(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department reports an arrest took place at around 9:41-p.m., Thursday. 49-year-old Donavan Lucius Sands, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the 400 block of E. Washington Street, for Violation of a Protective Order. Sands was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held without bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Construction of the front end of a new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Ames is scheduled conclude in 2023. Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen says 80 percent of the lab’s operations were not included in phase one of the project, however.  “Phase Two is needed to provide an additional 70,000 square feet for laboratory testing, research and support functions,” she says. “Phase two is essential so all laboratory functions can be housed under one roof. This will improve efficiency and support biosafety by eliminating the need to shuttle samples from one building to another.”

Wintersteen is asking the governor and the state legislature to provide 62-and-a-half MILLION dollars over the next four years to complete the project. “The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory provides absolutely vital support to Iowa’s $32.5 billion animal agriculture industry,” Wintersteen says. The existing facility was built in 1976. About 30 faculty and staff processed about 35-thousand tests a year. There are now 160 faculty and staff crowded into the existing building and this year they will process more than one-point-seven million tests — the largest caseload in the U.S.

“It is the only full service and fully accredited lab of its kind in Iowa,” Wintersteen says. “It holds Tier 1 status in the National Animal Health Laboratory Network for the major role it plays in the major role it plays in foreign animal and emerging diseases.” For example, the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab was the first to diagnose and pinpoint the origin of an intestinal disease that’s deadly in young pigs.

The lab is part of Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine — one of only 33 veterinary colleges in the country and the very first public veterinary college established in the U.S.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man was taken into custody on a charge of 5th Degree Theft, Thursday, following an incident at the Red Oak Fareway Store. Red Oak Police say officers responded at around 12:16-p.m. following a call from a store employee about a suspected shoplifter. Officers found evidence 41-year-old Jared Michael Nyquist, of Red Oak, allegedly took a 750ml bottle of Windsor Canadian Whiskey, worth about 10-dollars.

The investigation determined Nyuist placed the bottle in his coat with the alleged intent to conceal the booze. A store worker witnessed the incident and confronted Nyquist, when he asked for an application to work for the store. Nyquist was subsequently arrested and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $300.

The Montgomery County (IA) Sheriff’s Department reports a woman from southeast Iowa was arrested Thursday afternoon, following a traffic stop. 32-year-old Siearre J’Ahea Smith, of Agency, was stopped for having expired plates on her vehicle from December, 2021. She was taken into custody on six counts of Driving While Barred and was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.