An ongoing investigation into drug activity following a traffic stop last spring in Ringgold County has resulted in charges. The Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office reports 49-year-old Harvey Ray Roach, Jr. was charged with felony distribution and selling of methamphetamine.

Roach, whose last reported address was listed as Tingley, was arrested following a search of a vehicle in March by the Ringgold County K9 Unit. The investigation into Roach’s alleged narcotics involvement was conducted by the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office, the State of Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the South Central Iowa Drug Task Force.

Republican Congressman David Young’s bill calling for the Veterans Administration to fix problems with its suicide hotline has cleared the U.S. House and awaits action in the Senate.

Young’s bill calls on the Veterans Administration to come up with a way to ensure all calls to the crisis line are answered.

Young says it means if calls continue to slip through the cracks, the V-A must tell congress they need more staff, more training for the staff already there or even better technology to deal with call volume. The crisis line fielded half a million calls last year. Young had hoped his bill would clear the Senate last week, but it didn’t. He expects the bill will pass when congress convenes AFTER the November election. About 20 veterans commit suicide in America every day, but a recent report found few of those veterans had gotten services from the V-A in the year before their death.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly survey of business leaders suggests the economy will remain weak in nine Midwest and Plains states. Weakness in agriculture and energy continue to weigh on the region’s economy. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the region’s economy will continue to lag behind the nation as a whole.

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man suspected of killing a woman in Keokuk was found dead in the basement of his home. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says officers investigating the weekend shooting death of Carrissa River obtained a search warrant and went to the Keokuk home of Russell J. Tallman on Sunday afternoon. A state tactical team entered the home, where officers found the 39-year-old Tallman dead in the basement with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa prison officials say a man serving a life sentence for a 1974 first-degree murder conviction has died of natural causes. Atwell Conner, Jr., was 71. Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Fred Scaletta says Conner died of colon cancer Sunday morning while in hospice care. He was convicted along with George Nowlin of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Maureen Connolly in Cedar Rapids.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Harvest is underway with 10 percent of the corn crop and 21 percent of soybeans already completed in Iowa while Nebraska farmers reported 15 percent of corn harvested, behind the five-year average and 27 percent of soybeans in bins, right at average.