Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports charges have been filed in connection with a planned jail break at the Page County Jail. Palmer says during the first three weeks of November 2018, the Page County Sheriff’s Office and Page County Correction Officers conducted an investigation into information regarding a planned jail break at the Page County Jail. During the investigation, 40-year old Brandi Alice Proulx, of Lexington, KY and 20-year old Sarah Jeanette Croson, of Council Bluffs, were charged with Conspiracy (class D Felony). Details of the alleged planned jail break are not being released.

Croson

Proulx

Proulx’s charges prior to the addition of these were OWI 2^nd Offense and False information to Law Enforcement. Her bond was $2000.00. Her current bond is now $7,000 with $5,000 of that Cash only. Croson’s charges prior to the addition of the latest charges, were Failure to appear for plea and sentencing on original charges of 2 counts of Forgery. Her bond was $10,000. Her current bond is now $15,000, with $5000 cash only. Neither Croson nor Proulx were out of the controlled environment of the Page County Jail without being in restraints.

Friends of an Atlantic man who lost most of his possessions in a house fire last week, are asking anyone who has time Saturday afternoon, to help in moving what possessions remain, into storage. The fire at the Dean Barber residence occurred Nov. 20^th. His friends request six-or seven people show-up at Barber’s home, located at 1308 Birch Street, at around 1-p.m. Saturday. You will be helping to load and move boxes from the home into a storage unit. If you have some time to spare, call Dean Barber at 712-254-3208.

Ric Hanson/photos

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — Students at a private liberal arts college in central Iowa have voted overwhelmingly to expand a union for dining employees to include other student workers, but the college is asking a federal board to overturn the move. The Des Moines Register reports that the Tuesday vote would expand Grinnell College’s dining employees union to include more than 700 student workers across campus. The college has about 1,700 students.

Grinnell officials plan to ask the National Labor Relations Board to overturn the decision. The board’s decision could erode similar unionization efforts at other schools across the country.
A university spokeswoman says officials believe expanding the union would “undermine (the college’s) core educational mission and culture, impede learning and diminish educational opportunities for students.”

The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Friday) scaled back their involvement in funding a Wellness Coordinator for the County, in so far as being involved in a 28-E agreement. The Board discussed the County’s role in funding the position, and came to the conclusion their $6,000 share of funding would come from the Local Option Sales Tax proceeds Cass County receives. The County does not want to be the employer for whomever is selected for the role.

Board members Mark Wedemeyer, Steve Green and Frank Waters were all opposed to the 28-E agreement between the County, Cass County ISU Extension, the Nishna Valley YMCA and Cass County Memorial Hospital. Waters and Wedemeyer explained why he they were opposed to the proposal. Waters said he’s against any kind of 28-E and partnership. He said also, he’s not against funding the position. Wedemeyer said the County is willing fork over $6,000 from LOST, but not holding any responsibility for a Wellness Coordinator.

The County is also willing to house the Wellness Coordinator office at the Courthouse Annex, for a fee of One-dollar per year. The other entities would also be expected to provide $6,000 for their share of the expense/salary. The County already has a Wellness Program, as does the YMCA, CCMH and Extension. Kate Olson, Cass County Extension Director, said the Wellness Coordinator would serve all the communities in the County, and they would be expected to actively seek out other forms of funds to cover extra expenses above and beyond what is provided by the entity partners. No official decision on funding the position will come from the County until after the new Board of Supervisors are in-place in January, and the Board begins work on he budget. In other business, the Cass County Supervisors approved a Resolution of Support for the Home Base Iowa Initiative. Board Secretary/Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman read from the Resolution before it was approved.

