DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Equipment manufacturer John Deere has hired about 250 workers in Dubuque since last fall thanks to surging demand for new products. The Telegraph Herald reports the John Deere Dubuque Works facility now employs 1,300 production workers, its highest total since 2000. There are another 1,300 employees at the plant who work in other capacities such as engineering, sales and marketing.

General Manager Mark Dickson says he predicts adding another 50 workers by October. Dickson says the increasing orders and additional hires have boosted morale at the facility. The increases come a year after the company experienced layoffs and lagging sales.

The company laid off nearly 100 people in 2016. Its construction and forest division had an operating loss of $17 million at the end of fiscal year 2016.

A Pottawattamie County man suspected of carjacking a man in Council Bluffs, Saturday morning, was arrested later, in Omaha. Council Bluffs Police say Officers in Omaha located the suspect, 21-year old Ahmed Ibar, of Council Bluffs, and the vehicle, in the vicinity of 24th and Cuming, in Omaha. Ibar is currently in police custody at the Douglas County Jail awaiting extradition back to Iowa.

Authorities say at around 12:10-a.m. Saturday, Council Bluffs Police say Officers were dispatched to 3400 block of Avenue C for a male party reporting a carjacking. While en route to the call an officer observed the vehicle just stolen Westbound on the I-480
Bridge at a high rate of speed going into Omaha. The officer was not in position to catch up to the vehicle, but broadcast the information to the Omaha Police Department.

Ahmed Ibar

Upon arrival officers spoke to the victim, 36-year old Michael McNeil, of Lincoln, NE, who told officers that while parked in the area he was approached by a black male displaying a handgun. The suspect pointed the handgun at McNeil and told him “Get out of the car or I’ll shoot you”. The suspect fled the area in the McNeil’s vehicle.

Criminal Investigations responded to Omaha and interviewed Ibar.

Authorities in Montgomery County say three people were arrested at around 7:30-p.m. Saturday, in Red Oak. 33-year old Jared Alan Gresham, of Omaha, and 27-year old Mildred Helenora Douglas, of Red Oak, were taken into custody at 7:30-p.m. on the 100 block of Grimes Street. The were charged with Public Intoxication and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond was set at $300 each.

A few minutes later, 31-year old Brian Paul Anderson, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the 200 block of E Grimes Street, for Disorderly Conduct by fighting or violence. His bond was also set at $300.

A man died and two women were injured, during a collision Saturday morning in eastern Iowa’s Jackson County. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident happened north of Andrew on Highway 62 at around 7:40-a.m., when a van crossed the center line of the road and struck an SUV head-on.

Officials say the driver of the van, 60-year old Marjorie Louise Hendrickson, and the driver of the SUV, 40-year old Tina Marie Kelchen, were injured. A passenger in Kelchen’s SUV, 40-year old Mitchell Roy Kelchen, died from his injuries. All of the victims are from Bellevue, Iowa.

The women were flown by helicopter to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. The accident, which occurred on Highway 62, remains under investigation.

AURORA, Iowa (AP) — A 55-year-old Aurora man has been sentenced to prison for shooting at Buchanan County sheriff’s deputies while holding his wife hostage in their mobile home in October.

The Courier reports that Dennis Edgar Chamberlain was sentenced earlier this week to up to 25 years in prison after being convicted by a jury in July of attempted murder, second-degree kidnapping and weapons counts.

Buchanan County sheriff’s deputies were called to Chamberlain’s house on Oct. 8. Officials say Chamberlain fired a handgun next to his then-wife following an argument and then fired into a door when deputies and state troopers tried to contact him. An Iowa State Patrol negotiator eventually talked Chamberlain into releasing his wife and surrendering.

Chamberlain’s defense attorney argued at trial that Chamberlain was only trying to harm himself.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says a fish kill in a northwestern Iowa stream has been traced to a Le Mars ice cream making plant. The department says ammonia from the Wells Enterprises plant, which makes Blue Bunny ice cream, found its way into the Plymouth County stream, killing a large number of minnow and chubs.

Officials say the ammonia was in cooling water discharge from the plant. The department said Friday it will continue to look for and verify the spill source and send water samples for laboratory analysis. DNR fisheries staff also planned to do a fish kill count Friday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey has been nominated for an administrative role in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The White House announced President Donald Trump’s nomination of Northey on Friday. The 57-year-old Northey has been picked to serve as the Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation. A news release says the position was created in May as part of a re-organization at USDA.

Northey, a Republican, is in the midst of his third term as Iowa’s ag secretary. Northey graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Agricultural Business and received his master’s in business from Southwest Minnesota State University.

He must first be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before he can take over the USDA post.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — This year’s annual Iowa pheasant and quail population survey looks bad — a 30 percent drop in the average statewide pheasant population and a 23 percent decline for quail. But state officials say they believe the numbers are misleading.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials believe that unusually dry weather during the survey taken in August is to blame for the skewed numbers.

Upland wildlife biologist Todd Bogenschutz says surveyors need heavy dew the mornings of the survey to get accurate numbers. That’s because it’s the dew that causes hens to move their broods from cover to gravel roads to dry off. If there’s no dew, the brood stays hidden from surveyors.

Bogenschutz says he expects similar numbers this year to 2016’s pheasant season, when hunters harvested about 250,000 roosters.

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Officials in Clear Lake are considering banning smoking at the city’s parks and beaches. The Globe Gazette reports that many Clear Lake residents support the ban because of health issues related to secondhand smoke and the litter smokers leave behind. Council members unanimously voted Aug. 21 to begin drafting the ordinance with city officials.

Councilman Tony Nelson says the ban would follow similar bans in other Iowa cities. He says the ban makes sense because of the number of activities the city and residents hold in those public spaces.

Nancy Cornelius, of Garner, opposes the ban. She says she’s respectful of others when smoking in public areas. The City Council will seek public comment on the proposal at its next meeting Monday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City woman accused of leaving her newborn for dead in a trash can has been sentenced to probation. The Press-Citizen reports that 24-year-old Ashley Hautzenrader was sentenced Friday to five years’ probation in lieu of a prison time. She pleaded guilty last month to child endangerment and to neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.

Authorities say Hautzenrader gave birth May 8, 2016, in a bathroom at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and tried to flush the baby down a toilet. She then put the baby in a pillowcase and left it in the trash. The child was found alive.

Hautzenrader told the court Friday she had been dealing with her first child’s serious heart condition for more than a year. A psychiatrist testified Hautzenrader suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of her second child’s birth.