(Update 3-p.m.: Meeting postponed until January)

Members of the Cass County Conference Board are set to meet Tuesday evening in the basement meeting room at the Cass County Courthouse. During the 5-p.m. session, the Board will review the Assessor’s budget. Cass County Assessor Brenda Nelson says they don’t have the taxable valuations yet or what the County’s insurance costs will be, but she added that it all looks pretty similar to last years budget.  The Board will hold two more meetings on the budget in January and in February or March.

The Conference Board consists of the members of the Board of Supervisors, the Mayors of all the incorporated cities, and a member of each school district within its jurisdiction.

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

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

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Congressman Steve King says he’s had a “one on one conversation” with President-elect Donald Trump about plans for the wall along the U.S./Mexican border. King says the conversation happened “behind the curtain” at Trump’s “Thank You” rally in Des Moines last Thursday. “I talked him about my design and he has three architects that he wants to put me with and I’m going to find a way to sit down with them and draw up a design,” King says. “I think the function of putting the money together and getting a design approved and all, I think congress is ready to move on that as soon as we reach a consensus.”

King also spoke twice last week with House Speaker Paul Ryan. “He essentially said to me we need to give the president-elect what he wants on border security,” King says. “And so I find myself in a pretty good spot to accomplish some pretty big things that I’ve been working on for a long time and I recognize that wouldn’t happen if we didn’t have a President-elect Trump.”

King’s vision here is not for just a single wall. It’s for three barriers: a fence, a wall and a fence. That would create a sort of “no man’s land” in between the fences and that wall, as King describes it. “I’ve long said we just keep building that fence, wall and fence until they stop going around the end,” King says. “If it takes 2000 miles, it takes 2000 miles.”

The southern border is approximately two-thousand miles long. King expects construction on a secure border barrier to start in the first half of 2017. And King says Trump’s decision to nominate a “border hawk” to lead the Department of Homeland Security is another significant signal the wall will be built. King says a concrete wall, with wire fencing on either side, is the cheapest way to secure the border.

Some critics say completely walling off the southern border sends the wrong signal about our democracy. Others say high tech surveillance can be used along the border. King says a “virtual wall” will not be effective. Government records indicate fencing is already in place along 700 miles of the 2000 mile border.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A 12-year-old Iowa girl is recovering from a gunshot wound after being struck by a bullet while she was in her living room. The Des Moines Register reports the drive-by shooting happened in Des Moines Sunday afternoon around 4:15 p.m.

Des Moines Police Sgt. Joe Morgan says a white, four-door sedan pulled up in front of the house and someone fired several shots at the home. Police are searching for the car that was used in the shooting. Investigators hope a neighbor’s security camera or someone in the area may have seen the car.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police in Des Moines are looking for whoever briefly stole a car from a driveway with two young kids inside. KCCI reports the incident happened around 5 p.m. Sunday. An alert was issued after a woman found the car with her 2- and 3-year-old kids missing. The woman told police she left the kids in the car while she ran into the home to grab something.

Police found the car a short while later with the kids still asleep inside. It appears that the thief ditched the car after seeing the kids. The family was reunited less than two hours after the car was reported stolen.

(Updated 3:56-a.m.) Two people were injured during a single-vehicle accident early this morning off Interstate 80, in Cass County. According to dispatch reports, a white Mazda van went off I-80 eastbound about two-miles west of Exit 70 (the Anita Exit), into the south ditch. The accident was reported by a passing motorist at around 3:10-a.m. The caller also reported the vehicles’ airbags had deployed. A female occupant of the vehicle suffered from a possible broken shoulder, facial and unknown, possible chest injuries. She was transported by ambulance to the Cass County Memorial Hospital. A male occupant of the vehicle suffered possible/unknown injuries, and was transported to the hospital by a Sheriff’s Deputy.

Anita Rescue and Wiota 1st Responders, along with Deputies from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, responded to the scene. No other details are currently available.

The Creston Police Department today (Monday) released a report on recent arrests and incidents. Early Sunday morning, 29-year old Benjamin Lloyd Taylor, of Creston, was arrested at the 300 block of N. Elm St. in Creston, on charges of OWI 1^st and Possession of a Controlled Substance – Marijuana 1^st offense. Taylor was released after posting a $1,000 bond. Early Saturday morning, 29-year old Whitney Card, of New Virginia, was arrested in Creston for OWI/1st offense. She was released from the Union County Jail on a $1000 bond. And, late Saturday night, 31-year old Joseph Roberts, of Baxter, was arrested in Creston on two Hubbard County, Minnesota warrants for Failure to Appear in court. Roberts posted a $1,500 bond and was released.

The Creston P-D said also, a resident of the 500 block of N. Division Street reported Thursday evening, that sometime between 9-pm on Wednesday and 7:15-a.m. Thursday, someone damaged the windshield of his truck while it was parked at his residence. Damage was estimated at $100.  Saturday afternoon, a woman living in the 200 block of N. Division Street in Creston, told authorities someone had entered her home and taken a TV, as well as money from her room. The incident happened sometime between 4:30-a.m. and 3:30-p.m., Saturday. The loss was estimated at $550.

Early Sunday morning, two Creston residents reported laser Christmas lights were stolen from yards in the 500 block of N. Cherry Street and the 400 block of N. Vine Street. The incidents happened sometime overnight into early Sunday morning. The loss amounted to $50 altogether. And, Sunday afternoon, a Creston resident reported that sometime between midnight and 3-p.m. Sunday, someone stolen a blue, Under Armour backpack from his vehicle parked in the 700 block of N. Sycamore Street. The loss was estimated at $50.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:30 a.m. CST

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a Council Bluffs apartment building faces a $40,000 fine for failing to register with a local inspection program, and more fines may be added. The Daily Nonpareil reports the fine against the Colonial Plaza Apartments’ owner is the biggest one the city has imposed since changing its rental laws last year.

ANITA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities believe snow contributed to a crash on Interstate 80 in western Iowa that killed a youth hockey coach from Nebraska and two Iowa brothers. Eight other people were also injured Saturday morning in the crash.

SIBLEY, Iowa (AP) — One northwest Iowa town is hoping to persuade a feed company that generates a foul odor at its plant to relocate. The Sioux City Journal reports Sibley, Iowa, has issued nearly $40,000 in fines against Iowa Drying and Processing in the past couple years because of the smell. A disagreement over who might pay to upgrade the plant to better control odors has wound up in court, and the plant is now listed for sale for $5.5 million.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A county-owned hospital in western Iowa is refusing to reveal the amount of a settlement paid to the family of a woman who died from a botched colonoscopy, despite state law that says settlements made by government agencies are public record. Crawford County Memorial Hospital CEO Bill Bruce tells the Des Moines Register that he can’t release the settlement because of a judge’s order sealing records in the patient’s estate. Bruce says he will comply if a judge orders release of the settlement.