The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a couple from Creston were arrested Tuesday, for Violating their No Contact Orders. Adams County Deputies were called to the third floor of the courthouse in Corning, where 25-year old Jonathan Vert and 24-year old Melinda Vert had arrived for a hearing on a No Contact Order. The were taken into custody and brought to the Adams County Jail, where they were held without bond until seen by a magistrate.

The Atlantic Police Department reports two people were arrested on drug charges last Friday. 43-year old Levi Stroup, of Atlantic, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Violation of Probation. And, 41-year old Ada Wilson, of Atlantic, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Possession of Contraband in a Correctional Institution. Also arrested June 1st, was 56-year old Jeffrey Stoops, of Atlantic, for Domestic Abuse Assault and Obstruction of Emergency Communications.

On May 31st, 32-year old Tony Mayo, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding air or blood flow. And on May 30th, 36-year old Chad Wilcox, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Failure to Appear in court.  All arrested subjects were booked into the Cass County Jail.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Department reports numerous, recent arrests. On June 1st, 41-year old Amy Jo Dole, of Atlantic, and 43-year old James Dale Black, of Harlan, were arrested on one charge each of Possession of Marijuana 1st Offense. Both were taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on their own recognizances. On June 2nd, 40-year old Rafael Partida, of Omaha, was arrested by Cass County Deputies, on charges of Possession of Meth 1st Offense and Possession of Marijuana 1st Offense); and 37-year old Laurie Elizabeth Brown, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on charges of Marijuana 3rd or Subsequent (a class D Felony) and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Both were taken to the Cass County Jail. Partida remains held on $3,000 bond; Brown remains held on $5,000 bond.

On June 5th (Today), Cass County Sheriffs Deputies arrested 40-year old John Michael Blake, of Omaha, on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Blake was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on no bond. On June 4th, 27-year old Shari Lavon Lowe, of Creston, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Lowe was taken to the Cass County Jail where she remains held on $5,000 bond. On June 1st, 31-year old Jeremy Michael Clark, of Harlan, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Clark was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on $10,000 bond.

And on May 31st, Cass County Deputies arrested 24-year old Douglas Craig McDaniel, of Altoona, on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. McDaniel was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $10,000 bond.

Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones is set to make an announcement during the Wednesday evening meeting of the Atlantic City Council. The announcement is with regard to how public forum is conducted and how the policy is managed through the City’s Committee system. It comes on the heels of a meeting held May 16^th, during which a couple of business owners got into a verbal altercation with the Mayor and Councilperson Kathy Somers, with regard to new business incentives and the use of grant funds. During the meeting, Atlantic Police Chief Dave Ericksen warned he would escort the individuals out of City Hall if they did not act with decorum.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will act on orders to re-appoint: Nancy Frederiksen to the Community Promotion Commission; Janet Nielsen, Vicki Brown and Mark Johnson, to the Library Board. They will also act on an order to close 17^th Street (from Lomas Circle) to Roosevelt Drive, this Saturday, (June 9^th) for a neigHborhood block party.

Other action items include passing a Resolution “Resetting wages for seasonal and part-time Parks and Recreation, Pool, Airport and Wastewater Employees.” City Administrator John Lund says “A number of part-time, seasonal and stipend positions have apparently required adjustment beyond [The City’s] compensation resolution when [the] budget was approved.” He added that he was “Not pleased the Department heads did not give due attention to the importance of strategic planning done during the budget season and did not double check figures [with him].” Regardless, the budgetary effects, he said, “Are miniscule.”

The Council will also act on a Resolution “Authorizing bids for Olive Street Bridge repairs,” for which the City has bonded $150,000. Passage of the Resolution is required by the State where public works projects are concerned.

And, John Lund, who also serves as the Zoning Administrator, will make a presentation with regard to a Planning and Zoning Review of Accessory Structures and the Zoning Ordinance. The Atlantic City Council meeting begins 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, in their Chambers at City Hall.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum announced that on Monday, June 4th, 42 year-old Raymond Stark, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced on a charge of being a Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition. Stark previously pleaded guilty to the charge on January 16th. Stark was sentenced to 27 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, with the federal prison sentence to run consecutively to the sentence Stark is serving for charges in the Iowa District Court in Pottawattamie County.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The case was investigated by Council Bluffs Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and it was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A lawyer for former Iowa Finance Authority director Dave Jamison is excoriating Gov. Kim Reynolds for firing him without investigating allegations of sexual harassment. During an unemployment appeal hearing Tuesday, Jamison attorney Bruce Stoltze Jr. attacked Reynolds and other state officials for refusing to share the allegations with Jamison or give him the chance to respond. He complained that the state refused to make Reynolds available to testify Tuesday.

