(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop at around 9:20-p.m. Tuesday in Villisca, resulted in an arrest. Authorities say 38-year-old Linda Frances-Anna Hemminger, of Villisca, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on bond amounting to slightly more than $491.

And, in an update to our previous report, Red Oak Police said an investigation determined that a man who was arrested Monday, gave false information to Officers. 55-year-old Phillip Page, of Texas, was arrested Monday for Public Intoxication and a Weapons Violation. It was later learned Page was in-fact Mark Damon Maroney.

In addition to his earlier charges, Maroney now faces an additional charge of Providing False Identity to Law Enforcement (A simple misdemeanor), and two felony counts Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. His bond was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Court records show a tip to the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office from a group that tracks the online exchange of child pornography led to felony charges against a northwest Iowa man. Twenty-four-year-old Jesus Aranda-Martinez of Rock Valley is accused of possessing media that depicts child sexual abuse.

Court records indicate the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contacted the Sioux County Sheriff’s office and a search warrant led to the discovery of 26 files on a Google account that a deputy sheriff traced to Aranda-Martinez. The 24-year-old faces 17 felony counts related to the purchase or possession of a depiction of a minor in a sex act.

If convicted, Aranda-Martinez could face up to five years in prison on each count. His trial is scheduled for November. At last report, Aranda-Martinez was in custody in the Sioux County Jail in Orange City.

(Radio Iowa) – Democrat Catelin Drey of Sioux City has won the special election for an open state senate seat by an 11 point margin — in a district President Trump carried by over 10 points last November. “I am just incredibly proud of the campaign that we ran and the work that this team did,” Drey told Radio Iowa last night. Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart says Drey’s win shows Iowans are ready for a new direction. Drey says voters are frustrated by the policies coming out of Washington and Des Moines.

Democrat Catelin Drey of Sioux City (photo provided by Drey’s campaign

“It’s gotten too expensive to build a life in Iowa, you know. That’s the message we ran on,” Drey says. “And we are really proud to have the support of the constituents in Senate District 1 and I’m looking forward to bringing their voice to the Capitol.” Unofficial results show Drey finished with 55 percent of the vote, while 44 percent of ballots were cast for Republican Christopher Prosch. Drey will finish the term of Republican Senator Rocky De Witt of Lawton, who died of pancreatic cancer in June.

Drey says she and her supporters worked until the polls closed at 8 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday). “We talked to every single voter that we could,” Drey says. “We were knocking doors up until 7:30, making sure that if people needed a ride to the polls or had questions about the issues that I was available to talk to them.” Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann says national Democrats were so desperate for a win they activated thousands of volunteers and spent a flood of money to win by a few hundred votes.

Drey’s victory ends the 34-seat supermajority Republicans have held in the Iowa Senate for the past three years. It means Governor Reynolds’ nominees for top state government roles will need the support of at least one Democrat to reach the 34 vote threshold for confirmation. The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors must certify the results before Drey can take the oath of office.

Drey says one of her top priorities in the 2026 legislative session will be providing a state funding boost for public schools that meets or exceeds the inflation rate. She would also vote for limitations on the state-funded accounts for private school students. “I personally would like to see an income cap on those who can quality for voucher funds,” Drey says. “I think it is wholly irresponsible that we have an uncapped budget item that is diverting public dollars into something we can’t track or audit.”

This is the first year when all private school students, regardless of their parents’ income, can qualify for state funds to cover tuition and other education-related expenses. There were household income limits in the first two years state assistance was provided for private schooling.

(Radio Iowa) – Smoke from a fire at a chicken farm in southwest Iowa’s Taylor County could be seen for up to 30 miles last (Tuesday) night. The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said on social media the fire had been brought under control thanks to at least two-dozen fire departments and their more than 100 personnel, who responded to the fire near Clearfield (1641 Yellowstone Ave.) at an egg production company called Daybreak Foods. Responding departments included Creston, Clearfield, Bedford, Blockton, Diagonal, Mount Ayr, Lenox, Corning, Prescott, Afton, Murray, New Market, Gravity, Woodburn, Villisca, Sharpsburg, Greenfield, Massena, Stanton, Clarinda, Union Township, and Worth County, with the last two coming from the Grant City, Missouri area.

