(Creston, Iowa) – Authorities in Union County say two separate, non-injury accidents happened Thursday night. At around 9:34-p.m., a 2018 Chevy Cruze driven by 18-year-old Lucas M. Lynch, of Creston, was traveling south on Cedar Street near Carpenter Street, in Creston, when the vehicle swerved into the other lane, and struck a legally parked and unoccupied 2013 KIA Optima, registered to a woman from Lenox. Lynch told authorities the accident happened when he thought he saw a car parked on the road in front of him, and took evasive action to avoid hitting it. During the collision, the airbags on Cruz’ vehicle deployed, and the vehicle became disabled. The parked car sustained heavy front end damage. Both vehicles were towed away. The dollar amount of damage from the accident amounted to $15,000. Lynch was issued a citation for Reckless Driving.

The second accident occurred at around 7:18-p.m., in Creston, when a 2012 Chevy Cruze driven by 19-year-old Audrey Isabella Simone Harris, of Creston, was backing out of a driveway, in an attempt to re-enter N. Oak Street, southbound. Her car struck an unoccupied 2011 Mitsubishi Galant. Harris was cited for Failure to have Insurance. Damage from the collision amounted to an estimated $4,000 altogether.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two women were arrested on separate charges, Thursday, in Creston. According to Creston Police, 32-year-old Brooke Marie Carter, of Creston, was arrested Thursday morning and charged with Driving While Barred. She was taken to Union County Jail, and later posted bond.

And, Thursday afternoon, Creston Police arrested 51-year-old Robin Elizabeth Provot, of Creston, on a charge of Disorderly Conduct. She was taken to Adams Co Jail, and was being held on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has voted to block a strike by railroad workers and impose the labor agreement negotiated at the White House in September, but Ernst says she would have preferred to keep congress out of it. Ernst, a Republican, says President Biden could and should have done more to ensure a fair deal for employees, including her brother, who works for a railroad. Eight unions approved the contract offer, but four unions representing tens of thousands of rail workers rejected it.

Ernst says workers have valid concerns regarding quality of life and attendance policies that are not addressed in the contract and negotiations should have restarted. However, Ernst says a strike would have been catastrophic for the economy, so she voted to block the strike.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley also voted to intervene in the labor dispute and prevent a strike. Both Grassley and Ernst voted against a proposal to force the railroads to provide seven days of sixk leave to employees — it got just 43 “yes” votes in the Senate.

(Radio Iowa) – The economy usually perks up with year-end holiday shopping, but there are few signs of optimism heading into December in the latest survey of business leaders in Iowa and eight other Midwestern states. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says for the first time in recent years, the region’s overall index — or business barometer — plummeted below growth neutral, and it’s now fallen six of the past eight months.

“The Mid-American economy, at least according to the November survey, is not good at all,” Goss says. “It dropped to 48.0 which is the lowest reading we’ve recorded since the early days of the pandemic. That would be in May of 2020, right after the pandemic began, so this was not a good reading.” The individual business barometer for Iowa fell even farther during November. On the zero to 100 scale, where 50 is growth neutral, Iowa dropped two full points, from 49.8 in October to 47.8 in November. In the Creighton survey, supply managers in Iowa and the eight other states were asked about the biggest threats they see looming for the rest of 2022 and into 2023.

“Number one, by far, was higher input prices, so inflation is still rearing its ugly head out there, according to supply managers,” Goss says., “Number two was recession, that’s first time we’ve recorded that in some time. Supply chain disruptions came in number three, and then labor shortages, which is a big issue in this part of the country, and then higher interest rates.” While labor shortages ranked fourth out of five on that list, the survey finds employers across the region are still having significant trouble finding qualified workers to fill vacancies.

“Sixty-five percent of the supply managers are reporting shortage of applicants out there, so they have job openings and not many are coming in to fill those positions,” Goss says. “Regional employment is still down from pre-pandemic levels, that was being February of 2020. We’re off 32,000 workers across the nine states.” There were a few bright spots. Goss says the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows in the past 12 months, private wages of all workers in Iowa expanded by a little over five-percent, while manufacturing wages climbed by almost eight-percent.