Police in Red Oak report a Nebraksa woman was arrested Friday afternoon on a drug charge. 20-year old Kylen Mary Gates, of Bellevue, NE, was taken into custody in the 100 block of Prospect Street in Red Oak, on a Possession of Prescription Pills without a prescription, charge.

She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

A former Denison police officer is protesting his removal from the force. A press release from Denison Mayor Dan Leinen says Ray Ohl was fired Feb. 5th because of insubordination and other misconduct. Ohl has requested a public hearing before the Denison City Council about the issues connected to his removal. A date for the public hearing is pending. The Daily NonPareil says Ohl was the department’s K-9 officer until he was removed from that duty on Dec. 29th, 2015.

In an interview with the paper three weeks ago, Denison Police Chief John Emswiler said he could not discuss the event for which Ohl was removed as the K-9 handler. Two days after Ohl was taken off K-9 duty, Chief Emswiler became the subject of a complaint for an incident that involved Ohl. On Dec. 31st, 2015, Crawford County Sheriff Jim Steinkuehler was contacted by an individual who had a complaint about Emswiler. The sheriff referred the individual to the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation.

Ohl organized and was among a small group of people that protested outside Denison City Hall on Wednesday, holding signs about equality, race relations and doing the right thing.

Geoff Greenwood, communications director for the Office of the Attorney General of Iowa, said his office is waiting for a report from the DCI before the investigation moves forward. Asked if the city intended to file charges against any of the individuals apparently in possession of the confidential personnel information, Leinen said an investigation was ongoing and he could not comment.

The United Way of the Midlands is marking its 13th year of providing a wide array of services to people across western Iowa and in Nebraska through calling 2-1-1. Lena Thompson, the call center’s director, says the program has come a long way since it was launched. “We started as a pilot with three counties,” Thompson says. “Now, we have the ability to cover the whole state of Nebraska, which is 93 counties, and we cover nine counties in the southwest Iowa area.” She says 2-1-1 is a one-stop shop for answers on all sorts of services and aid.

“211 is information and referral primarily,” Thompson says. “We get calls from people who might need rent or utility assistance, a food pantry, back-to-school programs, substance abuse, just a wide variety of things.” The service will continue to expand in the years ahead. “Our future goals are to start doing text messaging and chat services,” Thompson says. “We’re hoping to do text messaging this year and maybe expand into chat at the end of this year or early next year.”

Nearly 57,000 calls were made to the 2-1-1 call center last year and the website was accessed some 47,000 times. Thompson says statistics show nearly 30% of the calls were for utility assistance, 23% were for help with rent and 9% were for food assistance.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The decision over whether to hold Senate hearings for President Obama’s eventual Supreme Court nominee rests with one person: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. So far, the 82-year-old Iowa senator has offered a muddled message on the subject. Grassley is seeking his seventh term in the Senate and has worked well with Democrats on some issues.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lost 500 farms last year, continuing a trend seen in recent years in which there are fewer farms operating and those that remain are becoming larger. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says most of the loss was smaller farms with sales of less than $10,000. Iowa posted a total of 87,500 farms in 2015. Total land in farms was 30.5 million acres. That’s about the same as the year before.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state will spend nearly $250,000 on a consultant to help three Iowa cities find new tenants for empty, state-owned buildings. The Des Moines Register reports the Iowa Economic Development Board voted Friday to hire a national company, Matrix Design Group, to help seek new tenants for recently closed facilities in Toledo, Clarinda and Mount Pleasant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Health officials are reporting Iowa’s first case of the Zika virus. The Department of Public Health announced Friday that the female victim, who wasn’t named, tested positive for the virus. The agency says she’s between 61 and 80 years old and had traveled in Central America.