Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater wants you to know the Sheriff’s Office in Greenfield is an official drop-off site for the United States Marine Corps Reserves’ “Toys for Tots” program. A collection box is located in the front lobby of the Sheriff’s Office, for new, non-gift-wrapped toys. Toys will be accepted through December 15th. For more information on the Toys For Tots program, go to www.toysfortots.org.

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Two people from eastern Iowa were arrested on drug charges last week, in Adair County. Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports deputies arrested 42-year old Annette Lea Zeien and 34-year old Mark Anthony Clark II, both of Waterloo, following a traffic stop for a registration violation Wednesday evening on Interstate 80. Zeien and Clark were charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, after a deputy detected an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. A subsequent search revealed a baggie of pot in the vehicles’ center console.  Zeien also had a bag of a green leafy substance in her pants. The pair were taken into custody and brought to the Adair County Jail. They were later released on $1,000 bond, each.

And, a Central Iowa man was arrested Nov. 6th for Public Intoxication, Driving Under Suspension, and Open Container in a motor vehicle. 41-year old Vilaykham Luvan, of Des Moines, was arrested after an Adair County Deputy stopped to check on a stalled vehicle on I-80 eastbound at around 12:30-a.m. Luvan told the deputy his vehicle had run out of gas, and that he needed a ride to Des Moines.

In the front seat of the vehicle, there were several empty bottles of beer. A Preliminary Breath Test indicated his intoxication level was more than three-times the legal limit. Luvan told the deputy he began to drink the beer after his vehicle ran out of gas. A check of records indicated the man’s license was suspended. Luvan was brought to the Adair County Jail and later released on $300 bond.

(Update 11:11-a.m.: Launch postponed until Thursday, 11/17)

Iowa native astronaut Peggy Whitson is in Kazakhstan, awaiting Thursday’s launch of a Russian rocket that’ll take her to the International Space Station for her third mission. Whitson grew up on a farm in southern Iowa’s Ringgold County near Beaconsfield and during one of her previous space missions, nurtured a small crop of soybeans. She’ll be space-farming again during the coming six-months in orbit. (click on the left side of the audio bars to play comments)

The space station has grown since Whitson was last there, with new labs and a better view through the famed cupola. Many of the compartments are school bus-sized and the full station is now about as big as a football field. She’s excited to learn about its new capabilities.

It will be more crowded this time, too. The station had a crew of three during her most recent mission but this time, there will be six people on-board — Whitson and another American, three Russians and a Frenchman. As for the six months ahead, the Beaconsfield native says she has no specific goals.

Whitson has already logged 377 days aboard the orbiting station during missions in 2002 and 2007. In February, she’ll celebrate her 57th birthday there and will be the oldest woman ever in space. Among her many accomplishments, Whitson will be the first woman to command the station twice. Launch aboard the Soyuz MS-2 spacecraft is scheduled for 2:20 PM Central time Thursday.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say a Nebraska woman was arrested late Sunday night on a drug charge. 19-year old Yaasmin Y. Spivey, of Omaha, was taken into custody for Possession of Marijuana, just before midnight, Sunday. Spivey was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond. Red Oak Police assisted Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies in handling the arrest.

Red Oak Police, Sunday evening, arrested a Pottawattamie County woman on a warrant for Escape from Custody. 35-year old Debra Lee Pankers, of Council Bluffs, was reported escaped from the Residential Facility in Council Bluffs. The warrant for her arrest was issued last Thursday. Pankers was arrested just before 5-p.m., in connection with a separate incident. She was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 cash bond.