The Glenwood Police Department reports 33-year old Troy Grindle, of Glenwood, was arrested Thursday. Grindle was taken into custody on a Mills County warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 4^th degree. No other details were provided. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000.

A state senator who left the Republican Party in 2016 to protest Donald Trump being the G-O-P’s presidential nominee has ended his bid for reelection in November. David Johnson of Ocheyedan was the only independent in the state legislature for the past two years. Johnson announced in December he would run as an independent and seek another term in the senate. “I just decided this was a good time to get people thinking in a different way about the election coming this November,” Johnson says.

Three Republicans are running in Tuesday’s Primary for Johnson’s spot in the state senate. He’s been a legislator for nearly two decades but, as an independent, he faced a tough run for another senate term in the northwest Iowa district where Republicans far outnumber both independents and Democrats. Johnson had a long history in the Republican Party before he left it nearly two years ago. His father was a Republican candidate for governor in 1968. Johnson hints he’ll be back at the statehouse next year. “I want to be engaged from a citizen’s point of view,” Johnson said. “I plan to return to the capitol, perhaps, and advocate for causes that are important to me and important to a number of Iowans.”

There are more than 20-thousand Republicans, about 13-thousand independents and 73-hundred Democrats in the district Johnson has represented. There is no Democratic candidate in the Senate District One, but a Democrat could be nominated by convention before the ballot deadline in August.

(Radio Iowa)

The three candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination in Iowa’s third congressional district are proposing different methods for raising incomes for low-wage workers. The topic was discussed last (Thursday) night during a 90-minute forum sponsored by The Des Moines Register and K-C-C-I television. Pete D’Alessandro of Des Moines supports immediately raising the minimum wage to 15-dollars-an-hour. “We should be fighting for a minimum wage that guarantees that you’re not living in poverty,” D’Alessandro said. “…That’s why I say the debate starts at $15 an hour. I won’t compromise on that.”

Cindy Axne of West Des Moines would establish an inflation factor that will keep raising the minimum wage periodically in the future and she suggests raising the wage too high too fast can have a negative effect.  “My concern is always about making sure that an individual has an opportunity for a life of dignity…and we certainly aren’t going to get there if people are laid off because businesses can’t afford it,” Axne said.

Eddie Mauro of Des Moines says rather than raising the minimum wage, he’d raise the earned income tax credit instead. “I think we need a bolder, better and more progressive plan,” Mauro said. “…At $36,000 to $40,000 a year, you can improve your skills and then you make your wages higher, your salary’s higher and then that credit comes down some.”

The three candidates are competing to be the Democrat who faces off against Republican Congressman David Young in November.

(Radio Iowa)

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa sheriff who asked one of his deputies to ticket him has pleaded guilty to a traffic violation. The Messenger reports that Webster County Sheriff Jim Stubbs entered the plea in court Thursday to illegally driving an all-terrain vehicle on a highway. Stubbs says that a couple of weeks ago he was heading for some family property when he turned onto U.S. Highway 169 for a brief stretch. He soon recalled that he could legally drive the ATV on county roads but not along highways. He came upon the deputy who’d pulled off the highway and requested a ticket.

Stubbs says he wants to ensure “everyone’s equal as far as the Sheriff’s Department is concerned, and that includes me.” Magistrate William Thatcher commended Stubbs’ honesty and fined him $132.50.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Des Moines teenager accidentally shot and killed himself. The shooting occurred Monday when 17-year-old James Shorter moved the handgun while sitting in a car. He was hit in the neck when the gun fired. Police say Shorter died during surgery at Mercy Medical Center. Police Sgt. Joe Frentress told The Des Moines Register that detectives have determined the shooting was an accident.