(Creston, Iowa) –  The first few days of August brought seven arrests in Creston. According to the Creston Police Department, late Friday night, 18-year-old Tanner James Richardson, of Tingley, was arrested at the intersection of Devoe & Spruce. Richardson was charged with Driving While License Denied, Suspended, Cancelled, or Revoked. Richardson was cited and released on a promise to appear.

Three people were arrested during the early morning hours on Saturday morning, in Creston: 38-year-old Christina Marie McDonald, of Creston, was arrested at the intersection of Montgomery & Spruce. McDonald was charged with Driving While License Denied, Suspended, Cancelled, or Revoked. McDonald was cited and released on a promise to appear; 33-year-0ld Alex Shamblin Cole, of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, was arrested at 900 S Sumner St. Cole was charged with Operating While Under the Influence 1st Offense, and Carry Weapon – While Intoxicated (OWI). Cole was transported and held at the Union County Jail; and, 35-year-old Maria Soledad Pantoja, of Afton, was arrested at 800 Laurel St. Pantoja was charged with Interference with Official Acts, and Public Intoxication. Pantoja was transported and held at the Union County Jail.

Just before 3-a.m. Sunday, Creston Police arrested 46-year-old Russell Edward Orr, of Creston, at the intersection of Lucas & Vine. Orr was charged with Operating While Under the Influence 1st Offense. Orr was transported and held at the Union County Jail And, at around 4:15-a.m. Sunday, 43-year-old Angel Jean Davis, of Creston, was arrested at 302 N Pine St. Davis was charged with Public Intoxication. Davis was transported and held at the Union County Jail.

Sunday night, Michael Edward Walker, of Creston, was arrested at 207 E Montgomery St. Walker was charged with Disorderly Conduct – Loud Raucous Noise, and Public Intoxication. Walker was transported and held at the Union County Jail.

(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon County Roads Department reports a paving project on Lark Avenue, from Highway 44 north to 220th street, is finished, and Lark Ave. is now open to thru traffic. The road was closed May 12th for work on the project.

(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon County Road Department reports today (Aug. 4th), that 220th Street from Kingbird to Lark Avenues is once again open to thru traffic. Officials say bridge repairs have been completed. The road had been closed since May 12th.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Mission of Mercy annual free dental clinic is set for next month in Coralville in eastern Iowa. Dr. Kobi Voshell says the event known a I-MOM is what got him started in his career. “In 2008 I went and was interested in dentistry and went and volunteered for the second ever IMOM in Cedar Rapids and I stayed for two days. Held hands while people were getting injections and walked people around from place to place,” he says.”I was like ‘Yes this is what I want to do,’ and a short decade later, I was finally in dental school and learning how to be a dentist and then took my turn at IMOM being the one giving the injections and working on the patients. It was fantastic,” Voshell says. Voshell works in Iowa City and says the free clinic handles of dental care that many people take for granted.

“The shame and fear that comes with dental work, and especially for people that aren’t able to afford it at a pretty regular pace or regular rate really is damning,” he says. “It really sucks. It makes it hard for those people to make it to the dentist when they can, and they’re afraid of the needle, they’re afraid of the dentist, they’re afraid of the pain.” The clinic will be at the Iowa River landing in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Coralville.”We’re planning to see about a thousand patients over the two days of IMOM, that’s September 19th and 20th. We’ll see about a thousand patients and do over one million dollars of free dentistry,” Voshell says.

The clinic is free and on a first-come, first-served basis for the two days.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A single-vehicle accident early Sunday morning in Montgomery County resulted in an arrest. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responded at around 3:50-a.m. to the scene of the accident at 110th Street and State Highway 48. After making contact with the driver of the vehicle – 46-year-old Brianna Nedean Gasper, of Red Oak – and following an investigation, deputies arrested Gasper for OWI/2nd offense. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s economy continues to show signs of stagnation along with the nine-state Midwestern region, according to the monthly survey of supply managers by Creighton University. On the zero-to-100 scale, a score of 50 is considered growth neutral, the midway point between an economy growing or shrinking. Iowa’s Business Conditions Index for July fell below 44 after a score of 48 in June. Creighton economist Ernie Goss says the Midwest as a whole fared a little better.

“It was down below growth neutral and that’s certainly not good, but it’s only slightly below growth neutral,” Goss says. “July’s number was 49.4, and that’s down from June’s 50.7.” According to federal data, Iowa’s manufacturing sector exported six-point-two billion dollars in goods during the first five months of this year, compared to six-point-nine billion for the same period a year ago. Goss says that’s a drop of more than ten-percent. “The manufacturing economy is moving sideways, and there’s little doubt about that,” Goss says. “A lot of it, what you’re seeing with the imports for example, the president’s trade policies, in my judgment, they’re having a negative impact on our surveys.”

Looking ahead six months, the region’s Business Confidence Index fell from a score of 50 in June to below 43 in July. Goss says concerns about tariffs and slowing new orders pushed supply managers’ expectations lower. He says only one in six supply managers expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months. Goss describes himself as “a vocal critic of tariffs, not of President Trump, just of that policy of his.”  “We asked the supply managers about switching from one supplier to another and only 6.7% said they switched from international to domestic,” Goss says, “so the idea of raising tariffs on imports to get the supply managers to buy from alternative domestically is not having an impact, much of an impact.”

The survey shows employment losses for the region for the fourth straight month. He says the Midwest lost nearly 13-thousand jobs during the past year, while the nation lost more than 89-thousand jobs.

