(Red Oak, Iowa) – Two men from Montgomery County were arrested today (Monday), on separate warrants. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 40-year-old Cory Ross Smith, of Elliott, was arrested at around 3-p.m. in Elliott. Smith was taken into custody on a warrant for failure to appear on an original charge of driving while barred. Smith was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

And, a man from Stanton was arrested at around 1:15-p.m. Monday (11/18), on a warrant for Violation of Probation. Authorities say 31-year-old Tylor Daniel Fine was arrested in Stanton. He was also being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Natural Resources Commission approved construction projects in Franklin, Cerro Gordo, and Poweshiek County at their recent meeting. Travis Baker of the D-N-R says one of the projects is replacing the lagoon wastewater treatment system at Beeds Lake State Park northwest of Hampton. “The lagoon can no longer meet discharge effluent limits, and so this project will convey wastewater to the City of Hampton by constructing a three-and-a-half mile long, four-inch P-V-C force main. In addition to that, work will include the construction of approximately 15-hundred feet of gravity sewer and a lift station,” he says.

The lagoon system services the park office, campground, and a 39-house subdivision located on the north side of the lake.  “The existing lagoons will be decommissioned. Involved in that decommissioning, the contract will be responsible for removing the sludge, treating that,” Baker says. The homes will be hooked into the system and eventually pay a rate for the sewer treatment. The project will cost around one-point-seven million dollars, and be completed in May of 2026.

The N-R-C approved improvements to the Clear Lake Campground in Cerro Gordo County. Baker says the campground was built in 1941 with 176 sites that were fairly close to each other. The upgrade will rebuild 61 sites. “And includes seven full hookup sites, with pull through 50 amp electric sites and 12 back in 50 amp electric sites. In addition, along with this project, we will have installed three new A-D-A accessible concrete sites,” he says. The work is expected to be completed in September of 2025.

Commissioners approved a clean up plan for Diamond Lake in Poweshiek County. “The  Lake was constructed in the 1950s and had the 20-thousand-672 acre watershed. The lake suffers from periodic algae blooms that lead to poor water clarity,” Baker says. “This project will clean out approximately 32-thousand cubic yards of deposited sediment to existing ponds. Well, it’s constructing new sediment pond.”

The D-N-R lake restoration fund will pay for 75 percent of the nearly 710-thousand dollar cost and the county will pay the rest. The work is expected to be completed in September of 2025.

(Radio Iowa) – Information from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office shows three recounts have been requested in three legislative races. Republican Mark Hanson requested a recount in his Senate District 14 race against Democrat incumbent Sarah Trone Garriott as he trails by 24 votes.

Democrat incumbent Senator Nate Boulton trails Republican Mike Pike by 44 votes in District 20 and wants a recount.

Republican Nathan Ramker asked for a recount in House District 98 where results show Democratic incumbent Monica Kurth winning by 45 votes.

County election workers are aiming to complete the recounts before December 2nd when state officials will meet to certify the results.

(Sidney, Iowa) – The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports a child was rescued by a Sheriff’s Deputy from a burning vehicle, following an incident that resulted in a fatal crash in Missouri, Sunday morning. Authorities say at around 6:12-a.m., Sunday, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a woman at Grape Community Hospital, in Hamburg, Iowa, who had experienced a domestic assault. The Iowa State Patrol was requested to assist with the call.

The woman reported that she and her 1-year-old child had been kidnapped in Nebraska by a male acquaintance. He fled Nebraska law enforcement into Iowa. The man dropped her off at the hospital but fled with the child in a 2023 Kia Sorento. She also reported the man was suicidal and homicidal.

Fremont County deputies were informed that the Iowa State Patrol was pursuing the vehicle near the intersection of Highway 2 and Interstate 29 (Exit 10). Deputies attempted to intercept the pursuit near Hamburg and began traveling northbound on Interstate 29 from Exit 1. They located the vehicle near the 5-mile marker, where it was being pursued by Iowa State Patrol troopers. The suspect vehicle was traveling southbound in the northbound left lane at a high rate of speed, while troopers followed in the southbound lanes.

