The Creston Police Department reports 25-year old Jordanne Rae Beardsley, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday afternoon. Beardsley was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended, and was later released on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — A spacecraft carrying instruments designed and built at the University of Iowa is now the second man-made object to leave our solar system and it’s heading off into interstellar space. Don Gurnett, a U-I professor emeritus, helped craft the plasma wave instrument onboard Voyager 2, which has passed the outer boundary of the sun’s influence, what’s known as the heliosphere. That’s a long, long way away. “Think of the speed of light, that’s the speed at which a radio wave propagates, and it takes 19 hours now for the radio signal to get from Voyager 1 back to the Earth,” Gurnett says. “It’s just out there at a staggeringly large distance.”

This artist’s concept shows one of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft entering interstellar space, or the space between stars. This region is dominated by plasma ejected by the death of giant stars millions of years ago. Hotter, sparser plasma fills the environment inside our solar bubble. (JPL/NASA)

Voyagers 1 and 2 were launched within weeks of one another in 1977 and the first spacecraft reached interstellar space in 2012. Gurnett and his research team now confirm, Voyager 2 has joined its twin in going beyond the solar system. It’s unclear how long the sub-compact-car-sized craft will continue to send messages we can receive. “They have a nuclear power supply onboard, that’s how we get the electricity to run the transmitter,” Gurnett says. “It’s going down at the rate of about four watts per year and the best testaments might be we can continue to operate for another ten years but that’s not really certain.”

One of the Mars rovers, Opportunity, was designed to explore the Red Planet for about 90 days but managed to continue gathering and sending back data for more than 14 years. Likewise, the Voyagers are proving very long-lived. “It is amazing,” Gurnett says. “The spacecraft, we originally designed it just to get to Jupiter and Saturn. That was about a four year trip, if I remember right.” The Voyagers have enduring that four years — times a factor of ten and then some — now at 42 years and counting. They’re now traveling at roughly 34-thousand miles an hour. While deep space is very cold, perhaps 450-degrees below zero, Gurnett says now that the Voyagers are beyond our solar system, they may continue to thrive. “Once you get this far from the sun and we’re no longer flying by other planets, the temperature is very stable and that’s an important factor for the longevity of electronics,” Gurnett says. “What you don’t want is a lot of temperature variation, cyling up and down. That tends to break solder joints, in case you wonder why.”

Astronomer Carl Sagan successfully pushed NASA to have the Voyagers stocked with Earthly audio recordings, photographs, writings and even a map of our solar system, should the spacecrafts ever be encountered by other-worldly beings. The fictional Voyager 6 was the subject of the 1979 movie, “Star Trek, The Motion Picture,” as alien life forms found the far-traveling probe and sent it back toward Earth on a deadly, new mission. Gurnett says there are clear lines that draw distinctions between science fiction and science fact. “Of course, I think the chances of an alien life finding it out there are probably nil to none,” Gurnett says. “It’s really kind of a romantic idea.”

After a 60-year career at the U-I, Gurnett retired earlier this year at age 79. He says the Voyagers’ accomplishments are a milestone given their longevity — and he laughs — “the longevity of people like me.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of using bogus cards to steal money from ATMs in the Cedar Rapids area has taken a plea deal. The Gazette reports that 21-year-old Romica Martuica, who is from Romania, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The charges: illegal transactions with an access device and aggravated identity theft. He originally was charged with 10 related counts. His sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

A court document shows that Martuica and another man used more than 50 magnetic strip cards on Feb. 16 to steal nearly $8,700. Authorities say the magnetic cards contained the account numbers of different victims.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says he’s continuing to work on a plan to fix the flaws in Iowa’s list of people who cannot vote due to felony convictions.  “My office is going to be assigning more resources to this issue,” Pate says, “but I want to make sure the legislature is aware of that and will choose to support that effort.”

Iowa is one of two states that doesn’t automatically restore voting rights to felons who complete their sentence. The Des Moines Register has reported some Iowans have been wrongly identified as felons and their ballots were improperly thrown out.

This summer, the Brennan Center for Justice and the League of Women Voters of Iowa warned Pate that the situation might violate federal law. Pate says he’ll present options to lawmakers and they’ll decide how to proceed. “It’s kind of like a menu: ‘Here’s what we can do. Here’s what some of those projected costs are,'” Pate says. “And then the legislature and the governor’s office will have something to say about what pieces they’re going to fund.”

