ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have found the bodies of two people inside a home in an Ankeny mobile home community. Officers sent to check on the welfare of the two found the bodies Monday morning at the Autumn Ridge community. Ankeny Police Lt. Brian Huggins says the two had been dead for “an extended period of time.” It’s not yet clear whether a crime was involved in the deaths. Autopsies were scheduled. The names of the two have not been released.

Red Oak Police report two people were arrested and a juvenile was cited into court early this (Tuesday) morning. Officers responded to the 200 block of E. Oak Street in Red Oak at around 11:35-p.m. Monday, for a noise complaint. After further investigation, a 17-year old was cited into juvenile court, for possession of a controlled substance/marijuana, and later released to a parent. 18-year old Devinne Janice Moore, of Red Oak, was cited at around 12:15-a.m., for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and released at the scene. And, 42-year old Tara Lynn Sullivan, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 12:15 also, on an out-of-state warrant for being a Fugitive from Justice. Sullivan was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

Monday evening, Red Oak Police were called to the area of N. 4th Street and E. Maple Street, for a possible domestic dispute. Following an investigation, 27-year old Shelby Mae Schmitz-Cantrell, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9:35-p.m., for Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail. Red Oak Police were assisted at the scene by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies.

It’s Primary Day in Iowa. The polls open at seven o’clock. Iowa’s new voter verification law is still in what Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate calls the “soft roll out” phase, but Pate says voters at nearly two-thousand precincts around the state will be asked to show a form of state-sanctioned identification. “A driver’s license or a voter ID card with their PIN number on it or a non-operator’s license that they get from a driver’s (license) station or a military ID,” Pate says. “Any of those would work, including a passport.”

Voters who do NOT bring any of those approved forms of I-D with them will be able to sign a document, declaring they are who they say they are and their ballots will be counted. Starting in January of 2019, though, Iowa voters who do not have an I-D at their polling place will cast a “provisional” ballot and will be required to follow up with a visit to their county auditor’s office to show an I-D so their ballot may be counted.

Ninety-two of Iowa’s 99 counties will be able to scan the digital strip on a driver’s license or voter I-D to check in voters today (Tuesday). However in Polk, Linn and five other counties, poll workers will have to manually find a number on the I-D and check the voter registration rolls to see if it’s an eligible voter. “They have not updated their technology,” Pate says.

Pate isn’t expecting voters to have to wait long to cast their ballots today (Tuesday).  “It’s a lot faster than the old school where you used to have the lists in front of you and you’d have to go through pages and pages and look for your name on it and make sure it’s the right John Smith or Paul Pate,” Pate says. “So if there’s a line, I would say it’s just because of higher voter turn-out and I would say if I were an auditor, I would anticipate higher volume in your predominantly Democratic precincts.”

That’s because Democrats have a statewide race for governor in their Primary. There’s already been a record-setting number of requests for absentee ballots from those who voted early. Those absentee ballots had to be postmarked by yesterday (Monday) to be counted today (Tuesday). Pate says county auditors start counting absentee ballots at any time today.  “And when the poll workers do it, it’s just like the other polls. There’s a Democrat and a Republican poll worker, working together,” Pate says. “That way it’s a checked process.”

The first votes to be reported this evening AFTER the polls close are likely the tally of those absentee or “early” votes from each precinct. There are THREE party primaries today (Tuesday) — one for Democrats, one for Republicans and one for Libertarians. Libertarians reached “official party status” in 2016 when their presidential candidate got at least two percent of the vote in Iowa. There are a dozen Libertarians running for office and two Libertarians are running for governor. Pate says, for Libertarians, today’s (Tuesday’s) Primary is “the starting block” for the party.

“There’s an unknown quantity in the sense that we haven’t had a third party in a some time. They have a message they’re trying to offer voters as a reason to vote for them,” Pate says. “The real test will come in the fall.”

To retain “official party status” — the nominee Libertarians pick to run for governor on the November ballot must get at least two percent of the vote. As of June 1st, 10-thousand Iowans had registered as Libertarian voters.

(Radio Iowa)

A man and a woman were taken into custody Monday afternoon on motor vehicle theft and other charges. Deputies in Fremont County arrested 46-year old Brian Vanderpool, of Thurman, and 18-year old Faith Clemmons, of Emerson. The pair was taken into custody just before 2-p.m., in the 1100 block of Bluff Road, near Emerson.

Vanderpool

Clemmons

Deputies were investigating a report of a stolen vehicle taken out of Mills County, and located both subjects with the vehicle. Brian Vanderpool, who out on bond from a Fremont County arrest on April 29th, was placed under arrest for Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle, a Class D Felony. Vanderpool was being held on $5,000 cash bond.

Faith Clemmons, who was out on bond from a Mills County arrest in April of 2018, was placed under arrest for Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle a Class D Felony, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, (Meth), a Simple Misdemeanor. Clemmons was being held on $5,300 cash bond.  Other charges are pending.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office with the arrest.

A crash between a pickup truck and a semi Monday afternoon, in northern Iowa’s Webster County, left one person dead, another injured. The Iowa State Patrol says a 1995 Chevy truck driven by 55-year old Mark Walter Mueggenberg, of Fort Dodge, was traveling east on County Road D-20 at around 2:55-p.m., at the same time a Peterbilt semi, driven by 67-year old Larry Edward Law, of Duncombe, was traveling west.

On a curve in the road, the Chevy crossed the center line just to the west of Xavier Avenue, and struck the semi. The Chevy then came to rest in the south ditch, and became engulfed in flames. Mueggenberg died at the scene. The semi came to rest on its side in the north ditch. Law was treated for minor injuries at the scene.

The accident remains under investigation.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democrats will have plenty of options as they choose an opponent to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, but it’s unclear whether the top vote-getter in the primary will actually be on the November ballot. That’s because Iowa law requires a primary candidate to secure 35 percent of the vote to win. If none of the candidates reaches that threshold Tuesday, the Democratic nomination will be decided at a state convention later in June.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s primary election will largely feature Democrats as candidates vie to face Republicans who hold most statewide and congressional offices. Five Democrats are competing for their party’s nomination to oppose Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, and big fields of Democrats also are running for U.S. House seats, reflecting that three of the four districts are held by Republicans.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a 40-year-old man who was shot to death in a neighborhood west of downtown Des Moines. Police said in a news release Monday that the victim was Jerry Goff, who lived in Des Moines. Police say Goff died at a hospital after being taken there by private vehicle Sunday morning. No arrests have been reported.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — The story of an Iowa sheriff who asked one of his deputies to ticket him after illegally riding his all-terrain vehicle on a highway was different than initially portrayed .

Webster County Sheriff James Stubbs acknowledged Monday it took him 10 days to ask the deputy to cite him for the May 20 incident after he was initially let go for illegally riding his ATV on the shoulder of Highway 169. He says the deputy used his discretion to not write a citation and that no video of the stop exists.

Stubbs says he thought about the incident days later and decided it “wasn’t right” for him to dodge a ticket. He says he had the deputy issue the citation at his home May 30.  Stubbs pleaded guilty last week before a judge who commended his honesty. He says the case is “garnishing more news than it probably needs to.”