Two women were arrested Tuesday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, in Creston. According to the Creston Police Department, 37-year old Amanda Jones (Speed) [address unknown], was arrested on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. She was later released on a $2,000 bond. 26-year old Samantha Delong, of Creston, was arrested on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 4th Degree. She was later released on a $1,000 bond.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, Wednesday, reported 1,035 new cases of the COVID-19 virus since the previous 24-hour cycle, for a pandemic total of 326,414 positive cases. There were also 29 additional deaths reported since 10-a.m. Tuesday, for a total of 5,174. Statewide, 4,673 COVID deaths are attributed to Underlying causes. COVID was a contributing factor to 501 deaths. Deaths at Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities account for 2,111 deaths. In this area, there was one additional death reported in each of Madison and Montgomery Counties, and two more in Pottawattamie County (See the pandemic totals below).

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks went from 35 Tuesday, to 39 today (Wednesday). LTC patients testing positive amount to 1,058, with 675 having recovered from the virus. The State data show 292 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is down from 327 on Tuesday. Officials say 67 patients are in an ICU, 48 were admitted over the previous 24-hours, and 27 patients are on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa), 14 are hospitalized with COVID symptoms, nine are in an ICU, one person was admitted over the past 24-hours ending at 10-a.m. Wednesday, and two people remain on a ventilator.

Iowa’s statewide positivity rate is up a bit. The 14-day positivity rate was 8.6% Wednesday, compared to 8.5% Tuesday. The 7-day average was up from 6.2% Tuesday to 6.4% Wednesday.   A total of 297,821 Iowans have recovered from the virus.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} – if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:

• Cass, 1,221 cases; {+11}; 46 deaths
• Adair, 724; {+4}; 25
• Adams, 313; {+0}; 3
• Audubon, 450 {+4}; 9
• Guthrie, 1,067 {+2}; 27
• Harrison County, 1,637; {+1}; 67
• Madison County, 1,351; {+5}; 16
• Mills County, 1,438; {+7}; 20
• Montgomery, 945; {+1}; 35
• Pottawattamie County, 9,508; {+23}; 138
• Shelby County, 1,113; {+0}; 32
• Union County,  1,159; {+2}; 31

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday (today), posts multiple reports on arrests and incidents dating back to late January. On Tuesday (2/9), a Pott. County Deputy was dispatched to the scene of a possibly stolen car. The caller advised he gave a man a ride to the Underwood Truck Stop and dropped the man off. The caller advised also that the car was stolen. A person fitting the description of the suspect was located at the motel across the parking lot from the truck stop. 32-year old Christopher L. Petri, of Sidney, NE., was arrested Theft in the 1st/Possession of Stolen Property. He was being held in the Pott. County Jail on $10,000 bond.

An inmate at the Pott. County Jail, was presented with a warrant Tuesday, for Tampering with a Witness/Juror (2 counts), and Violation of a No Contact Order. 55-year old Carl Allen Race, of Council Bluffs, remained in the jail, Wednesday. Early Tuesday morning, 30-year old Dylan Reid Schmielau was arrested following a traffic stop on Highway 6 and 245th Street. Race was taken into custody for OWI/1st Offense.

Monday afternoon, 39-year old Bret David Hauptman, of Council Bluffs, who on a hold at the Pott. County Jail, was served with three additional warrants for Violation of No Contact Order and Violation of Probation. On Feb. 4th, 40-year old Brandon J. Wilson was arrested for being a Fugitive from Justice, after he was transferred from the custody of Mills County Deputies.  On Feb. 3rd, 27-year old Mariah Lee Beckwith turned herself-in to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office. Beckwith was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Probation. She was turned over to Corrections Staff. A traffic stop Feb. 3rd in Council Bluffs, resulted in the arrest of 32-year old Israel Salvador Manzanares-Cruz, of Council Bluffs. He was arrested for Assault causing bodily injury or mental illness/without intent, Disobedience to signs/signals, and Operation a vehicle without a valid license. His bond was set at $1,457.

On Feb. 2nd, Pott. County Jail inmate, 38-year old Jeremy William Wenninghoff, from Alexandria, S.D., was presented with a warrant for Burglary in the 3rd Degree. He remains in the jail on a total of $10,600.  On Feb. 1st, 31-year old Rodney Duane Hubbard was arrested in Minden, for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense-causing bodily injury, and Child Endangerment w/substantial risk, since two children (ages 3 & 5) were in the home at the time of the incident.

On Jan. 31st, 25-year old Pyerre D. Barnes was arrested in Council Bluffs, following a traffic stop. Barnes was taken into custody on a Nebraska warrant for being a Fugitive from Justice.  On Jan. 29th, 60-year old Brenda Lee Mercil, was transferred from the custody of Shelby County to Pott. County, under a warrant for Theft in the 4th Degree. And, 36-year old Walter David Mercado-David was arrested following a traffic stop in Treynor. He was taken into custody for Failure to Maintain control of a motor vehicle, Open Container as a driver, OWI/2nd offense, and reckless driving.

Also arrested in Pottawattamie County, was 19-year old Jayden Dean Moyers, who was taken into custody Jan. 28th, following a disturbance call. A check of his record indicated Moyers was wanted on a warrant for Failure to Appear on an OWI/1st offense, charge.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would limit the number of out-of-state students admitted to the medical and dental schools at the University of Iowa has cleared initial review in the Iowa House. At least 75 percent of the students accepted would have to be residents of Iowa or graduates of an Iowa college or university if the bill becomes law. Republican Representative Tom Jeneary, of Le Mars graduated from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry in 1985. “I’m personally in favor of this bill,” Jeneary says. “I know the year I graduated dental school there were a significant percentage of people in my class that did not stay in the state.”