Jamison has been silent since Reynolds fired him March 24, after two employees told her chief of staff that Jamison had sexually harassed them. The firing has spawned multiple investigations and become a headache for Reynolds, a longtime ally of Jamison. Stoltze’s comments came during a 90-minute hearing on the state’s appeal of unemployment benefits that were granted to Jamison in April after the state declined to participate in a fact-finding interview. State officials argue he should be disqualified and have to pay them back.

Nearly 50,000 people have already cast their ballots in Iowa’s primary through early voting. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office says that’s the rough total of early ballots submitted as of Monday. That number could increase as additional absentee ballots are received. Democrats cast about 35,000 ballots, while Republicans cast about 14,400 ballots. Libertarians cast 215 ballots.

Pate says Iowa set a record for early voting requests this primary. More than 54,000 voters made requests, surpassing the previous high of nearly 45,000 in 2014. The state also hit a new high for registered voters leading into a primary. Iowa now has about 1.96 million active voters — exceeding a 2010 record by more than 7,000 voters.

Two Democrats will square off today (Tuesday) to challenge Pate, a Republican, who is unopposed in the primary.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The City Council has approved the Sioux City fire department plan to charge companies for firefighters’ responses to ruptures of natural gas lines. The Sioux City Journal reports that the council voted for the plan Monday. The city will bill the company that causes a break $2,000 for the first hour of response and $250 for each additional 15 minutes. There will be more charges for additional personnel, vehicles, ambulance service or supplies.

The fees won’t apply to small leaks that do not require a full response, incidents lasting under 30 minutes or leaks occurring to above-ground piping inside buildings. Sioux City Fire Rescue estimates it would have received more than $640,000 for its responses to gas line breaks since 2001 if the fee structure were in place.

The next time you renew your Iowa driver’s license or identification card, the card you receive will look a little different. Any cards issued on or after June 2 will have new graphics and security features to help protect your identity. The key objective is a secure card that protects Iowans from identity theft or fraud. States regularly refresh the look of driver’s licenses and identification cards to incorporate new and advanced security features and to protect against fraud. Iowa’s new cards include security features that thwart counterfeiting and tampering, and decrease the possibility of identity theft or fraud. The cards feature the golden dome of Iowa’s capitol building along with our state motto and include layered security features that protect the cards against fraud or alteration.

“The security and safety of every Iowan’s identity is our main concern,” said Melissa Spiegel, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Division. “This newly designed card allows us to stay on the leading edge of security technology to effectively prevent driver’s license fraud and identity theft.” The updates follow the most recent card design standards for driver’s licenses and IDs set by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and includes dozens of new security features, some that are visible to the naked eye and others that are not. The secure cards are easy to authenticate by law enforcement, the Transportation Safety Administration, and other businesses who rely on the cards to prove identity. The changes also make the cards more difficult to counterfeit or alter.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says a new report on how the federal court system handles sexual harassment is “totally unacceptable.” The report was commissioned after a federal judge retired in December of 2017 following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Grassley says he’d hoped the report, released on Monday, would provide a concrete blueprint for accountability. He says it didn’t. “The report lacked very serious proposals and, in a sense, just kind of kicked the can down the road,” Grassley says.

Grassley says his office is working with the Administrative Office of the U-S Courts on a path to prevent future harassment and to hold accountable those who are responsible. “The federal judiciary is the only federal entity without clear guidelines on how to handle harassment complaints,” Grassley says, “and it doesn’t have an independent watchdog to guard against misconduct like congress and the executive branch has.”  Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is calling for a hearing before the panel next week to address the issue of harassment in the federal court system.

And, while Constitutional experts argue over whether a sitting U-S president can and should be able to legally pardon himself, Grassley, who’s quick to remind us that he’s not an attorney, says it’s a “common sense answer” as the special counsel probes the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in 2016. Grassley says, “If I were president of the United States and some lawyer advised me that I could be above the law and take the law into my own hands and be my own judge, I’d get a new lawyer.”

President Trump issued a tweet on Monday, saying he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself, but adds, “why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?”

(Radio Iowa)