward to “Working with the board, staff, parents and community,” as the Superintendent of the Carroll CSD. Berlau was among three finalists for the post who were interviewed April 18th. School officials say “Feedback was thoroughly reviewed by stakeholder groups that included students, support staff, teachers, administrators and community members. The board identified [Dr. Berlau] as the best fit to lead the district.”

Berlau has served the Nodaway Valley District for 10-years, and CAM for five-years. He has 13 years of Iowa Superintendent experience under his belt. He was also the Superintendent/Principal for Elk Horn-Kimballton, Secondary Principal for EHK, and a teacher at the Seymour Community Schools. His wife Jodi is currently a Third grade teacher at Nodaway Valley. The couple has three children.

(Radio Iowa) — While it was slow to develop, it appears the effects of the current El Nino weather pattern will hang around the region for a while — likely several months. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub, based in Ames, says they expect a longer-than-average El Nino, which typically means warmer, wetter weather for Iowa. “March, April, May, all the way to June, July, August and September,” Todey says. “The probability of El Nino is the highest staying above 60% most of the way through the summer, so, we’re expecting that to be with us.”

An El Nino occurs when Pacific Ocean surface temperatures rise, which in turn impacts weather across North America. An El Nino can last just nine to 12 months or sometimes as long as seven years. Todey says the center is predicting warmer-than-normal temperatures at least through early summer. “The chances for May temperatures lean slightly towards the warm side over most of the eastern part of our region,” Todey says. “Parts of Kansas and Colorado have a slightly increased chance of below-average temperatures and the warm extends through the Northern Plains. None of these probabilities are very high, a little bit in the eastern part of the Corn Belt.”

Todey says the long-range outlooks calls for above-normal rainfall for most of the summer. “It is an interesting contrast when we look at the precipitation probabilities,” he says. “This is a 50% chance of above-average precipitation. That’s fairly high and this whole area is actually fairly high, given we’re in a May-to-July, more convective time of season. It’s not often you see this from the climate prediction center.” It follows a snowy winter and a rainy early spring which led to record flooding on the Missouri River and significant flooding on the Mississippi and elsewhere, with billions of dollars damage in Iowa and several neighboring states.

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s deputy on patrol late Saturday night, stopped a vehicle at I-80 and Highway 59, for having paper license plates. The driver, 46-year old Patrick Bernard Jackson, of Des Moines, was arrested for Driving While Barred/Habitual Offense, and on holds for two agencies. His bond was set at $2,000. A traffic stop at around 5:30-a.m. Saturday on Highway 6 in Pott. County, near Treynor, resulted in the arrest of 21-year old Ethan Ray Rankin, on a charge of OWI/1st offense.

Friday evening, a deputy was called to a location in Carson for a reported armed subject. Following an investigation, 44-year old Kathleen Marie Gerhardt was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault w/a dangerous weapon – 1st offense. Friday afternoon, 49-year old Edward Glen Summers was picked up from the Saunders County, NE., jail, and transported to the Pott. County Jail, where he was held on an Iowa warrant for Collecting or attempting to collect fraudulent winnings.  20-year old Noah Patrick Benedict was arrested Friday afternoon at the Tri-Center School. Benedict was wanted on a Pott. County warrant for a Sex Offender Registry Violation. And, 44-year old Eric Clayton Burk, of Denison, was brought to the Sheriff’s Office Friday afternoon by a bail bondsman. Burk was wanted on Pott. County warrants for Violation of Probation, and on a hold for another agency. He was being held in the jail without bond.

On April 17th, 23-year old Javon Joshua Jennings, of Council Bluffs, who was being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail, was charged with Willful Injury resulting in Serious Injury, following an assault that had taken place in the jail. Bond for Jennings, who was being held on two felony warrants plus the assault charge, was set at $10,000.  And a Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy who stopped a vehicle on the Old Mormon Bridge Road and Pokamoke Road last week, arrested 49-year old Barclay A. Monaster on April 16th, for OWI/2nd offense. The deputy had been alerted to the situation by a passing motorist.

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

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Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County arrested two people, Friday. 59-year old Thomas Oscar Anderson, of Red Oak, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for Violation of a No Contact Order. He was later released on his own recognizance. And, 50-year old Rene Telesforo Valdivia, of Colorado, was arrested on a Bench Warrant for Burglary in the 3rd Degree. Bond was set at $7,500.

Creston Police report four recent arrests. On Sunday (4/21), 56-year old Thomas Leroy Patterson, of Creston, was arrested at 315 W Adams for Disorderly Conduct. Patterson was transported to the Union County Jail where he bonded out on $300 bond. Saturday afternoon, 43-year old Richard Wade Starlin, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, for OWI 1st. Starlin was released from the Union County Jail on a $1000 bond.

And last Friday, 19-year old Patrick Nychylas Leigh Farlow, of Clarinda, was arrested at 300 N Pine for Escape of Custody and on an Outside agency warrant. He is being held in the Union County Jail on a $3000 cash bond. Also, 35-year old Jaime Torres, of Creston, was arrested in the 300 block New York Av for Domestic Abuse Assault by Strangulation. He was released from the Union County Jail on a $2000 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man accused of abandoning two dogs that officials say had injuries “consistent with dogfighting” has pleaded not guilty. The Telegraph Herald reports that 31-year-old Eric Tillis entered pleas last week to charges of abandonment and of neglect. His trial is scheduled to begin June 17. Court documents say officers sent Jan. 26 to investigate a report about abandoned dogs found two dogs in kennels without food or water. The documents say both dogs had several scratches and scars “consistent with dogfighting.”

Investigators say Tillis and 21-year-old Alexia Ball had lived at the residence with the dogs but had moved out days earlier. Ball also has pleaded not guilty to charges of animal abandonment and animal neglect.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A man has been accused of stealing drugs from an ambulance at a Dubuque hospital. Dubuque County court records say 31-year-old London Gavin is charged with theft. The Telegraph Herald reports that an ambulance worker told police that Gavin had ridden in the ambulance Thursday as she and others took a patient to MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center. She noticed after talking to hospital staffers that vials of morphine and ketamine she’d placed on the ambulance cot were missing.

A court document says a surveillance recording showed Gavin grabbing something off the cot while the ambulance worker was talking to the hospital staffers. The document says the drugs turned up when Gavin emptied his sweatshirt pocket for police.