The Creston Police Department today (Thursday), reports two arrests recently. At around 3:25-a.m. today (Thursday), 29-year old Derek Jason Noble, of Raymore, MO., was arrested in the 100 block of N. Elm Street, for Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300. And, at around 10:55-p.m. Wednesday, 31-year old Jeffrey Michael Donald Drake, of Creston, was arrested at his home on a Union County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. Drake was being held without bond in the Union County Jail, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former state of Iowa worker who’d used the words “In Christ” in his work emails has lost his lawsuit against the state. The Sioux City Journal reports that a federal jury in Sioux City found Wednesday that the state Department of Human Services did not fail to accommodate Michael Mial’s religious practices. Mial sued the department and several individuals at the sex offender unit in Cherokee in January 2017, saying his firing violated his rights to free speech and religion.

The lawsuit said Mial, a psychiatric security specialist, was fired in April 2016 after a performance review in which supervisors told him his religious faith was beneficial to patients at the sex offender unit. But they asked him to keep his religion separate from his work because he’d been using “In Christ” in the personalized signature block that appeared in internal emails sent to other employees.

(Radio Iowa) — Nine Area Education Agencies cover the state of Iowa and their administrators are hoping lawmakers will help plug a 15 million dollar budget shortfall to address pressing needs. One area the agencies want to work on is special education programs. Another, according to Central Rivers Area Education Agency spokesperson Beth Strike, is to help school districts with mental health support. “Every school district we work with is telling us that they have more and more students with mental health needs. And often times, communities may or may not have the resources to help in that case — depending on whether its in rural Iowa and so on. We all know we’ve got more work to do to provide those supports,” Strike says.

Strike says a third area is to help special needs students better transition from high school to the next steps in their lives. “So, we want to increase that likelihood that when those kiddos leave the K-12 system, they are fully prepared to make a positive contribution in their community, and also in their workforce,” Strike says. “And we think we have quite a bit of help we can be providing in that area.”

Strike says the A-E-A’s cannot take any more budget hits. “We’re not filling positions often times, we’re trying to reduce through attrition. That’s been going on for several years,” according to Strike. “And just like local schools — you can only do that for so long before it begins to be a situation where you feel like you’re just not at the highest level you could be. We do feel ware are at the point where it just can’t get any lower.”

Area Education Agencies have been in Iowa since 1974.

(Radio Iowa, w/thanks for Karla James in Omaha) — An alternative farmer in western Iowa who tends an apple orchard and raises peacocks and bees is appealing to state leaders to enact tighter restrictions on crop dusters who he claims destroyed much of his four-acre farm. Dennis Fett, of rural Minden, says the problem with drifting chemicals has been going on for decades but last year was the worst. Fett says, “We’ve been on our property since 1987 and starting in 1992, we’ve been pretty much violated by drifting of unwanted farm pesticides, fungicides, insecticides and herbicides.”

Fett says he built a tall fence, which kept out most of the ground-sprayed chemicals, but then neighboring farmers started hiring crop dusters. In July of 2018, he says his property was oversprayed three times. “It pretty well destroyed all our fruit in our fruit orchard, it destroyed our chemical-free garden, and one of them violated the Bee Rule, spraying insecticides within a mile of a registered bee hive — which ours are,” Fett says, “and it also caused neurological problems and death of some of our baby peacocks.”

Fett says he’s appealing to Iowa’s secretary of agriculture as well as to members of the legislature to look at the rules regulating crop dusters and overspraying. Fett says, “If they look at increasing the fine structure, if they’re given a civil penalty from $500 to $1,000 or maybe even $5,000 or more, that might discourage these crop dusters who come from out of state and are here six weeks or so and leave — and leave their dangerous chemical on off-target places, such as my place.”  Fett says the state pesticide bureau has reported a 50-percent increase in overspraying cases during 2018. He says it’s baffling why more farmers aren’t raising a fuss about the problem. “The farmers are spending thousands of dollars to get their crops sprayed either for herbicides or insecticides, but when they’re drifting off target, like they have on my property, they’re not getting their money’s worth,” Fett says. “I’m proposing the farmers ask these people who overspray to give them all of their money back when they violate the law.”

Fett says he’s very concerned about the coming spring and the potential spraying around his acreage of the chemical dicamba, which may kill anything left on his farm.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Some of the Democrats considering running for president in 2020 say they plan to ignore personal needling from President Donald Trump. Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey tells The Associated Press that he doesn’t want to waste his time on negativity when voters want to hear a positive message. Another potential Trump opponent, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, says it’s a tricky challenge to stand your ground but not allow Trump to define the agenda every day.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Investigators say they have arrested a 32-year-old man who may be linked to several sexual assaults near the University of Iowa campus. Carlos Hivento of Cedar Rapids was arrested last week and charged in the November sexual assault of a 19-year-old girl he allegedly met at an Iowa City bar. Investigators are looking into whether he’s connected to several other assault reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is describing comments by Republican Rep. Steve King about white supremacy as “abhorrent.” Presidential press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is praising the move by House Republicans to strip the nine-term Iowa lawmaker of his committee assignments. King was quoted last week by The New York Times as saying: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization _ how did that language become offensive?” Those comments were widely denounced as racist.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A Marion man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman whose body was found last week on the side of an eastern Iowa highway. The Muscatine Journal reports 35-year-old Douglas Joseph Foster was charged Tuesday in the Jan. 8 death of 20-year-old Lea Ponce, of Fairfield. Investigators say Ponce was last seen alive just after midnight Jan. 7 getting into a pickup truck Foster was believed to have been driving.

