Police in Red Oak arrested a man early this (Friday) morning on weapon, drug and other charges. 37-year old Luke Daniel Rinehart, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 12:10-a.m. in the 200 block of N. Broadway Street. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on charges of Carrying a Concealed Weapon, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Violating the conditions of a Protection Order. His bond was set at $2,000.

An earthquake specialist at the University of Iowa says the quakes that have rattled Oklahoma this week adds to evidence they’re tied to human activity. Bill Barnhart, an assistant professor in the UI Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, says earthquakes in Oklahoma picked up dramatically after 2008 as oil drilling and fracking operations started injecting wastewater into the ground.

“So, operators there will inject wastewater at depths…to sequester it, so that it doesn’t get into aquifers or into the surface water. But, that has incidental effects of making faults down there weak and when faults become weak, they can produce earthquakes,” Barnhart says.

Bill Barnhart

At least a half dozen relatively small earthquakes – between magnitude 2.6 and 4.2 – struck central Oklahoma between Tuesday night and early Thursday. The damage has included cracked floors and walls, and household items knocked off shelves and counters. Just over a year ago, an earthquake in Oklahoma was felt here in Atlantic,  other parts of Iowa and the Midwest.

“In September of 2016, there was a magnitude 5.8 earthquake near the town of Pawnee, Oklahoma that was widely felt throughout Iowa,” Barnhart said. “It didn’t cause any damage, but it was felt.”

To date, there have been no “induced” earthquakes in Iowa like the ones in Oklahoma and other states such as Kansas and Colorado. “So, the greatest risk to Iowans is if a large earthquake happens in one of these areas, there could be potential shaking impacts here,” Barnhart said.

Regulators in Oklahoma introduced new restrictions on wastewater injections in May of 2016. Quakes in the state have become less frequent in the state since those changes were put in place.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man who was serving prison time for armed robbery was released last fall by Iowa corrections officials who claimed that he probably wouldn’t pose any danger to the public. Eight months later, Curtis Cortez Jones was accused of fatally shooting a cab driver during a robbery. Now newly released records show that Jones was paroled even though he had been deemed a high risk to commit more violence and had recently escaped from a halfway house.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former Webster City school board member has received two years’ probation in an Iowa sex abuse case. The Messenger reports that Paul Stenger was sentenced Wednesday morning in Hamilton County District Court on a charge of lascivious conduct with a minor. The 65-year-old Stenger had entered in June an Alford plea, which is a guilty plea without an admission of guilt.

MCINTIRE, Iowa (AP) — Apparently, it was a not so special election in the tiny town of McIntire, Iowa: nobody voted. Tuesday’s ballot asked two questions: Should the term of the mayor be raised to four years from two, and should the terms of council members be raised to four years, staggered, from two years. None of the 70 registered voters showed up to answer.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A Minnesota contractor who damaged a natural gas pipeline in western North Dakota last week has a history of striking pipelines. The most recent damage occurred while Carstensen Contracting was installing a water pipeline near Watford City. The Bismarck Tribune reports that it’s at least the second gas pipeline the contractor has damaged in North Dakota while installing water pipelines. The North Dakota Public Service Commission recently fined the company $15,000 in another incident from 2015.

Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Corrections said Thursday evening, that 29-year old Korey Sherdall McGhee, who was convicted in Dubuque County of robbery 2nd degree, eight counts of forgery and burglary in the 2nd degree, failed to report back to the Dubuque Residential Facility as required.

McGhee is a Black male, 5-feet 10-inches tall. He weighs about 359 pounds, and was admitted to the work release facility on June 16, 2017. Persons with information on McGhee’s whereabouts should contact local police.

McGhee

(Radio Iowa – Des Moines) Senate Republicans and the state’s attorney general are seeking a new trial after a jury awarded a former Senate Republican Caucus Staff employee two-point-two-million dollars for being subjected to harassment and retaliation. The motion for a new trial refers to the two-point-two MILLION dollars as “excessive damages” that appear “to have been influenced by passion or prejudice.”

