The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports deputies arrested 48-year old Kerri Lynn Pace, of Villisca, Thursday night. Pace was taken into custody at around 10:20-p.m. on an active warrant for Violation of Parole. She was transported to Montgomery County Corrections and held on a $20,000 cash bond.

BROWNVILLE, Neb. (AP) — Federal inspectors plan to review how well a Nebraska nuclear power plant handled a water service safety problem blamed on a silt buildup from the Missouri River. The river overwhelmed levees along its length last spring.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a news release Thursday that the Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville was operating Dec. 6 when employees detected that water wasn’t flowing through a pipe connected to one of two safety generators. The other generator was available.

Nebraska Public Power District soon determined that silt had built up and blocked the pipe outfall. The district had the silt removed within a week.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The father of a 14-year-old boy shot to death early New Year’s Day in Des Moines is asking the public to come forward with information on the shooting. The Rev. Ron Woods tells the Des Moines Register that his son, 14-year-old Josiah Woods, was standing in a house’s enclosed porch when he was hit by gunfire from a drive-by shooting. The elder Woods says his son was not the target, “but he was the victim.” Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says the shooting was deliberate and intentional, but that police don’t yet know who the intended target was.

UNDATED (AP) — Joe Biden is getting a high-profile endorsement for his presidential bid as congresswoman Abby Finkenauer becomes the first member of Iowa’s congressional delegation to take sides in the Democratic nominating contest. In an interview with The Associated Press ahead of her announcement Thursday, the congresswoman cites Biden’s experience and says he’s the candidate who can unite Democrats, independents and some Republicans. Finkenauer hosted nine presidential contenders at a November forum in her congressional district, demonstrating her potential influence. Polls suggest Biden is in a jumble of top contenders in Iowa along with Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Best-selling author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson has laid off her entire 2020 campaign staff but is pushing ahead with her Democratic presidential bid. Williamson’s New Hampshire state director and senior campaign adviser Paul Hodes confirmed Thursday that he had been laid off and “that the others in the national campaign have been laid off.” A former campaign aide told The Associated Press that Williamson laid off her entire campaign staff on Dec. 31 because of financial concerns. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because staff were told not to speak publicly about the layoffs.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Police in Council Bluffs in western Iowa say the traffic stop of a rental truck has lead to the seizure of 1,500 pounds of marijuana worth about $4.5 million on the street. Police say in a news release that the traffic stop occurred Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 80 in Council Bluffs, when the truck was stopped on suspicion of speeding. Police say a drug dog was deployed and indicated the presence of drugs in the truck and a search turned up 61 cardboard boxes packed with marijuana. The 35-year-old truck driver from Los Angeles was arrested on various drug charges.

IOWA CITY – Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections, today (Thursday), said an inmate serving time for the Union County crime of Murder in the 1st Degree, died Wednesday afternoon from natural causes. 72-year old Rick Fay Bird was pronounced deceased at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Bird had been serving a life sentence for the Feb. 19, 1997 death of 47-year old Linda Trenkle.

Trenkle was beaten to death with a hammer, in Creston. Bird, who was 49-year old at the time, was living with Trenkle. Two weeks earlier she had gone to his home accompanied by law enforcement to retrieve her possessions. On the day she died, she returned without law enforcement to get more of her property.  Bird’s incarceration for the crime began on October 24, 1997.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Officials say an officer found a loaded gun in the waistband of a man being booked into the Polk County Jail. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that the incident began late Wednesday night as 25-year-old John Steven Hansen was being booked into the jail on a harassment charge. Officials say that when Hansen was brought to the jail by Des Moines police, he was immediately searched by a Polk County detention officer before his handcuffs were removed. Officials say that within seconds, the handgun and 17 rounds in the gun’s magazine were found in Hansen’s waistband.

A traffic stop at around 1:05-p.m. Wednesday in Council Bluffs resulted in the discovery of numerous boxes containing about 1,500-pounds of suspected marijuana worth an estimated $4.5-million. Council Bluffs Police initiated the traffic stop on Interstate 80 eastbound at he 7.5-mile marker. A 2016 Penske box truck was stopped for speeding. The driver, 35-year old Dmitry Brisov, of Los Angeles, CA., was issued a citation. A Council Bluffs Police Service Dog was deployed and  alerted to the  presence of narcotics in the vehicle.

