A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy responding Saturday evening to a residence in Oakland to investigate a road rage incident at Highway 6 and 370th Street, arrested a man for Violation of an Order/Contempt of Court. 40-year old Timothy Lee Anderson, of Henderson, was arrested at around 8-p.m. and brought to the Pott. County Jail.

The Sheriff’s Office reports also, 25-year old Cory David Kuehl, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 4:30-a.m. Sunday, for Probation Violation. Kuehl was a passenger in a vehicle whose driver was arrested for OWI. And, 27-year old Stephanie Rae Tuttle, of Council Bluffs, was arrested early Sunday morning for OWI/1st offense after a deputy observed what was termed “Suspicious driving behavior.”

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman reports ballots for the June 27th, 2017 SPECIAL SCHOOL ELECTION for the Griswold Community School District public
measure, are now available at the Cass County Auditor’s office. If you are a resident of the Griswold Community School District and you will be unable to go to the voting center on June 27th, or you choose to vote early, you may vote by mail by sending a request for an absentee ballot to the Cass County Auditor’s office. As an option, you may stop and vote at the County Auditor’s office during office hours: 8 a.m. thru 4:30
p.m., Monday thru Friday.

PUBLIC MEASURE A on the ballot will ask the question: “Shall the Board of Directors of the Griswold Community School District in the Counties of Adams, Cass,
Montgomery, and Pottawattamie, State of Iowa, be authorized to contract indebtedness and issue General Obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $9,900,000 to provide funds to remodel, repair, improve, furnish and equip the Middle School/High School facility; to build, furnish, and equip an elementary addition to that facility; and to improve the site?”

As we’ve mentioned, there are three voting centers plus the Absentee voting site, for the upcoming election:

• LEWIS VOTING CENTER, Voters residing in Griswold Director District 1, will vote at the LEWIS LIBRARY (412 West Main St).
• ELLIOTT VOTING CENTER: Voters residing in Griswold Director District 3 will vote at the ELLIOTT COMMUNITY BUILDING (403 Main St, Elliott).
• GRISWOLD VOTING CENTER: Voters residing in Griswold Director District 2 and 4 will vote at the GRISWOLD COMMUNITY BUILDING (601 2nd St, Griswold).
• The ABSENTEE VOTING CENTER is:
  AUDITOR’S OFFICE, CASS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, IN ATLANTIC.

Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County report a residential fire early this (Monday) morning in Guthrie Center has resulted in critical injuries to at least one person. The blaze at 1005 Main Street was reported at around 12:27-a.m.

Firefighters from Guthrie Center were assisted at the scene by personnel with the Panora Fire Department, Panora Ambulance and Guthrie County Sheriff’s Department. The person who was injured was flown to a hospital in Nebraska.

The blaze remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office. No other details are currently available.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department say a truck driver from Canada was cited following a rollover accident at mile marker 5 of Interstate 80 westbound. The accident happened at around 4:15-a.m., when the driver dropped his cellphone, reached down to grab it and lost control of the semi.

The rig  flipped onto its side, blocking interstate traffic. I-80 Westbound was shut down and traffic was diverted until just before 6-a.m.  The 36-year old driver (Sentheepan Thirunavukkarasu), from Ontario, CN, suffered minor injuries but refused treatment. He was cited for Failure to Maintain Control.

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

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(Corrects restaurant name to “A&G“, not “A&W” as previously posted)

Officials with the Creston Police Department say personnel with the A & G Restaurant reported Sunday morning, that sometime between 10:30-p.m Saturday and 10-a.m. Sunday, a window on a glass door was broken out. The damage was estimated at $400.

Creston Police said also,  Trey Mills, of Kent, was arrested Saturday afternoon on a
charge of Trespass. Mills was subsequently released from the Union County Jail on a Promise to Appear later, in court. Early Saturday morning, 27-year old Lindsey Veitz, of Creston, was arrested on the 900 block of N Cherry on the charge of OWI 2nd. She was later released from the Union County Jail on a $2000 bond.

