The remains of a Kossuth County sailor who died at the start of World War Two are finally coming home. Fireman 1st Class William H. Kennedy was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 but his remains were not properly identified until earlier this year.

Kennedy’s remains will now be brought back to Iowa this week for proper burial as planeside honors will be conducted on the tarmac of the Des Moines International Airport Thursday with funeral services in his hometown of Titonka on Friday.

Kennedy was identified by Department of Defense program started in 2015 to use DNA analysis to identify remains from the Oklahoma.

(Radio Iowa)

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

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Officials with the Creston Police Department report three Creston residents were arrested Saturday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. 34-year old Erin Wallace was arrested for Domestic Assault. She was later released on $300 bond.

30-year old Ian Adamson and 37-year old Ronnee Abel, both of Creston, were arrested Saturday for Trespass. Their bonds were set at $1,000 each.

And, an Ankeny man reported to Creston Police Saturday evening, that sometime last month, someone vandalized his truck while it was parked at 901 N. Birch Street. Parts were also removed from the vehicle. The loss was estimated at $2,000 altogether.

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

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MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) – An apartment building fire has displaced 14 residents in Marshalltown. The fire was reported around 11:20 p.m. Friday at The Villager apartments. It took firefighters 4 1/2 hours to control the blaze in the three-story building, which dates back to the 1870s.

No injuries to residents or firefighters have been reported. The fire cause is being investigated. In April 2013 an accidental fire that started on the third floor caused an estimated $75,000 in damage.

The annual Police Officer Memorial Ceremony held Friday was one of mixed emotions for one the families who saw their son honored. Urbandale officer Justin Martin’s name was added to the memorial with three other officers who were killed in the line of duty. Martin was ambushed and shot to death on November 2nd while on patrol. His mother Jayne Martin says the ceremony honoring her son and the other officers was heartwarming, but she also felt sadness as she continues to deal with his death.

“The second (of May) was the six-month mark and that was kind of hard. I celebrated a birthday without him. I try to go on walks in the walk park where he loved to play and just be alone and thank God for taking care of him,” Martin says.

Justin’s father Randy says the ceremony brings a lot of emotions back up as they work through the grieving process.  “Some of the friends that we have up north who have lost their children have told us that we are not living in a whole different norm,” Martin says. “And you take sometimes one minute at a time — sometimes one hour at a time — it is very difficult. We miss him, but we can’t change the facts though.”

The Martins are from Rockwell City and he says the community support all around has been a big help in dealing with the loss. “It’s unbelievable what Urbandale’s done, even the Des Moines metro, and then when we go back up home to Rockwell City the surrounding communities, schools, everybody is around us — and that really helps,” he says. “Our students, they’re doing an honor challenge on May 10th. It’s a workout from Crossfit that Justin loved to do. All the students in our school k-through12 are going to be doing that. It is a great honor that we have that kind of support as well as the support of Urbandale as well. We couldn’t ask for more.”

The City of Urbandale named a reading room at the public library after Justin. “I looked on Facebook the other day, and there were two chairs in Justin’s room in the library for us, you know they were there for us,” Jayne Martin says. “It was just so heartwarming to feel, the emotions went through, but it was like oh my goodness.”

Mrs. Martin says the memorial ceremony brought some of those same feelings. The ceremony features honor guards of officers from around the state in full dress uniforms, and she says it is something her son would have loved. “Yes, whether it was Boy Scouts or being a policeman or whatever he did, he did it for,” she paused and her husband said “Something bigger than himself,” and she said “Yes.”

Justin Martin was just 24 years old when he died. Des Moines officer Anthony Bemino was shot to death a short time later by the same man accused of killing Martin.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak, Sunday afternoon, arrested a man on an assault charge. 55-year old David Lawrence Howe, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 3:45-p.m. in the 400 block of Highland Avenue on a charge of Simple Assault. Howe was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

More than 250 Democrats from Iowa’s largest county gathered Sunday night, commiserating about recent losses, but urging one another to “lean forward” to 2018 and beyond. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar was the event’s keynote speaker. She told Radio Iowa Democrats “can’t forget the middle of the country.” “We need people who are speaking out nationally from the middle of the country,” Klobuchar said. “That means from the middle of the political spectrum and everything else.”

