Police in Red Oak have arrested a man from Stanton on a harassment charge. Authorities say 46-year-old Marshall Larry Adams was arrested late Wednesday afternoon, on a charge of Harassment in the 2nd Degree. Adams was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Marshall L. Adams

(Radio Iowa) – Officials say two employees recently saw a bear on John Deere’s property north of Dubuque and Vince Evelsizer of the Iowa Department of Natural Resource suspects it was a male bear — since this is breeding season for bears. “It’s usually young males — 2-4 year old males — moving around and actively looking for females this time of the year,” he says, “even though it’s so hot out.” The bears tend to move at night, though, when it’s cooler, he says. There have been several recent black bear sightings in Dubuque County. “Even a couple of sightings where we got trail camera photos,” Evelsizer says.

Evelsizer, a furbearer biologist, says the animals are likely coming from Minnesota and Wisconsin. If they’re not looking for a mate, Evelsizer says they’re probably looking for food. “They’re most likely at this time of year to get into bird feeders or smelly garbage or people’s barbecues, that type of thing,” Evelsizer says.

As Radio Iowa reported last month, experts like Evelsizer say it’s likely black bears will start to have cubs in Iowa and groups of bears eventually will repopulate in the state. There’s been no recent confirmation baby bears have been born in Iowa, however. “We anticipate getting some more bears,” Evelsizer says. “There’ll be problems at times with them, but there’ll be fewer problems if we all kind of get used to the idea of living with more bears or trying to coexist.”

Evelsizer says over the next few years the Department of Natural Resources plans to use information from a program called “Bear Wise” to help Iowans get used to having black bears in their neighborhood.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Joni Ernst says President Biden has proposed a federal budget that would spend too little on the military and too much on the Internal Revenue Service. “Who does the president think he will be able to call on should we need to fight off foreign threats? His new army of IRS agents?” Ernst asks. “…Americans may fear an IRS audit, but ‘Red China’ won’t.”

Biden has proposed increasing the number of I-R-S agents by 15 percent in each of the next 10 years in order to beef up efforts to catch Americans who aren’t paying what they owe in taxes. Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the U-S Senate, says Biden’s proposed budget is far less generous to the military.

“The small number of new ships added to the Navy will not keep pace with the growth of communist China’s ship building,” Ernst says. “This is especially concerning since the CCP now boasts the world’s largest Navy and is attempting to expand its Naval presence in the Atlantic.”

Reports indicate China is trying to establish a port on the west coast of Africa that would be home base for Chinese submarines and air craft carriers. Ernst made her comments this (Wednesday) afternoon during a speech on the Senate floor.

(Radio Iowa) – Drought conditions are expected to expand and worsen across Iowa when the new map is released tomorrow (Thursday) from the U-S Drought Monitor. The continued hot, dry weather is being reflected in runoff predictions for the Missouri River. Kevin Grode, with the U-S Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, says lower-than-normal runoff has persisted since last year.

“May runoff above Sioux City, Iowa, was 2.1 million acre feet, which is 61-percent of average,” Grode says. “This follows a very dry April. Soil conditions in the upper basin continue to be extremely dry during the mountain snowmelt and spring rainfall portion of the runoff season.” Grode says the Corps’ overall runoff prediction will end up well below normal.

“The current dry soil conditions and NOAA’s latest outlooks calling for warmer-than-normal temperatures and drier-than-normal precipitation has resulted in the 2021 calendar year runoff forecast of 17.9-million acre feet, which is 69-percent of average,” he says. Grode says they don’t expect much change until perhaps 2022.

“Given the dry soil moisture conditions, below average stream flow and the extended warm and dry climate outlook, we expect runoff to remain below average during the remainder of the calendar year,” Grode says. The Corps is sending letters to water users all along the river, warning them of possible problems with low water access.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports 32-year-old Michael Dean Wilson, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Tuesday on Montgomery County Warrants for Parole Violation (No Bond) and Controlled Substance Violation (bond $50,000.00). Wilson was arrested in Shenandoah. During his arrest, Wilson was also charged with Possession of a controlled Substance (bond $2,000.00). He was being held in the Page County Jail.

Michael Dean Wilson

(*Clarification) – A central Iowa man who stole an Iowa State Patrol cruiser in April, has failed to return to Zion Recovery Services facility, in Clarinda. According to reports, 31-year old Brandon Eugene Doerring, of Des Moines left the facility on Sunday. *ZION is not a locked down facility and cannot hold anyone. Persons are basically they are free to leave anytime, even under a court order. Laurie Cooley, Director of ZION Integrated Behavioral Health Services, based in Atlantic, said in an e-mail Zion does however, “…follow protocol and inform law enforcement immediately they [in this case, Doerring] have walked out of the facility.”

