(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Sheriff’s Officials in Pottawattamie County report a woman from Nebraska who was allegedly involved in a shots-fired incident in Sarpy County, NE., Thursday night, and fled from Omaha Police, was arrested in Council Bluffs after a short pursuit. Authorities say 35-year-old Veronika S. Garner, of Omaha, was driving a 2008 Jeep Cherokee when she was stopped near S. 8th Street and 5th Avenue, and taken into custody at around 10:30-p.m.

She faces charges in Pott. County that include Eluding and Interference with Official Acts. She was being held in the Pott. County Jail on a total of $1,300 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall reports persons needing to conduct business with her office need to know that the Treasurer’s Office will close every week day for lunch, from 12:30-until 1:30-p.m., beginning Monday, May 9th, and until further notice. Please consider this when you need to take care of your driver’s license, tags, taxes and other matters.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill co-sponsored by Senator Chuck Grassley would lay the groundwork for anti-trust lawsuits against members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries — or OPEC. “OPEC and partner countries like Russia being the biggest, they blatantly collude to control the oil supply,” Grassley says, “and that of course boosts prices, even in the United States.”

The bill would revoke the immunity countries in OPEC have had from lawsuits in the United States. The U.S. Attorney General could then sue Saudi Arabia and the other 12 countries that are OPEC members in federal court.  “To hold OPEC accountable for its anti-competitive behavior that artificially inflates oil prices,” Grassley says.

The bill is co-sponsored by a Republican senator from Utah and Democratic senators from Vermont and Minnesota. The bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday (Thursday). Federal anti-trust laws give courts authority to determine when American businesses have acted illegally, but it’s unclear how a U.S. court would be able to enforce a guilty verdict against a foreign country. The Reuters news service is reporting that the American Petroleum Institute opposes the bill — warning it could have unintended consequences and is unlikely to have much impact on OPEC operations.

(Lee’s Summit, MO.) – With the Mother’s Day weekend ahead of us, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) points out it is a time of the year with increased traffic on the roadways. The Iowa State Patrol is participating in a special traffic safety initiative this weekend, to focus on unsafe drivers that include speeders and those who fail to move-over for emergency vehicles. The Special Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) takes place now (May 6th) through Sunday.

ISP Col. Nathan Fulk

On Thursday, authorities from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, gathered for a NHTSA Region 7 Mother’s Day Weekend Press Conference in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, to discuss each state’s part in making sure people make it to their destination for Mother’s Day, and safely returning home. Iowa State Patrol Col. Nathan Fulk spoke about some sobering Iowa traffic statistics.

He said the agencies represented at the press conference have a priority of reducing serious injury, fatal crashes on the roadways (and) not just for this upcoming Mother’s Day weekend, but on a more permanent basis.

Iowa’s “Move Over” law is when a motorist encounters any vehicle with flashing lights on the side of the road, they must either move over safely or slow down. Slowing downs doesn’t mean just tapping your brakes, it means reducing your speed by at least 20 miles per hour. If the lane next to you is clear, you must signal to move over, and proceed to change lanes until you are past any vehicle parked, or slowly moving, on the shoulder.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report the arrest at around 1:40-a.m. today (Friday), of 22-year-old Jonah Lee Kirsch, from Des Moines. Kirsch was taken into custody in the 100 block of E> Maple Street, in Red Oak, for Driving While Barred. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a policeman during the riot at the U.S. Capitol last year on January 6th. Thirty-eight-year-old Kyle Young of Redfield pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and faces a maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison.

Court documents indicate Young aimed a strobe light at a police line and was part of a group that spearheaded the beating of D-C Metro Officer Michael Fanone on the Capitol steps. Fanone suffered a heart attack after being repeatedly shocked with his own taser.

Fanone identified Young in a line up as an attacker who threatened to kill him with his own police gun.