The vehicle attempted to strike both Fremont County deputies. One deputy, a nine-year law enforcement veteran, pursued the suspect vehicle in the northbound lanes starting at mile marker 5, with emergency lights activated. Other law enforcement continued the pursuit in the southbound lanes. Missouri authorities were notified as the pursuit crossed into Missouri.

Upon reaching the 123-mile marker of Interstate 29 in Atchison County, Missouri, the Kia Sorento collided with a 2013 Ford Focus traveling northbound in the left lane, as the Ford was passing a 2024 Volvo semi-truck. The Volvo swerved to avoid the crash but struck a 2023 Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicle driven by a Fremont County deputy, who was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes.

The Kia came to a stop on the northbound Nishnabotna River Bridge, fully engulfed in flames. The Ford Focus came to rest in the median, as did both the patrol vehicle and the semi-truck. A Fremont County deputy, a 39-year law enforcement veteran, rescued the 1-year-old child from the burning vehicle. The child was airlifted to a hospital in Omaha with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Fremont County deputy struck by the semi was treated and released from a local hospital. The Missouri State Patrol is investigating the collision. Authorities in Missouri says the 18-year-old male driver of the Ford Focus and an 18-year-old female passenger in the car died in the crash. And second 18-year-old female in the car suffered serious injuries. All three are from Kearney, Mo. The 29-year-old driver of the KIA Sorento, from Bellevue, NE,  also died in the crash. And, the 32-year-old Fremont County Deputy from Tabor, who was in the Tahoe, suffered minor injuries. The driver of the semi – from Ontario, Canada – was not injured.

No names have been released. An investigation by the Missouri State Patrol is ongoing at this time.

(Rural Menlo, Iowa) – A Polk County man suffered suspected minor injuries, during a cement truck rollover accident northeast of Menlo, Thursday afternoon. According to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, 37-year-old Jamal Brenard Jones, of West Des Moines, was driving a fully-loaded 2014 Freightliner cement truck westbound on 315th Street, just west of Talon Avenue, when the vehicle got too close to the north ditch and the soft shoulder on the gravel road.

The truck was pulled into the north ditch and entered the ditch before it rolled over. The report said Jones was distracted because the rotating drum on the cement truck was not spinning, and he was trying to get to start spinning again. Jones was wearing his seat belt when the truck rolled-over. He had to break out the windshield in order to exit the vehicle. He was treated for minor injuries by Stuart EMS.

No citations were issued, but the Sheriff’s report said Failure to keep in the proper lane and loss of control were contributing factors in the crash. The truck was a total loss, as the damage estimated to be $50,000.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two weekend arrests. Late Saturday morning, 57-year-old Derrick Lee Dornburgh, of Malvern, was arrested for OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

At around 2:20-a.m. Sunday, 20-year-old Christopher Lee Derry, of Sioux Falls, SD, was arrested following a traffic stop on Interstate 29, at mile marker 42  in Mills County. Derry was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says Robert F. Kennedy Junior could help to answer many questions that haven’t been raised before, if he’s confirmed as the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, and Grassley says he’s encouraged by the choice of Kennedy to head H-H-S.

“What’s wrong with bringing some new ideas in?” Grassley says. “It’s whether or not those ideas are adopted or not, and there’s no way I could make a prediction on that, but I don’t think we should be afraid to review any policies of the government and change them if necessary.”

Kennedy abandoned his bid for the White House after striking a deal to give Donald Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration. Grassley says he sees an advantage to having a businessman who is not a politician raising questions about government programs.  “That somebody comes in from the outside, whether it’s the president of the United States or RFK Junior, raising these questions seems to be pretty important, just to make sure that government is functioning to the will of the people.”

During the campaign, Kennedy said Trump had asked him to reorganize several agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration. Trump also proposes creating a Department of Government Efficiency to be co-chaired by billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. It would look into ways to slash government regulations and spending while downsizing the federal workforce. Grassley says he’d welcome such a review.

“If they’re going to do their job right, every nook and cranny of the federal government and its programs need to be looked into,” Grassley says. “I would be very concerned if they cut away the safety net for American family farmers, but beyond the safety net, when you’ve got at least dozens and maybe hundreds of different programs in the Department of Agriculture, I wouldn’t say that every one of them should be immune from consideration.”

Musk pledged to cut two-trillion dollars from the federal budget, but he’s not offered many specifics on how he’d go about it.