The Red Oak Police Department reports two people were arrested Friday on separate charges of Driving While Suspended. Officials say 42-year-old James LeRoy Shirley, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10-p.m. in the 200 block of N. Broadway Street. And, 42-year-old Brianna Nedean Gasper, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 7-p.m. Friday, in the 600 block of E. Washington Street, in Red Oak. Bond for both drivers was set at $491.25, each.

(Region) – The end of Daylight Saving Time takes place early Sunday morning. We’ll turn the clocks back an hour, and in return (in theory), we get and extra hour of sleep. Daylight Saving Time (DST), sometimes incorrectly called by the plural Daylight Savings Time, concludes at 2 a.m. local time, on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021.

The number of daylight hours will continue to get shorter until the winter solstice starts on Dec. 21st.  Afterward, the length of days will then begin to increase until the summer solstice on June 21, 2022. But the days will actually begin to feel a bit longer two weeks before the solstice. That’s because the earliest sunset of the year happens before the solstice, and in 2021, it occurs on Tuesday, December 7.

The changeover to Standard Time (CST) is usually when fire officials recommend changing your smoke detector batteries, which typically last about six-months.

(Villisca, Iowa) – City officials in Villisca, Friday, reported that a Boil Advisory that had been in effect since Wednesday, is no longer in effect.

Residents in two areas of town were being asked to boil water following water main work conducted earlier in the week.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa says she’s opposed to having the federal government negotiate to lower the prices of prescription medicine covered by Medicare. Democrats have inserted this proposal in a bill that was voted upon, Friday. Miller-Meeks, an eye doctor, says prescription drug cost controls would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.

“When we give the government more control, we undermine what a physician — all of their knowledge, all of their experience, that of our compounding pharmacists, those with health care experience — and how they can prescribe the best treatments for their patients,” Miller-Meeks said during an online forum organized by the House GOP Leader’s office, “so it’s a tremendous concern to all of us — not just price, but also access to care, but also access to quality care.”

Marianette Miller-Meeks. (photo from Miller-Meeks office.)

The VA has been able to negotiate the prices for prescription drugs for veterans under the agency’s care, but this would be the first time Medicare could negotiate prices for some of the medications prescribed to Americans over the age of 65. The plan would cover only the most expensive drugs and pricing negotiations wouldn’t start until 2023. Miller-Meeks suggested it’s a slippery slope. While Miller-Meeks did not directly cite medications that have primarily been used to treat malaria or to deworm livestock, she criticized regulations during the pandemic which have prevented doctors from prescribing alternative drugs for Covid patients.

“We’ve had governors make decisions over what drugs doctors can prescribe their patients under the penalty of doctors losing their license,” Miller-Meeks said. “We’ve seen government bureaucracy interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, whether it’s prescribing treatments, what they can get through hospitalization.”