Police in Atlantic arrested a local man on drug charges last week. 32-year old Terence Magill, of Atlantic, was arrested July 2nd for OWI/1st offense, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Magill was booked into the Cass County Jail.

On Friday, Atlantic Police arrested 36-year old Heather Christensen, of Atlantic, for Driving While Revoked, and 38-year old Donald Loury, of Davey, NE, on Cass County warrants for Violation of a No Contact Order and Failure to Appear in court. Both were booked into the Cass County Jail.

On Independence Day, 31-year old Adam Morris, of Atlantic, was arrested for Simple Assault. 23-year old Michael McConnell, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Probation Violation, and a Woodbury County warrant for Serious Assault. And, 43-year old Rodney Doss, of Exira, was arrested in Atlantic on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Assault Causing Bodily Injury. All three men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

And on June 30th, 38-year old Kevin Milliam, of Atlantic, was arrested for 5th Degree Theft (shoplifting). He was cited and released.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Terry Branstad says he vetoed several appropriations approved by lawmakers because he opposes one-time spending for ongoing expenses. Branstad said Monday that he has long been clear about his concerns over such budgeting practices. Last week, he vetoed much of a one-time spending bill backed by the legislature, which included nearly $56 million for K-12 education.

Democrats and education leaders are criticizing the move, saying it will hurt schools. Branstad says he has made other investments in education. After Branstad’s actions the state will spend nearly $7.2 billion in ongoing general fund expenses in the current fiscal year. The legislature sought $135 million in one-time payments, but Branstad cut that to $56 million. That money comes from surplus fund dollars left at the end of the previous fiscal year.

No injuries were reported after a trailer hauling hay bales caught fire Sunday evening, near Red Oak. The Red Oak Fire Department reports they were dispatched to 260th Street and B Avenue at around 5:45-p.m., Sunday, for a report of a pickup hauling a load of hay bales that were on fire.

Upon arrival their arrival at the scene, the trailer of bales was fully engulfed in flames, with the trailer still attached to a 2000 GMC Sierra pickup. Red Oak Fire requested and received mutual aid from the Essex Fire Department. Local residents assisted through the use of farm equipment in the fire suppression efforts, as well as in the removal of the trailer from the truck. Additional assistance was provided by the Montgomery County Secondary Roads Department. The cause of the blaze was believed to be “Kinetic Heat Energy transferred to the load of hay bales.”

Nine bales of hay and the trailer were lost, while the pickup belonging to Parker Ridge Farms sustained minimal damage. The total loss was conservatively estimated at $5,200. Fire officials say they greatly appreciate the assistance provided by Essex Fire and local residents for helping during the event.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports a Nebraska man was arrested early Saturday morning on Public Intoxication and Disorderly Conduct, charges. 24-year old Blake Daniel Johannes, of Omaha, was arrested at around 12:30-a.m. and brought to the Audubon County Jail. He appeared later before a magistrate, and was released.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported during four separate accidents over the past holiday weekend. Two of the accidents happened on July 3rd. Officials say at 2:50 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a car-vs. deer collision on Interstate 80 westbound, near mile marker 52. 37-year old Vijayakuma Murugesan,  of Omaha, was driving a 2009 Honda Odyssey that sustained an estimated $4,500 damage during the incident.

Friday evening, deputies in Cass County responded to a two-vehicle accident on 690th Street at Memphis Road. Officials say a 2000 Honda Accord driven by 17-year old Alec Lee Hayes, of Atlantic, and a 2004 Chevy Suburban owned and driven by 45-year old Douglas John Becker, of Pleasant Hill, were both southbound on 690th Street when Hayes attempted a U-turn and failed to yield to Becker’s vehicle. In the process, the Suburban hit the Accord it in the front driver’s side and forcing the car into the southwest ditch. Hayes was cited for Failure to Yield.

The southwest Iowa native who’s considered one of the world’s top espionage novelists released her tenth book last week, called “The Assassins.” The Gayle Lynds thriller is a stand-alone novel and her second involving the character Judd Ryder, a former military spy, who’s pulled into an international adventure that keeps him in the crosshairs of multiple master killers. Lynds says she loves writing about Ryder’s exploits.