(West Branch, Iowa) – A crash involving multiple vehicles in eastern Iowa’s Johnson County Sunday night, left at least three people with serious or life-threatening injuries. Preliminary information from the Iowa State Patrol indicates the crash began at around 9:25-p.m. on Interstate 80 near mile marker 252 (between Iowa City and West Branch), when one of the vehicles that was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes collided head-on with one vehicle before colliding with two other vehicles.

A fourth vehicle traveling westbound struck the wrong-way vehicle, while another westbound vehicle struck part of the first (wrong-way) vehicle.

The vehicles involved in the crash included a 2025 Nissan Altima, a 2011 Lexus ES 350, a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, a 2024 Volvo semi, and a 2015 Honda CR-V. It’s not clear by the initial report, which vehicle was traveling in the wrong direction, and no names the conditions of those involved in the crash, have been released at this time.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says her office will thoroughly investigate undercover videos that suggest University of Iowa staff are circumventing Iowa’s law barring Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programming on campus.

“Basically it is people who work at the university talking about how they are disregarding and getting around the law that the legislature passed that said they can’t do D.E.I.,” Bird said Saturday. “…Instead of changing and following the law, according to the video, it looks like they just renamed it.”

One of the undercover videos was featured on Fox News last week and Governor Reynolds filed a complaint with Bird’s office. The second video of a different University of Iowa staffer appeared on the Townhall website. Both university employees have been placed on leave.

Bird said her office plans to review internal university documents. “We’re going to let the facts go where they go and investigate all of it, pull that curtain back and get some sunlight on what is going on at the University of Iowa,” Bird said.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird speaks at a campaign fundraiser in Adel on August 2, 2025. (RI photo)

Bird cautions the probe will “take some time,” but when it’s done she says the results will be made public. “Here in Iowa, our taxpayer funded universities are supposed to be about education, not indoctrination,” Bird said. “It’s your tax dollars.”

Bird made her remarks this weekend to a crowd at a fundraiser for her 2026 campaign. Bird announced this summer that she would not run for governor and would seek a second term as attorney general. “I was born and raised on a farm…and I learned something on the farm. You don’t quit halfway through the job, do ya? You keep on going until you get the job done and we’ve done some good things in the attorney general’s office to help Iowa, but we are not done,” Bird said. “The work is not done and I’m not going to leave that unfinished to run for something else.”

Bird told the crowd her reelection campaign is in “high gear.”

“I believe 2026 is going to be a pivotal election and it’s nothing tht we can take for granted,” Bird said. “…Last time we kind of caught them napping in the attorney general’s office a little, but this time around they already have a candidate running against me for the last three months.”

Bird defeated Democrat Tom Miller in 2022 by a 1.7% margin. Nate Willems, an attorney from Mount Vernon, is the only Democrat to enter the race for attorney general.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the winner of the Iowa GOP’s 2016 Caucuses, and Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt were scheduled to speak at Bird’s fundraiser, but both remained in Washington, D.C. for senate votes on Saturday.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Organizers of Produce in the Park says they have another great lineup at the park in Atlantic, this week, including fire truck water fights, a foam party, face painting, and–scheduled in a hurry by popular demand–another sushi truck! The event is themed “Back to School, Back to COOL.” Please note: Chestnut Street will be closed between 6th and 7th Street during PiP for our Fire Truck Water Fights. The rest of Chestnut is open!

Atlantic Fire & Rescue will have water fights set-up at the Aug. 7th PiP

Produce in the Park takes place from 4:30-until 6:30-p.m., Thursday, August 7th, at the downtown Atlantic City Park. There is no cost to attend. Food Trucks this week include Liza’s Sushi & More, B&D’s Ice Cream, and Amos Fabulous Foods.

More than 25 vendors will have on-hand: Fresh Produce (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and more); Farm-Fresh Eggs; Local Meats (lamb, chicken, pork, beef); Baked Goods & Desserts; Freeze-Dried Snacks; Local Honey; Arts & Crafts; Garden Decorations, and Compost.

Visiting community organizations and businesses with tables or booths at the event include: Zion, Healthy Cass County, Atlantic Public Library, Civil Air Patrol, Cass Health, T.S. Bank, and more.

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) offers more than 200 hunter education courses each year, and now is the time to enroll before hunting seasons arrive.

Hunter education is a mandatory program designed to introduce students to firearms safety and several other life-long skills that are important to the many different types of outdoor recreational activities.

A person who is 11 years old or older may enroll in a course, but those who are 11 and successfully complete the course will be issued a certificate which becomes valid on their 12th birthday.

Students may certify in several ways, such as the traditional classroom course or a hybrid online/field day course. Students 18 years of age and older may certify completely online with no field day requirement. For more information on course options, visit: https://www.iowadnr.gov/things-do/hunting-trapping/hunter-education-safety

“Our courses are taught by volunteer instructors who are also hunters, so very few classes take place after mid-November,” said Jamie Cook, program coordinator with the Iowa DNR. “Many new hunters, and parents of new hunters, tend to delay in finding a hunter education course until classes become unavailable. My advice is to check the website weekly.”

To find a course and begin the registration process visit https://license.gooutdoorsiowa.com/Event/EventsHome.aspx

Hunter education is required for anyone born after Jan. 1, 1972, in order to purchase a hunting license. Iowa recognizes hunter education certificates issued by another state and some foreign nations.