Creston Police report two men were arrested Thursday on separate Driving While Suspended charges. 24-year old Cody Joseph Parmenter, of Creston, was arrested at around 3:45-p.m., and 37-year old Briankeith Andre Whitfield, of Creston, was arrested at 6:40-p.m.  Both men were being held in the Union County Jail on a $300 bond, each.

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 convicted Nebraska sex offender has been given 15 years in an Iowa prison for taking video of a college student showering in a residence hall. Authorities say 30-year-old Zachary Person was sentenced Wednesday in Sioux City. He’d pleaded guilty to burglary and invasion of privacy. Prosecutors say he took the video March 1, 2017, in a bathroom at Morningside College’s Dimmitt Hall.

The Sioux City Journal reports that in return for Person’s pleas, prosecutors dropped charges related to separate attacks that occurred Feb. 12, 2017, on another woman at Morningside College and on a woman at a Sioux City hotel. Nebraska records say Person, from Norfolk, was sentenced in October to 15 to 20 years for trying to assault a woman in Omaha. The Nebraska Sex Offender Registry says he’d also been convicted of sex crimes in 2012 and 2016.

The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement officers will participate in the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Operation Safe Driver Week July 16-20 at various locations around the state. This initiative is aimed at identifying unsafe driving behaviors by commercial motor vehicle drivers and those drivers of other vehicles operating around the commercial motor vehicles. The events will be held in Council Bluffs, Mason City, Iowa City, Davenport, Des Moines, Sioux City and the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area. During each event, officers will be issuing citations and warnings to those drivers in an effort to reduce crashes caused by dangerous driving behaviors.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 94 percent of all crashes can be attributed to some form of driver error. MVE Chief David Lorenzen said, “With these events, we’re actively seeking out those drivers who pose a danger on the road.”  Examples of dangerous driver behaviors that enforcement personnel will be tracking throughout Operation Safe Driver Week are speeding, distracted driving, texting, failure to use a seatbelt while operating a CMV or in a passenger vehicle, following too closely, improper lane change, failure to obey traffic control devices, etc.

Operation Safe Driver Week is sponsored by CVSA, in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and with support from industry and transportation safety organization.

Adair County Deputy Auditor Sandy Mitchell, Thursday, reported that County Offices on the November 6th General Election ballot, will include: Supervisor District 2NE; Supervisor District 4SE; Treasurer; Recorder; Attorney, and one clerk and two trustees for the Richland and Washington Townships. The candidate filing dates with the Auditor’s Office are Monday, August 6th through Wednesday, August 29th. Candidate packets are available in the Auditor’s Office or at the Secretary of State’s website www.sos.ia.org.

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, Thursday, announced that he will be making stops in 16 counties next week, including Fremont, Page, Mills, Taylor, Ringgold in the KJAN listening area. Stops are planned in the cities of Sidney, Shenandoah, Malvern, Essex, Lenox, and Mt. Ayr.

The details of his area visits are as follows:

Monday, July 16, 2018 –

Fremont County – 1:00 p.m., visit the Fremont County Fair, 1004 Legion Rd., Sidney;  Page County – 3:00 p.m., tour Green Plains Shenandoah, 4124 Airport Rd., Shenandoah; Mills County – 4:30 p.m., visit the Mills County Fair, 61317 315th St., Malvern.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018 –

Page County – 9:00 a.m., tour Johnson Locker Service, 510 Iowa Ave., Essex; Taylor County – 11:00 a.m., tour Dalton Ag Products, 602 E. Van Buren St., Lenox; Ringgold County – 1:30 p.m., visit the Ringgold County Fair, 2214 US 169, Mt. Ayr.

Fred Hubbell, the Democratic candidate for governor, visited four farms this week and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds went to two farms in northwest Iowa yesterday (Thursday) — as both candidates emphasize the financial impact of President Trump’s tariffs. Reynolds says she told Vice President Pence when he was in Iowa on Wednesday that farmers need to see “some positive things happening.” “Nobody wins in a trade war and it’s important that we get something done and that our farmers and producers and manufacturers see some movement,” Reynolds said. “This is having a devastating impact on Iowa farmers and we’re really interested on growing markets, not contracting them.”

Hubbell says Iowa livestock producers already have lost half a billion dollars because of the trade disputes with China, Mexico and Canada. “You look at the crops in the field, corn and soybeans today, if they came out at today’s prices, they’re all losing money,” Hubbell says, “and I don’t think it makes sense to hold Iowa farmers, Iowa families, rural Iowa to be the victims of a trade war that didn’t need to happen.” Hubbell says Reynolds should quit “talking behind closed doors” with Trump Administration officials. “When I talk to farmers, they don’t know what she’s doing. They don’t hear her saying anything. They don’t see her doing much. She should be holding press conferences,” Hubbell said. “She should be going together will other governors that have the same problem that Iowa does.”