“All of us have some kind of power within us and his verges on violence,” Lynds says. “That’s an issue that he has to constantly deal with, that, and the issue of where the law ends and justice begins and what his position is in society.” Ryder was first introduced in Lynds’ previous novel, “The Book of Spies.” Lynds is a graduate of the University of Iowa journalism school, where one of her lit teachers was acclaimed writer Kurt Vonnegut. After working as a newspaper reporter, she was hired in what’s now referred to as a government think tank and had top-secret clearance, which further sparked her interest in fiction writing, or “lying for a living,” as she puts it. Publishers Weekly has released a list of the top 15 spy novels of all time, with titles like “The Bourne Identity,” “The Day of the Jackal,” and “The Spy Who Loved Me.” It ranks Lynds’ first book, “Masquerade,” at number-eight.

“What a thrill to see my book on that list because I’ve read every book on there, years ago,” Lynds says. “I’m in pretty amazing company there, aren’t I?” Lynds grew up in Council Bluffs but spent many years living in southern California. A few years back, she got married and moved cross-country to coastal Maine. She say the change in latitude has been healthy for her attitude — as a person and as a novelist.

“I’ve lived in cities all my life and I’m so accustomed to when I hear a sound outside, it’s a siren or it’s a car door slamming or somebody arguing, and now when I hear a sound outside, it’s a bird singing,” Lynds says. “That’s pretty cool and it’s a wonderful place for a writer.” Loyal fans of the television show, “The X Files,” which was huge in the 1990s, know the program is being brought back to T-V for a six-episode run starting in January of 2016. Lynds is also an X-phile and has written an adventure for F-B-I Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

“There is an anthology coming out, I believe at the end of July, an X Files anthology,” Lynds says. “I don’t know the title, but my husband, John, and I have a short story in it. It’s a collection of short stories and it’s the very first collection of all-original X Files short stories.” Earlier in her career, Lynds co-wrote three books with legendary spymaster Robert Ludlum. When she tried to pitch her first novel under her own name in the male-dominated espionage genre, “Masquerade” was repeatedly rejected, with one publisher saying no woman could have written the book. Lynds was asked if she was ever tempted to use that publisher’s name in a future book and kill him off.

“Actually, it was a woman, not a man, and I did!” Lynds says. “I put her in as the chief of CIA in one of my books, and not a very nice one.” The original book was eventually picked up by a publisher and “Masquerade” went on to become Lynds’ first best-seller — and she’s since sold more than six-million books.

(Radio Iowa)

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A yearlong exhibit at a museum in Waterloo is designed to share what veterans experienced while they were in Vietnam. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that the exhibit is called “365 Days and Counting: Iowans in the Vietnam War” and will open at the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo on July 14. Vietnam veterans will be on hand that day to talk about their experiences.

In another salute to veterans, a welcome home parade is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on July 17 in downtown Waterloo. All Vietnam-era veterans are being invited to participate. Rick Reuter is one of the veterans working on the exhibit, and he says it is “going to show family members what Vietnam was like.”

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, today (Monday) reports a Creston woman was cited for drug-related offenses last week. 23-year old Alison Dawn Iiams was cited for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. The citation was issued in the Morman Trail Lake tent area on July 2nd. The woman was released after receiving the citation.

Saturday afternoon, 28-year old Brandon Kristian Snyder, of Clinton, IA, was arrested following a traffic stop on Interstate 80 eastbound in Adair County. Snyder was taken into custody for Driving While License Suspended or Revoked, and for Violation of a No Contact Order. He was subsequently released on those Adair County charges, but held on warrants for his arrest issued out of Iowa County.

And, 55-year old Thomas Joyner Smith, of San Francisco, CA, was arrested Saturday evening on I-80 in Adair County, by the Iowa State Patrol. Smith was wanted on warrants issued elsewhere, but the agency issuing the warrants said they would not come to extradite him, so Smith was cited and released.