The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a man wanted on a Union County warrant for Failure to Appear in Court on a 5th Degree Criminal Mischief charge, was arrested today (Friday), at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. 25-year old Christopher Dale Browning, of Creston, was arrested at around 12:40-a.m.  He was later released on $300 bond.

Iowans are being warned about a scam that’s surfaced this week, following Wednesday’s world record Powerball drawing. Jim Hegarty, at the Better Business Bureau, says crooks are always looking for new ways to separate unsuspecting folks from their money. “We’ll probably start seeing texts and emails that are going out to people saying, ‘We’re sorry you weren’t a grand prize winner but you were a secondary winner,'” Hegarty says. They’ll claim your numbers were picked and you’re eligible to collect a few hundred-thousand dollars. “You call a number and then you’ll be connected with scammers and they’re going to work you,” he says.

Hegarty says Iowans need to be very wary of this type of email, letter or phone call. “If you think this through, there’s no way they can know who you are, they don’t know who has bought these tickets,” he says. “It’s like the foreign lottery scam that we’ve seen for years. You get a letter in the mail saying you’re the grand prize winner of a foreign lottery that you entered because you shopped at Walmart or Target or whatever.”

Con artists have learned to make it appear that they’re legitimate, so Hegarty says you need to be on guard when answering your phone and when opening your mail and email. “The tip-off the the rip-off is that you’ve been contacted,” he says. “They’ll spoof the email to make it look like it’s coming from Powerball, they’ll spoof phone calls to make it look like that, too, so don’t trust caller I-D, don’t trust the address.” Hegarty says if one of these scammers calls you, simply hang up.

(Radio Iowa)

BOUTON, Iowa (AP) – A more than $12,000 grant will soon allow archaeologists to research a 1850s party house in rural Dallas County. The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs recently gave the Dallas County Conservation Board the grant for the project on the Dayton House’s 11-acre plot in Bouton.

The building was originally a stopover for stagecoach riders, but turned into a place for dancing, drinking and horse racing. The board’s historical and cultural resources coordinator Pete Malmberg says he hopes the property gains a National Register of Historic Places nomination from the project’s findings, which could include traces of two race tracks.

Bids for the archaeological survey will go out later this year. Malmberg says the house will open for rentals this spring or summer.

The Creston Police Department reports the driver of a van was cited following an accident Thursday morning on S. Peterson Street. Officials say 23-year old Codie Cook, of Creston, was cited for Operating a motor vehicle while license suspended, and Failure to Maintain Control.

Cook had just gotten off work and was driving a 2005 Dodge Caravan southbound on S. Peterson Street at around 6:30-a.m., when he fell asleep at the wheel. The van hit the left rear of a parked, 2000 Dodge Intrepid, causing a total of $2,000 damage. No injuries were reported.