LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Federal charges have been filed in Nebraska against a man suspected of being the “AK-47 bandit,” accused of robbing banks in five states. Richard Gathercole is accused of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle and stolen firearms in a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. FBI officials believe Gathercole is “the AK-47 bandit,” who has robbed banks in California, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington.

Court documents say Gathercole was arrested June 20 at a gas station near Lexington, Nebraska. A sheriff’s deputy had spotted a pickup truck there that Kansas authorities had reported stolen by a man who fired at but missed a state trooper.

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

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Officers with the Creston Police Department arrested a man and woman on assault charges, Thursday afternoon. 25-year old Amanda Marie Steinbach and 34-year old Joseph Dean Gaiser, both of Creston, were arrested at Gaiser’s home in the 200 block of S. Lincoln Street, at around 1:20-p.m. Steinbach and Gaiser were subsequently released on $300 bond, each.  Both face a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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The Cass County Fair continues its week-long run in Atlantic, today. An opportunity for you to receive a coupon for free ice cream is available today, to persons who purchases a lunch or supper plated meal at the 4-H Food Stand. The coupon is courtesy First Whitney Bank in celebration of their 110th anniversary.

Here’s a look at the schedule of activities for today:

• 8-a.m. to 10-a.m., Beef weigh-in
• 9-a.m., Rabbit and Horse show
• 10-a.m. 4-H Exhibits open
• Doyle Chainsaw Artistry, 10-a.m. until 1-p.m., and 3-until 5-p.m.
• Noon, Dog Show
• 3:30-p.m., Clover Kids Animal Show
• 5:30-p.m., Share-the-fun
• 6:30-p.m., Mutton Busting
• 8-p.m., Bull Ride.

The FREE Cass County Fair continues through the Livestock Sale Tuesday morning

The Des Moines Register reports a central Iowa couple who adopted nine former foster children has been charged with felony child endangerment causing bodily injury. Authorities in Ankeny gave the newspaper the files from 68 different reports of police calls to the home. State Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, has been criticizing the state agency in charge of investigating child abuse allegations and he didn’t let up last (Thursday) night. “This is the result of what happens when you cut government beyond the bone and that’s where we’re at right now with the Department of Human Service,” McCoy said. “And Terry Branstad and Kim Reynolds and the Republican legislature own it.” ‘

McCoy made his comments in a speech after receiving the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2017 “outstanding elected official” award at a party event last (Thursday) night. The Des Moines Register reports 55-year-old John Bell and his 57-year-old wife Joyce were booked into the Polk County Jail yesterday (Thursday) afternoon for abusing the children they’ve adopted over the years. All of the children — ranging in age from 16 to 38 — have disabilities.

The Des Moines Register reports two teenage boys who were still living in the home were removed by state officials after a mid-July police call at the residence. The Government Oversight Committees in both the Iowa House and Senate met in June to review the state’s child welfare system after cases in which two teenagers adopted out of the foster care system died and the parents who adopted them were charged. Also last month, a new director took over the Department of Human Services and launched a “top-to-bottom review” of the system.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County, Thursday evening, arrested 70-year old Jerry Lynn Pontow, of Hastings (IA), on a charge of Indecent Exposure. The man was taken into custody a little before 7-p.m., following an incident at the Pilot Grove County Park in northern Montgomery County. Pontow was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Police in Red Oak, Thursday, arrested 27-year old Michael Todd Archer, of Red Oak, on a charge of Simple Assault. Archer was taken into custody at around 12:20-a.m. in the 1900 block of E. Summit Street, and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $300.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has rejected a measure to repeal parts of former President Barack Obama’s health care law, after a night of high suspense ended in a big defeat for President Donald Trump’s agenda. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona cast a key vote against the measure. Trump sent a Twitter post saying “3 Republicans and 48 Democrats’ let the American people down.’

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, issued a statement after Senate consideration of legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Ernst stated in a Press Release, “As I’ve said throughout this debate, ObamaCare is not sustainable in Iowa and we have to act. Iowans in the individual market have seen their choices vanish and have seen massive rate increases.”

She said also, that “Throughout [her] 99 county tour, [she] hear[s] countless stories from Iowans facing these premium increases, as well as increases in other out of pocket costs like deductibles and co-pays that they simply cannot afford. We don’t have the option to sit back and do nothing; Iowans are demanding relief from ObamaCare.”

Ernst went on to say “I am disappointed that the Senate was unable to advance important changes to this flawed law. We must now continue to find ways to work on behalf of Iowans and the American people who have been negatively impacted by Obamacare to find affordable, patient-centered solutions that work for them.”

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A trucking company linked to a recent deadly human smuggling case in Texas had long promoted itself as a family firm whose hard-working drivers helped keep the U.S. economy running. But according to public records and interviews with former drivers, Pyle Transportation was a cutthroat business that flouted laws. One of the company’s contract drivers is charged in the deaths of 10 immigrants found in a sweltering trailer in Texas. The firm says it knew nothing about the human smuggling operation.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Court records say an Iowa woman accused of trying to flush her newborn down a toilet and then leaving the baby for dead in a trash can intends to change her plea. A plea hearing is scheduled Aug. 11 in Iowa City for Ashley Hautzenrader, who’s already pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. The records don’t say how she’ll plead and to what charges. Police say the child was found alive in the trash.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drought conditions are increasing in several states, and extreme heat and weeks with little rain have begun to stress corn, soybeans, wheat and livestock in some areas. The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says nearly 11 percent of the continental United States is in moderate drought or worse.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for escaping last year from a federal halfway house in western Iowa. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says 28-year-old Keith Wayne Page, of Omaha, was sentenced Thursday to 16 months in prison for escape, to which he pleaded guilty in January. Officials say Page failed to return to CH Inc., a residential re-entry center in Council Bluffs, in early September.