More area News from Ric Hanson.

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Officials with the Creston Police Department report 19-year-old Isaiah James Lovell, of Creston, was arrested just before 1-a.m. today (Tuesday), on drug and other charges. Lovell was taken into custody in the 100 block of Manor Drive, and charged with: Interference with Official Acts; Possession of Methamphetamine/1st offense; Possession of Cocaine/1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond at the Union County Jail was set at $2,600.

And, at around 4:30-p.m. Monday, Creston Police arrested 37-year-old William Rondal House, of Creston, on a Union County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. He was being held without bond until making an appearance before the Magistrate.

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A traffic stop this (Tuesday) morning in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of a man from Pottawattamie County. Red Oak Police conducted a traffic stop at around 5:40-a.m. near the intersection of Highways 34 and 48. Upon further investigation, it was determined the driver of the vehicle, 42-year-old Shawn Lee Elliff, of Council Bluffs, had a suspended license through the State of Iowa, with nine withdrawals in effect. He was also cited for failure to show Valid Insurance.

Elliff was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $491.25.

(Radio Iowa) – The chief medical officer for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is warning everyone to not be complacent about getting a flu shot. Doctor Theresa Brennan says the U-I-H-C diagnosed more than 150 cases of the flu last week. “I can tell you that this is early — in general we wouldn’t start to see these numbers until into December,” Brennan says. “So it is early. And when we see early spread, we worry that it’s going to be higher spread.” The symptoms of the flu can be similar to COVID-19, but Brennan doesn’t think people coming in to get test for COVID is the reason they’ve discovered more flu cases.

“Most of the people that we’re seeing that are positive (for flu) — the vast majority are very symptomatic. And so, those people likely would have gotten tested in another (flu) season. So, I don’t think it is test bias,” according to Brennan. She says you shouldn’t base your decision on getting a flu shot this year based on what happened last year. Brennan says she worries that people won’t get a flu shot this year because the flu season last year didn’t see many cases, and they think it’s not necessary. Brennan says higher flu rates added to the state’s high number of COVID hospitalizations will further strain the health care system. Brennan says everyone should also know there are big differences between the COVID and flu vaccines.

“Influenza vaccine has been around for a long, long time. Lots of people have gotten it. One of the concerns with the COVID vaccine is unknown side affects and overall safety. We know what the overall safety of the influenza vaccine is — and so people shouldn’t confuse any concerns they’ve had with the COVID vaccine with a tried and true influenza vaccine that we’ve had for years and years,” she says. Brennan says it takes two to three weeks for the flu vaccine to become fully effective. She has this recommendation for those attending family gatherings for Thanksgiving.

“Do everything you can to keep it safe. I know everyone wants to see their family and friends — it has been a long, long time,” Brennan says. “But we also want to be sure people are around next year to do the same.” She says to follow the same advice they’ve given for years with the flu — wash your hands, stay away from others if you have symptoms, and get vaccinated.

A man from Red Oak was arrested Monday night for Violation of a No Contact Order. 31-year-old Dylan Thomas Griffeth was taken into custody in the 700 block of N. 1st Street in Red Oak, at around 7:53-p.m.  His bond was set at $300.

(Cumberland, Iowa) – Rescue crews and law enforcement were dispatched at around 4:50-a.m., to a single-vehicle accident near Cumberland, this (Tuesday) morning. According to dispatch information, a vehicle struck a deer, causing the airbags to deploy in the vehicle, which was on the traveled portion of the road in the opposite lane of travel.

Cumberland-Massena Rescue, Wiota Rescue, Cass EMS were responding to the scene near 680th and Lansing. A Cass County Deputy reported a 32-year-old female in the vehicle was reportedly having some chest pain, but no other injuries were immediately noted. Rescue crews were deployed to check out both occupants. Additional information is not currently available.

Gowrie, Iowa/KCCI — A former teacher in Webster County has been arrested and charged with sexual exploitation by a school employee. According to KCCI, 29-year-old Brandon Louis is the former choir director at Southeast Valley High School in Gowrie.

His arrest comes after a yearlong investigation involving search warrants and dozens of current and former students interviewed.  Louis resigned last fall amid allegations he sent inappropriate messages to students. Sexual exploitation by a school employee is a Class D felony.

Brian Johnson, the superintendent of Southeast Valley Schools, told the TV station the district has cooperated since the beginning of the investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – All six members of Iowa’s congressional delegation are sponsoring legislation to give independent cattle producers more information about cattle prices, but they have just 10 days to convince colleagues it should be included in a must-do bill. The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act must be reauthorized by December 3rd and Senator Chuck Grassley is lead sponsor of a plan to also force disclosure of the prices paid in PRIVATE sales of cattle being raised and sold under contracts with a meatpacker.

“So when a person gets on the phone or the Internet to negotiate a price with a packer, they’ve got some database, knowing that today, I ought to be able to get within this range of price for my cattle,” Grassley says. Grassley met with cattle producers in Ames yesterday (Monday). Brad Kooima — a cattle feeder and commodity broker from Sioux County — says he may go weeks before one of the country’s four big meatpackers makes an offer to buy his cattle.

“They get bigger every day. They have to get fed every day. They get sick,” he says. “And not being able to get a bid for four or five, six weeks at a time, while someone else just because they’ve got a relationship, they’re fine. You know, they’re getting along fine but the independent guy isn’t getting along fine.”

The plan Senators Grassley and Joni Ernst along with the one Iowans Cindy Axne, Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks are co-sponsoring in the U.S. House would force meatpackers to disclose how many cattle they plan to slaughter each day for at least the next two weeks.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katie Peikes)

(Radio Iowa) – A district court judge has ruled an Iowa law that blocks Medicaid coverage of gender confirmation surgery is unconstitutional. The A-C-L-U of Iowa filed a lawsuit after Aiden Vasquez and Mika Covington were denied state-paid Medicaid coverage for surgeries their doctors said were medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria. Judge William P. Kelly’s ruling says those denials violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act and Iowa’s Constitution.

The legal director for the A-C-L-U of Iowa says it’s a historic win for transgender Iowans. A spokesman for Governor Kim Reynolds says the governor’s office disagrees with the ruling and is exploring all options, including appealing the district court’s ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.