The Fremont County Sheriff’s Department reports three South Dakota residents were arrested early this (Friday) morning, on drug charges. 33-year old Florencell James, Jr., 29-year old Roseanne Weddell and 23-year old Rochelle Bordeaux, all of Sioux Falls, SD, were taken into custody at around 2:40-a.m., on Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, charges.

The trio were arrested at the Pilot Truck Stop in the 2400 block of 210^th Avenue in Fremont County, after deputies responded to investigate a reported suspicious vehicle. Each of the individuals were brought to the Fremont County Jail and held on $1,000 bond each.

The snow is still falling across northwest and north-central Iowa, with two to four new inches of flakes on the ground. 13 counties across the region are under a Winter Weather Advisory through noon. Meteorologist Mindy Beerends, at the National Weather Service, says the flurries will be flying for a while yet. The light snow and flurries should linger throughout the morning and may start to taper off mid- to late-afternoon. She reminds — the roads are slick and visibility may be reduced by blowing snow.

Here in Atlantic, we received nine-tenths (.9″) of an inch of snow for the 24-hour period that ended today at 7-a.m.  That melted into four one-hundredths (.04″) of an inch of liquid precipitation.

From 7-a.m. to 8-a.m., we had picked up an additional tenth-of-an inch (.1″), and light continue was continuing to fall as of 8:40-a.m.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following a two-vehicle accident Thursday afternoon, just south of the Audubon County Airport. Officials say 59-year old Keith Vokt, of Audubon, was traveling south on Highway 71 at around 2-p.m., and in the process of turning east onto 215th Street, when his 1996 Chevy struck a northbound 2011 Jeep, driven by 50-year old Edward Cooper, of Des Moines.

Damage from the accident amounted to $5,000. Authorities say Vokt was cited for making an Unsafe Turn.

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Two people have been arrested on drug charges in Red Oak. According to the police department, 22-year old Nicholas Dean Wright, of Carson, was taken into custody shortly after 10-p.m. Thursday, on a possession of marijuana charge. Wright was being held in the Montgomery County jail this (Friday) morning, on $1,000 cash bond.

And, 34-year-old Joshua Duane Mohn, of Red Oak, was arrested early this (Friday) morning, on charges of forgery, counterfeiting, driving while revoked and possession of drug paraphernalia. Mohn was transported to the Montgomery County jail where he was being held on $5,000 cash bond.

Some Iowa farmers had a very rough 2012 due to the drought and it’ll translate to a more expensive 2013 for consumers. A report from the U-S Department of Agriculture predicts food prices will be rising in the months ahead. U-S-D-A economist Ricky Volpe says the big hike in livestock feed prices means beef, pork and chicken will cost more.  “We’re going to see strong food price inflation for a lot of animal-based products,” Volpe says. “That’s expected to happen relatively early in the year, in the first quarter or the first half of 2013.” Food prices rose about two-and-a-half percent this year and the agency predicts they’ll rise three-to-four percent in the year ahead.

Volpe says meat prices will go up initially, with many other items costing more by late summer.  “That’s when we can expect to see more significant impacts for all these more packaged, processed, shelf-stabled foods, things like soups, condiments and side dishes, and then even things like breakfast cereals and packaged breads,” Volpe says. “That’s where we’ll start to see the impacts of the drought happen a little bit later. Consumers are going to feel it more for those foods. It’ll be a little bit smaller but it will happen in the second half of 2013 and maybe even in 2014.”

Volpe says the effects of the summer-long drought will continue to have ripple effects in all grocery aisles. “We’ve seen, in the last couple of months, fluid milk prices ticking up,” Volpe says. “It does appear as if, for this food, the drought has really started to hit it. We always expected that fluid milk and dairy would be kind of a good bellwether of where the drought is headed because we’re looking at a food group that is not very storable and doesn’t require a lot of processing. Expect to see dairy products, this large category, on average go up about 4% in 2013 as a result of these higher feed prices.” The report says the price of milk and other dairy products could double if price supports are not addressed by Congress in a new Farm Bill by the end of the year.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

The Iowa Department of Transportation’s decision to not issue driver’s licenses to aliens who came into the country illegally as kids is not sitting well with the Iowa A-C-L-U. Ben Stone is the group’s executive director. “The A-C-L-U of Iowa and its allies are profoundly disappointed in the conclusion reached by the Iowa Department of Transportation, and we will vigorously pursue all legal options to change this result,” Stone told Radio Iowa. D-O-T director Paul Trombino said his department’s reading of Iowa law found they could not issue licenses or I-D cards to those who are not in the country legally. Stone does not agree.

“We can make no sense of the reading that they have put forward. It makes no sense, it’s wrong and we will attempt to convince them otherwise. And we are optimistic that we will be able to do that,” Stone says. The issue gained attention in June when the U-S Department of Homeland Security issued a memo saying it was up to the discretion of the states on how to handle the illegals given what’s called “deferred action” status by the U-S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Stone says the state is messing with the lives of those in the group.

“I think what we are encountering here is a state agency that is basically bending over backwards to find something in which to justify it’s conclusion. And frankly it’s nonsensical,” according to Stone. “These people are not going to be deported, they are authorized to be here by the federal government. All of this is just semantic shenanigans.” One estimate says there are some five-thousand people impacted. Stone says it is a public safety issue.

“It makes no sense to have people who are here who are not going to be removed by the federal government, who are permitted to work, who have been issued papers to that affect. And yet the state of Iowa doesn’t seem to think that there is any obligation to provide them with the ability to lawfully obtain a license,” Stone says. “And that results in our roads being occupied by people that have not been properly licensed, and that is not in the interest of public safety.” Stone says they will seek all legal means to get the D-O-T to change its mind and if that is not successful, will seek other ways to change the decision.

(Radio Iowa)