SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Fewer people in Sioux City are reporting dog bites in the wake of a crackdown on pit bulls and vicious dogs. The Sioux City Journal reports that officers responded to 37 percent fewer dog-bite complaints last year than they did in 2007, the year before the city banned pit bulls.

The ban included an exception for owners who registered their pit bulls, but no new pit bulls were allowed. More than 550 were registered before the April 2009 deadline. That number has since declined to 163. Dog experts say it’s not clear whether the decline in reported bites is due to the city’s ban or other factors, such as bites that go unreported.

Pit bull owners say the ban unfairly targets one breed.

Officials with SIRWA (The Southern Iowa Rural Water Association), said that as of Sunday, August 10th, the Boil Water Advisory is still in effect for customers in NW Adams, Montgomery, SE Cass Counties and the Cities of Grant, Carbon, Brooks, Bridgewater and Lyman; account numbers beginning with 047, 048, 081, 082, 084 and 005.

For more information, click on this link: http://www.sirwa.org/html/outages.html

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst stressed an “Iowa nice” message Saturday, during a speech at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, with the underlying hint that her opponent may not always take that approach. “It’s our Iowa way to walk across the street and help a neighbor in need and additionally when Iowans find themselves at odds with each other, the way we should do business is through words, amicably, with a handshake,” Ernst said.

Bruce Braley, the Democrat Ernst faces in November, and his wife recently had a dispute with a neighbor at the Braley’s vacation property in eastern Iowa. Carolyn Braley went to the Holiday Lake Owners Association meeting this spring to complain about the neighbor’s roving chickens. Congressman Braley called the association’s lawyer to say he wanted to avoid a “litigious situation”, but Braley stressed that he believed chickens are not pets.

Ernst was among the first speakers at the event in Ames which has attracted a crowd of Christian conservatives. Ernst is a Sunday School teacher and confirmation class leader in her home church in Stanton and she made a passage in the Bible, about two of Jesus’s disciples who did not recognize Jesus after his crucifixion and before his ascension, a focus in her speech. “What this does is point out to me and I hope it points out to you also that in our everyday lives there is goodness around us and here in Iowa that is particularly true because we have Iowans that help other Iowans,” Ernst said. “That’s our way of doing business in this state.”

Ernst called her seven-minute speech to the crowd of Christian conservatives “a little detour’ from the campaign trail. Ernst closed with this.  “There is goodness, there is truth, there is support, there is love around each one of us in our daily lives, even though we may not see it,” Ernst said. “Believe me. It is right there in front of you.” Some other Republican candidates on November’s ballot were among the first speakers at the summit, including Governor Terry Branstad, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds, Congressman Steve King and Sam Clovis, the Republican candidate for state treasurer.

(Radio Iowa)

School will be starting soon, and the Cass County Democratic Party wants to help elementary-age children whose families are struggling financially. On August 5th, Sherry Toelle, Chair of the Cass County Democratic Party, presented Larry Hunt, CAM Elementary Principal, with school supplies ranging from pencil-top erasers to rulers to school bags.

Toelle said “The Cass County Democrats want to share their party’s values. We like to give people, especially our most vulnerable—children, a hand up in order for them to achieve their potential and to feel good about themselves. By donating these school supplies, we are giving children who might not be able to have new school bags or other supplies that opportunity.”

Mr. Hunt will distribute the supplies between children at both elementary schools—Anita and Massena.

Police in Red Oak arrested two men overnight Saturday into early this (Sunday) morning, on charges of Public Intoxication. At around 11:30-p.m. Saturday, officers took 62-year old Richard Bruce Dedrickson, of Red Oak into custody, and 45-year old Lynn Kenneth Houtchens, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 1-a.m. Sunday. Both men were brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond, each.

Red Oak Police report also, the arrest early Sunday morning of a woman on an assault charge. 24-year old Maria Ann Cadena, of Red Oak, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault, after officers investigated a domestic disturbance at a residence in the 1400 block of Highland Avenue. Cadena was being held without bond, in the Montgomery County Jail.

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County say a Corning man turned himself-in at the Adams County Courthouse, Friday evening. 29-year old Christopher Scott Key was wanted on an active warrant for Domestic Assault. His bond was set at $2,000.

And, an accident Saturday afternoon southwest of Carbon, in Adams County, resulted in one person being sent to the hospital. Authorities say 83-year old Beverly Heaton was driving a Mercury Sable near 1918 Chestnut Avenue just before 2-p.m., when the car slid off the road and hit a utility pole.

Heaton was transported by ambulance to Alegent Health/Mercy Hospital in Corning, for treatment of her injuries.