The Creston Police Department has received two reports of Theft. Tuesday afternoon, a residents in the 400 block of north Stone Street, told police someone took checks belonging to him and cashed them without consent. The incident happened sometime between 12-p.m. Nov. 12th and 12-p.m. Nov. 28th. The loss was estimated at $640.

And on Monday, the Creston Wal-Mart reported an unknown female had entered the store and took merchandise valued at $362. The loss included two cans of paint, a heater, two wiring kits, two DVD players, two CD players, toilet paper, paper towels and other, unidentified merchandise.

Both incidents remain under investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – U.S. Postal Service officials say mail thefts have cost Iowa businesses thousands of dollars in the past few months. Inspector Jim O’Hara told The Des Moines Register on Tuesday that businesses have notified his office of stolen mail and suspicious activity on their bank accounts. He says thieves steal checks from mailboxes, make counterfeits and then recruit homeless people to cash them.

O’Hara says the scheme is becoming more common in the Midwest, and investigators think the more recent cases can be linked to the Bloods gang in Atlanta. He advises businesses to lock mailboxes and retrieve mail as soon as possible.

Firefighters from Irwin, Kirkman and Defiance were called to the scene of a structure fire about five miles east of Kirkman, Tuesday afternoon. The call went out about 4:20 to 2204 1500th St, the Plumb and Sons Tiling and Trenching business. Firefighters were able to contain the fire to one portion of the building, with some structural damage in that area. Crews were on scene for about 2 hours. The fire is believed to have been electrical in nature.

(KNOD/Harlan)

With News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve troops are being warned to remove personal and military data from their social media accounts, lest the information help terrorists launch attacks inside the United States. Officials with the Iowa National Guard and the Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) at Fort Des Moines, which oversees 5,000 troops in four states, told The Des Moines Register that troops won’t be barred from using social media accounts.

The National Guard spokesman, Col. Gregory Hapgood Jr., says the troops shouldn’t list anything about their employment or travel plans. Hapgood says Iowa National Guard units’ Facebook accounts now just mention events that already have occurred, rather than upcoming events.

A family dispute Tuesday evening led to the arrest of a Red Oak woman. The Red Oak Police Department reports officers took 49-year old Rebecca Jean Gulick into custody on a charge of Public Intoxication, after officers responded to a residence in the 100 block of east Reed Street, at around 6:25-p.m.

Police had been called to resolve a family dispute. When officers arrived, the found Gulick with a strong odor of alcohol on her breath. She consented to a breath test and blew over the legal limit for public intoxication.

Gulick was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — How far should a tuition freeze go? That’s one key question that will face members of the Iowa Board of Regents when they meet by phone this (Wednesday) afternoon. The board is widely expected to adopt a third straight tuition freeze for undergraduate students from Iowa at the state’s three public universities. That would affect roughly 40,000 students.

But it’s unclear whether the board will want to go farther and freeze rates for students from other states as well as graduate and professional students. The board’s staff is recommending a 1.75 percent tuition increase for those students, who number about 38,000. Board members have been studying the issue since October. University presidents are generally against an expansion of the freeze, which would deprive their schools of millions in revenue.

Another Republican candidate has announced intentions to run for an Iowa Senate seat in District 12, which covers a section of southwest Iowa. Margaret Stoldorf, of Red Oak, will be on the ballot for the December 30th special election. Stoldorf is running for the seat that was held by U.S. Sen.-Elect Joni Ernst, who has formally submitted her resignation from the Iowa Senate.