A man from Council Bluffs was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Neola, for Violating a Protection Order. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says 36-year old Bret David Hauptman was taken into custody after he made contact with a 29-year old woman he was prohibited from seeing. He was being held in the Pott. County Jail for being a fugitive from Cass County. Bond was set at $300.

A traffic stop Wednesday afternoon on Old Lincoln Highway, resulted in the arrest of 37-year old J. Michael Smith, of Missouri Valley. Smith faces a Possession of a Controlled Substance charge related to one-gram of meth, and for Driving While Revoked. And, 31-year old Mark Allen Kent, of Harlan, was arrested late Wednesday evening in Pott. County, following an investigation into a suspicious vehicle. Kent was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. During his arrest, authorities located a clear plastic baggy containing a crystal substance suspected of being meth, weighing less than one-half gram. They also found a clear glass pipe.  Bond was set at $1,000.

And, Pott. County Sheriff’s officials report at around 2:30-a.m. August 27th,  Joseph Jonathan Dean Shlee, of Council Bluffs, was operating a stolen 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee and had tried to elude law enforcement. Shlee was eventually stopped at Highway 6 and 330th Street and taken into custody. At the time of his arrest, Shlee had three active warrants for his arrest through Pottawattamie County, for 1st Degree Harassment, Serious Domestic Abuse Assault with injury/1st offense, and Simple Domestic Assault. His bond was set at $22,000.

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling about 2 million F-150 pickup trucks in North America because the seat belts can spark and cause fires.The recall, which covers trucks from the 2015 through 2018 model years, comes about one month after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating fires in the pickups, which are the top-selling vehicles in the United States. According to Ford, seat belt pretensioners can generate excessive sparks when they tighten before a crash. That can ignite gases inside a support pillar between the front and rear seats, causing insulation and carpet to catch fire. The Regular Cab and SuperCrew Cab trucks were built between March 12, 2014 and Aug. 23, 2018. Dealers will remove insulation and install heat-resistant tape to repair the trucks. They also will remove remnants of wiring tape and modify interior panels in Regular Cab trucks. Owners will be notified starting Sept. 24.

The City Council in Walnut will hold a regular meeting this evening, beginning at 5, in the City Council’s Chambers. On their agenda is discussion with regard to the well project, including a USDA Rural Development Loan, and consideration of the possible adoption of a resolution authorizing and approving a loan agreement, as well as providing for the issuance and securing the payment of a taxabale water revenue note amounting to slightly more than $1.1-million.

Other discussion and/or action will focus on: The Streetscape Enhancement Project; And, Approval of pay application from Miner Hardscape, LLC amounting to $23,574, consideration of the possible adoption of a resolution accepting the work completed by Minder Hardscape. The Walnut City Council will also receive an update with regard to the City’s Infrastructure Needs Study and Strategic Plan, and take action on a Resolution adopting an updated Infrastructure Needs Study and Strategic Plan.

In other business, the Council will discuss: the Walnut Community Center; The hiring of a part-time custodian; City Alcohol Ordinance and the purchasing tables and chairs. They’ll receive a report on Lookin’ Good Walnut,” and discuss Building Inspections and street closings during the Walnut Antique Fall Festival, among other matters.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A frequent speaker at the Waterloo City Council meetings got steamed when the mayor asked him to take off his hat. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Mayor Quentin Hart halted Tuesday’s meeting after exchanging words with Dwayne Eilers. Eilers has been attending council meetings to complain that he’s being singled out by code enforcement officers while other people with similar property violations are not receiving citations. Eilers has taken off his hat at previous meetings in accordance with the mayor’s desire for public decorum. But Eilers objected to the rule Tuesday.