A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered 61 cardboard boxes containing the suspected marijuana. Borisov was subsequently booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail  on charges that include: Possession with Intent to Deliver‐ Marijuana Over 100Kg/Under 1000kg; Prohibited Acts; A drug Tax Stamp Violation, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Dmitry Borisov

61-boxes of suspected marijuana worth about $4.5-million. (Council Bluffs PD photos)

(Radio Iowa) — The latest data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office shows there’s been little change in the number of Iowa voters registering their affiliation with the two major political parties. The number of Iowans who are registered to vote — but have checked “no party” as independent voters has grown by about 13-thousand in the past 12 months, but there are fewer Democrats AND Republicans registered to vote now when compared to this time a year ago.

Secretary of State Paul Pate has said the January, 2019 data reflects the surge of voter registrations for the 2018 General Election. If the hundreds of paid staff and volunteers for Democratic presidential candidates who’ve been contacting Iowans this year are identifying new voters, it’s not reflected in the voter rolls as of January 2nd, 2020.

If there ARE hundreds if not thousands of NEW, first-time voters showing up at Iowa Caucus sites across the state on February 3rd, there will be long lines at the check-in tables.

(Source of the following numbers: IA Sec. of State)…

Iowa Voter Registration Data
January 2, 2020
639,968 Republicans
614,516 Democrats
746,494 No Party (independents)

December 2, 2019
640,180 Republicans
613,899 Democrats
743,885 No Party

January 2, 2019
653,172 Republicans
631,136 Democrats
732,891 No Party

(Radio Iowa) – A bipartisan group of lawmakers who represent Iowa and Nebraska are joining to sponsor legislation that would help communities like Hamburg that are fighting federal rules about making temporary levees permanent. Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne of West Des Moines, a Democrat, says additions to a levee that had saved Hamburg from 2011 flooding had to be removed because of current Army Corps of Engineers rules.

(as said) “A bureaucratic piece of red tape didn’t allow the  residents in a community up that would have kept them out of harm’s way, we believe, in this recent flooding incident,” Axne says.

Congressman Don Bacon of Omaha, a Republican, represents a district on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River and he’s co-sponsoring the bill in the U.S. House with Axne. The legislation sets up a new regulatory pathway for temporary flood control structures can be made permanent.

(as said) “It’s with the idea in mind that if we already have a levee in place that was put in there temporarily, that served a purpose, and that if we are able to make some considerations to use that levee and not tear it down, then this bill will help us address that,” Axne told Radio Iowa.

Iowa Republican Joni Ernst has filed a similar bill in the U.S. Senate.

(as said) “There’s a various coalition of those of us up and down the river that want to see things changed,” Ernst says, “so we will keep pushing on those issues.”

In 2011, the Army Corps raised the levee protecting Hamburg by eight feet, but the Corps’ current rules required that extra height to be removed because the community couldn’t come up with the money to make the addition permanent. The legislation Ernst and Axne are sponsoring would direct the Corps to consider the economic impact of removing temporary flood control structures.

It also calls for waiving rules that require local governments to come up with matching funds for levees if the community has fewer than 10-thousand residents. Axne says the federal government has spent tax dollars responding to this past year’s Missouri River flooding that might have been saved if the height of the Hamburg levee hadn’t been reduced.

During a senate hearing last spring, Ernst quizzed Army Corps officials about their management of flood control structures along the Missouri River corridor.

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois’ first day of legal recreational marijuana generated over $3 million in sales. State officials announced Thursday that there were over 77,000 transactions on Jan. 1, the first day of legal sales. Crowds began forming early in the morning. State officials say the first day went smoothly with few problems.

Illinois is the 11th state to broadly allow marijuana’s use and sale for people 21 or older. Neighboring Michigan made it legal starting Dec. 1. Officials there say the first two weeks of sales generated about $3.1 million.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa agriculture officials are taking comments on proposed new rules that will regulate hemp production in the state. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says comments on the administrative rules that will regulate the planting, growing and harvesting of commercial hemp will be accepted until Jan. 22.

The state submitted its proposed hemp production program to the USDA on Dec. 11. The USDA has 60 days to review it. Once the USDA approves the program and the online licensing system is operational, Iowa agriculture officials will start accepting hemp grower license applications. Licensed farmers will be able to grow up to 40 acres of hemp per season.