A Brennan Center lawyer says she expected to see Pate’s proposal released in mid-October, before this week’s municipal and school board elections.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a late harvest, wet corn and the fall chill have combined to multiply demand for propane in Iowa and other states. Iowa’s agriculture secretary told The Des Moines Register that the demand has created a supply pinch as farmers rush to bring in their crops. A Nebraska Propane Gas Association official says the shortage is more of a transport problem in meeting the propane demanded by farmers, grain elevators and rural residents.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Chuck Grassley doesn’t agree with calls from President Donald Trump and other Republicans to reveal the identity of the whistleblower who first reported concerns about Trump’s dealings with the Ukrainian president. Grassley, who wrote significant portions of federal whistleblower laws, says they ensure anonymity for whistleblowers and should be followed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals says an Ottumwa police chief and the local civil service commission were right to fire a police sergeant for failure to be truthful during an internal investigation into a January 2017 arrest. Former Ottumwa police Sgt. Mark Milligan was fired after an internal investigation concluded he was dishonest about his interactions during the incident in which another officer and a female juvenile argued and she was arrested on charges that were later dropped.

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — A jury has convicted a man of a hate crime and other counts for tearing down and burning an LGBTQ flag flying at a church in Ames. Television station KCCI reports that 30-year-old Adolfo Martinez was found guilty Wednesday of a hate crime, third-degree harassment and being a habitual offender. Martinez was arrested in June. He told KCCI in an interview that he tore down the flag that had been hanging from the United Church of Christ and burned it because he opposes homosexuality.

The Atlantic City Council met in a regular session Wednesday evening. During their meeting, Atlantic Public Library Director Michelle Anderson presented her annual report, during which she mentioned visitor/user statistics.

Anderson said there were over 51,000 visits to the library over the past fiscal year, which was higher than in past years. 6,321 people attended 367 programs offered inside and outside the Atlantic Public Library. There were over 15,000 Wi-Fi connections, which was up 10% over last year. There were 7,700 public computer uses, which was down from the previous, because more people are using personal devices to access what they need from the library. Circulation (checking out material) amounted to 58,477, which was a slight drop from last year. Online resources usage nearly doubled to 13,190.

Michelle Anderson said also, Library Youth Services Librarian Julie Tjepkes is retiring after 32 years of service. A public retirement party to honor her is set to take place Saturday, Dec. 7th, from 1-until 3-p.m., at the Library. Anderson mentioned some other future events as well: Renovation of the lobby and Children’s Library will begin Dec. 2nd. Work is expected to take about three months, and includes plaster repair, LED lighting upgrades, a new ceiling, flooring and paint, new furniture and a new layout for easily defined areas.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council, by a vote of 6-to 1 (With Chris Jimerson the only No vote),  approved an engineering study to try and find ways of dealing with Storm Water run-off issues in the area of the Atlantic Golf and Country Club, and Palm Street area near the golf course. The cost of the watershed will amount to approximately $8,700 (less than previously thought), and will be paid for through the Storm Water Utility Fund.

The Council, Wednesday, tabled action on approving a Resolution pertaining to the Hotel Whitney Urban Renewal Area Revenue Fund, with regard to TIF obligations. City Administrator John Lund said there was an apparent confusion and/or misunderstanding with regard to the legal language of the agreement. The matter will come before the Council on Dec. 2nd. Lund said also, the Department of Management has released information pertaining to the Residential Rollback. He said “It took a big dive…down about 1%,” which is good news for property owners, and which shouldn’t be too much of a problem for the City, but he still has some concerns about the impact it may have on any growth in tax revenue the City may encounter.

And, the Atlantic City Council approved the FY 2019 Urban Renewal Report which is required by the State and is a summary of accounting in areas the city has spent funds, including the Road Use Tax Fund. The Council then approved a bid of $37,340 from Pierce Pump, Inc., for the Ash Street Sanitary Sewer replacement/repair project (in the vicinity of 14th Street). In other news, Councilman Chris Jimerson announced Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees is stepping down. He will remain with the fire department, and an election will be held in December to replace him.

One moment of humor during the meeting came when Councilperson-elect Grace Garrett introduced herself. Her opponent in Tuesday’s election, Councilman Dana Halder, congratulated her on her win – and made a reference to the Mueller Report when he said “I think you colluded with Russia but I won’t say anything…”