(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Friday (Today) said Deputy arrested 41-year-ol Michelle Theisen, of Griswold, on Oct. 29th, for driving while barred. Theisen was taken to the Cass County Jail and was later released on her own recognizance.

And, on Oct. 31st, Deputies arrested 36-year-old Eric Huddleson, of Atlantic, for OWI 1st offense. Huddleson was transported to the Cass County Jail and was also later released on his own recognizance.

(Radio Iowa) – A northeast Iowa judge and jury have declared a Manchester man who’s been missing for nearly eight years legally dead. Brian “Farmer” Burns was last seen December 19, 2013 at his home northwest of Manchester. He was reported missing by a family member a few days later. The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help in locating Burns, but he was never found. On Thursday, a jury trial was held in Delaware County District Court, with his brother, Randy Burns, appearing with his attorney to petition for the legal declaration of death.

Brian Burns. (KMCH photo)

The court says from this day forward, it should be presumed that Burns is deceased. Sheriff John LeClere says even though Burns has been declared legally dead, his case will still remain open.

As is required in this kind of infrequently used legal proceeding, the jury reached a unanimous verdict that there is sufficient evidence that Burns is dead and the judge concurred. Burns was 55 years old at the time of his disappearance.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department say two people were arrested on separate charges, Thursday. Just before 11-a.m., 44-year-old Kari Lynn Wilkinson, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Creston Walmart Store. She was charged with having outstanding warrants for Failure to Appear. Wilkinson was transported to the Union County Jail and subsequently transported to the Adams County Jail, where her bond was set at $600 after serving a two-day jail sentence.

And, a little before 7-p.m. Thursday, 53-year-old James Leroy Jones, of Creston, was arrested at his residence on charges that include: Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense; Interference with Official Acts, and Tampering with a witness or juror. He was being held without bond in the Union Jail, pending an appearance before a magistrate.

A woman from Creston reported to Police, Thursday evening, that her purse had been stolen. The purse was last seen at around 4:30-p.m. Thursday, outside the Iowana Hotel, in Creston. The loss was estimated at $1,460.

(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents got a detailed look Thursday at the numbers behind what has been a five-year decline in enrollment at the three state universities. Analyst Jason Pontius, says they’ve looked at a lot of numbers. “The big story here honestly is no college. More and more of our high school graduates are choosing not to go to college after graduation,” Pontius says. He says that does raise a concern looking ahead. “And one of the areas that is probably most concerning is that this is all pre-COIVD numbers. We had seen over a six-year period a five percentage point decline in the percentage of the high school classes that are deciding to go to college,” Pontius says.

There’s been a concern that a drop in births will catch up to states for high school and college enrollment –but he says Iowa shouldn’t see as big an impact as other states. He says the numbers are going to go up and then come back down again, but there won’t be a big difference from where they are at now. Pontius says another question is whether more Iowa grads are going to college in other states. “Pretty definitive answer there is no,” according to Pontius. “We’ve consistently kept about 87 percent of our Iowa high school graduates, and signs are that we are actually improving on that a little bit.”

He says there was one exception to the out-of-state loss of students. “You can see at one point there was a big uptick for students going to South Dakota. Most of those students are in the western part of Iowa,” he says. “That happened when South Dakota started offering in-state tuition (to Iowans). And those numbers are coming back down again.” Pontius says the three schools have also lost some foreign students. He says recent small sophomore and junior classes also contributed to the decline in enrollment. But, he says all three schools saw an increase in first-year students this fall and that is a good sign. “It’s going to take a little bit of time, but if we can keep the growth on these first-year classes coming in — we are going to start bringing those numbers back up again,” Pontius says.

Iowa State’s overall enrollment dropped three-point-five percent this fall, the University of Northern Iowa saw a three-point-one percent drop, and the University of Iowa’s fall enrollment fell one-point-three percent.