A traffic stop at around 2-a.m. today (Tuesday) north of Villisca, resulted in two men being arrested on drug charges. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Kevin Eduardo Salinas, of San Antonio, TX., and 19-year old Alex Kristopher Tucker, of Cherokee (IA), were taken into custody on Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, charges. The pair were arrested following a traffic stop near Highway 71 and Highway 34. Both men were being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond, each.

The senator who represents Mount Pleasant is lamenting the now permanent layoffs of workers at the two state-run Mental Health Institutes in southern Iowa. Senator Rich Taylor, a Democrat from Mount Pleasant, notes that Monday was the last day for three dozen workers at the M-H-I in his town. “What a tragic mistake I think we’re making in this state by closing these MHIs down and it’s not that I don’t think that maybe we could do something different,” Taylor says. “It’s mainly that we’re just not ready.”

Some legislators have suggested the closure of the state-run institutes for patients with acute mental illness needed to be delayed until adequate alernatives were in place, but Governor Branstad on Monday made it clear he believes he had the authority as chief executive of state government to close the facilities now. Taylor made an appeal to his fellow senators yesterday (Monday).

“I’d like to issue you all a challenge to contact the governor and tell him: ‘You know, just hold off for a while,” Taylor says. “‘See if we can work out a plan and make this work. If this is what we’re going to do, make sure that we make this work and these people get the services they need.'”

May 18th is the target date to complete layoffs at the Clarinda Mental Health Institute. May 31st is the target date for complete closure of the M-H-I in Mount Pleasant. Governor Branstad has said the state “can’t continue to just throw money at a broken system” and he told reporters on Monday he has was elected “to reduce the size and cost of government.”

(Radio Iowa)

HARLAN, Iowa (AP) — A former western Iowa doctor charged with molesting a 10-year-old girl in 1999 has entered a plea deal. Eighty-two-year-old Wing Tai Fung, now of Ontario, Canada, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and misdemeanor indecent contact with a child. A felony count of second-degree sexual abuse was dismissed.

A criminal complaint accuses Fung of molesting a girl in January 1999 while treating her for a knee sprain at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan, Iowa. He was arrested in April 2014 in Chicago. Fung was sentenced in March to a two-year suspended prison sentence and two years of probation on each count. He also was fined $1,250.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

(Atlantic) — Widespread illness in Shelby County linked to Norovirus. Health officials advise if you experience symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps, to stay home and drink plenty of fluids. People with norovirus illness are contagious from the moment they begin feeling sick until the first few days after they recover. Some people may be contagious for even longer.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man accused of having sex several times with a teenage girl has entered a plea deal. Thirty-two-year-old Joshua Case pleaded guilty to four counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. Court documents say a teenage girl reported having sex about 20 times over a nine-month period in 2013. Records show the girl was 14 or 15 years old throughout that time frame. Case is also accused of having photos of sexual acts with the girl.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to consider the “widespread harm” done by a nationwide salmonella outbreak in sentencing two egg industry executives whose company was responsible. Prosecutors say Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son Peter ran a company that for years “routinely disregarded food safety standards and practices.” . The DeCosters face up to a year in prison when sentenced next week. Both have pleaded guilty to introducing adulterated eggs into interstate commerce.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified the officers involved in a shooting in Waterloo. The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation says officers Thomas Frein and Mark Nissen fired several shots at a vehicle early Sunday morning after 27-year-old Javon Darnell Webb drove into Officer Steve Bose. The officers have been placed on administrative leave. The shooting remains under investigation.