The defendants in the case are arguing they’re entitled to a new trial due to statements Kirsten Anderson’s attorney made in court about how the jury could “send a message” with a verdict in Anderson’s favor. The motion also argues there was not sufficient evidence to support the damage amount awarded by the jury. Mike Carroll, one of Anderson’s attorneys, says he is “not shocked” by the motion for a new trial.

But Carroll says the arguments made in the motion are “inconsistent with the jury’s verdict” and with statements the governor and others have made about having “zero tolerance” of sexual harassment in the workplace.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The latest farm real estate values are out and the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the average acre of farmland in Iowa rose 1.9 percent from a year ago to $8,000 an acre, returning to the same value posted in 2015.

Iowa is the only state in the five-state corn belt region which also includes Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio to see an increase in value. The USDA’s farm real estate value includes all land and buildings on farms. The report was released Thursday.

Midwest farmland values fell or leveled off in many states from 2015 to 2016 but Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota also saw increases this year. Nebraska saw a 1.7 percent decrease to $2,900 an acre. The national average is up 2.3 percent to $3,080 an acre.

Birdwatchers in the Lower Loess Hills region may soon see a greater diversity of species. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources proposes a bird conservation area of nearly 90-thousand-acres. Such areas are created through a targeted effort on public and private lands to plant bird-friendly habitats. Bruce Ehresman is a wildlife diversity bird biologist for the D-N-R.

“If you think about what Iowa looked like historical with about 27- or 28-million acres of prairie, it was a huge landscape of habitat and we’ve carved that up into little tiny pieces,” Ehresman says. “We’re trying to put back some of the pieces into larger pieces because they will benefit more species.” Ehresman says this proposed bird conservation area in western Iowa is ecologically diverse.

“We’ve documented 282 species that have occurred at one time or another within this proposed area and of those, 128 are nesting species,” Ehresman says. “It actually may not sound like a very high number, but it really is, and so a high proportion of those species that nest throughout the state actually nest in this one area.” If approved, this conservation area would be Iowa’s 24th. Ehresman says it will contain the most bird species of all the conversation areas in the state.

(Radio Iowa w/report by Sarah Boden, Iowa Public Radio)

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office put out a notice on their social media page today (Thursday), that indicated there are scam calls going out that will show on your caller I.D., that you are receiving a call from the “Sheriff’s Department.” The number that is displayed is associated with the Sheriff’s Department fax number. Authorities warn you to be aware of these scams and do not provide any personal information.

If the Sheriff’s Department had been attempting to contact you, their number, which is blocked, would show “Private Caller,” or “Unknown”.    

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report a Nebraska man was arrested just before 2-a.m. today (Thursday), on a warrant out of Pottawattamie County. 24-year old Joshua John Mahloch, of Bellevue, NE., was wanted for Probation Violation. He was also charged with Providing False Identification and Failure to have a valid driver’s license. Mahloch was being held in the Mills County Jail on bond amounting to $2,300.

Mandy Harrigan

Gavin Miller

Two people, a man and a woman, were arrested following a residential burglary that occurred this (Thursday) morning, in Council Bluffs. Authorities say 25-year old Gavin Miller and 25-year old Mandy Harrigan, both of Council Bluffs, face charges in connection with the incident that happened at around 8-a.m. in the 1000 Block of 6th Avenue.

The victim, 65-year old Geoffrey Jennings, of Council Bluffs, told officers that a male and female suspect entered his residence through an unlocked door. Once in the residence the male suspect struck Jennings in the head with a blunt object knocking him to the ground. As they male continued to assault Jennings, the female demanded money and personal belongings from Jennings. Following the attack both suspect fled the residence.

Jennings was able to provide officers with physical and clothing descriptions of both suspects. Officers located two suspects matching the description a short distance from the crime scene. They were identified as Gavin Miller and Mandy Harrigan who were in possession of items stolen from Jennings.

Miller and Harrigan are currently in police custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail charged with Robbery 1st Degree, Burglary 1st Degree, Going Armed with Intent and Willful Injury. Geoffrey Jennings was treated and released at a local Hospital for lacerations to his head.