The area’s top news at 7:05-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a West Des Moines junior high teacher is facing two drug charges. Court records say 38-year-old Katherine Seiberling is charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was arrested Thursday night after an officer pulled her over for a headlight problem on the car Seiberling was driving.

The officer wrote in a criminal complaint that he could smell marijuana as he spoke to Seiberling and that she admitted having some pot with her. The officer says he found less than a gram of pot inside a pill bottle in the car.

School records list her as a language arts teacher at Stillwell Junior High.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A leader of the Islamic Center of Des Moines plans to meet with authorities to discuss a threatening note found in the center’s mail. Dr. Samir Shams is president of the center, and he says he found the handwritten note Sunday morning. The writer said Muslims were a “vile” people and said President Donald Trump would “do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews.” The note was signed only “Americans for a Better Way.”

Shams says Muslims have to take such notes seriously. He says he plans to meet Monday with the FBI. The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called in a news release for a hate crime investigation. The council says similar messages have been sent to other mosques in Iowa and other states.

Police in Red Oak, Sunday afternoon, arrested 49-year old Jeffrey Allan Westlake, of Red Oak, on a charge of Public Intoxication. Westlake was taken into custody in the 400 block of E. Coolbaugh Street at around 4:20-p.m., and held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

Action by a citizen who witnessed an alleged drug transaction Sunday night in Red Oak, resulted in a Pottawattamie County man being arrested on drug charges. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says a citizen’s complaint about the transaction which allegedly took place in the 1300 block of N. 3rd Street, in Red Oak, led Police to arrest 28-year old Jason Rolfe Aherns, of Carter Lake. Aherns was taken into custody at around 7:35-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana. His bond was set at $1,000.

The Sheriff’s Office said “The citizens of Montgomery County are encouraged to call law enforcement any time illegal activity is witnessed, or [there is] an ongoing problem in their neighborhood. They call call the Red Oak Police Department at 712-623-6500 or the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 712-623-5107.

Senator Joni Ernst says she’s “legitimately undecided” about the health care plan House Republican leaders have crafted as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. And Ernst is raising concerns about some of the budget cuts President Trump proposed last week, including a 21 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“When you look at Iowa as a whole, we are a rural state, so our issues are very different from some of the other states that may have much more metro areas, I will be working, watching out for SNAP and other programs like that in the Farm Bill,” Ernst said. Ernst talked about “SNAP” benefits — food stamps — on Friday night during a town hall meeting in Des Moines.

Ernst says there are a lot of issues “nested together” when it comes to addressing poverty in rural America, including inadequate housing and lack of financing for rural businesses in addition to “food insecurity.” Drastic cuts to the free and reduced-price school lunch program would likely meet resistance from lawmakers, according to Ernst, as lawmakers craft a federal budget.

“I think we all understand that we need to tighten our belts a little bit moving forward because we are $20 trillion dollars in debt, but I think this will be a huge push for the members of the Midwestern coalition, especially,” Ernst says. “If you look at Iowa, we do have a lot of children that are food insecure and so this is something that I will be watching out for.”

Ernst held town hall meetings in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines on Friday.

(Radio Iowa)

An Afton woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in connection with a January 2016 crash in Union County that killed one woman. Sixty-two-year-old Donna Jo Spare of Afton pleaded guilty to the charge of vehicular homicide in February. The accident happened in mid-January of last year, on Highway 34 about three miles east of Creston.

Investigators say Spare was drunk when the car she was driving crossed the center line and crashed head-on into another car, killing another woman. Union County Attorney Tim Kenyon says driving while drunk is a risk no one should take. “I would compare it to, as one judge has said, it’s like shooting a loaded fire arm into a crowd of people,” Kenyon says. “The likelihood that someone will die or be injured is substantial.”

In addition to the prison sentence, Spare has been ordered by the judge to pay 150-thousand dollars to the estate of Deanne Hoffman. “As far as justice being served, I believe it has been,” Kenyon says. Hoffman was 49 when she was killed in the crash. She was married, with two adult sons, and worked as a certified nurses aide.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dairy Queen is offering free ice cream cones today (Monday), on this first day of spring. Anyone who wants a treat can stop by participating locations outside of shopping malls today for a free small vanilla soft serve cone.

Dairy Queens will also be collecting donations for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Over the past 32 years, Dairy Queen restaurants have raised more than $120 million for the hospitals.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A hospital association estimates a Republican-backed plan to replace the Affordable Care Act could leave up to 250,000 Iowans without health insurance. Others speculate the change could destabilize the entire Medicaid system that serves poor and disabled people. Gov. Terry Branstad supports repealing the ACA, but his office and the state agency that oversees health care in Iowa says an analysis of what the overhaul would mean to the state would need to wait until Congress approves a bill.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — An upcoming exhibit about the Korean War at a Waterloo museum will focus on the experiences of servicemen, especially those from Iowa, as well as the weaponry they used. The Courier reports that major elements of the exhibit at the Grout Museum are still being planned, but it will display names and photos of Iowa residents killed in the war. Veterans on the exhibit’s planning committee will help curate items for display.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The two remaining finalists for the Omaha superintendent job have withdrawn, forcing the school board to reopen the search it began last fall. The Omaha World-Herald reports the school board was expected to pick either Sioux City, Iowa, Superintendent Paul Gausman or Reading, Pennsylvania, Superintendent Khalid Mumin at its meeting Monday night. Instead the board will have to come up with a new plan to replace retiring Mark Evans at the end of the school year.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dairy Queen is offering free ice cream cones on Monday on the first day of spring. Anyone who wants a treat can stop by participating locations outside of shopping malls Monday for a free small vanilla soft serve cone.

Public Hearings will be held Monday evening in Griswold, with regard to the Griswold Community School District ‘s 2017-18 Budget, and 2017-18 School Calendar. The hearings take place as part of the Griswold School Board’s regular meeting in the Central Office at the High School/Middle School Building, beginning at 5:30-p.m.

The regular School Board meeting follows the conclusion of both hearings, and under Old Businesses, includes and update on the District’s facilities from KPE Architects and the Facilities Committee, as well as the second reading of 500 series Board Policies.

During New Business, the Griswold School Board will act on approving: The 2017-18 Budget and School Calendar; an E-Rate application; Mowing bids; matters pertaining to the Middle School/High School Behavioral Disorder Program; Driver’s Ed fees and an Annual Review of Policy, in addition to the 1st reading of certain 500 series policies.

Prior to adjournment, the Board may choose to enter into closed sessions for the purpose of discussing negotiations strategy with the Certified Bargaining Unit, and/or discussion pertaining to a personnel matter.