IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa City leaders have expanded the city’s hate crime law to include harassment and trespassing. The Iowa City Council passed the expanded ordinance earlier this month. A news release from the city says state law covering hate crimes names only assault, arson and criminal mischief.

The new city ordinance adds both harassment and trespassing when committed because of a person’s race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or marital status.

City officials say the expansion is in response to an increase in hate crimes in recent years, which jumped from six reports in 2017 to 14 in 2018. Under the new Iowa City ordinance, a first offense for a hate crime carries a fine of between $300 and $625 and up to seven days in jail. A second offense is a $625 fine and 30 days in jail.

A Union County woman complained of pain and possible injuries, following a collision Tuesday afternoon. The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Friday, a 2014 Chevy pickup pulling a bale hauler, was turning at the corner of Beechwood Avenue and 110th Street at around 12:25-p.m., Tuesday, when the trailer was struck by a 1998 Buick.

The driver of the Buick, 43-year old Monica Jo Young, of Cromwell, told authorities she didn’t see the pickup/trailer stop at the stop sign, because of all the dust the pickup and trailer kicked-up. The was no damage to the pickup, driven by 62-year old Roger Dee Tanner, of Greenfield, but the bale hauler sustained $1,000 damage. Damage to the Buick was estimated to be $4,000. Tanner was not injured in the collision, and no citations were issued.

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County arrested a Red Oak man early this (Saturday) morning. 39-year old Walton Samuel Hughes was arrested for OWI/1st offense, following a traffic stop in the area of 210th Street and Highway 34. Hughes was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

A traffic stop at around 8:23-p.m. Friday, in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of a man for Driving While Suspended and Failure to have SR-22 Insurance. 38-year old Daniel Lee Mattox, of Red Oak, was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, and held on a $1,000 bond.

A potential suicide was averted late Friday evening in Council Bluffs, when Police Officers were able to talk a man down from a side of the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, that links Council Bluffs to Omaha.

Officers with the Omaha and Council Bluffs Police Departments were dispatched to Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge at around 7:47-p.m. Once the suicidal subject was talked away from the side of the bridge, he was escorted to safety.

Council Bluffs officers were able to take the subject to a local hospital for further evaluation. It’s the second time this past week a suicide was prevented. Tuesday night, Ray’Veontae Harris was live streaming on his phone during his walk, when he spotted a young woman in crisis, leaning over the edge of the bridge

The 20-year-old spoke with the woman and slowly helped her down so she wouldn’t fall. She thanked him later for saving her life.

Washington DC- Congressman Steve King announced Friday, that he will be hosting two town hall meetings next Friday, July 19th. Both town halls are open to the public and to the media.

One of the town hall meetings will be held in Shelby County at the C.G. Therkildsen Activity Center located in Harlan at 706 Victoria St. The Shelby County town hall will run from 3:00-4:00 PM, July 19th.

King has pledged to hold a town hall in each of the 39 counties in the 4th Congressional District this year, and, as scheduled, these two town halls will be the 22nd and 23rd King will have hosted in the district since January.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada sheriff say a near-drowning victim at Lake Tahoe is alive thanks to the “extraordinary efforts” of two off-duty firefighters from California and a physician’s assistant from Iowa who pitched in to help save his life.

Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam (BAY’-luhm) singled out the three “Good Samaritans” and other deputies Friday, a week after the emergency was reported on Tahoe’s east shore.

The trio included Erin Dohlman, a recent graduate from the Des Moines University Physician Assistant Program, and Freddy Matias, an off-duty firefighter from CalFire’s Napa Valley station.

Balaam says the other unnamed firefighter was administering CPR to a San Francisco Bay Area man who was submerged and unconscious before Dohlman and Matias joined in.

He says they happened to be the right people, “with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time.”

WESTFIELD, Iowa (AP) — A former city clerk accused of stealing from a northwest Iowa community has pleaded not guilty.

The Sioux City Journal reports that 50-year-old Angela Sorensen filed a written plea Thursday in Plymouth County District Court. The charges: theft and ongoing criminal conduct.

Sorensen had been clerk in Westfield from May 25, 2013, until she quit in August 2017. A special state audit of the city books shows auditors identified nearly $40,000 of utility payments to the city that were never deposited.

Auditors also said Sorensen was overpaid by more than $13,000 during the 4½ years and said she wrote herself about $4,300 worth of unauthorized checks.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump has repeatedly told U.S. farmers he will support ethanol and he largely continues to have their support but many are growing unhappy with EPA decisions that hamper ethanol production.

The EPA refuses to restore 2.6 billion gallons of ethanol removed from production through refinery waivers. It’s a significant blow to corn farmers and counter to Trump’s promise but many hesitate to blame Trump, known for retaliatory tweets.

Republican U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is the most direct urging Trump to compel EPA “to reverse course and keep his word to the forgotten Americans who have faithfully stood with him,”

U.S. Representative Cindy Axne, a Democrat says Trump isn’t taking responsibility for policies that hurt farmers and his administration is good at distancing him from EPA decisions.

BANCROFT, Iowa (AP) — North-central Iowa law enforcement officials say three people have been found dead in Bancroft. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says in a news release that the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call Friday morning reporting two people found dead in a Bancroft home.
Bancroft police officers who were first to arrive at the home also found a third person there dead.

Police have released no other details, including the names of the dead or how they died. Officials have only said there is no on-going threat to the public.

Officials say the names of the victims and more details will be released following notification of the victims’ family members and the completion of autopsies.