He had been arrested April 20th on charges that included: of possession of drug paraphernalia, first-degree theft; reckless driving; eluding; assault with intent of injury-to peace officer and others; driving while license denied, suspended, cancelled or revoked; first-offense OWI; speeding; possession of a controlled substance, and second-degree theft/motor vehicle valued at under $10,000/over $1,000.

Brandon Doering

On June 3rd, Doerring was transported from the Dallas County Jail to the Zion Recovery facility for “inpatient treatment.” A warrant for his arrest was ordered Tuesday in the Dallas County District Court.

The incident that initially led to his arrest in April, began on Interstate 80 near Earlham, after an Iowa State Patrol Trooper responded to an accident on the interstate. The vehicle that Doerring was driving, a Monte Carlo stolen out of Dexter, was hung up in the cable barriers. The Trooper saw Doerring walking along the roadway. He found drug paraphernalia on Doerring and took him into custody, but the handcuffed man was somehow able to steal the trooper’s vehicle and lead law enforcement on a high-speed pursuit across southern Dallas County and northern Madison County.

He eventually abandoned the cruiser and was taken into custody at gunpoint.

(Radio Iowa) – One of the inmates accused of murdering two Anamosa prison employees is scheduled to go on trial later this month.  Thomas Woodard’s trial will be held in Linn County and is scheduled to start June 22nd. Michael Dutcher, the other Anamosa inmate charged in the case, is currently scheduled to go on trial in Jones County, where the prison is located, but a starting date for his trial has not been set. Prosecutors say the two men were trying to escape when they killed 59-year-old Lorena Schulte, a registered nurse, and 46-year-old correctional officer Robert McFarland.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor has signed legislation that makes it legal for Iowa casinos to take bets on horse and dog races that are being run in foreign countries as well as in the United States. Iowa casinos have featured live broadcasts of races outside the U-S for years, but in December state regulators suspended the practice and asked legislators to make it clear it’s legal under Iowa law. Senator Roby Smith of Davenport says state regulators have used safeguards in the past to exclude simulcasts from some foreign tracks and will do so in the future.

“In the research of this bill, I called the Racing and Gaming Commission’s Brian Ohorilko, who is in charge of that,” Smith says. “He has assured me that over the past number of years they have taken into account the corruption — if there is — at the track, condition of the track, condition of the workers and the condition of the animals, so they can choose not to use that track if they think there’s a problem in any one of those things.”

It’s been legal since 1989 to simulcast horse and dog races at Iowa casinos and take bets on the races. In addition to the so-called “triple crown” in America, the world’s most-watched horse races are staged in places like Paris, Tokoyo, England, Australia, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. Greyhound racing is only legal in eight countries and the number of tracks in the U-S continues to decline. (Editors, those countries are the US, Great Britian, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Vietnam and China.)

Adair County Attorney Melissa Larson was asked during Wednesday mornings’ Adair County Board of Supervisor’s meeting, about the legality of back-dated lease contracts for solar energy farms, after the County received a letter to that effect from a concerned citizen.

Supervisor Matt Wedemeyer…

Larson said didn’t know the answer to that question. She asked if there was any proof anyone had taken such action.

She said she hasn’t spoken with the concerned citizen who wrote the letter, and would look into the authority to request that information, outside of a criminal investigation. The question is, how many acres were signed-up in Adair County prior to May 5th. Larson said it is never okay to back-date a contract, if you are doing it with the intent to obfuscate the law.

In other business, the Adair County Supervisors approved an American Rescue Plan Act award contract with the Department of Treasury. Auditor Mandy Berg said the County is eligible to receive $1.34-million from the COVID relief act. The contract simply acknowledges the County wants whatever money is received, based on per capita. She said they will be setting up a new account specifically for any such funds that are received. The Board also approved Sheriff Jeff Vandewater’s request for him to pay for his own expenses, if any, with regard to a Firearms Instructor Training course set for June 14th through 18th, and for him to submit a claim for reimbursement.

And, Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman reported to the Board, that on Monday they had the bid letting on the G-61 County line grading project, with Cass County picking a portion of the costs. Leroy and Son, Inc., out of Carroll, was the low bidder, at $798,551.80. The engineer’s estimate had been about $973,000, so the bid came about 20% under. The same company handled the Adair County Landfill closing and other projects.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors approved the contract during their meeting Tuesday morning. Adair County will serve as the contracting authority. Cass County will pay $490,996.93, while Adair County will pay $307, 553.88.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests. On June 1st, Deputies arrested Robert Surrell, on active warrant for Violation of a No Contact Order. And, on or about June 8th, at around 9:36-a.m., an Adams County Deputy stopped a car for a taillight violation. The driver, 29-year-old Tarra Jones, of Winterset, was subsequently arrested for Driving While Revoked, Failure to File SR-22 Insurance, and Failure to have an Interlock Device. She was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,000 cash-only bond.