In addition to the fire departments, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said four ambulance services, three county Sheriff’s Offices, the Taylor County EMA, Daybreak Foods employees “and countless community members” helped to combat the fire.  A Facebook Post by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office at around 7 p.m. Tuesday had asked residents to stay away from the area.

Creston Fire Dept. photo

Creston Fire Dept. photo

According to information from the Iowa Area Economic Development Group, this is the second major fire at the site. In November 2021, when the facility was owned a company called Hen Haven, a fire destroyed the processing plant, biosecurity facilities and one of the barns for layer chickens. In February of 2022, in the midst of rebuilding, bird flu hit the site and the chickens had to be euthanized.

Daybreak Foods acquired the Clearfield chicken farm in 2023. Daybreak Foods is a family-owned, Wisconsin based company that employs 12-hundred people to manage 24 MILLION laying hens at its facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio.

Taylor County Law Enforcement Facebook page photo

Taylor County Law Enforcement Facebook page photo

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has identified the man who was shot and killed by police during a domestic disturbance in Knoxville last week.

According to the DCI, 47-year-old Steven Funk, of Knoxville, was assaulting a woman when officers arrived at the home in the 300 block of Roche Street shortly after 11 p.m. on Aug. 21. During the incident, an officer fired at Funk, who later died at a Des Moines hospital.

The woman was treated and released from a local hospital. The Knoxville officer involved has been placed on critical incident leave, as per department policy. The DCI continues to investigate the incident.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa company that owns casinos in Riverside, Grand Falls and Davenport announced it is purchasing the Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington. Elite Casino Resorts led by C-E-O Dan Kehl announced they have acquired the Catfish Bend Casino and FunCity Resort in Burlington.

A statement from Kehl says the purchase “feels like coming home,” as the family helped launch casino gaming in Burlington when a riverboat was required.

The information says all Catfish Bend employees will be retained, with expanded opportunities for training and advancement. The Kehl family has a long history in the state casino industry, gaining the first ever riverboat casino gambling license in Dubuque in 1990.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley is the longest-serving current member of the U.S. Senate and he’s not ruling out running for re-election in 2028.

“I’ve been very careful to say that a decision like that, I’ve always answered the question: ‘Ask me the question in a couple of years,’” Grassley said this morning during his weekly conference call with Iowa radio reporters.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) delivering a tribute to President Carter in January, 2025.

Grassley, who will turn 92 in September, said when the time comes, he’ll consider the factors that played into his decisions about previous campaigns. “It’d be pretty much the same thing I’ve done through several re-elections and that is family considerations and whether or not I can do the job,” Grassley said.

Grassley has served over 50 years in the U.S. congress — the first six years as a member of the House and, for the past 44 years and nearly eight months, as a U.S. Senator. West Virginia’s Robert Byrd was a U.S. Senator for 51 years. That is the record for longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

Grassley and his wife, Barbara, celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary this past weekend. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about one-tenth of one percent of marriages in the United States reach that milestone.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Council Bluffs man was sentenced July 24, 2025, to 180 months in federal prison for receipt of child pornography and possession of a firearm as felon.

According to public court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip that an account, later determined to be associated with David Michael Morse, 55, received and uploaded an image containing child sexual abuse material. During a search of Morse’s Council Bluffs residence, law enforcement seized Morse’s electronics, including a cellular phone, and firearms. A forensic examination of Morse’s phone showed that Morse used the device to receive images and videos containing child sexual abuse material.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Morse will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Morse was also ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Iowa Department of Public Safety – Cyber Crime Bureau; Council Bluffs Police Department; Iowa State Patrol; the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Child Exploitation Task Force; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Task Force.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.