Creston Police report four recent arrests. On Sunday (4/21), 56-year old Thomas Leroy Patterson, of Creston, was arrested at 315 W Adams for Disorderly Conduct. Patterson was transported to the Union County Jail where he bonded out on $300 bond. Saturday afternoon, 43-year old Richard Wade Starlin, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, for OWI 1st. Starlin was released from the Union County Jail on a $1000 bond.

And last Friday, 19-year old Patrick Nychylas Leigh Farlow, of Clarinda, was arrested at 300 N Pine for Escape of Custody and on an Outside agency warrant. He is being held in the Union County Jail on a $3000 cash bond. Also, 35-year old Jaime Torres, of Creston, was arrested in the 300 block New York Av for Domestic Abuse Assault by Strangulation. He was released from the Union County Jail on a $2000 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man accused of abandoning two dogs that officials say had injuries “consistent with dogfighting” has pleaded not guilty. The Telegraph Herald reports that 31-year-old Eric Tillis entered pleas last week to charges of abandonment and of neglect. His trial is scheduled to begin June 17. Court documents say officers sent Jan. 26 to investigate a report about abandoned dogs found two dogs in kennels without food or water. The documents say both dogs had several scratches and scars “consistent with dogfighting.”

Investigators say Tillis and 21-year-old Alexia Ball had lived at the residence with the dogs but had moved out days earlier. Ball also has pleaded not guilty to charges of animal abandonment and animal neglect.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A man has been accused of stealing drugs from an ambulance at a Dubuque hospital. Dubuque County court records say 31-year-old London Gavin is charged with theft. The Telegraph Herald reports that an ambulance worker told police that Gavin had ridden in the ambulance Thursday as she and others took a patient to MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center. She noticed after talking to hospital staffers that vials of morphine and ketamine she’d placed on the ambulance cot were missing.

A court document says a surveillance recording showed Gavin grabbing something off the cot while the ambulance worker was talking to the hospital staffers. The document says the drugs turned up when Gavin emptied his sweatshirt pocket for police.

(Radio Iowa) — What’s being called a “sober living home” will open soon in Sioux City to help men who are struggling with addiction who may also be homeless. Hope Street of Siouxland has five bedrooms and ten beds, a kitchen, living room and showers, and staff members want to add a pool table. Program Director Sara Johnson says the goal is for people to feel at home while on the road to recovery. “And we’re really intentionally choosing to create a family for those individuals who are going to live here,” Johnson says.

Clients will have access to a case manager and nearby addiction treatment services in downtown Sioux City. “If you’re coming out of prison, if you’re detoxing from the hospital and you don’t have a space to come,” Johnson says, “we’re able to take those individuals.”  She says Hope Street will try to help combat the addiction cycle — where people tend to go back and forth between living on the streets and going to the hospital or going to jail. “We’re going to be another option for them to have some safe living space and hopefully, help change that cycle and really address what their basic needs are, whether it’s mental health, addiction, employment,” she says.

The facility is scheduled to open in the next couple of weeks. People will have to apply for a place in the home.

(Thanks to Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

Red Oak Police, Sunday night, arrested a man from Nebraska, following a reported family dispute. Officers arriving at a home in the 100 block of E. Corning Street, a little after 8:20-p.m. arrested 57-year old Terry L. Studey, of Papillion, NE., for Disorderly Conduct and Public Intoxication. Studey was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers soon may have the option to grow industrial hemp. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has been working on the issue for the past three years. Senator Kapucian, a farmer from Keystone, says the effort got “extra momentum” after the new Farm Bill effectively legalized hemp again in the U.S. “Let’s let our Iowans do what they do best. They’re innovative, entrepreneurial,” Kapucian said. “They will take it to the next level, they will develop the processing and let them see how far they can go.”

A bill approved by the Senate designates two state agencies to oversee the crop and would let Iowa farmers grow up to 40 acres of hemp, starting in the 2020 , growing season. Senator Tom Shipley, a farmer from Nodaway, says “That 40-acre limit is there so lots of people can take advantage and participate in this program rather than just a handfull.”

The hemp plant is a cousin of marijuana. Smoking it does not make you high, but for decades it’s been illegal to grow it under FEDERAL law. Senator Dan Zumbach, a farmer from Ryan, says hemp can be part of a new era in agriculture. “This is something we haven’t seen since World War II, but it’s better,” Zumbach said, “…and 45 years from now, this will be a normal crop in our fields with assets we can’t imagine.”

Senator Kevin Kinney, a farmer from Oxford, says hemp could become a leading commodity in Iowa, behind corn and soybeans. “I have been contacted by many future hemp farmers who are ready to start producing,” Kinney says, “and see the market for hemp products.”

The plant’s seeds and its stalks can be used to make fabric and paper as well as oil and building materials. The bill that passed the Senate last week is scheduled for debate in the Iowa House this week according to Representative Jarad Klein, a farmer from Keota. “It’s a very labor intensive crop,” Klein says. “I think there’ll be some niche market availability there. If somebody can make a profit at it and be successful, in agriculture, I’m all for it.”

Under the bill, farmers must get a state license to grow hemp. Officials from the Iowa Departments of Agriculture AND Public Safety are to oversee hemp production, to ensure its not being grown as cover for marijuana.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines police say a man is facing several charges after he allegedly threatened to kill everybody at a QuikTrip station. The Des Moines Register reports Gerald Evans Jr., of Davenport, was arrested Saturday and is being held in the Polk County jail facing charges including terrorism. Court documents say Evans called 911 several times to say he was driving to the QuikTrip to kill everybody inside _ including his girlfriend _ and then himself.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Some Waterloo residents are asking the Iowa State Auditor’s Office to conduct complete or partial audit of the city’s financial transactions. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports 148 residents signed a petition earlier this month asking for additional auditing work. The state office will meet with RSM, which conducted the city audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, to determine whether the firm looked at issues raised by the petitioners.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The federal Natural Resources Conversation Service is providing money to plant cover crops on damaged farmland. The aid is aimed at recovery work on cropland directly affected by the severe weather in March. Producers are encouraged to apply by May 17 or June 21 at their local U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center. Information also can be obtained online.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — One of the hottest names in the Democratic presidential primary _ and one of the most difficult to pronounce _ is Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj). Whether the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, can build an effective national campaign to maximize the sudden interest in his presidential bid remains a question. Buttigieg expects to expand his paid staff in Iowa and New Hampshire and hire staff in South Carolina, Nevada and California.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports a man was arrested last week on an assault charge. 39-year old Mario Colin-Rojas, of Stuart, was arrested April 17th for allegedly assaulting his wife, by placing his knee on her throat at a residence in Stuart, causing her to be deprived of oxygen. He was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault by Impeding Air and/or blood flow.

Colin-Rojas was released the following day on a $2,000 cash or surety bond, with 10% acceptable.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Some Waterloo residents are asking the Iowa State Auditor’s Office to conduct complete or partial audit of the city’s financial transactions. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports 148 residents signed a petition earlier this month asking for additional auditing work.

The state office will meet with RSM, which conducted the city audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, to determine whether the firm looked at issues raised by the petitioners.

Jennifer Campbell, a manager at the auditor’s office, said she could not discuss specific concerns raised by the petitioners. Resident Forest Dillavou, who helped collect signatures, said the main question concerns transfers of money between various city operating funds.

Mayor Quentin Hart said the auditor’s office hasn’t explained the exact concerns presented by the petitioners.