Council Bluffs Police say a Pottawattamie County man was arrested at around 12:40-p.m. Friday, following an investigation into a reported robbery at the Buckey’s Convenience Store at 3501 W. Broadway.

J.L. Wright

Responding officers witnessed a suspect matching the physical description running in the 3400 block of Avenue A. The suspect, 28-year old Jerome L. Wright, of Council Bluffs, was detained at that location. Officers responding to the business determined that an employee of Bucky’s, a 44-year-old Council Bluffs woman was removing cash from the gas pumps when Wright approached her from behind and is alleged to have physically removed the bank bag containing the cash from her person. Wright then allegedly fled the area Eastbound.

Following the preliminary investigation Jerome Wright was arrested for Theft 1st Degree and is currently in police custody. No weapons were involved in the theft and no injuries occurred.

Four people were transported to the hospital in Hamburg following an accident early this (Friday) morning southwest of Hamburg. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports they received word of the crash at around 4:13-a.m.  It occurred in the 3100 block of 240th Avenue. The vehicle was driven by 21-year old Robert Bruce, of Hamburg.

Authorities say the vehicle was northbound on 240th Avenue, when it went out of control and entered the east ditch, before striking a drainage tube. The vehicle was declared a total loss. Bruce and two other passengers were transported to Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg for treatment of minor injuries. The fourth passenger 21-year old Samantha Johnson, of Farragut, was flown to UNMC with undetermined injuries.

Robert Bruce was arrested for OWI 1st Offense and was released after posting the one thousand dollar bond. The accident is still under investigation and further charges could be possible. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by Hamburg Fire and Rescue, Riverton Fire and Rescue and Sidney Fire and Rescue.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have arrested an Iowa State football player accused of vandalism at a skate park in Ames. Cornerback Brian Peavy has been charged with criminal mischief and interference. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him. Athletics department spokesman Mike Green said Friday that Peavy remains in “good standing with the team.” Green also said he expects Peavy will play Saturday when the Cyclones take on Kansas State in Manhattan.

Ames police Lt. Heath Ropp said officers who responded Thursday evening to a call about vandalism at Tsushima skate park found Peavy and another male spray-painting underneath a bridge near the park. The other man escaped. Peavy, a redshirt junior from Houston, is listed as a starter.

Iowa has at least 75 beer brewers statewide and many of them will have representatives at the upcoming convention being planned for Omaha-Council Bluffs. The Hop Growers and Brewers Conference and Trade Show is scheduled for January. Katie Kreuser, the hop program coordinator for the University of Nebraska Extension, says it’s an ideal place for growers and brewers to get together and network.

Kreuser says, “With this increasing growth with the craft beer industry, comes this interest in growing hops and with our conducive environment, it just makes for a perfect mix.”

The conference will offer workshops and speakers providing important information for producers who are interested in growing hops to support the expanding number of breweries. “The agronomics of growing hops, pest and diseases, nutritional management, trellis design and installation, harvest timing, crop and brewery insurance,” Kreuser says.

There will be discussions about organic hop production in addition to displays of the latest in brewery equipment. The trade show covers everything growers and brewers need to launch operations, in addition to helping home or micro-brew owners. “This is geared towards any vendors that have products or information that’s going to help this audience,” she says. “This is anything from chemical companies to brewing equipment to actual plant sourcing.”

The conference will be held at the Embassy Suites in downtown Omaha on January 18th and 19th. Early bird registration ends December 1st. Learn more at growbrewnebraska.com. The craft beer industry in Iowa supports more than 15-hundred jobs and has an economic impact exceeding 100-million dollars. Iowa’s beer production is expected to top 146-thousand barrels by 2019, that’s triple the rate from 2014.

(Radio Iowa)

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GRAETTINGER, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a church in northwest Iowa is missing as much as $470,000. Sioux City television station KCAU reports that Bethel Lutheran Church officials in Graettinger say the money loss dates back to 2007. A suspect has been identified, but no arrest has been reported. A local bank tipped church leaders about the loss after discovering suspicious account activity.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs group working to update and expand the Dream Playground at Lake Manawa State Park intends to use fence pickets to help fund the project. The Daily Nonpareil reports that plans call for a picket fence to surround the playground. The Dream Playground Re-imagined group intends to let individuals, community groups and businesses pay $100 each for the nearly 1,400 pickets, which can be engraved with a maximum of 22 characters.

The playground was built in 1993 and was named the Dream Playground because its features were conceptualized by elementary students. The same design process was repeated last March, when students were asked to redesign the playground as they think it should be.

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs was created to tell the story of this area’s importance to the many westward trails of the 1800s. The center is displaying some history of its own in celebration of 20 years of providing insight into early American travel. Now through next spring, visitors will be able to read the center’s history in a large collection of scrap books containing preserved newspaper articles and other written accounts, photographs of special events and people, and other mementos. Included in the collection is a proclamation by then-Gov. Chet Culver that proclaimed the center in Council Bluffs as the capital of Iowa for a day. People can write favorite memories of the center on nearby cards.

The center was formed through a partnership of government entities and the private sector, according to Teressa Sward, museum technician. “They were looking to place an interpretive center to tell the history of the pioneers who went west from here,” Sward told The Daily Nonpareil . The chosen site, which had long been Missouri River bottom land, was ideal because the numerous westward trails obviously had to cross the river, sometimes taking apart covered wagons so that the pieces can be placed on log ferries and reassembling them again on the other side, according to Sward. The center officially opened on Oct. 4, 1997, and over the years tens of thousands of people have toured the center to learn more about the Lewis and Clark, Oregon, California and Mormon trails. “We were a major jumping off point for the trails,” Sward said.

On average, between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors tour the museum annually, Sward said. During the Lewis and Clark Trail bicentennial, about 80,000 walked through the doors, she added. Many have come from far-away places as India, Pakistan, Norway, Vietnam, Sudan, Argentina and Greenland, Sward said. The center is situated on 423 acres with acres and acres of tall native prairie grasses, as well as a pond behind the center and a bicycle-walking trail through river bottom woodlands.

Besides its historical displays, the center hosts many family-friendly educational and social events. There are also musical jams on Thursdays and Saturdays. What’s more, it’s all free, Sward said.

The 2017 “Teacher of the Year” in Iowa says veteran teachers serving as “instructional coaches” are helping keep rookie teachers from leaving the profession. “Mentor leaders are providing support and encouragement to our new teachers in those critical first years. These leaders are crucial in helping us retain quality teachers in classroom.”

That’s Norwalk fifth-grade teacher Shelly Vroegh. As Iowa’s 2017 “Teacher of the Year” Vroegh received a stipend so she could temporarily leave her job and visit schools around the state. Vroegh has been teaching for two decades and she touts the NEW state program providing bonuses to about nine-thousand Iowa teachers serving as “instructional coaches” in their local school. “Teacher leadership compensation has been the best initiative our state has provided teachers during the course of my teaching career and we need to encourage and motivate teachers to take on leadership opportunities within their schools.” she says. “We need to continue to work collaboratively to use data as the driving force for our decisions as well as reflect on our current practices in order to improve and grow as educators.”

In June, 85 percent of Iowa school administrators said the program had helped retain teachers and attract new ones to their districts. Keeping teachers in the profession is crucial, as there’s a national teaching shortage and fewer college students are choosing to become teachers.

(Radio Iowa)