The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says a Clarinda man was arrested Thursday night, on drug  charges. 24-year old Jacob Allen Washburn was taken into custody at around 11:30-p.m., in the 2700 block of Highway 71, just south of Villisca. Washburn was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and OWI Drugged/1st offense.

Washburn was being held this (Friday) morning in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 cash bond. Sheriff’s deputies were assisted in handling the incident, by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office Drug Recognition Expert.

A rural Pottawattamie County man was injured in a single-vehicle accident near Underwood on Wednesday. Sheriff’s official told the Omaha World-Herald, Kenneth Foote was driving west on Magnolia Road near 300th Street about 9:20 a.m. when he lost control of his 2006 Chevy Silverado pickup. The truck went off the road into the south ditch, went through a fence, crossed a field and stopped at a hay bale and a tree. The wreck occurred just east of the small town of Bentley.

Rescue personnel were able to help the man, initially thought to be trapped, out of the truck through the passenger door and transported him to Jennie Edmundson Hospital for treatment of injuries not considered life-threatening. The man was said to be conscious and breathing when taken to the hospital.

The Iowa College Aid is reminding current and future college students to file and important form that could help them pay for college. The spokesperson for the Iowa College Student Aid Commission, Heather Doe, says it’s the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — more commonly called FAFSA. “It’s a federal form that you do have to complete to determine eligibility for any type of federal aid program – that includes PELL Grants, it also includes student loans that you are going to borrow. And it’s used by the state of Iowa and many other states to determine eligibility for state grants and scholarships,” Doe says. She says it is important to get the form done as soon as possible.

Doe says a lot of colleges have a March first priority deadline for financial aid filing. “And we families to get out there and get that completed, even if they don’t have their taxes completed yet,” Doe says. You can use your tax information from last year to file the FAFSA, and then update the information once the information for this year is available. Any student who hopes to get financial aid has to fill out the form.

“One thing to make sure to point out to everyone is you have to complete a FAFSA every year,” according to Doe. “So, even if you already filed one last year and you are going back for your second or third year of college, you have to complete it again.” Doe says it doesn’t take that long to complete the application. “The best way and most convenient way and fastest way is to file it on-line at www.fafsa.gov. And I do want to point out that dot-gov, because there are sites that look very similar to that with like a dot-com (address) and they’ll try to charge a fee,” she explains. “FAFSA is free to file, so if you are ever on a site where they want some credit card information — make sure to just get yourself out, because you are not in the right place.”

Iowa College Aid says Iowa high school graduates left approximately 22 million dollars in federal grant money unclaimed in 2013 simply by not completing the FAFSA.

(Radio Iowa)

There’s fear of potential “panic buying” of gasoline in Iowa over the next few days as pump prices will rise a dime a gallon on Sunday, thanks to legislators and the governor passing an increase in the state fuel tax. Rose White, with Triple-A-Iowa, says there may be a boost in sales at gas stations and convenience stores through Saturday, especially in metro areas along state borders like Sioux City, Omaha/Council Bluffs and the Quad Cities.

“Certainly with the change, there may be some impacted, specifically along the Missouri border as that difference will be almost 15 cents a gallon,” White says. “The other states however, the variances will be minimal.” With the higher tax, Iowa’s gas prices will be about three cents higher than Minnesota, a penny higher than Illinois, six cents higher than Nebraska, and a dime a gallon higher than South Dakota. Wisconsin is the only border state where gas prices will remain higher that Iowa, by about a penny. The increase of ten cents a gallon may not seem like much, but it can add up. Still, White says to resist the urge to dash out and fill your tank.

“We do encourage motorists not to participate in any panic buying just to save ten cents a gallon,” White says. “Instead, we just encourage you to not deviate from your normal fuel purchasing. If a lot of people do go out and buy fuel this weekend, that could actually create some shortages and we certainly do not want that to happen.” Some gas station owners in Iowa border cities may face a financial squeeze due to the new pricing structure.

“Many of them may have to lower their profit margins just to stay competitive, especially along that Missouri route,” White says. The 15-cent difference between Iowa and Missouri is nothing compared to disparities elsewhere. The gas in New Jersey, for example, is 36-cents lower than neighboring Pennsylvania. This is the first hike in Iowa’s gas tax since 1989, a move that’s expected to generate 215-million dollars a year to benefit road and bridge construction and repairs.

(Radio Iowa)