FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) – A board of supervisors in southeast Iowa has voted to forgo pay raises in the next budget year, citing budget constraints. The Fort Madison Daily Democrat reports that the Lee County supervisors voted Tuesday to pass on the 3% pay increase recommended by the county compensation board or accept the 2% hike that was included in the preliminary 2020-21 budget. Board Chairman Ron Fedler says he’d like the money to go to Lee County’s five libraries, adding that libraries benefit everyone. Directors of the five public libraries asked supervisors for an additional $10,000 in county funding at the board’s Jan. 14 meeting. The five libraries got $2,000 each from the county in the last budget.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety said today (Thursday), that on Jan. 12th at around 3-p.m., the Marion County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the State Fire Marshal Division to investigate suspected improvised explosive devices (IEDs) recovered from a fatal single-truck crash which occurred east of Knoxville around 12:04-a.m. that same day. Following an autopsy, the State Medical Examiner and Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory identified the driver in the crash as Del Sorey of Arnolds Park, Iowa. Sorey was the only person in the vehicle. The truck Sorey was driving caught fire, and much of it and its contents were destroyed.

Search warrants related to the IED’s were served on Wednesday January 15th at three addresses in Milford and Arnolds Park, Iowa, in Dickinson County. The case remains under investigation.

Agencies involved in the ongoing investigation include the State Fire Marshal Division, Iowa State Patrol, Division of Criminal Investigation, Division of Intelligence, Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office, Milford Police Department, Arnolds Park Police Department, Okoboji Police Department, Local Drug Task Force, the Des Moines and Sioux City Offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Omaha Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two separate accidents took place Wednesday, but there were no injuries. The first accident happened at around 9:48-a.m. on Highway 34. Authorities say 22-year old Kendra Mykkel Top, of Villisca, was driving a 2008 Ford Escape, when the SUV went out of control and entered the north ditch, before striking several trees. Damage from the crash amounted to $8,000. No citations were issued, due to the road conditions at the time.

And, at around 4-p.m., a two-vehicle, property-damage accident happened near the intersection of 1st Avenue and 4th Street, in Villisca. Officials say a 1997 Ford snowplow owned by the City of Villisca – and driven by 45-year old Donald Lee Sexton, of Villisca – was traveling west on 4th Street, when the blade caught the pavement and forced the vehicle left-of-center. The plow struck a 2012 Ford F-250 pickup, which was eastbound on 4th. The plow sustained no damage, but the pickup – driven by 35-year old Aaron WIlliam Focht, of Villisca, sustained $7,000 damage. No citations were issued.

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) – A man has been found guilty of setting a fire that injured two people at his eastern Iowa home. A jury convicted 45-year-old Shane Heins on Wednesday of arson and two counts of attempted murder. He’d pleaded guilty June 16 to misdemeanor domestic abuse assault, second offense. The online court records don’t list a sentencing date. Investigators say Heins set the fire March 2 last year in Independence in an effort to kill his wife, Christina Heins, and her uncle, Nick Necker. Both were taken for treatment to University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City.

Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of Democrat Presidential Candidate & former Vice President, Joe Biden, will make stops in southwest/western Iowa this Friday and Saturday. Mrs. Biden will campaign on behalf of her husband in Sidney, Bedford, Corning, and Red Oak, on Friday, and in Logan on Saturday. Read more her area schedule below (Members of the public who wish to attend any of the events should RSVP via the Biden campaign website):

Friday, Jan. 24th Meet and Greet events:

• Sidney, IA -Silver Spur & Grill (Doors open at 10:45. Event Start Time 11-a.m.)
• Bedford, IA – Bedford American Legion (Doors open at 12:45. Event Start Time 1-p.m.)
• Corning, IA – Corning Public Library (Doors open at 3-p.m. Event Start Time 3:15-p.m.)
• Red Oak, IA – Firehouse Restaurant (Doors open at 4:45. Event Start Time 5-p.m.)

Saturday, Jan. 25th Meet & Greet:

• Logan, IA – 4th Avenue Grill (Doors open 10:45-a.m., event starts at 11-a.m.)

Dr. Biden will also make stops in Storm Lake and Humboldt, on Saturday.

Atlantic: 2 hour late start

Charter Oak-Ute: 2 hour late start

CAM/Nodaway Valley: 2 hour late start

Panorama: 2 hour late start

West Central Valley: 2 hour late start

**For more announcements as they come in, see the Cancellations page under Community Hub**