Eilers told the mayor: “I refuse to remove my hat because I have the right to be my own person, not the person you want me to be.” Said the mayor: “Please remove your hat, Mr. Eilers. We’re not going to be a spectacle tonight.” Hart recessed the meeting, and Eilers left before police officers could escort him from the building.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees, this (Thursday) morning, said the cause of a house fire that took place early Wednesday morning at 107 E. 9th Street, was determined be accidental. An investigation at the scene by Chief McNees and Fire/Arson investigator Paul Wood, as well as interviews conducted by the AFD and the APD, determined that the blaze at around 3:20-a.m., was caused by a lit candle coming into contact with furniture and papers in the residence. 64-year old Rick Parrot was at home at the time of the blaze and was awakened by flames surrounding his head, after he fell asleep while reading a paper, on a couch just inside the main entrance of the home. Parrott attempted to extinguish the blaze by using pillows, but the fire quickly spread and he was forced out of the home by the heat and smoke. Parrott, who has mobility issues, then attempted to wake neighbors as the fire spread throughout the home. He continued to travel away from the scene to a friends home with the intent to return by vehicle, but did not do so during the incident.

McNees said in a press release “ Mr. Parrott was very fortunate to have escaped the blaze unharmed and we are thankful of that. While it would have been very helpful to know he was safely out of the home, it’s somewhat understandable that he was in shock and didn’t make it back before we left. Police did establish through relatives that he was not in the home during the time we were on scene. “

The results of the investigation match details of the incident and the fire will be ruled accidental. McNees cautioned residents that candles are one of the leading causes of home fires and should never be left unattended.

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

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(Radio Iowa) — A two-day summit on how to improve life in our small, rural towns opens this morning (Thursday) in north-central Iowa’s Hamilton County. The keynote speaker of the “Rural That Works” conference is Ben Winchester, a rural sociologist at the University of Minnesota Extension. Winchester says we need to rewrite the rural narrative. “This isn’t your grandpa’s rural, we’re not all farmers anymore,” Winchester says. “The economy, social life and demographically, we’re very different than we used to be.”

In decades past, people may recall how all of the Main Street storefronts were filled and how primary industries were very apparent in our small towns. Things have changed, he says, but not necessarily for the worse. “It’s easy when you drive up and down Main Street to see the boarded up buildings or where the elementary school used to be,” Winchester says, “but at the same time, our housing stocks are many times filled, our populations continue to migrate in and out, and we get people involved in social life, so we’ve got a number of folks even creating non-profits around their interests.”

While concerns are often raised about the “brain drain” as high school graduates move away, he says some rural areas are seeing a “brain gain” as young-to-middle-aged professionals move in. “What we’ve found here in Minnesota, through our research, and really across the country, is a trend of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s moving to our rural communities,” Winchester says. “They’re moving there for a variety of reasons, quality of life, safety and security, for the low cost of housing, and for employment opportunities.”

Winchester will speak at noon today at Backcountry Winery in Stratford. Other meetings are taking place at the Jewell Golf and Country Club.

On the web at www.ruralthatworks.com

CLERMONT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a driver died after his sport utility vehicle ran into a pond in northeast Iowa. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office says 30-year-old Steven Baker Jr. lost control of his SUV Tuesday. It ran through a fence into the pond at the Skip-A-Way Resort in Clermont. The vehicle submerged completely in the deep part of the pond. Rescue efforts were unsuccessful, and Baker was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in Elgin.

(Radio Iowa) — The State Auditor has released a report about “corrective action” that had to be taken to properly track the Iowa Communications Network’s finances and assets. The network’s previous executive director was fired this past January after a whistleblower in the agency came forward with concerns. State Auditor Mary Mosiman served on the I-C-N’s board, but she and other board members told legislators the network’s manager kept them in the dark about things like raises for unqualified staff and his use of a state-owned car to commute back and forth from Des Moines and Marion.

He also tried to sell state-owned equipment on eBay. The State Auditor’s latest report covers the final year the dismissed executive director was still in charge. The new manager of the Iowa Communications Network has promised to maintain a “detailed, up-to-date” list of the network’s assets.

The auditor’s report also made note of tardy deposits, late payments on credit cards and missing timesheets for some network employees who worked for the previous manager — all things the new I-C-N management acknowledged and said had been addressed.