The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Sheriff’s officials in Mills County, Monday, said a Pottawattamie County man was arrested at around 1:40-a.m. Monday, on drug charges. 18-year old Joel Dixon-Clark III, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in the area of Highway 34 and 284th Street, for Possession of Controlled Substance/Delivery Marijuana. His bond was set at $5,000.

No injuries were reported following a house fire late Monday morning, in Oakland. Authorities say a firefighter saw smoke and discovered the fire at 410 Center Street. No one was home at the time the blaze broke out. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Oakland Firefighters were assisted by crews with the Carson Fire Department in handling the blaze.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a woman suspected of driving drunk narrowly missed students getting off a bus as she pulled into a Des Moines school drop-off spot. Station KCCI reports that the woman was dropping off her 5-year-old daughter Monday morning at Garton Elementary School when she hit a curb that kept her from plowing into the students. Police say the bus driver, the school principal and the dean of students wouldn’t let the woman leave the scene.

Polk County court records say 43-year-old Heather Mapes is charged with failure to use child restraint device and reckless driving. Jail records say she remained in custody this (Tuesday) morning.

(Radio Iowa) — Republican David Young of Van Meter plans to review all the data he can from the 2018 election results before deciding whether to run again for congress. Last month Democrat Cindy Axne of West Des Moines defeated Young’s bid for a third term, finishing about 77-hundred votes ahead of Young in the third congressional district balloting. “Anybody anywhere in the country who was just defeated should do a forensic audit, look at the numbers, look at what happened and not make any kind of emotional decision right away, but take some time and also just see what other kind of opportunities are out there,” Young told Radio Iowa. “No doors are closed.”

Young is still a voting member of congress until the end of the year. “The work is not over and so I need to get back to DC and finish out the session strong,” Young told Radio Iowa. Young says votes on the Farm Bill and federal spending are at the top of the docket when congress returns. This week’s congressional votes were postponed, due to observances in the capitol to honor former President George H.W. Bush. Young’s first job in politics was as one of two paid staffers working on Bush’s 1992 reelection campaign in Iowa.

“That’s where I kind of cut my teeth on politics and ever since then have been motivated to stay involved in the service aspect of it, really,” Young told Radio Iowa. “Campaigns are necessary, very necessary because you want to make sure people have a choice in who serves them, but I like the public policy angle. I’m kind of a wonk in that sense.”

Young has never missed a vote in a House committee or on the House floor. Three bills sponsored by Young have become law, including one which dealt with deficiencies in the suicide prevention hotline for veterans.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, late Monday night, released a report on one recent arrest. The Sheriff says Greenfield Police arrested 48-year old Daniel Paul Ringer, of Greenfield, on Nov. 29th, for OWI/1st offense. Ringer was taken into custody after his pickup truck was pulled over in the area of SE 4th and Noble Streets, in Greenfield, at around 7:15-p.m. last Thursday. He was released the following day on his Own Recognizance.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two deep-pocketed Democrats are set to travel to early presidential primary states, stoking speculation about whether they will run for president. The billionaire former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is set to visit three towns in Iowa on Tuesday, while billionaire investor and activist Tom Steyer will host a town hall in Charleston, South Carolina. The Iowa caucuses are traditionally the first voting for presidential nominees. South Carolina’s primary is usually the first in the South.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A complaint alleging that employees at Iowa’s workplace safety agency used a toy banana to make sexual jokes triggered the investigation that led to the removal of two top officials. The complaint was sent anonymously in July to Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Department of Administrative Services. It threatened that the allegations would be released to the media if the “disgusting” behavior wasn’t addressed. Two accused employees say the complaint was unfounded and that the toy was a stress ball.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Democratic candidate for a northeast Iowa House seat who is trailing by nine votes has won a court ruling that gives her the right to determine whether 33 absentee ballots were mailed on time. The judge did not rule Monday on whether the ballots will be counted, saying that issue could be argued in court later. Democrat Kayla Koether sued election officials who refused to count the ballots, saying they lacked a postmark that would indicate when they were mailed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than 60 percent of Iowa voters cast ballots in last month’s election, the highest percentage for a midterm election in 24 years. Secretary of State Paul Pate released election details Monday showing a voter turnout of 61.55 percent. That’s the highest for a midterm election since 1994. Pate says 1,334,279 people voted, setting a state record for voters in a midterm election. The highest turnout was in southern Iowa’s Ringgold County, where 71.49 percent voted.

