The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Pottawattamie County was arrested Monday afternoon on a warrant. 35-year old William Joseph Bullock, of Oakland, was taken into custody at around 1-p.m., on the Page County warrant for Theft in the 4th Degree. His bond was set at $1,000. And, a Cass County man escaped injury early Sunday morning, after he swerved to miss a deer. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says 38-year old Kyle Quist, of Lewis, was traveling east on Barrus Road at around 3:30-a.m., and approaching the intersection with 250th Street, when a deer ran onto the road.

Quist tried to take evasive action, and in the process caused the 2016 Ford he was driving to enter the embankment on the south side of Barrus Road. The vehicle continued over 250th Street and hit a county road sign, damaging the pole. The car came to rest in the east ditch north of 250th. Both front airbags deployed in the car.

An accident investigation Monday night, resulted in the arrest of a Nebraska man. Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s officials say a during the investigation, it was learned that 35-year old Luke E. Hansen, of Colon, NE., was wanted on a warrant for being a Fugitive from Justice. Hansen suffered minor injuries during the collision. He was taken into custody at around 1:50-a.m. today (Tuesday)

The proposed platforms Iowa Democrats and Republicans will be asked to approve at their state conventions this Saturday illustrate the stark contrast between the parties on major issues. The Iowa G-O-P platform calls for banning all abortions in Iowa “without exceptions.” Republican lawmakers enacted the toughest abortion law in the country this year, but that ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected — about the sixth week of pregnancy — includes exceptions for rape and incest. Iowa Democrats have a proposed platform which declares the party’s opposition to that law as well as its support of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. On the gun issue, the Iowa Democratic Party’s platform calls for an “updated” assault weapons ban that would include limits on how many bullets may be in the magazine inserted in the gun. The Republican platform opposes new gun restrictions and calls for letting “authorized personnel” who’ve undergone training carry guns in Iowa schools.

As it did in 2016, the Iowa G-O-P’s platform calls for an end to public sector unions. The Democratic Party’s document calls for restoring the bargaining rights of government workers that Republican lawmakers erased in 2017. Iowa Democrats added a line to their proposed platform spelling out their opposition to “presidential self-pardons.” The Iowa G-O-P’s platform says all agreements with foreign countries “should be done by treaty and subject to approval by congress” — a relevant section given President Trump’s meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) with North Korea’s leader. State convention delegates in both parties are likely to debate some items in each proposed document. Iowa Libertarians held their state convention last Saturday.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Libertarian Party has nominated a woman from Rockwell City as its lieutenant governor candidate for the fall election. The Libertarian Party is now an officially recognized party in Iowa because its presidential candidate got more than two percent of the vote in 2018. There are about 10-thousand registered Libertarians in Iowa. About 18-hundred of them voted in last week’s primary, selecting Jake Porter of Council Bluffs as the Libertarian nominee for governor. Lynne Gentry, a retired teacher from Rockwell City, was selected on Saturday as Porter’s lieutenant governor/running mate. Gentry ran for a seat in the Iowa House in 2014 and won 21 percent of the vote in the district that covers Calhoun, Pocahontas and Humboldt Counties.

(Radio Iowa)

CRESTON, Iowa (AP) — People in four Iowa cities have been told they can once again safely drink water from their taps. The Southern Iowa Rural Water Association says the treatment system is back up and running with new filtration membranes. Three cities given an all-clear Monday were Afton, Diagonal and Lenox. Creston was cleared Sunday. The advisory remains in effect for people in rural areas around Creston and in several counties served by the association.

A membrane filtration system failure at the Twelve Mile Water Plant in Creston had left association customers without safe tap water since June 1. People were advised to boil tap water before consumption to avoid pathogens and parasites that could cause illness. The water was considered safe for bathing and for pets and livestock.

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

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A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council says hog farmers aren’t doing enough to cut the use of antibiotics in pigs. Report author David Wallinga says 37-percent of the antibiotics that are given to livestock go to pigs, drugs that are also critical to human health. Willinga says new restrictions, in effect since January of 2017, prohibit antibiotic use for growth promotion.  “Regardless, they’re using these antibiotics now the same way they were before,” Wallinga says. “They’re using them at low doses, routinely, added to feed or drinking water and oftentimes when there’s no sick animals present.”

The report says antibiotic use in pork production continues to threaten the critical drugs’ effectiveness in people. That’s because low-dose, routine use allows bacteria to develop resistance. Tom Marsteller, with Des Moines-based Kemin Industries, says consumer demand as well as changes to government rules about using antibiotics in livestock are driving producers to other treatments. “The end result is better stewardship of our antibiotic use, use when necessary, when the animals are sick and need the antibiotics,” Marsteller says, “but that means then we’ll use less antibiotics in total, which then should be good for animal health and human health long-term.”

The report cited Denmark and the Netherlands as examples of places that have drastically reduced reliance on antibiotics in pork production by setting and meeting goals. The report urges consumers to continue pressuring restaurants and grocery stores to offer meat raised without antibiotics.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City man accused of neglecting more than 200 birds on his rural Solon property has been given a year of probation and fined $315. Johnson County Court records say 71-year-old Francis Prohaska pleaded guilty last week to livestock neglect. The judge granted him a deferred judgment. That means the conviction can be cleared from Prohaska’s record if he abides by the terms of his probation.

The charge stemmed from a Dec. 9 search of the Solon area farmstead. Deputies found a number of dead birds and counted about 200 others, including ducks, geese, chickens and pigeons.

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

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Gas prices are around 50 cents higher this June than they were last year and that is having an impact on demand. Triple-A Iowa’s Rose White says it is unusual to see the amount of gas burned by motorists dropping. “The Energy Information Office is reporting that demand is dropping — and that is occurring for the first time since mid-January,”White says. “It’s just under nine million barrels per day. Now, this is surprising as levels have consistently measured about the nine million barrel mark every week in June since 2015.”

The drop in demand is only one of the factors that has led to a slight decrease in gas prices this week.  “Contributing to the downturn in prices is crude oil costs, which have dropped nearly six dollars a barrel just in the last few weeks,” according to White. She says gas prices will usually drop from two to four cents a gallon with each one dollar drop in the price of oil. But gas prices here haven’t dropped down to their levels seen last year. White says gas is averaging two-79 a gallon or about 13 cents below the national average. That price is a drop of three cents from last week — but the cost is still 53 cents higher then one year ago when a gallon of gas cost two dollars, 26 cents.

Summer driving often leads to an increase in driving and an increase in demand for gasoline. But White says drivers are making adjustments with the high fuel costs. “It seems that when prices do rise people shop around. And the also may even change their driving habits,” White explains. “When we start to see big spikes in prices, those with flex-fuel vehicles may favor the E-85 blend.” The E-85 blend is cheaper than the other blends of gas. South Carolina is the state with the cheapest gas — coming in at two dollars, 58 cents a gallon. California has the highest average price at three dollars, 17 cents a gallon.

(Radio Iowa)