(Shenandoah, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 10-p.m., Sunday, in Shenandoah, resulted in a man’s arrest on drug charges. Authorities report a vehicle was stopped for an equipment violation in the 800 block of W. Nishna Road, and upon further investigation, the driver, 51-year-old Richard Jay Wells, of Fort Madison, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana. Wells was also cited for Failure to Provide Proof of insurance (non-accident related), and Open Container. Additional charges are pending.

(Carson, Iowa) – Officials with the City of Carson said Monday that the City experienced a loss of water pressure Monday morning, due to a broken water main.  The leaking main was isolated.  Residents were reported to  have water, but the water pressure may be low.

Officials say “It will take some time for the water tower to restore regular water pressure,” and they apologized for the inconvenience.  As a precaution, the City of Carson remains in a boil order for the entire community until further notice.  The water conservation declaration remains in place.  Residents should boil water as a precaution. Bring all water used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth or preparing food to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using. Or, use bottled water. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water. Tap water can be used for bathing and similar purpose.

For more information regarding the boil order and water conservation declaration visit www.carsongov.com.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department report Officers were dispatched at around 6:12-p.m. Monday, to 11 South Shore Drive at Lake Manawa State Park, to assist the fire department with a water rescue. It was reported a 17 year old male and a 17 year old female were in the water at the time of call.

When officers arrived, the two subjects were at the edge of ice holding themselves up. Water level was currently at their shoulder height. Upon the fire departments water rescue team arrival, divers pulled each of them out of the water and transported them to an ambulance.

Council Bluffs PD Shield

Both subjects were transported and treated at Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs. At this time it does not appear the injuries are life threatening.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports two arrests:

• On Dec. 11th, 48-year-old Jeremy Leslie Williams, of Clarinda, was arrested for Assault with Bodily Injury, following an incident that occurred at the Page County Jail. Inmate Dylan Joseph Hansen was allegedly assaulted by Inmate Williams. WIlliams’ bond was set at $1,000 (with 10% to the courts).
• On Dec. 19th, 52-year-old Bryan Allen Dennis, of Omaha NE., was arrested on an active Page County Warrant for interference with official acts. Bond was set at $300 (cash or surety).

“A charge is merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”

(Radio Iowa) – The 2023 Iowa legislature will convene next Monday, with Republicans holding a super majority in the Senate and Republicans in 64% of the seats in the House. The minority leaders in the legislature started meeting with State Auditor Rob Sand after Democrats had a disappointing 2022 Election.

“Three of us came together on Election Night and realized that we were sort of a next generation of leaders. We were all elected in 2018 — all three of us and here we are, in charge,” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights says. “We decided that it was important that the three of us sit down and have conversations about what of what we can do moving forward.”

Sand, who will start his second term as state auditor next week, was the only Democrat running for statewide office who won in November. “I think that a lot of people appreciate that I have just a different approach to politics,” Sand says. “We’re in a place where it seems like a lot of people want to divide us, They want us to look at each other and think that we’re enemies and I take the opposite approach.”

Sand says a lot of people are hungry for public officials who do things differently. “I guess my permanent position on this stuff is I want to serve the whole public,” Sand says. “I recognize that being the only statewide or federal Democrat means there are some expectations on me and I’m happy to be helpful because I think the party has a lot to offer.”

With Republicans in charge of the legislative and executive branches of state government, Konfrst says the goal is to make it clear what Democrats would do differently.

“Iowans are tired of divisive politics. They’re tired extremism. They’re tired of people just playing politics,” Konfrst says, “and we want to point out when moves are made up here that we think are purely political and not what Iowans are asking for.”

Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says “turning down the volume” on political rhetoric and finding solutions is important. “We’ll work with anybody — Republican, Democrat, independent — who wants to move Iowa forward,” Wahls says. “We know that there are a lot of challenges facing our state.”

There will be 16 Democrats in the Iowa Senate next year — with Republicans holding a 34-seat supermajority. In the House, Democrats will hold 36 of the 100 seats.

(Radio Iowa) – A western Iowa county of just under 12-thousand residents has launched a campaign marketing itself as the real-life embodiment of T-V fiction. Ellen Walsh-Rosmann is the first voice you hear in the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Industry video. She opened a restaurant in Harlan seven years ago.

In the middle of December, the most-watched entertainment cable network was the Hallmark Channel. Its Countdown to Christmas movies mostly feature a main character who’s charmed by small town living as a romance blooms. Katie Sandquist, a mental health professional at Harlan’s hospital, is also in the promotional video for Shelby County — and references the Hallmark movie formula of a big city character relocating to a small town.

Sandquist says she lived in the big city for a decade before moving to Harlan in 2018. The majority of Hallmark’s Christmas movies are filmed in Canada, as snow is often involved in plot lines. However, a 2016 Hallmark movie titled “Christmas in Homestead” is about Homestead, Iowa and features a movie producer who falls in love with the town’s mayor, but it was all filmed in Georgia.