(Radio Iowa) — A southwest Iowa woman who was shot and killed more than three years ago while on duty as an Omaha police officer is being remembered in an unusual way. The Omaha Police Department is adding a new horse to its mounted patrol unit named Orozco to honor Officer Kerrie Orozco. Police Chief Todd Schmaderer says that “tragic” incident won’t be forgotten.

“Three years and our memories are still strong and our respect is still strong,” the chief says. “The memory of Officer Orozco will always resonate in our community.” Orozco was fatally shot while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect in May of 2015. The suspect was also killed. Orozco was 29 years old and lived in Council Bluffs. She was a native of Walnut, Iowa. Schmaderer says the horse was donated to the department by Orozco’s husband, Hector.

“He’s carried himself amazingly well in the aftermath of the most tragic of incidents,” Schmaderer says. “He’s still a part of our family and always will be, as will their daughter.” That daughter, Olivia, was born premature a few months before the shooting — and she was due to come home from the hospital the day after her mother was killed. Hector Orozco said he could no longer care for the horse as taking care of Olivia is his top priority. Sergeant Joe Svacina says the nine-year-old horse has undergone a year of extensive training and entered service last week.

“We had to bring that horse up, he’d been really sheltered as a hobby horse, and we had to bring him into the middle of the city,” Svacina says. “Some horses just can’t do that and we put a lot of time into making him a good police horse.” Officer Orozco was the first female police officer to die in the line of duty in Omaha history.

(Karla James contributed to this report.)

(Radio Iowa) — Two key Republicans in the Iowa Legislature say they’re willing to consider a hike in the state sales tax, if it’s coupled with cuts in other state taxes. Iowa voters in 2010 approved creation of a state fund to pay for water improvement and outdoor recreation projects — but the legislature has never passed the 3/8ths cent increase in the state sales tax to fill the Iowa Water and Land Legacy Fund. Senate President Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, says he’s willing to “keep an open mind” as he discusses the idea with his G-O-P colleagues.

“I’m open to it,” Schneider says. “That’s all I’ll say on it at this point…We’ll see what everyone else has to say and we’ll see what happens to it during the upcoming session.” Republicans in the Senate AND the House will meet privately later this month to map out their policy agenda for the 2019 legislative session. House Majority Leader Chris Hagenow says raising the sales tax for Iowa Water and Land Legacy initiatives will be discussed. “Yeah, I’m open to it,” Hagenow says.

Schneider says raising the sales tax would be part of a broader discussion of tax policy. “We have high income tax rates, both personal and corporate, so we need to be focusing on driving those down to encourage business development in the state, to encourage people to move here, to encourage people to stay here when they retire,” Schneider says. “That will help, I think, the entire state grow and develop, including providing more funding for water quality and some other quality of life improvements.”

Schneider was not ready to discuss with reporters what other “quality of life” initiatives might be financed with a sales tax increase. Hagenow told reporters Republicans will be “much more likely” to raise the sales tax if it’s coupled with a tax cut of some sort. “One of the things that we’re always going to keep in mind is what is Iowans’ tax burden overall,” Hagenow says. “And we’re going to be cognizant of that, whatever we do, because we want at the end of the day Iowans to have a lower tax burden and not a higher one.”

Hagenow and Schneider made their comments after a legislative forum sponsored by the Des Moines Partnership, a coalition of 24 central Iowa chambers of commerce. The group supports a regional “water trails” project that could be financed with sales tax revenue in the Iowa Water and Land Legacy Fund, if legislators approve the SALES tax increase. Iowa purchases are generally assessed a seven percent sales tax rate, with one percent being used exclusively on school infrastructure AND many cities and counties collecting a one percent local option sales tax.

(Radio Iowa) — Des Moines Police have filed charges against a Drake University student accused of leaving a racist note under a dorm room door. Police have charged 18-year-old Kissie Ram with making a false report to a public safety entity for the note that was found November 28th. Police were already investigating two other racist notes at Drake reported by Ram and another female student when they determined that Ram wrote the third note herself. She was given a misdemeanor summons and released. The spokesman for the Des Moines Police Department says no charges will be filed in connection with the first two notes.