Reynolds says Vice President Pence assured her during their discussion Wednesday that real progress is being made on NAFTA negotiations. “We need movement. We need something done. We want to support him in his negotiations, but this can’t linger on, especially as we move into August and we’ve got farmers that are trying to sell beans that they have stored…before they go into harvest.” Reynolds says Iowa farmers know China has taken advantage of the U.S. and something needs to change, but she says the tariffs are having a negative impact. Hubbell says President Trump should have opted for diplomacy or an appeal to the World Trade Organization rather than imposing tariffs.

(Radio Iowa)

A crowd gathered in the Iowa Capitol rotunda Thursday afternoon to bid a formal farewell to former Governor Robert D. Ray.  At 5 p.m., hundreds stood silently as Ray’s casket was carried to the center of the first floor rotunda. An honor guard took their posts. The Navy Hymn was played, in honor of Ray’s military service. Three wreaths were placed three wreaths near the casket, which was draped with an American flag. Some of the Vietnam refugees Ray had helped resettle in Iowa in the 1970s and early ’80s led the crowd as it filed through the rotunda. Mani Nhung came to pay her respects. She’s a member of Vietnam’s persecuted Tai Dom community who came to Iowa when she was 14 and didn’t know a word of English. “Because of him, that’s why people follow him. They opened their heart, their love to us,” she said.

The Asian Community’s white wreath came with an inscription, calling Ray a “beloved hero” and their “Ray of freedom.” Tuet Chung was a refugee from Cambodia who came to Iowa with her family in 1980. “We just love him so much…to open the door for us. We are just so grateful,” she said. Ray served as Iowa’s governor from January of 1969 until January of 1983. For 51-year-old Robin Clemons of Marshallton, that’s most of her childhood. “I grew up in Iowa and Governor Ray was always the governor,” Clemons said. “I went to the State Fair a few times as a kid and seeing him a few times and I actually got to meet him once. I just thought he was the nicest man.”

Dennis and Virginia Burlingame of Lineville drove to Des Moines to pay their respects. “I really liked him because was a moderate. There’s not many of those and he was a uniter. We need more of those,” Dennis Burlingame said. Virginia Burlingame added: “He was an Iowan, through and through, and he stayed rather than using it as a steppingstone to someplace else.” A few of the staffers who worked for Ray mingled in the early evening, reminiscing. Gerry Schnepf served as director of the Iowa Conservation Commission for Governor Ray. “Actually the memories are really good,” Schnepf said. “…We just had a lot of good times.”

Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad flew back from China, where he’s serving as U.S. Ambassador. “His health has not been good and I just thought if at all possible I wanted to be here to pay my respects and show how much I appreciate all that he did for Iowa and for me,” Branstad told reporters. Ray died Sunday at the age of 89. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. His funeral is today (Friday) at the Des Moines church where he met his wife. The two were married at First Christian Church, too, and their daughters were baptized there. On Thursday afternoon, police and state troopers led the hearse carrying Ray’s casket on a tour of Des Moines, passing by his church, the governor’s mansion and Des Moines City Hall before stopping at the capitol.

Today’s funeral is at 1-p.m. in Des Moines. It will be live streamed at http://live.drake.edu.

(Radio Iowa)

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 20-year old James Michael McCauley, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 7:20-p.m. Thursday in Red Oak. McCauley was taken into custody on a valid Pottawattamie County warrant for 1st Degree Robbery. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $50,000 bond.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa residents remembering the legacy of former Gov. Robert D. Ray are reflecting on the difference between his administration and today’s politics. Ray will be eulogized Friday during a funeral in Des Moines. The Republican governor is known for being a centrist who put policy before political expediency. World Food Prize Foundation President Kenneth Quinn, who served in the Ray administration, says he doubts someone with Ray’s positions could be elected today.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Health officials in Illinois and Iowa are investigating an increase in people becoming sick from a parasite that causes intestinal illness. The Illinois Department of Public Health says it has received confirmation of about 90 cases of cyclosporiasis, which is caused by the Cyclospora parasite. The Iowa Department of Public Health says it has identified 15 cases. Both departments say there appears to be a link to consumption of McDonald’s salads. They say McDonald’s is also investigating.

MADRID, Iowa (AP) — Flooding has forced organizers to re-route part of Iowa’s annual cross-state bicycle ride. Officials say flooding has significantly affected low-lying edges of Ledges State Park in Madrid, which is slated to host the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa on July 24. The ride has now been re-routed to avoid the park.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s largest power utility has announced it will begin construction of a wind farm in Grundy County. MidAmerican Energy Co. said in a news release Thursday that construction of the Ivester wind farm will begin later this month. It’s expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Ivester project is projected to add 90.8 megawatts of wind generation capacity for MidAmerican customers. That’s enough to power more than 38,000 average homes in Iowa.