Klobuchar spoke for about 40 minutes at the Polk County Democrats’ Spring Fundraiser. She criticized President Trump of being too focused on tweeting. She described the U.S. Senate as the “emergency brake” to some of Trump’s agenda. “I had to make a decision at the end of last year and Trump had won and I had an opportunity to run for governor and you know what I decided?” Klobuchar asked the crowd. “I decided I wasn’t going to leave my duty station because the United States Senate is the place to be.”

But Klobuchar spent most of her time laying out a “four corners…competitiveness agenda.” Her speech stoked speculation she may run for president herself in 2020. “Let’s not think of this as a moment in time just to overcome. Right?” Klobuchar told the crowd in closing. “Let’s think of this as an opportunity, a moment to shine, to show the world what America really stands for and to show the world what we’re made of.” Klobuchar stood to speak in front of the huge American flag that was used on Election Night 2012 in Des Moines at President Obama’s final campaign rally.

“We wanted it to be here tonight to show that we’ve had good days in the past. We have a good day today and we’re going to have good days in the future.” That’s Polk County Democratic Party chairman Sean Bagniewski. Senate Democratic Leader Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids told his fellow Democrats to quit moping around and complaining about one another on social media. Hogg urged Democrats to have a “summer of citizenship in 2017” and as his cadence escalated, Hogg seemed to be losing his voice.

“With your help, we’re going to take back the Iowa House…the Iowa Senate…the governorship,” Hogg said. “And with your help we’re going to take back congress and, with your help, in 2020 we’re going to take back the presidency before that man destroys our country, our democracy and our future.” AFSCME Council 61 president Danny Homan blasted Republican lawmakers at the state level for rolling back union bargaining rights and he promised political payback’s ahead.

“The pledge I am making to the Iowa Democratic Party and to every Democrat in the state: I am going to educate my members,” Homan said. “…They are going to know who the hell did this to ’em and it wasn’t Democrats.” Klobuchar, who took the stage a few minutes later, praised other speakers and the crowd for exhibiting “incredible energy.” “As I’ve told many of you before: ‘I can see Iowa from my porch,'” Klobuchar said and last night’s Des Moines crowd laughed. “It is good to be back with friends and I thought I was going to come down here to cheer you guys up, but you’ve cheered me up.”

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:10 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some legislators are voicing skepticism about a state agency’s new foster care rules. Lawmakers are saying they’re not sure they can trust the Department of Human Services and question why it’s focusing on seemingly small matters but not addressing bigger issues about child safety. Although the agency’s proposals address many foster care issues, like bedroom requirements, they don’t address factors behind high-profile child abuse cases. That includes the death of a teenage girl last year.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The western Iowa sheriff’s deputy who was fatally wounded in a jail escape last week will be laid to rest on Monday. The funeral for Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Burbridge will be 10 a.m. Monday at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It will be open to the public.

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (AP) — A Mount Vernon native and Cornell College alumnus has given $1 million to the Iowa college for a science facilities expansion. Jerry Ringer, a retired ophthalmologist in Bloomington, Illinois, and his wife, Carole, donated the money for the college’s $35 million science facilities project. The project will more than double the college’s STEM space with the construction, already under way, of the four-story Russell Science Center and renovations of West Science and portions of Law Hall.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Dubuque County has installed a camera to livestream footage of a pair of peregrine falcons that have returned to nest on a sixth-floor ledge of the courthouse. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife diversity program technician Pat Schlarbaum tells the Telegraph Herald the birds of prey are one of nearly 20 nesting pairs in Iowa. They were once listed as an endangered species. Dubuque County staff are streaming footage of the nest on YouTube, which contains three red, potato-like eggs.

Another in a series of meetings for the Griswold Community School District’s Facilities Committee will be held on Wednesday of this week. The meeting takes place at 5:00 p.m. May 10th at the Griswold Community School District’s Middle School / High School Library, and is for the purpose of assessing current educational facilities.