The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests over the past few days. Sunday night, 39-year old Daniel Charles Thomas, of Honey Creek, was arrested following a traffic stop near Crescent. Thomas was taken into custody for Driving While Barred (DWB)-Habitual Offender. Bond was set at $2,000. Sunday evening, 57-year old Kimberly Ann Thomas was arrested following a traffic stop in Avoca. She too, was charged with Driving While Barred. Early Sunday morning, 33-year old Brian Joseph McCormick was arrested for OWI/1st offense, following a traffic stop in Council Bluffs.

Saturday night, 21-year old Andrew Robert Dilley was arrested in Treynor, following a traffic stop on a vehicle with no license plates. Dilley was charged with DWB-Habitual Offender. And, Friday morning, 45-year old Denice Ann Giovannoni turned herself-in to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office. Once a warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree was confirmed, Giovannoni was transported to the Pott. County Jail and turned over to Corrections Staff.

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

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a 20-foot-tall, 110-ton limestone statue succeeded in a slow process last week of moving the sculpture across a street in Iowa City. The giant statue, called “Man on a Bench,” had gazed out over a nature preserve in the northeast corner of Iowa City for five years. But the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that after its sculptor and the property owner, Doug Paul, completed a land swap with the education organization ACT, the statue had to be moved across a street. Last week, stonemason JB Barnhouse oversaw the move with the help of crane and excavation companies. They detached a 11 blocks of carved Indiana limestone and hauled the statue to its new home, one block at a time.

(Radio Iowa) – One person was killed when an apartment caught fire in Fort Dodge on Sunday afternoon. The Fort Dodge Fire Department responded to the fire at 629 Central Avenue shortly 2:00 p.m. When they arrived smoke was coming from an apartment. A resident of the building had called 911 after smelling smoke and activated the smoke alarm. Fire fighters discovered an adult female unresponsive in the apartment. She died of her injuries with the body taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny. The name of the victim has not been released.

(Radio Iowa) – Thanks to changes in federal rules, more people are now eligible to give blood, and more donors are needed as hundreds of Iowa blood drives have been cancelled because of the pandemic. Pete Lux, director of donor services at the Davenport-based Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center, says under the old rules, people who lived in Europe for three months or more were not allowed to donate blood in the U-S.  “People who were deferred for living in Europe on a military base, that’s no longer a deferral,” Lux says. “We want to make sure we can contact those people, get them back in our systems and get them back to getting calls and reminders.”

The regulations were put in place years ago due to Mad Cow Disease, but the Food and Drug Administration has lifted restrictions for certain countries. The United Kingdom, Ireland, and France are not on the list. The blood center needs to collect about 35-hundred units of whole blood per week. Now, it’s only collecting 32-hundred due to the pandemic and Lux says they can’t store whole blood indefinitely.  “Not really. It’s good for six weeks, so we can work that far out and plan promotions and everything around that expiration date,” Lux says. “My boss calls it trying to catch a falling knife.”

Other eligibility rules have changed. For example, those who’ve had a tattoo or piercing -are- allowed to donate blood after a three-month wait instead of a year. The same waiting period applies to those who may have been exposed to HIV. The Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center serves 115 hospitals in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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A traffic stop in Red Oak Sunday resulted in the arrest of a man and woman on felony drug charges. 42-year old Jeremy Joel Binns, of Laurens,  and 26-year old Clara Jane Heitshusen, of Council Bluff,s were taken into custody on Class-B Felony charges that include possession of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies and the K-9 unit assisted the Red Oak Police Department.

Binns and Heitshusen were transported to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and held on $50,000 bond, each.

The State’s Coronavirus dashboard, early this (Monday) morning showed 342 more positive, confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths from the virus. The IDPH says: 454,803 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19; 42,358 tested Positive; 410,772 tested Negative; 29,728 have recovered from the virus, and 829 have died. Hospitalization data show: 241 are hospitalized across the State from COVID-19; 78 patients are in an ICU; 30 were admitted to a hospital since Sunday’s report, and 32 persons were on ventilators.

Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa report: 11 persons are hospitalized with COVID-19; five persons are in an ICU; No one was admitted since Sunday, and one person remains on a ventilator. Long-Term Care facility (LTC) data show no change in the number of outbreaks (22), 631 staff/patients have tested positive for COVID-19, 151 have recovered, and 448 have died (unchanged from Saturday).

IDPH Dashboard, current County Positive case counts, and the number of reported recoveries ( )

• Cass: 37, (29)
• Adair: 20, (16)
• Adams: 13, (Recovery data not available)
• Audubon: 25, (no recovery data available)
• Guthrie: 119, (69)
• Montgomery: 38, (18)
• Pottawattamie: 1,040, (742)
• Shelby: 133, (126)

(Radio Iowa) – More than 170 recent law school graduates are slated to in a Des Moines hotel to take the 12-hour bar exam this week. Recent University of Iowa Law School graduate Karla Olivas and her colleagues petitioned the state Supreme Court to make changes to the exam, but were denied.  “Just the thought of having to go and sit in a room with dozens of other people who are coming from all across the states is really scary,” she says.

She says you don’t know if they other have been taking the same precautions that you have all summer long to avoid the virus. Emily Schott says not taking the exam is not an option for those hoping to start jobs and pay down student loans. “Postponing the exam, you know, is a theoretical option, but it is not a practical one for us. I don’t…so when you say what would that look like? The truth is I have genuinely…you know…if I couldn’t get barred, I don’t know what I would do,” Schott says.

Graduates say they still have concerns, even with preventative measures in place such as taking temperatures at the door.

(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – The Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president is describing Iowa as a swing state that may be vital to an Electoral College victory this fall. Joe Biden delivered a short message to Iowa Democrats during the party’s virtual fundraiser Sunday evening. “Iowa’s a critical battleground state for our campaign,” Biden said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure Democrats win up and down the ballot all across Iowa this November.”

Biden’s campaign recently hired experienced staff to run his Iowa effort. Biden’s remarks last (Sunday) night were a public signal of Biden’s investment here and the former vice president noted Iowa’s competitive races for the U.S. House AND Senate. “You know, we have to do more than just beat Trump. We have to keep the House of Representatives and win back the United States Senate,” Biden said. “We have to lead and deliver meaningful change for the millions of people who are hurting all across this nation. That means we need strong state parties, strong county parties, strong Democratic Party organizations at all levels.”

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Mark Smith — in his recorded remarks — said the nation is at a turning point.”During these difficult times, Democratic leaders who listen and understand Americans have never been needed more badly than now,” Smith said. The Iowa Democratic Party’s virtual fundraiser lasted just about an hour. It featured recorded remarks from party leaders as well as Democratic activists who were honored with eight different awards.

Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann blasted the event, saying it shows the only way for Iowans to see Biden is to buy a ticket to a fundraiser.