(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office today (Thursday), reports two people were arrested April 30th on drug charges, following a traffic stop at Highway 34 and Mulberry Avenue, in Adams County. Upon further investigation, 21-year-old Braxton Sydness, of Texas, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. And 19-year-old Javon Wozny, of Urbandale, was arrested for PCS/Marijuana – 1st offense. Both were transported to the Adams County Jail.

On May 2nd, 38-year-old Alicia Ellen Lovell, of Creston, was arrested in Corning for Public Intoxication. She was also transported to the Adams County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – A small business owner in the central Iowa town of Nevada is marking her tenth year in business and she gives a large part of the credit to a program at nearby Iowa State University. Jennifer Knox runs Saltlickers out of her home kitchen, a company that offers more than two dozen types of cooking spices, including flavors like Cy Salt, Herky Perky and Iowa Nice Spice.

“We have a very unique product,” Knox says. “It is something that you can add to cooking to make your cooking, no matter what it is, taste good. It’s like our product helps them be the cooks that they want to be.” Knox says she’s always enjoyed cooking foods from different places around the world and once she purchased a dehydrator, she was hooked on homemade spices.

“I dried the heck out of everything,” Knox says. “I ended up making Christmas gifts, then I did a little market in Brooklyn, a holiday market and I made $3,000 that weekend and nothing like that had ever happened to me before. I thought, ‘This is paydirt. I have to keep doing it. People like it.'” When she first launched the business, she was living in a small apartment in Brooklyn, New York, and says she never could have succeeded in such a crowded metropolis.

“This would not exist if I was still trying to do this in New York,” Knox says. “We grow every year to the point that we can handle it.” Knox decided to move to central Iowa where she’s now also an English professor at I-S-U. She says she’s consulted the Small Business Development Center and the Center for Industrial Research and Service at I-S-U on a host of challenges.

“At every step that we come to that seems insurmountable, there has been somebody there from Iowa State to help us out,” Knox says. “They helped us streamline the process and do it for a price that we can stay in business.” Officials with the centers say they’ve helped thousands of other businesses across the state, creating an economic impact measured in the billions of dollars.

(Radio Iowa) – Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators, as expected, joined with their Republican colleagues in defeating the bill Democrats sponsored to guarantee access to abortion nationwide. Senator Chuck Grassley spoke during debate of the bill.

“This legislation is being discussed for political purposes,” Grassley said, “and we’re wasting time on this issue because we could be spending time on things that people want.” Senator Joni Ernst did not speak during debate. The Washington Post has reported Ernst will introduce a bill in the Senate to ban abortions after the sixth week of a pregnancy. Grassley has said in interviews with Iowa reporters he will not comment on a nationwide ban until after the U.S. Supreme Court issues its final ruling.

During remarks on the Senate floor, this is how Grassley described his approach to the issue. “Let me be clear: abortion should not be promoted as a default contraception and family planning tool. Let’s have a productive discussion on what can be done to support women and support ,” Grassley said. “It’s important to be open with our colleagues and peers, but we must unit to protect life because every single life is precious.” Grassley said the bill Democrats were offering would invalidate current state laws that regulate abortions.

“It would allow health care workers to determine when a life is viable which will lead, then, to inconsistent practices across the country,” Grassley said, “and endanger the lives of mothers everywhere.” The U.S. Senate is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats and the outcome of yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) vote was expected, since there weren’t 60 senators willing to allow a vote on the bill.

Abby Finkenauer, one of the Democrats running for a chance to face Grassley in the November election, says yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) vote shows why Democrats need to win more seats in the U.S. Senate. Mike Franken, who is also competing for the Iowa Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nomination, says Grassley has consistently voted to take rights away from women.