And on Friday, 28-year old Kyle Hoadley, of Creston,  was arrested at his residence on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault. Hoadley was also later released from the Union County Jail on a Promise to Appear in court.

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

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BLAIR, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say an Iowa pilot has died after his aircraft crashed near Blair Airport in eastern Nebraska. The crash occurred around 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Blair police say the aircraft went down as it was taking off.

Authorities say the 59-year-old pilot lived in Glenwood, Iowa. His name hasn’t been released. He was alone on the aircraft. Federal investigators have been called in.

U-S Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s visit to Iowa last week spurred questions about the possibility of Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey joining the U-S-D-A. No announcement happened during Perdue’s visit to Nevada, but he did point out that a Le Mars, Iowa woman serves as his executive assistant. Rachel Pick started working in Washington, D-C as part of Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff before becoming an employee of the U-S Senate in the Sergeant-At-Arms office. She says meeting Perdue was happenstance.

She says Perdue needed help getting to the Senate office building for one of the hearings, and Pick says a friend asked her if she would meet Perdue and his family and help them get to the hearing.

Pick is a 2003 graduate of Le Mars Gehlen High School and grew up on a farm with her parents Wayne and Kelley Pick. She says her friend told Perdue of her farm background and that led him to ask her about a position in his office. “Had a phone interview and then a couple of personal interviews over the weekend, and then on Monday they extended an offer to me,” Pick explains. “So, it was a fast and furious interview process to get over here — but I’m glad it happened.”

Pick works with Perdue’s scheduler to be sure he gets to meetings and other appointments on time. Former Morningside College professor, and rural Hinton resident Sam Clovis joined the U-S-D-A shortly after Donald Trump took office. Pick says she sees him quite often. “His office is currently just down the hall from me, so they commonly refer to us as the ‘Midwest Maffia,” Pick says. “I think we were both kind of surprised to realize that we grew up just about 25 miles away from each other. So, when we talk about home it brings up lots of good memories, and its nice to have someone in the office that knows almost to the county intersection of where you are talking about.”

Pick says Secretary Perdue often talks to her about her opinions on ag issue. She says she keeps an aerial picture of her family farm on her desk and whenever Perdue meets with cabinet members or others, he points out. “And I think that’s really cool that he does appreciate the fact that I did grow up on farm and that my dad still farms,” Pick says.

Pick says she thought she would end up being a teacher in elementary education and special education when she was in high school, and had no idea that she would end up in Washington D-C.

(Radio Iowa)

Senator Joni Ernst is applauding the Trump Administration’s decision to arm Kurdish fighters in Syria. “This is an immense milestone,” Ernst says. Ernst, a veteran of the Iraq war, has long argued the U.S. should arm Kurdish fighters known as the Peshmerga in Iraq. Last week’s decision, however, arms Kurdish units in SYRIA known as the Y-P-G.

“They are heavily involved in the fighting against ISIS. And why would we not engage them? They have worked quite well with American forces and it’s the right thing to do,” Ernst says. “And I’m glad to see the president stands behind that.”

The decision is linked to the effort to retake the city of Raqqa. ISIS has considered Raqqa as its capital for the past four years. Syrian Defense Forces, led by Kurds, are poised to liberate the city, but it has created tensions with Turkey. Turkey labels the KURDS as terrorists. Ernst says she doesn’t think Raqqa could be liberated without these Kurdish forces fighting inside Syria. “If we engage the forces in the Middle East, that means there’s less American boots on the ground there and that’s exactly what we want,” Ernst says. “Those that have a particular stake in an issue need to put the skin in the game.”

Reports from Kurdish media indicated the Kurdish-led forces captured a cotton mill and ISIS prison a few miles north of Raqqa and were advancing on the outskirts of the city this weekend. The military campaign to retake the city ISIS has held since 2013, though, is expected to last for weeks.

(Radio Iowa)