Legislative forums are set to take place Saturday in Mt. Pleasant, Shenandoah and Clarinda, with regard to the proposed closing of the Mt. Pleasant and Clarinda Mental Health Institutions (MHI). In southwest Iowa, one of the forums will be held at 8-a.m. in Shenandoah at the Safety Center. The second takes place at 10-a.m. in Clarinda, at the Lied Public Library. The announcement of the additional meetings in Shenandoah and Clarinda were only made public Friday morning on the “Save Iowa’s Mental Health Institute’s” Facebook page.

Last week, in an announcement that startled leaders of both legislative parties, Governor Terry Branstad  proposed closing two of the state’s four institutes for people with mental illnesses. The idea of closing at least one of the institutes has been debated off and on for decades, as their populations dwindled and costs soared.

At least report, there were just 24 residents at the Clarinda facility and 47 at the Mount Pleasant facility. A consultant hired by the state in 2009 recommended closing the institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant. A separate state task force disagreed, saying that none of the institutions should be closed until suitable alternatives in the community were set up and running.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa State receiver P.J. Harris has been arrested and charged with strangling his girlfriend. Harris was booked on an aggravated domestic assault/strangulation charge. He was being held in a Story County jail without bond.

Ames Police spokesman Jason Tuttle says Harris’ girlfriend told officers Harris pushed her against a wall, threw her on a bed and began to strangle her Thursday. Tuttle says officers observed scratches on the woman. Harris caught nine passes for 55 yards last season. Iowa State spokesman Mike Green says Harris was kicked off the team on Jan. 13 for violating team rules.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County report an Indianola man, 39-year old Christopher John Eckrich, was arrested Thursday evening at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Eckrich was taken into custody on a Union County Warrant for 1st degree harassment. He was being held Friday in the Union County Jail, while awaiting an appearance before the Magistrate.

Deere is laying off about 910 workers indefinitely from factories mostly in Iowa and will sideline another 500 employees in Illinois until late summer, as the agricultural equipment maker adjusts to demand for its products.  The Moline, Illinois, company also says it is adding 220 jobs at construction and forestry factories in Iowa. It plans to fill nearly all those positions with workers were laid off at agricultural equipment factories last year. The latest indefinite layoffs will be at sites that build agricultural equipment.

Employees laid off until summer work at the company’s seeding and cylinder factory in Moline. That location is going on an extended inventory adjustment shutdown. Deere & Co. is the world’s biggest farm equipment supplier. It employs about 29,000 in the United States and Canada.

More area, and State news with Ric Hanson.

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Three people were arrested Thursday, in Creston. The Creston P-D reports 36-year old Marie Johnson, of Afton, was arrested Thursday morning at the Union County Courthouse, on a Union County warrant for Failure to Comply with the terms of her Pre-trial release on Possession of Pseudoephedrine and Possession of Methamphetamine, charges. Johnson was being held in without bond in the Union County Jail.

At around 4:30-p.m. Thursday, Creston Police arrested 15-year old Chance Brown, of Creston, on a Possession of Prescription Drug or Device charge. The teen was referred to Juvenile Authorities and then released to the custody of his parents.

And a little after 5-p.m. Thursday, 36-year old Dustin James Seley, of Creston, was arrested on a Union County warrant for Violating the terms of a Protective Order. Seley was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a bond hearing.

In other news, a Creston resident reported to police that someone stole a purse out of her vehicle. The theft happened sometime between 10 and 11-pm, on Jan. 21st.  The incident happened while the vehicle was parked in the 200 block of west Adams Street, in Creston. The loss was estimated at $80.

the 7:06-a.m. Newscast w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Police in Council Bluffs are investigating a robbery that reportedly took place Thursday night. Officials say 20-year old Jimmy Jackson, of Council Bluffs was driving around the area of 9th Avenue and Ash Street at around 10-p.m., Thursday, when two black male teens in the vehicle with him, allegedly robbed Jackson of his wallet and cell phone.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Council Bluffs Police Criminal Investigations Division at (712)-328-4728.

Another candidate has entered the special election race for the Iowa House District 23 seat. According to The Daily NonPareil, Republican Keith Johnson of Mineola has declared his candidacy for the seat vacated by Mark Costello, who was recently elected to the Iowa Senate. Costello won the special election held for Sen. Joni Ernst’s seat after she was elected to the United States Senate in November 2014.

Johnson is a lifelong Iowan, a graduate of Glenwood High School and served in the Army in 1971. He graduated from Iowa State University with a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1973 He has worked for General Atomics, which is based in San Diego, for 42 years.

The special election will be held Feb. 10. District 23 covers Fremont and Mills counties and two-thirds of Montgomery County. A GOP convention will be held at 7 p.m. tonight (Friday) at the Glenwood American Legion Post, 104 N. Vine St., to nominated the Republican candidate. David Sieck of Glenwood has also entered the race. He was one of the seven candidates who ran for the Senate seat that Costello won.

A former Council Bluffs man is on trial in Nebraska accused of hiring an acquaintance to burn down his troubled manufacturing business near Fort Calhoun, Neb., to gain $4 million in insurance money. The Daily NonPareil reports 52-year old Thomas Schropp is being federally indicted on six criminal charges related to the arson of PK Manufacturing, a Nashville, Neb., company he co-owned with his uncle. The trial started Tuesday.

Prosecutors say the business was intentionally set on fire about 3 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2008. Jurors will hear from more than 30 witnesses during the trial, which is expected to last two weeks. Assistant U.S. Attorney Russ Mayer laid out the state’s evidence against Schropp during opening statements Tuesday, saying PK Manufacturing had been heading downhill for some time.

He pointed to the fact Schropp lost his largest customer in late 2007, causing his sales to drop almost 50 percent. His tax returns for the tax year 2007-2008 showed Schropp lost $254,000 in income due to his business. In 2008, Schropp owed nearly $5 million in bank loans. Mayor said Shropp instructed one of his employees to inflate the value of his inventory so bankers would continue to work with him, and right before the business burned, Schropp had unsuccessfully attempted to sell it.

A Crime Stoppers tip led the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to methamphetamine addict Billy Richards and his live-in girlfriend, Julie Winkelbauer. Schropp asked Richards, a painter, to stop by his business during the summer of 2008. Mayer said when Richards arrived at PK Manufacturing, Schropp told him this job wasn’t about painting, it was to torch the business. Schropp allegedled offered the man $20,000 to do the job.

Richards has pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of a building by fire and is facing seven to 9½ years in prison. He is hoping to receive a reduced sentence in exchange for his testimony against Schropp.Winkelbauer agreed to testify only if the government would not prosecute her. After the fire, Schropp filed a claim with his insurance company for about $4 million. The insurance company later denied his claim. Fire and insurance investigators declared the fire suspicious but couldn’t determine the cause of the fire. The trial continues today (Friday) and next week in U.S. District Court in Omaha.