The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office today (Monday), released additional details about a single vehicle accident that took place at around 4:40-p.m. Saturday on Highway 92, near 505th Street. Chief Deputy John Reynolds told KJAN News 35-year old Jesse Westover, of Grant, was traveling east on Highway 92 in a 2005 Pontiac GTO registered to a subject out of Oakland, when the car crossed the center line, went out of control, hit a ditch and went airborne before landing on its wheels and stopped.

Westover was transported by Griswold Rescue to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, in Atlantic.

Police in Clarinda, late Friday night, arrested 18-year old Jayden Anthony Morris, of Clarinda, on numerous drug-related charges. Morris was taken into custody at around 11:40-p.m. at a residence in the 600 block of North 11th Street, for felony possession with intent to deliver – marijuana, possession of prescription drugs without a valid prescription, and possession of drug paraphernalia, the latter charges of which are serious and simple misdemeanors, respectively.  Morris was being held at the Page County Jail on $6,300 bail.

Investigative reports have been forwarded to Page County Attorney Carl M. Sonksen for review and consideration of the filing of formal charges.

Officials with the Creston Police Department report six recent arrests.

Early Sunday morning, 46-year old Dawn Robbins, of Des Moines, was arrested at the intersection of Walnut/Taylor Streets, on the charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance (3rd offense), Possession of Paraphernalia and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Meds. She was being held in the Ringgold County Jail on a $6000 bond.
At about the same time and place, 54-year old Michael Miller, of Creston, was arrested on charges that include 3 counts of Possession of Controlled Substance, and Driving While Suspended. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $15,000 bond.

Sunday afternoon, 50-year old Joel A. Weeks, of Creston, was arrested at Abell and Ringgold on the charge of Driving While Barred. Weeks was released from the Union County Jail on a $2000 bond.

Saturday night, 19-year old Aaron Darrah, of Redding, was arrested in the 1500 block of N Lincoln on a charge of Public Intoxication. Darrah was released from the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

Early Saturday morning, 44-year old Jesse Maldonado, of Marshalltown, was arrested at
the intersection of Howard/Elm Streets in Creston, on a charge of OWI 2nd. Maldonado was later released from the Union County Jail on a $2000 bond.

And. late Friday morning, 32-year old Vincent Bentley, of Lorimor, was arrested in Creston on a Madison County Warrant for Probation Violation, based on an original charge of Driving While Barred. He was released to the custody of Madison County.

The only Democrat left in Iowa’s congressional delegation says if his party hopes to win back the White House, the work has to start now. Congressman Dave Loebsack, of Iowa City, delivered that message to about 250 party activists at an event in Des Moines yesterday (Sunday).  “It’s not going to be easy,” Loebsack said. “It’s going to be hard, but we have to be sure that we get ready for 2020 presidential election by taking back the U.S. House of Representatives and by taking back the U.S. Senate and we’ve got a shot at both those things next time, folks, in 2018. We really do.”

Loebsack was among a dozen speakers at Progress Iowa’s third annual “Corn Feed” fundraiser. Seven Democrats who are running for governor addressed the crowd. Progress Iowa executive director Matt Sinovic noted nine candidates for Iowa congressional seats were in the crowd as well. “This is a year when people are fired up,” Sinovic said. “…One of the ways we are seeing this is in how many candidates are running for office, which is a great thing.”

Two potential 2020 presidential candidates capped the event with speeches laying out their ideas for party renewal. Early Sunday afternoon, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley  told Radio Iowa that his party needs to focus on issues that “smooth the path” for working families. “We have two big obstacles right now. One is that the economy is rigged and the other is that the political system is rigged, but there is upwelling of progressive energy, wanting to take our country back for…the ‘We, the People,’ vision that we were founded on.”

Merkley arrived in Iowa Saturday, with an aggressive three-day schedule that included a meeting with some of the Iowans who supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in 2016. Merkley laughed when asked if he’d be back in Iowa campaigning for president himself in 2019.”I just want to focus on 2018 and helping people all over the country,” Merkley said. “…My kids have now graduated from high school. They’re off to college, so Mary and I have more flexibility to be of assistance to others in a battle for the soul of our country and, really, for American leadership in the world.”

Merkley, who was the only U.S. Senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in 2016, supports the “Medicare for All” concept Sanders is advancing, as well as a dramatic expansion of federal spending on the nation’s infrastructure. The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, also addressed the Sunday afternoon “Corn Feed” crowd. Pete Buttigieg raised his national profile earlier this year with a run to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Buttigieg said Democrats need to “stop treating the presidency like it’s the only office that matters” and start looking at state and local elections.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Education is heading into the final week of taking comments on the state proposal for the federal education law now known as “Every Student Succeeds Act.” Department director Brian Wise says the E-S-S-A replaces the “No Child Left Behind Act.” He says they’ve issued three drafts of the plan and tried to refine it based on the input that they’ve already received as they try to maintain accountability, transparency and support for the schools.

Wise says they’ve gotten a lot of input from across the state. “We’ve held 18 public forums all across Iowa. We’ve done three on-line feedback surveys. We held eight focus groups, we did six statewide advisory committee meetings and we’ve had 11 work teams working on this,” according to Wise. “So, we’ve really tried to engage in this process.”

This is the final week (September 11-15) for public input, and then the final touches are completed. “Next week we’ll furiously looking at it, writing and revising and submitting the plan on the 18th,” Wise says.  It then goes to federal officials for review. Wise says the U-S Department of Education has 120 days to review the plan and he anticipates getting a call for any clarifying information and then he hopes the plan would be approved.

Wise says the most exciting part of the E-S-S-A is that it returns decision making back to the state and local level. Wise made his comments during a presentation to the Board of Regents.

(Radio Iowa)