A man from central Iowa was arrested Monday afternoon on a drug charge, in Creston. Authorities say 18-year old Isaiah Jones, of Dallas Center, was arrested at around 3:30-p.m. at Lincoln and Spencer Streets, for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Jones was being held in the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

And, an Afton man reported to Creston Police, Monday evening, that sometime over the past few days, a vehicle parked in the 600 block of E. Fremont Street, and a residence near there, had been broken into and items removed. Taken from the vehicle, was an air hose, generator and a saw. Missing from the residence, was a small table, tennis shoes, a bag of clothing, a 32-inch TV, a drill, and cleaning supplies. The loss was estimated at $1,435 altogether.

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

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OSCEOLA, Iowa (AP) — A county attorney in southern Iowa who’s accused of being drunk in a courtroom has apologized and has asked voters to let her continue her work. Clarke County court documents say 42-year-old Michelle Rivera is charged with public intoxication. A sheriff’s deputy says in a criminal complaint that he noticed Rivera “slurring her words and stumbling on her feet” in the Osceola courtroom last Thursday afternoon. He arrested her after she refused to take a breath test.

Rivera, a Democrat, is running for re-election against Republican Adam Ramsey on Nov. 6. She issued a statement in which she said she’s “taking every step necessary to get help, to fix this problem and to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.”

She apologized for what happened Thursday and said she hopes voters “will afford me the opportunity to continue this endeavor next term.”

Acorn Acres in Red Oak will be the site for a free, interactive and educational program one-week from today, designed to improve older driver safety. Red Oak Police Certified Reserve Officer Brad Baker told KJAN News the program is provided by the Iowa DOT, in associations with the Red Oak Police Department, Southwestern Community College, Acorn Acres, the Red Oak Rotary Club, AARP and AAA (Triple A).

Baker said the program on Oct. 30th is called “CarFit.” Trained volunteers will provide information to ensure the safest “fit” for older drivers and their vehicles. He says the volunteers offer a 12-point inspection, where a senior driver can pull-in and get a car safety check-up as well as ideas on how to drive safely and comfortably through the use of adaptive equipment, if necessary. The equipment may include assistance with a seat belt puller/extenders, better mobility with keys, a swivel seat device, pedal extenders, and more. It’s all designed to make senior drivers safer. The equipment, and the check-up, will help to lower insurance rates with some companies. Some seniors are noticeably too close to their steering wheel, for various reasons.  Being that close to your airbag can result in severe injuries. Baker says with airbag deployment, there should be a 10-inch gap between the driver and steering wheel.

The event begins at 9-a.m. Oct. 30^th, with a Distracted Driving Program set-up by Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy, Brad Baker, and Katie Lewis with Southwestern Community College. It features a 10-to 12-minute video with a local woman who lost her two young sons in a distracted driving accident. Nina Todd was returning to her home near Cumberland after a Thanksgiving Holiday visit in Shenandoah, when her car was struck head-on by an 18-year old woman who was speeding and texting as her vehicle came over a hill near Red Oak. The accident happened Nov. 28^th, 2010.

The program is geared to all ages. Coffee and rolls will be available in the Acorn Acres meeting room, before the Car Safety check-up is performed in the north drive of the facility. Baker says they are taking appointments for the 10-to 20-minute inspections/safety checks, but no one will be turned away if you just stop by from 10-a.m. Until Noon on Oct. 30^th. If you’d like to make a reservation for the CarFit event, call Brad Baker through Montgomery County Communications at 712-623-6500.

Baker says you won’t be cited if you have defective vehicle equipment or violations. The program is simply meant to provide safe solutions to issues affecting drivers, especially those who are older.

(Radio Iowa) – A 37-year veteran of the Iowa Army National has become the first African-American promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major in the organization. Sergeant Major is the highest enlisted rank you can reach without becoming an officer. Sergeant Jeffrey Lewis of Johnston has been in the Iowa Guard for 37 years. “I was excited, very excited, I told everyone I talked to it was the most happiest time of my life besides when I joined the military,” Lewis says. “I’m the type of person I don’t want praise for doing my job. I know what my job is, I will do my job every single time I’m out there.”

Sgt. Major Jeffrey Lewis

Lewis is a 54-year-old medic who has worked for the guard full time for 15 years. As Sergeant Major he will now assumes the duties of chief operations sergeant, 109th Multifunctional Medical Battalion (MMB), located in Iowa City. Lewis says becoming the first African-American to achieve this rank is important. “I think what it does to me, it holds that people of color…either women, minorities, people who have different ethnic backgrounds, different beliefs, can become a sergeant major,” according to Lewis.

While he is proud of making history, he doesn’t think it puts any more pressure on him as a role model for others. “I’ve been a medic for 37 years and my job is to take care of people. So, me becoming a Sergeant Major has no affect on me to put added pressure onto me to do better or do anything different. I am going to do the exact same things I’ve done when I was a private as a sergeant major,” Lewis says. “And that is to take care of everyone below me and make sure I follow the rules and regulations the military puts out for me.”

