Two women and a man were arrested late Thursday night, in Red Oak. Authorities say they were taken into custody at around 11:25-p.m. at 1200 E. Summit Street. 20-year-old Alisha Lynn Seyler, 18-year-old Adriana Rose Monreal, and 20-year-old Dyllan Hunter Hansen, all of Red Oak, were charged with Simple Assault. Seyler was additionally charged with Interference with Official Acts. Her bond was set at $2,000. Bond for Monreal and Hansen was set at $300 each. All three were being held in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – A former member of the city council in Sioux City has been ordered to pay a more than four MILLION dollar fine for committing what a federal prosecutor calls “environmental crimes.” Forty-seven-year-old Aaron Rochester of Sioux City ran businesses that promised to recycle electronic components. In 2018, the State of Iowa filed a lawsuit against Rochester, accusing him of illegally storing 12 million pounds of hazardous waste in Sioux City and another four-and-a-half million pounds of waste at sites in Nebraska. It was mainly the leaded glass from televisions and computer monitors according to court records.

A Special Agent for the E-PA says Rochester’s disregard for the laws governing how to properly handle hazardous waste posed significant risk to nearby communities. In March of this year, Rochester pleaded guilty in FEDERAL court to one count of unlawful storage of hazardous waste and one count of transportation of hazardous waste. A federal judge issued the four-million dollar fine this week and sentenced Rochester to probation for three years.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has signed the State of Iowa onto three separate lawsuits that are challenging Biden Administration Covid vaccination requirements in the workplace. “We’re going to keep fighting for Iowans to give them the opportunity to make their own choice about their health care,” Reynolds says. In response to one lawsuit, federal courts have temporarily blocked an OSHA rule to require businesses with more than 100 employees to ensure workers are vaccinated for Covid or tested regularly.

“We’ve got a pretty good chance,” Reynolds says. “Our goal right now, really, is to just — and I’ve let businesses know this — to really take the temporary stay and make it permanent until we can get it litigated through the courts, so we can really have our chance to make our case in court and to just pause what I feel is tremendous overreach and we believe it’s unconstitutional as well.”

The latest lawsuit Reynolds has joined was filed by 10 states on Wednesday and challenges a requirement that most U.S. health care workers get vaccinated. Reynolds says a Covid vaccine mandate for employees in facilities that treat patients receiving Medicare or Medicaid benefits could be devastating to Iowa’s nursing homes as some workers are threatening to quit rather than get vaccinated.

“They’re already stretched so thin and they are a phenomenal example of the heroes that have been on the front line from the very beginning and, you know, they don’t get to shut down for a couple of days like a restaurant or a manufacturing facility,” Reynolds says. “They have vulnerable older Iowans that they need to take care of. And so if you don’t have staff to do that, what do we do?”

An A-A-R-P analysis released yesterday (Thursday) indicated 71 percent of Iowa nursing home staff have been fully vaccinated, an increase of about four percent from early October. Reynolds got a dose of Johnson and Johnson’s Covid vaccine on live television and has encouraged Iowans to get vaccinated. She says the reluctance some Iowans have about getting a Covid shot is based on an array of factors, including what she says is an arbitrary decision to choose businesses with 100 or more workers for one of the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandates — and to exempt Postal Service workers.

“You know, people get an annual flu shot and they don’t think anything about it, but it’s been vetted. It’s been there for a long time,” Reynolds says, “so I just think there’s a lot of just frustration and confusion with the mixed messaging.” Reynolds made her comments to Radio Iowa after appearing at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery.

Officials in the Biden Administration say the federal government clearly has the authority to protect workers from grave danger and — with about 13-hundred Americans dying of Covid daily — the threat from the virus is ongoing and overwhelming. Some of the nation’s largest companies have Covid vaccine requirements. Tyson Foods announced in late October that more than 96 percent of its employees were vaccinated.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report one person was arrested following a collision Thursday night. Authorities say 57-year-old Todd Earl Jackson, of Creston was eastbound on Adams Street, responding to an active fire, with his lights and siren on. When he slowed for the intersection of Elm and Adams Streets, he believed the intersection was clear.

A southbound 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by 69-year-old Gary Forrest Stonehocker, of Afton, pulled out into the intersection and failed to yield to Jackson’s 2013 Chevy Silverado pickup. The pickup struck the Jeep at the intersection. No injuries were reported. Damage to the vehicles amounted to $6,000.

Following an investigation, Stonehocker was arrested for OWI/1st offense. He posted a $1,000 bond, and was released from the Union County Jail.