(Harlan, Iowa) – The Harlan Police Department reports two recent arrests. On Monday (11/15), 30-year-old Justin Van Carver, of Harlan, was arrested for Possession of Drug paraphernalia. And, on Nov. 9th, 52-year-old Marlene Eleanor Anderson, of Ralston, IA, was arrested on an active Carroll County warrant.

(Radio Iowa) – A refugee resettlement agency has won the bid to create the statewide plan for English Language Learners through the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. Sara Zejnic is the director of refugee and immigrant services at the Catherine McAuley Center in Cedar Rapids. She says the plan will not only focus on students, it will also include recommendations for teachers and parents.

Zejnic says, “I think it’s also shown us the importance of equity and the importance of making sure that districts across the state schools across the state have the resources necessary to welcome and support refugees and immigrants in their communities.” Zejnic says an effective plan is especially important now that hundreds of Afghan refugees will soon be arriving in Iowa. The E-L-L plan will target students in the K-through-12 system and it’s mainly geared toward refugees, humanitarian parolees and survivors of human trafficking.

Anne Dugger, the center’s director of education services, says others will also benefit.  Dugger says, “So, when you look at ‘Hey, we’re making a state plan for refugees,’ the collateral beneficiaries are immigrants, any other ELL — English language learners in the school population.” It’s estimated the new E-L-L plan will go into effect at the beginning of next school year.

(reporting by Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)

(UPDATE 11/18/21: Urbandale Police says two vehicles and several items taken from the Every Step organization on Tuesday have been found in Des Moines.  No arrests have been made in connection with the burglary.)

(Radio Iowa) – Thieves have struck a central Iowa organization just as it was gearing up to deliver cheer to those who are facing the holidays without a loved one. EveryStep C-E-O Tray Wade, says they were preparing their annual Cheer Boxes that go out to those who have lost a loved one. “Every year we partner with a local business and have volunteers come in and wrap and prepare the boxes — over 600 boxes to be delivered throughout the state and beyond. This year we were partnering with a company in Urbandale, and when we came in this morning we realized the space that we were utilizing had been broken into,” Wade says.

He says the thieves loaded up and left. “They took a number of items out of the boxes — items such as games — they targeted our design keychains that have a special message and out EveryStep information on them. But then they also took some larger items. They stole our delivery truck and our delivery van that we use to deliver the boxes out to the community,” according to Wade. Electronic and audio visual devices the group uses are also stolen.

Stolen EveryStep truck

“They actually ended up even taking the treats and the pop and the coffee that we had set aside for the volunteers who come in and give up their time putting these together,” he says. Urbandale police are investigating the thefts. Wade says EveryStep is moving forward with plans to complete the deliveries at the end of this month. “We have a resilient team, and I am incredibly proud of how the team has pulled together and said it might take a little bit of extra work and a lot of time and effort be we’re definitely getting these cheer boxes out to people who need them, who have experienced the loss who are going to go through a really tough holiday season,” he says.

“We don’t quite know how yet — but we are going to make it happen some way.” Wade says anyone who wants to help them recover and move forward can do so by donating. (as said)”Right now we could really use to be quite honest, just cash donations. If they want to participate and want to support this program, they can go to EveryStep.org if they wanted to donate,” Wade says. He says they may also need some more volunteers to help them catch up in getting the new cheer boxes ready.

(Radio Iowa) – A 24-year-old central Iowa man has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a 15 year old. On Friday, the Pleasantville Police Department asked state agents to investigate allegations that a Pleasantville policeman had sexual contact with a 15-year-old. On Monday, Alec Veatch was arrested at his home in Norwalk. Veatch has been charged with third degree sexual abuse, enticing a minor and lascivious acts with a minor.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety, state agents continue to investigate and additional charges will be filed. The agency’s news release described Veatch as a former officer, but did not say whether Veatch resigned or was fired from his job in Pleasantville.

City council records from Pleasantville indicate Veatch is a certified E-M-T and a combat medic with the Iowa National Guard. He was hired in May to fill a full-time vacancy in the Pleasantville Police Department.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – A Shenandoah man showed up at the Page County Jail Tuesday (today) to serve a jail sentence on a previous conviction for OWI/2nd Offense. While being booked, authorities noticed 39-year-old Jonathan Lynn Gray, appeared to be intoxicated.

Jonathan Gray

Through a series of tests, the Deputy determined that Gray was indeed intoxicated. He was then arrested for Public Intoxication and booked into the County Jail on the Public Intoxication and the court ordered sentence.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says a ruling from a federal judge makes it clear accepting federal pandemic relief didn’t prohibit lawmakers from cutting taxes at the state level this year and won’t stand in the way of more tax cuts in 2022. Last March, Reynolds signed onto a lawsuit challenging a provision in the American Rescue Plan that said states could not use the pandemic relief to directly or indirectly offset tax cuts. A federal judge in Alabama has ruled that’s a vague condition for federal funding and congress exceeded its authority. Reynolds says the Biden Administration was trying to punish fiscally responsible states and she says the ruling is a major victory for Iowa taxpayers.

Reynolds already approved a series of tax cuts in June. That was three months after the Biden Administration announced there was no blanket prohibition on cutting taxes at the state level, as long as federal pandemic funds weren’t used to pay for tax cuts.