Lewis has deployed twice, supporting Operation Desert Storm with the 209th Area Support Medical Company and Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 134th Ground Ambulance Company. He says you sometimes see soldiers in the worst of times as a medic — but he finds the job rewarding. “You see the good and the bad. But the reward is you do see the bad and you see someone and if you save their life and they recover, that is the reward out of it,”Lewis says.

Lewis says he has seen the Iowa National Guard improve since the time he first joined in 1981. He has two more sergeant major steps in rank above him and he says he would like to continue up the command chain to one day become the Command Sergeant Major.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers got a lot of harvest work done last week, following three weeks of little activity due to nearly non-stop rain and muddy fields. The USDA crop report released Monday shows 29-percent of Iowa’s corn is out of the ground and 37-percent of the state’s soybeans are harvested. The corn harvest figure increased from 17-percent a week ago, while the soybean harvest jumped from 19-percent. Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist Daren Mueller says the wet weather in September and early October has resulted in reports of poor seed quality in soybeans. “Most fungi like moisture to grow and obviously the rains provided that,” Mueller says. “We’ve received a lot of calls on seed decay and other reports of discolored seeds, and I think this is either frog-eye leaf spot or cercospora leaf blight.”

The new USDA report rates 65-percent of Iowa’s soybeans in good-to-excellent condition and 35-percent between very poor and fair condition. Mueller says some farmers are reporting pod shatter in soybeans.
“Definitely that, and we’re also getting reports of seeds starting to germinate – both in corn and soybeans,” Mueller said. “I would say, in soybeans, having pods shatter would be the tricky thing (if) you’re not able to get into that field.”

Sixty-eight-percent of Iowa’s corn is rated in good-to-excellent condition. The USDA report notes the state’s corn harvest is three days ahead of last year, but four days behind the five-year average. Iowa’s soybean harvest is 12 days behind average and it’s also the smallest percentage of the crop harvested by October 21st since 1985.

(Radio Iowa) — More Iowans may end up available to serve on juries through a project underway at the Iowa Judicial Branch aimed at making jury pools more inclusive. The Jury Reform Commission wants to ensure African-Americans and other minorities are fairly represented. State court administrator Todd Nuccio says they hope to tap lists of Iowans registered with the Department of Revenue, in addition to the current lists from voting rolls and driver’s licenses: “Not so much because the Department of Revenue list is going to increase the number of names that we have access to,” Nuccio says, “but we know that the accuracy of the addresses are better from the Department of Revenue than they might be for the voter or driver lists.”

He explains why addresses from the Department of Revenue might be better.  “People are more likely to update their address with the Department of Revenue to get access to checks and other things than they are to update their addresses when it comes to those other source lists,” Nuccio says, “So, we’re working in that regard.”

Officials say the legislature may have to approve using the tax-collection agency’s information to summon jurors. The Jury Reform Commission also updated jury summons forms and introduced text reminders for jurors to show up in court. Nuccio spoke at the NAACP’s annual summit on disparities in the criminal justice system.

(with Thanks to Joyce Russell, Iowa Public Radio)

Police in Red Oak, early this (Tuesday) morning, arrested a man on an assault charge. 32-year old Dustin Keith Edie, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 2:50-a.m. at a residence off Skyline Drive, for Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding air and/or blood flow, and Child Endangerment, both aggravated misdemeanors. Edie was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held without bond.

(Radio Iowa) — The names of the two men killed in the Monday morning shooting in Fort Dodge have now been released. The victims are identified as 37-year-old Marion T. Rhodes and 34-year-old Eldominic Rhodes, both of Fort Dodge. The victims in this case are both brothers.

The bodies of both men were discovered just after midnight by police in an alleyway at 910 Second Avenue North. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting Fort Dodge Police in the shooting incident.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For all the anticipation about whether someone will finally snag the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot and the $620 million Powerball prize, the games come down to simple math and very long odds. But there are some quirks and surprises about the math equations that likely will soon vault someone into stratospheric wealth after the jackpots grew for months without a winner.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An investigator who helped uncover the sexual exploitation of 400 boys by an Iowa basketball coach says victims can still come forward to share their information. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Ryan Kedley says state and federal investigators have attempted to contact all 400 known victims of former Iowa Barnstormers Coach Greg Stephen, which he called a massive undertaking. But he says some individuals who were victimized haven’t been identified or contacted.

IOWA FALLS, Iowa (AP) — A hospital in north-central Iowa says it’s going to stop delivering babies. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Hansen Family Hospital in Iowa Falls announced last week that the doctor who performs most of the deliveries is leaving the hospital, so the deliveries will stop Nov. 23. Hospital CEO Doug Morse says it’s difficult to find doctors willing to deliver babies in a rural setting with its attendance malpractice risk and call burdens.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A grateful mother is thanking an emergency services dispatcher in eastern Iowa for calmly guiding her husband as he helped her deliver their baby daughter. Twenty-seven-year-old Kala Walker gave birth to little Kalee last week at home with her 29-year-old husband, Lee Walker, assisting. Kala Walker says Ben Sharpe at Muscatine County Joint Communications knew what to say to her husband and “knew how to walk him through it, which was wonderful.”