The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest at around 8-p.m. Sunday, of 48-year-old Tom Oren Murphy. He was taken into custody in the 200 Block of W. Oak Street, in Red Oak, for Driving While License Suspended (a simple misdemeanor). Murphy was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on slightly more than $491 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Four weeks before the Primary Election, Iowa Republicans have established a campaign office in central Iowa in preparation for the General Election. Governor Kim Reynolds spoke to a crowd at the West Des Moines location this weekend, listing the G-O-P candidates for statewide office who’ll be on the November ballot.

“And, it’s important that not only do you start at the top, but you go all the way down because our local officials need your help, too,” Reynolds said. “That is our bench.” Reynolds had raised four-point-eight million dollars for her reelection by the end of 2021 and this weekend she was focused on turnout for what she described as a pivotal election in November.

“I think we’re going to see a good turnout,” Reynolds says, “but I’m going to help make that happen.” Reynolds is unopposed in the June 7th Primary. The Iowa Democratic Party is hiring a director to coordinate campaign efforts for candidates across the General Election ballot.

(Radio Iowa) – Two of the three Democrats running for their party’s U.S. Senate nomination say American troops should not be deployed to Ukraine — but candidate Mike Franken says if Russia uses nuclear weapons, plans should change. Franken, a retired Navy Admiral, says the United States and like-minded countries must respond to help pick up the pieces if there’s a nuclear strike on Ukraine.

“We cannot let the use of weapons of mass destruction against a large population and a democracy ever be used and go without retort,” Franken says. “…You have to have a red line in life, otherwise you are not a first rate nation, otherwise you are not an American, you are not a leading democracy of the world.” Candidate Abby Finkenauer, a former congresswoman, applauds the sanctions the U.S. and its allies have imposed on Russia and she supports providing Ukraine with the weapons and humanitarian aid it needs.

“I support making sure that we are doing everything we can, short of sending in U.S. troops, to support Ukraine,” Finkenauer says. Candidate Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden, says the focus should be on working with European allies to support Ukraine and on resettling refugees in the United States.

“We absolutely should not be sending U.S. troops to Ukraine,” Hurst said. The candidates made their comments this weekend during a televised debate hosted by K-C-C-I in Des Moines, K-C-R-G in Cedar Rapids, K-T-I-V in Sioux City and K-W-Q-C in Davenport. The three candidates are competing to run in the General Election against Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who is expected to win his G-O-P Primary race against state senator Jim Carlin.

This weekend’s debate among the three Democrats highlighted their different views on ethanol policy. Hurst says it’s time to scale back the emphasis on ethanol because the auto industry is shifting to electric vehicles. “We can, as a state, either try to squeeze every little last drop out of ethanol as we can,” Hurst said, “or we can take a progressive idea of introducing a third crop into our duopoly of corn and soy and make it a profitable crop for Iowa farmers.” Finkenauer says the Biden Administration made the right move to allow E-15 sales this summer, but she says the move should be made permanent.

“This is a time when we should be using what Iowa does best,” Finkenauer says, “and we should be making sure that we are supporting that industry.” Franken also supports year-round sales of E-15 as a temporary solution, but he says the focus should be on finding alternate uses for ethanol as fuel for planes and ships or for power generation in Iowa. “Giving Iowa a different environmental perspective and not villanize our farmers,” Franken says.

The three U.S. Senate candidates will meet in one more televised forum on Thursday, May 19th on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – Authorities say a Colfax man remains missing after a boating accident on the Des Moines River southeast of Runnels on Saturday afternoon. Marion County Sheriff Jason Sandholdtf says three people in an air boat were trying to help two men in another boat get to a nearby boat ramp, because the other boat was out of gas.

A man and a woman thrown into the water made it to shore, but the sheriff says 34 year old Dustin Lee Dittmer of Colfax has not been seen since.

(Radio Iowa) – A collection of Iowa groups organized a rally on the Iowa Capitol steps this weekend as the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.

That is 17-year-old Shreya Joshi, a student at West Des Moines Valley High School. She says if abortion is banned here, Iowa women will become refugees fleeing to other states where abortion remains legal.

Leah Vanden Bosch, a northwest Iowa native, is a patient advocate for Planned Parenthood and co-president of the Iowa Abortion Access Fund. She says the white Christian community like the one she grew up in is the root of the problem.

A recent volunteer with the Iowa Abortion Access Fund who also spoke at the rally said she will no longer support Democratic candidates because Democrats in congress and the White House are not immediately passing a law to make abortion legal nationwide. Three Democrats who are running for seats in the Iowa legislature also spoke at the rally.

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County, Sunday, arrested a woman for Public Intoxication. Authorities say 33-year-old Madison M. Bowling, of Red Oak, was arrested at 11:55-a.m. in the 800 block of Broad Street, in Red Oak. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.