Police in Council Bluffs said this (Thursday) afternoon, that at 11-a.m. (today), officers were called to the area of South 19th Street and Veteran’s Memorial Highway, with
regard to construction workers having uncovered human bones while moving dirt. Council Bluffs police officers and crime scene investigators, working in cooperation with the Pottawattamie County and State of Iowa Medical Examiner’s Offices, were able to determine that these bones were “ancient remains”, meaning that they are at least 100 years old.

Plans are in place to turn the bones over to the Office of the State Archaeologist, located at the University of Iowa, for further examination. There is no active criminal investigation taking place at this time.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge has rejected conspiracy allegations against Missouri State Highway Patrol commanders named in a federal civil lawsuit over the 2014 drowning of a 20-year-old handcuffed Iowa man at Lake of the Ozarks. U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey said Wednesday lawyers for Brandon Ellingson’s family hadn’t proved that commanders and patrol officials conspired to cover up the cause of Ellingson’s death at the lake. Ellingson drowned after he fell from a patrol boat.

The Kansas City Star reports the decision means counts against individual commanders have been dismissed. One count against the state of Missouri and the patrol is still active. Also still active and headed for trial in October in Jefferson City are several counts against Trooper Anthony Piercy, who says his training was inadequate.

The Iowa Court of Appeals Wednesday upheld the murder conviction of Casey Frederiksen in the death of Evelyn Miller. Frederiksen was found guilty of first-degree murder and sexual abuse the death of the five-year-old Miller in Floyd, in July of 2005. She was the daughter of his live-in girlfriend. Frederiksen appealed saying there was not enough evidence to prove he was the killer, he said the district court improperly excluded out-of-court statements made by another person.

And he argued the court erred in admitting evidence of his possession of child pornography. The Court of Appeals ruling found the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to determine that Frederiksen sexually assaulted and murdered Miller. The court also found the decision to admit testimony that Frederiksen possessed child pornography was permissible given the “strikingly similar” nature of the pornography evidence and his crime of child sexual abuse. It also found the exclusion of the out-of-court statements was a harmless error.

(Radio Iowa)

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office has issued reports on recent arrests. Early this (Thursday) morning, 25-year old Eduardo Rodriguez-Garcia, of West Valley, Utah, was arrested at a rest stop on Interstate 80 at the 44-mile marker, after deputies were called to conduct a welfare check on a man in a vehicle parked on the southeast corner of the rest area. During the check, authorities determined that Rodriguez-Garcia was transporting narcotics from Utah to North Carolina. The was arrested for possession with intent to distribute, more than 3.3-pounds of methamphetamine, which was seized from the vehicle. He was also charged with a drug tax stamp violation. Along with the meth, deputies seized a cell phone valued at $300.

Late Wednesday evening, 38-year old Jack Richard Griffin, of Atlantic, was arrested in Pott. County for OWI/1st offense, after a deputy stopped a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am Griffin was driving on Highway 83, just east of Avoca. The deputy stopped the car after he observed it traveling west in the eastbound lane, over a hill. As he interviewed Griffin, the deputy suspected the man was under the influence of drugs, because of his actions and physical attributes (including bloodshot/watery eyes, and raised heat bumps on his tongue).

Griffin consented to Standardized Field Sobriety tests (SFST), which indicated he was impaired at or above the legal limit. In addition to the OWI charge, Griffin was cited for failure to provide liability coverage, and speeding. He received a verbal warning for improper use of lanes.A female passenger in the car was also suspected of being under the influence of drugs, but was not charged. She released from the scene after calling for a ride home.

NEW YORK (AP) – James Alan McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning story collection “Elbow Room” and a longtime faculty member at the University of Iowa’s prestigious Writers’ Workshop, has died.  McPherson died Wednesday at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City from complications of pneumonia, according to Iowa program secretary Deborah L. West.

He was 72 and retired from Iowa in 2014.

james mcpherson photo credit Tom Langdon

A native of Savannah, Georgia and graduate of Harvard Law School, McPherson became the first African-American to win a fiction Pulitzer when “Elbow Room” was cited in 1978. His other works included the story collection “Hue and Cry” and the memoir “Crabcakes.”  He taught at several schools, notably at Iowa, home to one of the country’s oldest and most elite creative writing programs.

Griswold School District Superintendent David Henrichs says, in an effort to show transparency in the District, patrons are being informed of two Griswold Facility Committee Sessions planned for August, for the purpose of assessing the District’s current educational facilities.

The first work session takes place 5-p.m. Thursday, August 11th. The second, will be on Thursday, August 18th, also at 5-p.m. The meetings will be held at the Griswold Community School District’s Middle School / High School Library.  If you have any questions, please call the Superintendent’s Office, at 712-778-2152.