(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Senate has approved a proposal from Iowa Senator Joni Ernst that would ban U.S. tax dollars from funding any of China’s state-run labs. That would including the Wuhan Institute where new reports suggest researchers were seriously ill before the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in 2019. Ernst says China continues to obstruct international efforts to discover Covid-19’s origins. “Refusing to allow independent scientists to review the database of coronaviruses that were being studied in the Wuhan Institute,” Ernst says.

The ban on sending federal funding to China’s research laboratories is now included in a bipartisan bill designed to address China’s global ambitions. Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says not another dime of U.S. tax dollars should support research in the communist country. “Providing additional US funds to subsidize any state-run lab in China, especially the Wuhan Institute of Virology, goes against the very purpose of the underlying bill, which to support more research in the U.S. to better compete with China.”

Ernst’s amendment passed on a voice vote late yesterday (Tuesday) as senators considered several amendments offered by Republicans and Democrats.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest at around 1:50-p.m. Tuesday, of 31-year-old Dylan Thomas Griffith, from Red Oak. Griffith was taken into custody in the 300 block of Market Street, for Failure to Appear on an original, OWI charge. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

And, Police in Red Oak, Tuesday afternoon, arrested 56-year-old John Wayne Goodall, of Red Oak. He was taken into custody on an active warrant for FTA on an original charge of Delivery of a Controlled Substance, a Class-C Felony. Goodall was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $20,000 bond.

Goodall

A Mills County man was arrested Tuesday on a warrant out of Tennessee. The Glenwood Police Department reports 57-year-old Jerry Crump, of Glenwood, was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports that on Monday morning, his deputies assisted in escorting an unruly person from the District Court room and the Page Courthouse. The incident took place during a hearing. Palmer says a district court judge ordered 38-year-old Matthew Sherman Olson, of rural Coin, to be removed, during a protection order hearing, because he became agitated and angered over the events, and the outcome of the hearing.

Shortly after Olson was removed from the Courtroom and Courthouse due to his behavior, he allegedly violated the protection order and harassed the protected party. Clarinda Police Department handled the alleged violations as the protected party lives in the city limits of Clarinda. Warrants were issued by a Page County Magistrate for Olson’s arrest.
Olson contacted the Sheriff’s Office and threatened to shoot anyone that came to his door. After several attempts to negotiate Olson’s surrender, the Iowa State Patrol Tactical team was called for assistance.

Matthew S. Olson

A perimeter around Olson’s residence had been set by the Page County Sheriff’s Office with portions of the roadway being blocked by the Page County Secondary Roads Department. This was done prior to the arrival of the Iowa State Patrol Tactical team.

After several hours of negotiations and Olson displaying a long gun outside of the residence, Olson exited his residence unarmed and surrendered to Law Enforcement at approximately 7:35 PM. Olson was transported to the Page County Jail where he is currently being held on No bond for the Violation of the protection order. He also currently has a charge of Harassment 1st Degree with a bond of $2000.00. Both of these charges were filed with the court by the Clarinda Police Department. More charges from this incident will be filed today on Olson.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted with this incident by the Clarinda Police Department, the Page County Secondary Roads, the Clarinda Ambulance Service, and the Iowa State Patrol.