The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports numerous arrests from over the past week. Monday evening, 59-year old Darby Leroy Durham, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in Council Bluffs, following an alleged assault on a 60-year old woman that was witnessed by a 17-year-old female. He faces charges that include Child Endangerment w/substantial risk, and Domestic Abuse/Simple Assault. Bond was set at $2,000. Also arrested Monday evening, was an unidentified 14-year old female. She was taken into custody in Avoca, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense.

Sunday night, 56-year old Ronald Everett Knapp was arrested in Council Bluffs on a warrant for Violation of Parole. Saturday afternoon, a 13-year-old male was arrested in an area near Honey Creek, and cited for Operating a Motor Vehicle without the Owner’s Consent.  Friday night, 26-year old Alberto Eduardo Elquezable was arrested following a traffic stop in Council Bluffs. He was charged with Driving While suspended or revoked. The man was released from the scene with a citation.

Thursday night, 24-year-old Daniel Scott Rouch, Jr., was arrested in Oakland, for Assault causing bodily injury or mental illness/no intent, and Child Endangerment with Substantial Risk/bodily injury. Thursday evening, 49-year old Ronald Lyn Burns, of Lincoln, NE.,  was arrested in Underwood, following a requested welfare check. Burns was subsequently charged with Operating a Motor Vehicle without the Owner’s Consent. Bond was set at $2,000.

Thursday afternoon, 42-year old Jenny Marie Hardy was arrested in Council Bluffs, for Interference with official acts resulting in bodily injury.  She was arrested after a Pott. County Sheriff’s Deputy was asked to assist Council Bluffs Police with a woman who had walked out of the Buckle clothing store with approximately $2,000 worth of merchandise, without paying for it. As the deputy started to approach Hardy, she tried to elude him on foot through the parking lot. She was eventually apprehended after a brief struggle. She suffered minor scrapes to her body as the result of falling and the brief struggle with law enforcement.

ZEARING, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man accused of killing his wife will go to trial in June. WHO-TV reports that 70-year-old Gary Pillman was previously declared incompetent to stand trial, but that ruling was reversed after psychiatric treatment. Pillman has pleaded not guilty. Betty Pillman was found dead outside the couple’s home in Zearing in November 2019. She had been stabbed.

Court documents say Gary Pillman went to a neighbor and admitted to the killing, saying he also tried to kill himself. The bench trial is scheduled for June 2.

A traffic stop Monday afternoon in Mills County, resulted in the arrest of a man from Georgia. 22-year old Kelsen Davy, of Acworth, GA, was arrested on I-29 at around 4:12-p.m., for being a Fugitive from Justice. Davy was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A strong winter storm has begun making its way across the upper Midwest, creating treacherous travel conditions and spurring warnings urging people to stay off the roads. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and other states. By Tuesday morning, snow was so heavy in western Nebraska that Interstates 80 and 76 were closed in both directions after several accidents.

Authorities in Omaha, Nebraska, and in the Kansas City area also reported several accidents blamed on slippery roads.

Mills County Public Health (MCPH) has received its first shipment of the Moderna vaccine and has begun administering it. MCPH began administering the first round of vaccines to front-line direct care healthcare workers. MCPH Administrator Julie Lynes says “We have made contact with most of the individuals in the county that are eligible to receive the vaccine and started administering it last week. We want to ensure that all of our direct care healthcare workers understand they are eligible to receive the vaccine and would encourage them to contact us to schedule an appointment.”

MCPH can be contacted by calling (712) 527-9699.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors will meet for the last time…in 2020, that is. Their meeting takes place 9-a.m. Wed., Dec. 30th, and will be conducted electronically from the Adair County Courtroom via dial-in, at (605)-313 6157 (Access Code 526272#).  On the agenda, is Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, who will discuss a Jail Administrator new hire. County Auditor Mandy Berg will report on a Memorandum of Understanding with regard to cybersecurity services, and renewal of the FY22 County health, dental and vision plans.

County Engineer Nick Kaufmann will make available for the Supervisors to sign, a Right of Way contract for a grading project along the County Line (G-61), and will present his regular report on maintenance and activities.

(Radio Iowa) – Teams of Walgreens, C-V-S and Community Pharmacy employees began deploying Covid vaccinations Monday to the people who live and work in Iowa nursing homes, but it will be some time before the tens of thousands of shots are administered in all of Iowa’s long term care settings. Kelly Garcia is acting director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. She says federal officials are allowing the teams to give shots to people living in adjacent assisted living facilities as well. “This adjustment provides some significant flexibility for operations and for logistics, especially when you think about the way that facilities are structured,” she says. “They often have long term care facilities co-located in one property with an assisted living functon.”

While the State of Iowa is getting fewer doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines than originally expected this month, the effort to begin vaccinating residents of nursing homes is beginning this week as scheduled. A second dose will be required in late January. The federal government signed contracts with the three pharmacy companies to be responsible for the vaccinations at long term care facilities — so the doses are transported to each facility and the shots are given by pharmacy employees. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says deploying the vaccine is a monumental effort and there are bound to be bumps in the road.

“Just as we saw months ago when we launched large scale testing through Test Iowa, it takes time to ramp up and for things to run smoothly. We’ll likely experience the same as we begin broadening the scope of vaccinations across the state of Iowa as well,” Reynolds says. “I think we owe it to each other to assume good intent in these efforts and to give each other some grace while we navigate yet another new phase of our recovery.”

The state’s coronavirus tracking website Tuesday morning showed there were 114 Covid outbreaks in the state’s 423 nursing homes — and more than 45-hundred residents and staff have active infections. Thirty percent of the Iowans who’ve died of Covid this year were residents of a long term care facility.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — Two people are hospitalized after fire broke out an apartment complex in Waukee. The Des Moines Register reports that the fire happened Monday. Two people suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to a hospital. Deputy Fire Chief Tomme Tysdal says seven of the eight apartments were occupied and the families were evacuated. The cause of the fire is under investigation.