Two people were arrested on separate charges Sunday night, in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Department reports that a little after 11-p.m., 27-year old Aaron Wade Opdyke, of Emerson, was arrested at the intersection of Highway 34 and G Avenue. Opdyke was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was cited into court and released from the scene.

And, at around 6:50-p.m., 29-year old Anthony Duane Pond, of Villisca, was arrested in Villisca and charged with Driving While Revoked. Pond was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey has endorsed Congressman Steve King’s bid for reelection. “This district needs to support a strong conservative, a hardworking candidate and we have that candidate,” Northey said Saturday. “That’s our Congressman Steve King.” Republican businessman and state senator Rick Bertrand of Sioux City is challenging King in June’s Republican Primary.

Northey’s endorsement may provide some cover for King, who has been under fire from some in the G-O-P for backing presidential candidate Ted Cruz, an opponent of the federal ethanol production mandate. “I don’t know how that will all play out,” Northey says. “We’ve had some conversations with some folks that care a lot about that issue…When I think of who I want in the room talking with conservative congressmen and senators, talking with a potential president on ethanol issues, I want Steve King there.”

Northey is currently in the middle of his third term as state ag secretary. Northey describes King as a “great friend of agriculture.” King describes Northey as a third-generation farmer who is “deeply steeped” in agriculture. “His statewide presence and his activity among all of the ag issues, I think that that’s a reminder of where I have long been and none of that has changed,” King says.

Northey announced his endorsement Saturday at the Iowa G-O-P’s fourth district convention in Fort Dodge, about 100 miles southeast of the Northey family farm near Spirit Lake. Northey has a history of weighing in on Republican Primary contests. Northey endorsed Mark Jacobs in the 2012 Republican Primary for U.S. Senate. Joni Ernst won that primary and the general election.

(Radio Iowa)

Republican Chuck Grassley says his bid for a seventh term in the U.S. Senate isn’t the kind of “slam dunk” he’s had in the past. Grassley delivered a brief midday speech to the delegates gathered for the Iowa G-O-P’s fourth district convention in Fort Dodge.
“I’m asking you, I’m begging you, I’m imploring you: Will you do all you can to help me win reelection?” Grassley focused most of his remarks on the fight over the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme court.

“Something you already know because you’re on top of the severe campaign that I’m involved in against the White House and Harry Reid and everybody else,” Grassley said, to applause. “…A lot of people in this state think that because I previously won by slam-dunk wins, this is not going to be such a race.” Grassley told reporters the “Washington establishment” will spend “big resources” promoting Democrat Patty Judge, the candidate he says has been “recruited…by the White House” to run against him.

Grassley got a standing ovation from the more than 600 Republicans in Fort Dodge when he called for letting the “next president” choose the next Supreme Court justice.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Legislature has taken another step toward adjournment by agreeing to budget spending targets, but lawmakers still must decide details over what areas of state government will actually get some of the limited new dollars available. It’s unclear whether the split Legislature will reach consensus in time for an adjournment scheduled on April 19th.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The trial of a man accused of fatally shooting a woman inside the Coral Ridge Mall last summer is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Twenty-two-year-old Alexander Kozak is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 20-year-old Andrea Farrington. Kozak’s trial, which was moved to Story County because of media attention, is expected to last two weeks.

WEST BEND, Iowa (AP) — A group of seven northwest Iowa grain elevators are being sold to a farmers cooperative in the area. The Sioux City Journal reports MaxYield Cooperative in West Bend is buying the elevators in Superior, Gruver, Milford, Everly, Spencer, Langdon and Greenville. The deal also includes an LP gas storage facility in Royal. The purchase price was not disclosed. The deal is expected to close by May 1st.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The three northern Iowa counties being sued by a Des Moines water utility have received $900,000 in donations to cover most of their legal bills, but officials won’t identify the donors. The Register reports Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun counties released about 260 pages of legal records.