Police in Council Bluffs arrested a man from Nebraska early this (Tuesday) morning, after he backed into a police cruiser. Authorities say 33-year old Elvin Morales-Gutierrez, of Omaha, was arrested on an OWI charge following the incident that took place at around 2:18-a.m.

Officials say Council Bluffs Police officers were called to 808 S. 23rd St in reference to a male at the door of the residence refusing to leave. Upon officers’ arrival, they observed a white Nissan truck in the driveway with the lights on. As the officer was exiting his vehicle, the suspect vehicle began to back out of the driveway and into the marked police car.

Officers’ were able to get the attention of the driver (identified as Morales-Gutierrez), who pulled back into the driveway. The officer spoke with Moralas-Gutierrez, and immediately observed signs of intoxication. A second officer arrived on scene and placed Moralas-Gutierrez under arrest for Operating While Intoxicated. The man was transported to Pottawattamie County jail.

No injuries were reported and both vehicles sustained only minor damage.

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The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests took place over the past few days. Early Monday morning, 23-year old William John Lewis, Jr., of Rock Port, MO., was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant. Lewis, Jr. was being held without bond, in the Mills County Jail.

On Sunday, deputies in Mills County arrested 56-year old Janice Lea Kytle, of Council Bluffs, for Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drugs and Unlawful Possession of a Prescription. Her bond was set at $2,000. At the same time, 58-year old Jeffrey Allan Kytle, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. His bond was set at $300. That same day, 29-year old Frank B. Cates, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was also set at $300.

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Police in Glenwood report a woman was arrested over the weekend on drug and alcohol charges. 49-year old Sherry Harvey, of Glenwood, was arrested Saturday for Possession of Prescription Drugs, Public Intoxication, and Theft.

Harvey was later released from the Mills County Jail on $2,300 bond.

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A handful of area communities have received grant awards from Diamond-Vogel Paint, for the 2016 Paint Iowa Beautiful (KIB) program. The program provides free paint to a wide variety of public service projects throughout Iowa. The program is administered through Keep Iowa Beautiful, with the paint provided by the Diamond Vogel Paint Company.

In all, 81 community projects are receiving the free paint. Among them, locally is:

• The Exira Lions Club & Sparton Leo Club of DHK for their Park concession stand project.
• The Exira Fire and EMS Association, for their Fire Hall/EMS Building project.
• The Greenfield/Adair County Historical Society, for Historic buildings.
• The Guthrie Center/Main Street group is receiving paint for a Restaurant & store.
• And, Guthrie County/White Pole Road Development is receiving a paint grant to paint 108 poles along the historic road.

In the 13 year partnership with KIB, Diamond Vogel has provided over 8, 260 gallons of paint, for 585 community projects in Iowa. For more information, go to www.keepiowabeautiful.com.

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The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following a single-vehicle accident this (Monday) morning, three-miles east of Griswold. Officials say a 2007 Chevy Cobalt driven by 25-year old Jessica Ann Tye, of Griswold, was traveling east on Tucson Road at around 7:20-a.m., when the vehicle dropped off onto the shoulder and crossed back over the road, before coming to rest in the north ditch. The car sustained about $3,700 damage.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A trial date has been set for three men charged in a Council Bluffs shooting that left one man dead and another injured. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 22-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty, 19-year-old Ben Lein and 30-year-old Markis Davis are scheduled to go to court May 24th. The men face charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and first-degree robbery for their alleged roles in the fatal shooting of Anthony Walker earlier this month. The shooting also injured Patrick Schutz.

A Pottawattamie County attorney says the three men will be tried together.  Court documents say the March 7th shooting happened while the suspects attempted to rob money and drugs from Walker.

ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – About 400 Onawa-area residents have attended a community event in order to learn more about a proposed drag racing strip that would be built on the site of the former Onawa Municipal Airport. The Sioux City Journal reports that the session at the Onawa Community Center offered information about the potential Onawa Racing and Entertainment Complex.

The City Council’s Alternate Airport Use Committee has proposed turning the old runway into a foundation for a new parking lot/pit area, as well as a 3,400-foot drag strip. The Onawa City Council closed the airport last July, citing a lack of use and revenue. By the end of the racing season this fall, the drag strip could support races in three categories: 1/8-mile, 1,000 feet or 1/4-mile.

The protection that keeps utilities from disconnecting customers in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) ends on Friday. Numbers from the Iowa Utilities Board show around 31-thousand (31,049) customers who are signed up for LIHEAP  had past-due utility bills in February. I-U-B spokesman, Don Tormey, says some of those customers went into the winter season behind on bills from the summer.

“The Utilities Board always encourages those customers to work closely with their utility company, or possibly their community action agency to arrange payment agreements with their utility or to continue to apply for energy assistance payments through April 30th,” Tormey says. The I-U-B numbers show around 212-thousand customers who were not in the LIHEAP program who were behind on their utility bills at the end of February. Tormey says it’s important for customers to communicate with utility companies any time they get behind on bills.

“Utilities want to work with customers. It costs money to go out there and disconnect… to post the property to give proper notice to the customer prior to any disconnection — they are required to do that,” Tormey says. “So, it takes time and effort and money to do that, they want to keep those customers.” If you have talked with your utility company and can’t work something out, Tormey says the I-U-B can help.

“Customers can always call the Iowa Utilities Board customer service staff, and we will assist them with issues that are not resolved directly with their utility,” according to Tormey. He says you can call toll free 1-877-565-4450. He says you can also find out more on their website. “There is information posted on the home page Iowa Utilities Board website at I-U-B-dot-Iowa-dot-gov (iub.iowa.gov). And we also have a LIHEAP informational page, and there is link to that in our website as well,” Tormey says. “But we encourage customers who still think they can apply for energy assistance to do so through their local community action agency through April 30th of this year.

I-U-B information shows customers owe more than 39 million dollars from overdue utility bills, and that includes about nine million from customers in the energy assistance program. The overall number of past-due accounts was down about four percent this year compared to February of 2015. The amount owed is down about four million dollars compared to last year.

(Radio Iowa)