Republican legislators say the state needs more doctors and dentists, especially in rural Iowa and the bill could help. Dr. Gerard Clancey, senior associated dean of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, is encouraging legislators to look at the big picture.”I get to work a lot with our students and they are very much driven by their level of debt as to where they choose to practice,” he said. “Some students will incur, on average, a debt of $250,000.”

According to a lobbyist for the University of Iowa, 70 percent of current students in the College of Medicine are Iowa residents. The bill under consideration would require the university to submit a report to the legislature each year showing how many graduates of the medical and dental schools live in Iowa in that first year after earning their degrees.

(Radio Iowa) Republicans on an Iowa House subcommittee have advanced a bill that would pull state funding from public schools if a New York Times series about slavery is used in history classes. Representative Skyler Wheeler, a Republican from Orange City who is the bill’s sponsor, says the “1619 Project” is projecting a clear viewpoint. “It seeks to distort facts, not simply teach them and it does so as leftist political propaganda masquerading as history,” Wheeler said.

Rita Davenport, who spoke at a statehouse subcommittee hearing, says the 1619 project promotes Black victimhood. “In my 57 years, I’ve never felt that I could not achieve anything because of my race,” Davenport says. The bill would financially penalize public K-through-12 districts, community colleges and the three public universities for each day the 1619 project is used as history curriculum. Pete Hird, a lobbyist for Iowa Federation of Labor, says the bill amounts to censorship of history. “I think we should address the real problem,” Hird says. “Racism exists. What are we doing about it?”

Representative Ras Smith, a Democrat from Waterloo, says American history is complex and banning literature like the 1619 Project is a slippery slope. “America’s about the opportunity to have diverse thought, rigorous debate about what it means to be an American,” Smith says. Bills have been introduced in a handful of other states to ban the use of the 1619 Project in public schools. A committee in the Republican-led Arkansas legislature voted down one of those bills yesterday (Tuesday).

(Update 4:27-a.m.: Subject was located near the Evangelical Free Church. He will be transported to CCMH for evaluation and treatment of possible frostbite.)

Atlantic Police, Atlantic Rescue and Cass EMS were called at around 3:55-a.m. Wednesday, to the area of 405 E. 21st Street (21st and Oak Streets), to help look for an 83-year old male with Dementia, who went missing about 15-minutes earlier. Unsure which direction of travel he may have been headed. The man’s name is “Alan.”

No description of the subject was given or immediately available, other than he was wearing shoes. If seen please contact the comm center or call 911. The temperature at the time of his disappearance was 7 degrees above zero.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids has become the second city in Iowa to form a citizens review board for the police department. The board approved Tuesday is designed to hold law enforcement accountable and promote equity in the city’s policing. The nine-member board was approved after months of discussion between community leaders and city officials. The board will advise the city on police policies and practices, review citizen complaints and be on the committee that hires the police chief. Mayor Brad Hart said the city will begin a campaign next week to encourage residents to apply. Iowa City has a similar board.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa public health officials have selected Microsoft to develop an online vaccination scheduling system as they seek to improve the state’s low national rankings for the rate of doses administered. The Iowa Department of Public Health on Monday posted notice online that it intends to award an emergency contract to the software company. The agency told bidders that it would award a separate contract to run a vaccine call center later this week. The selection of Microsoft came after the agency last week gave potential bidders one day to respond to an emergency request for proposals seeking work.

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s nomination of Tom Vilsack to lead the Agriculture Department is getting a chilly reaction from many Black farmers who contend he didn’t do enough to help them the last time he had the job. The former Iowa governor served eight years as agriculture secretary under President Barack Obama. Vilsack is trying to assure minority farming groups and the senators who will vote on his confirmation that he will work to “root out generations of systemic racism” in the agency. But many Black farmers fault him for failing to address a backlog of discrimination complaints in the department and for firing a Black woman for remarks that he later learned were taken out of context.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Residents in Nebraska and Iowa woke up to bitterly cold conditions Tuesday morning, leading to slick streets that contributed to multiple crashes in the Omaha area. The National Weather Service issued a wind chill warning for parts of 13 counties in central, east-central and south-central Nebraska, with wind chills near 30 below zero that could cause frostbite on exposed skin in under 10 minutes. The warning covered the cities of Grand Island, Hastings, York, Loup City and Central City, among others. High temperatures for Tuesday were expected to climb only into the single digits around Grand Island and up to 10 degrees in Omaha and western Iowa.

A man from Kansas City, Missouri was arrested Tuesday night in Fremont County, after allegedly attempting to steal a semi from an area near Percival. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports 42-year old James Bradley Mall was taken into custody at around 7:35-p.m., for Operating a Motor Vehicle without Owner’s Consent. Mall was being held at the Fremont County Jail on $2,000 bond.

James B. Mall

His arrest followed a report at around 6:48-p.m., about a disabled vehicle off I-29 at mile marker 14, and a man seen walking along the interstate.  Upon the deputy’s arrival, the male was unable to be located. About 45-minutes later, deputies were called to the area of the 2000 block of 195th Ave in Percival, for a report of a male, matching the same description, attempting to steal a semi. The caller advised his semi was warming up in his driveway when a male entered the semi and tried unsuccessfully to shift the semi into gear. The male then left the scene, walking to a nearby house.

Soon afterward, Deputies made contact with the male, who was subsequently identified as James Mall.