(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Police Department reports an Atlantic man was arrested Friday (May 20th), in connection with a fatal accident that occurred during the early morning hours of Oct. 25, 2021, in Cass County. Authorities say 27-year-old Bryce Baker was taken into custody on Cass County warrants for: Homicide by vehicle – Operating under the influence (A Class-B Felony); Driving While License denied, suspended, cancelled or revoked; and Driving on the Wrong side of a two-way highway. As previously reported, the Iowa State Patrol said a 2001 Lincoln LS driven by Bryce Baker was traveling south on 620th/Olive Street at around 5:30-a.m., Oct. 25th, when the car crossed the center line of the road and struck a northbound 2010 Chevy pickup, head-on, just south of Dallas Road. A passenger in Baker’s vehicle, 29-year-old Griffin Ferguson, of Humboldt, died at the scene. Baker, and the driver of the pickup, 64-year-old Bernard Sullivan, of Atlantic, were injured. Baker was being held without bond in the Cass County Jail. His preliminary hearing is set for 9-a.m., May 31st.

Also arrested May 20th in Atlantic, was 39-year-old Wainy Ruben, of Atlantic. Ruben was taken into custody for OWI. The A-PD says 21-year-old Josh James, of Atlantic, was arrested May 14th, for Burglary in the 2nd Degree, and Theft in the 2nd. On the 19th, 43-year-old Tina Binkley, of Des Moines, and 57-year-old Joline Reyes, of Ft. Dodge, were arrested for Theft in the 4th Degree (Shoplifting).

38-year-old Amy Jo Cameron, of Atlantic, was cited into court on May 14th, for Simple Assault. On May 23rd, 36-year-old Eric Mark, of Atlantic, was arrested for consumption of alcohol in a public place/1st offense, and disorderly conduct. And, 20-year-old Gage Mundorf, of Atlantic, was arrested on Cass County warrants for Criminal Mischief in the 4th and 5th Degrees.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report 26-year-old Ashley Kay Heston, of Clearfield, was arrested Monday night at Greater Regional Health, in Creston. Heston was charged with Driving While Barred. She was transported to the Union County Jail and later transferred to the Adams County Jail, where her cash/surety bond was set at $2,000.

Authorities said also, a woman residing in the 100 block of W. Ringgold Street in Creston, reported to Police Monday night, that someone had entered her vehicle parked outside her residence. An envelope of receipt was reported missing. There was no immediate dollar loss estimate available.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop by Red Oak Police today (Tuesday) at around 1:36-a.m., resulted in the arrest of a man on warrants out of Missouri. Red Oak Police took 45-year-old Jason Richard Berendes, of Red Oak, into custody at Highway 48 and 222nd Street, on warrants out of Dallas County, MO., for: Domestic Assault-2nd degree/2nd offense-domestic assault-2nd degree/3rd offense; harassment – 1st degree/4th offense-4th degree-1st of 2nd offense/5th offense-domestic assault-4th degree-1st or 2nd offense.

Berendes was being held in the Montgomery County Jail while awaiting extradition to Missouri.

(Radio Iowa) – Ninety-five legislators have voted to put the brakes on a proposed casino in Cedar Rapids and the proposal is headed to Governor Kim Reynolds for her signature. The bill would create an immediate moratorium, to prevent the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission from considering any casino license applications over the next two years. Linn County voters approved a gambling referendum in November. Representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt of Cedar Rapids says that means her community is being singled out.

“This is incredibly unfair,” Running-Marquardt says. “People have been navigating and working with the Gaming Commission and then all of a sudden we see a moratorium pop up.” Representative Shannon Lundgren of Peosta says a moratorium on new state casino licenses is a good idea amid all the gambling activity happening in surrounding states. “It gives us an opportunity to look at what’s happening in our competitive states and then make a decision from there if we want to expand the land based casinos in the state,” Lundgren says.

Lundgren says legislators have a responsibility to ensure new casinos don’t siphon customers away from existing casinos — and she suggests lawmakers may set new limits on gambling regulators’ authority in the future. “I think this moratorium just allows us to step back and take a breather and see how we want to move forward — if we want to make any changes in how and why the commission would act going forward,” Lundgren says.

Representative Steve Hansen of Sioux City says as casino construction starts in Nebraska, a moratorium on new casinos in Iowa is short sighted. “The western Iowa casinos from Sioux City down to Council Bluffs, we will be impacted by Nebraska gambling, as will the whole state of Iowa,” Hansen says, “and I think we are going to end up wanting to increase licenses elsewhere in the state of Iowa to pick up that revenue that we’re going to lose.”

Senators considered and approved the moratorium for the first time Monday morning and the House approved it a few hours later. The bill that includes the moratorium on new casino licenses also would let Iowa casinos simulcast out-of-state horse races like the Kentucky Derby and take bets. An earlier version of the bill would have allowed Iowans to bet on video game competitions, but references to E-sports were removed from the bill.

(Radio Iowa) – A western Iowa legislator cast his final vote in the Iowa House, then announced late last (Monday) night that he was leaving for basic training for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Jon Jacobsen of Council Bluffs says members of the group are unpaid volunteers. “An enormous amount during my youth was involved in endurance swimming and aquatics lifesaving BSA activities. I was a preverbal fish who was always happiest on water,” Jacobsen says.

Jacobsen, who is 62, says for the past eight months he’s been getting fit and losing weight in order to qualify for basic training. He’s joining about 21-thousand other Americans who are volunteers in the Coast Guard Auxilary. Jacobsen says it will give him a new perspective on protecting Iowa’s waterways and flood prevention.

“Instead of serving my constituents in the House, I will be serving them on the Missouri and the Nishnabotna,” Jacobsen said. Jacobsen is not seeking reelection to the House, but is considering a run for the state senate in 2024. Jacobsen is an attorney and a trust officer in a bank.