The Atlantic City Council held a short session Wednesday evening at City Hall. During their meeting, the Council paid tribute to three City employees for their ongoing years of service.

Mayor Dave Jones (Left) and Atlantic Police Sgt. Spencer Walton

Atlantic Police Sergeant Spencer Walton was given a plaque for his 10-years of outstanding service, and in keeping the community safe. Youth Services Librarian Julie Tjepkes, who has served the Atlantic Public Library for 32-years, and Adult Services Librarian Diane McFadden, who has served for 30-years, were also honored with awards.

Mayor Jones, Diane McFadden and Julie Tjepkes.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council passed a Resolution “Approving the Transfer of Funds for the Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2018-2019.” City Administrator John Lund updated the Council on the budget, which he said should be ready to go out during the Council’s meeting on February 6th.

He said also, the Fire Chief Mark McNees has spoken with township elders about increasing their contribution to the City of Atlantic for fire protection.  He said also there is a buyer interesting in purchasing the Atlantic Senior Center, which is in need of approximately $36,000 in repairs that would eliminate the Senior Center Funds. Lund suggested the Personnel and Finance Committee meet sometime next week with a representative or two from the buyer’s group to discuss what should be done with the building located across the parking lot from City Hall, and then send their recommendation onto the Council. The roof he said is in serious need of repair.

Lund said also, negotiations with the Public Works Union are “In a good place,” as well as with the Police Union. On a related note, Lund mentioned his concern with regard to “The rhetoric coming out of Des Moines, about more ‘property tax reform.'” He said the last time leaders in Des Moines worked on that form of tax reform, it was “Damaging enough,” and he may slow down in the negotiations, especially if they have tentative agreements, to hold onto them until he knows which direction the city is going on. Right now though, both parties seem to be in agreement with a 5-year contract, but that’s dependent on what the legislature does, and Lund does not want to lock the Unions in until there’s a clearer picture on property tax reform.

In his report, Mayor Dave Jones reminded citizens the “See Click Fix” service is seeing a lot of use, but there are numerous complaints that cannot immediately be resolved due to the legal process, while others are being taken care of as soon as possible, but the person who investigates most complaints, Kris Erickson – the Code Enforcement Officer – is part-time, and she does the best she can with the time she has. The Mayor urges citizens to please be patient.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The last of three suspects in the January 2017 killing of a Des Moines man has pleaded guilty to reduced charges of willful injury causing serious injury and robbery. The Des Moines Register reports that 27-year-old Monica Fagan pleaded guilty Wednesday to the charges and faces up to 35 years in prison when she sentenced Feb. 27. She had faced life in prison on a first-degree murder charge in the beating death of 31-year-old Michael Huckleberry.

Fagan admitted Wednesday to helping 26-year-old Sarah Saltz and 51-year-old Ricky Hascall tie-up, rob and beat Huckleberry in his Des Moines apartment. Hascall died in jail last year awaiting trial. Saltz pleaded guilty to robbery and theft for her role and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A Marion man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman whose body was found last week on the side of an eastern Iowa highway. 35-year-old Douglas Joseph Foster was charged Tuesday in the Jan. 8 death of 20-year-old Lea Ponce, of Fairfield. Foster was ordered held Wednesday on $3 million cash-only bond.

Investigators say Ponce was last seen alive just after midnight Jan. 7 getting into a pickup truck Foster was believed to have been driving. Her body was found along Highway 38 less than an hour later. An autopsy report says she died of blunt force trauma and that her injuries were consistent with having been hit and dragged by a vehicle.

Foster’s preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 25.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Investigators say they have arrested a 32-year-old Iowa man who is believed to be linked to several sexual assaults near the University of Iowa campus. Carlos Hivento of Cedar Rapids was arrested last week and charged in the November sexual assault of a 19-year-old girl he allegedly met at an Iowa City bar. He’s being jailed pending trial.

Court records show that investigators have uncovered evidence that also links him to a 2017 sexual assault of another woman at a different Iowa City bar. And they are looking into whether he’s connected to at least three other reported assaults, including one days before his arrest.

Police say an examination of one of Hivento’s phones uncovered 1,475 videos of him having sex, using drugs or doing both since September. They’ve seized several other electronic devices.

The University of Iowa Police Department is asking anyone with information to come forward.