The Board also approved an Abatement of Taxes for a parcel owned by the City of Anita, and acceptance of work done by Manatt’s, Inc. on the Glacier-to-Buck Creek to Echo Road paving project.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests occurred Thursday afternoon. At around 4:40-p.m., 34-year old Kyle K. Kennedy, of Council Bluffs, was arrested following a traffic stop, in Underwood. Kennedy was taken into custody on a warrant for Violation/Contempt of Court, with regard to a No Contact/Protective order. He was being held without bond in the Pott. County Jail. And, at around 4-p.m. Thursday, a female inmate at the Pott. County Jail was served with a Sarpy County, NE. warrant, for being a Fugitive from Justice. 37-year old Carrie M. Guthiel, of Council Bluffs, who was being held on a Probation Violation and Theft in the 3rd Degree charges, was presented with the warrant and returned to the custody of Corrections Staff. She was being held on a $15,000 bond for the Probation Violation, and No bond on the Fugitive charge.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Meteorologists say heavy snowfall atop icy roadways and blowing snow could make travel exceptionally hazardous over the weekend in northern Nebraska and much of northern Iowa. The National Weather Service said Friday in winter storm warnings that up to 16 inches (41 centimeters) of snow could be dumped in northern Nebraska with lesser amounts to the south, where higher temperatures are expected as the wintry storm passes to the east.

The Iowa warnings say as much as 7 inches is expected in Sioux City, with lesser amounts to the east and south. Rain, freezing drizzle or sleet is expected to precede any snow. Wind gusts of up to 40 mph are forecast in parts of both states.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — An investigation has found that a former secretary at an Iowa soil and water conservation district embezzled roughly $20,000 by writing unauthorized checks to herself. Outgoing State Auditor Mary Mosiman said Friday the case marks her office’s fourth investigation into misspending at one of the state’s 100 water districts in the last five years. The latest focused on Jessica Rutter, who was an office assistant for Jasper County’s district until her June resignation. A report issued by Mosiman says Rutter acknowledged to investigators that she wrote checks to herself that would typically double her pay.

Auditors found 23 unauthorized checks were issued between 2015 and 2017 that amounted to nearly $20,000. The report found a couple thousand dollars more in spending for personal and other improper expenses. Rutter, 39, has not been charged but the findings were forwarded to law enforcement agencies. A listed number for her was disconnected.

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

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MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — A January trial has been scheduled for the mother of a baby whose lifeless body was found in an infant swing in northeast Iowa. Chickasaw County court records say 21-year-old Cheyanne Harris has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. Authorities have said the body of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn was infested with maggots when found Aug. 30 last year in the swing by deputies and medics called to his parents’ Alta Vista apartment.

The child’s father, Zachary Koehn, was convicted Nov. 6 of first-degree murder and child endangerment. He is seeking a new trial. Harris’ trial is set to begin Jan. 29 in Le Mars. The trial is being moved to Plymouth County because of pretrial publicity.

(Radio Iowa) — As the Christmas shopping season hits full stride an expert says its time to be sure your on-line purchases are properly protected. The spokesman for the Johnston-based SHAZAM, Patrick Dix, says you should review how you are buying items on-line. “This a great opportunity for consumers to take stock of where they shop on-line and make sure that they are changing their passwords. That they are not using passwords — they are using pass phrases,” according to Dix.  A pass phrase is a familiar line that you can make a few adjustments to and still remember. “A song lyric or a quote that you might like,” Dix explains. “And then what you do is you take letters out of the pass phrase and you use special characters. For instance, you might use a dollar sign for an S, a hashtag for an H or the at symbol (@) for an A.”

He says this should easily give you a strong pass phrase that won’t be hacked. “If you replace a couple of letters — two special characters at least — and then at least 12, probably 15 letters total in the pass phrase that you will always remember, that’s a really good way to make your password much more secure than your address, or your dog’s name,” Dix says. Dix says your address and dog’s name and other personal information are not that hard for someone who wants to hack your accounts to find out. “The fraudsters are using social engineering. They’ll get on your Facebook page and find out your mother’s maiden name very easily, or your old address, or the high school you went to or the college mascot or whatever it was” according to Dix. “All of those things are very hackable where random phrase or lyric from a song mixed with special characters is not.”

Another key to preventing the theft of your identity online is to keep your devices current.  “Update the software on your computer or your phone to make sure that you have all of the latest security patches so you are protecting yourself,” Dix says. “These are the things if we are going to be shopping on-line — that old password that we’ve used forever on Amazon or Netflix –needs to be changed. And it needs to be changed about every 90 days.” Dix says a lot of problems that people have with getting hacked are because they didn’t do enough to make it hard to find out their passwords.