Police in Creston report one person was transported to the hospital, following a collision Friday afternoon at Highway 25/Sumner Avenue, & W. Howard Street. Authorities say a 2007 GMC SUV driven by 25-year old Matthew Avery Parks, of Creston, was stopped at stop sign on Howard Street, facing west, and proceeded to continue across Sumner Avenue, when it was struck on the driver’s side, by a northbound 1994 Ford Ranger pickup. The accident happened at around 12:10-p.m.

The driver of the pickup, 51-year old Sheila Ann Culbert, of Creston, suffered suspected minor/non-incapacitating injuries, and was taken by EMS ground to the Greater Regional Medical Center, in Creston.

According to Police report, Parks failed to yield to the pickup. No citations were issued. Damage from the collision amounted to $7,000. Both vehicles were declared a total loss.

Police in Red Oak, Sunday evening, arrested a woman for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. 41-year old Heidi Ann Divis, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 5:30-p.m., at 4th and Elm Streets, in Red Oak. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – Three Republicans in the U.S. Senate have tested positive for Covid, but Senator Chuck Grassley’s spokesman says the 87-year-old senator will not be tested. Grassley and Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who has the virus, were both at a Judiciary Committee meeting last Thursday, but Grassley spokesman Michael Zona says Grassley’s doctors do not recommend that he be tested because Grassley wasn’t seated next to Senator Lee.

Zona says Grassley hasn’t had close contact with anyone suspected or confirmed to have the virus. Grassley is the president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, which makes him third in the line of succession to the presidency, behind the speaker of the House and the vice president. Grassley issued a statement via Twitter, saying he regularly prays for President Trump and others in authority, but added an additional prayer that Trump and the first lady get well soon from the coronavirus.

Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Joni Ernst, did take a Covid test and found out this weekend it was negative.

(Radio Iowa) – J.D. Scholten, the Democrat running for Iowa’s fourth district congressional seat, says he’s hoping President Trump’s Covid diagnosis raises awareness about what health experts recommend to combat the spread of coronavirus. “First of all, my prayers go to the president and first lady and hoping for a speedy recovery,” Scholten says. “What it shows is this pandemic and this virus doesn’t discriminate.”

Scholten stops short of calling for a national mandate that everyone wear face coverings in public, but Scholten says he’s hoping the president’s case raises awareness about the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing. “I think there should be a national plan. I mean we were all willing to commit in March to stay home and there was never that next step,” Scholten says, “and so we have this ‘one foot in, one foot out’ approach that just continues to prolongs it.”

Scholten says the next coronavirus relief package should include funding for more robust testing as well as grants for small businesses and biofuels plants. Scholten made his comments this weekend on the “Iowa Press” program on Iowa P-B-S. He faces Republican nominee Randy Feenstra of Hull in this year’s General Election. Scholten came within three points of defeating Republican Congressman Steve King in 2018.

(Radio Iowa) – A man has been taken into custody after a standoff with the Fort Dodge Police over the weekend. The man identified by police as Christopher Smith, faces multiple charges from the incident. There were warrants for Smith’s arrest issued prior to this incident. He barricaded himself in a bedroom of a residence.

Officers eventually deployed a chemical into the room, forcing Smith out. After he jumped out of a bedroom window officers were able to take him into custody.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

UNDATED (AP) — Iowa election officials will begin mailing out absentee ballots Monday (today), and it’s the first day voters can go to their county auditor’s offices or a satellite locations to vote early in person. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says as of Friday that 632,549 voters have requested an absentee ballot. Democrats requested more than 335,000 ballots, Republicans requested nearly 187,000 and no-party voters asked for about 108,000 ballots. County officials are saying the pace is far ahead of previous elections. In Polk County, for example, Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald said he received 111,462 ballot requests as of Oct. 1, compared with 45,191 requests at the same time in 2016. Election Day is Nov. 3.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa continues to have one of the nation’s highest rates of coronavirus infections, and the state reported 684 new cases and four new deaths on Sunday. The state said Sunday that as of 10 a.m. there had been 92,545 cases of COVID-19 and 1,381 deaths related to the virus in Iowa since the pandemic began. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Iowa has risen over the past two weeks from 15.34% on Sept. 19 to 18.17% on Saturday. That was the fifth-highest positivity rate in the nation on Saturday.

IRETON, Iowa (AP) — A body was found inside a burned vehicle in a northwest Iowa cornfield. The Sioux County Sheriff’s office said the burning vehicle was reported around 9 p.m. Friday in a cornfield about 1.5 miles north of the northwest Iowa town of Ireton. The 2007 Jeep Commander was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. The sheriff’s office said the body was found inside the Jeep after the fire was extinguished. An autopsy will be performed on the body. Authorities didn’t immediately release the name of the victim.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds is allowing bars in Iowa’s two largest college towns to reopen next week after a five-week closure helped stop coronavirus outbreaks among young adults. Reynolds signed an order allowing bars to reopen Monday in Johnson and Story counties as long as they follow social-distancing rules. Breweries, wineries and distilleries are allowed to reopen almost immediately, on Friday at 5 p.m. The venues are often packed with University of Iowa and Iowa State University students. The order says all customers must consume their food and drinks while seated at a bar, booth or table, and must be at least 6 feet apart.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday morning, will continue an ongoing discussion with regard to the Iowa DOT’s proposed closing of 570th Street at the Interstate 80 underpass. The Board has held two previous discussions on the matter. The DOT proposes making I-80 six-lanes, which would require the elimination of some underpasses across the state for the purpose of widening the road.

During last week’s meeting, Cass County Supervisor Steve Green said he has visited with several people currently using the underpass for farming operations and other travel. All persons affected by the DOT plan would like to see the underpass remain open, according to Green, but if that’s not possible, would request compensation for the resulting increased business operating expenses.

Green said at the last meeting, he wanted more research into arrangements that were made (back in the 1950’s, when the Interstate was first proposed and planned for), when the current right-of-way was transferred to the State, and he wanted to arrange a meeting with DOT officials either in-person, or electronically.

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors will act on a Resolution assigning a county-held tax sale certificate to the City of Atlantic, and to enter into an agreement to abate the taxes, if Atlantic acquires ownership of the parcel at 101 Cedar Street.  The meeting begins at 9-a.m., both in-person at the Cass County Courthouse, and electronically (Meeting ID: 138 870 131  Password: 012064).