Two people were arrested on separate charges Tuesday, in Creston. Authorities say 48-year old John Pace, Jr. of Creston, was arrested on a Department of Corrections Warrant for Violation of Parole. He was being held in the Union County Jail. And, 60-year old Linda Balius, of Creston, was arrested on charges of Interference with Official Acts, False Reporting and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Pills. Balius was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,600 bond.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa school nurse has been given 180 days in jail for having sex with a 16-year-old student. Linn County District Court records say 47-year-old Angela Beik, of Marion, was sentenced Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. She also was ordered to pay a $625 fine, restitution of nearly $910 and register as a sex offender. She’d entered an Alford plea to a charge of sexual exploitation by a school employee. In an Alford plea, a person doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction.

Beik was the school nurse at Linn-Mar High School in Marion and also employed at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. Police began an investigation of Beik in March 2018. They’d learned that state officials were checking a report that Beik told fellow St. Luke’s nurses that she’d had consensual sex with the boy. They reported the conversation to officials.

(Radio Iowa) — Southwest Iowa communities hit by this spring’s floods still face a critical housing shortage. Mills County public information officer Sheri Bowen says the situation is “very challenging” in her county and widespread in the Missouri River basin. Bowen says officials are looking into options to address the dire need for post-flood housing. “We have a housing coordinator who is working very hard to identify any housing opportunities locally,” Bowen says. “She is keeping a list of those and is actively beating the streets trying to locate additional housing in our community.” While most residents impacted by the flooding have a temporary form of shelter, Bowen says they lack a long-term housing option — which will make a bad situation worse once the weather turns colder.

“Trailers through FEMA have been an option as well, but placement on those has been challenging,” Bowen says. “They’re placing as many as they could in the Glenwood community. The remainder right now are going to Red Oak and Shenandoah — which isn’t really palpable for folks who might work in the (Omaha) metro area.” About 60 residents, including those living in Pacific Junction, have been identified for a home buyout program. Those residents need to fill out a “statement of voluntary transaction” form. “The county is working with identifying the local planning agency that’s going to help them put in their application,” Bowen says. “One of the steps that it requires is for homeowners to sign off on a validation that they are interested. It gives us releases to do more assessments on their properties. So, this is a step in the application process.” In most cases, Bowen says those properties are beyond repair.

“A lot of these properties are what I would call red-carded, which means that they really should not be rebuilt,” Bowen says. “That’s probably a large number of those properties. The remainder have been severely damaged. All of them had a minimum of ten feet of water in them for an extended period of time.” Bowen says many residents are still having issues regarding rental assistance, and have been referred to case managers.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say an officer used pepper spray on a 9-year-old and his 8-year-old brother who were carrying butcher knives on the north side of Des Moines. Police Sgt. Rod Santizo says someone who saw the boys and the knives at a convenience store called police just before noon Tuesday. The boys ran when the first officer on the scene approached them. They soon turned around, and one began arguing with the officer.

Santizo says the officer used the pepper spray when he saw the knives. The boys were soon taken into custody and their eyes flushed with water. They were taken to a hospital as well. Santizo says the boys stole a couple of drinks from the store but didn’t use the knives to do so. They told officers they were carrying the knives for protection. The names of those involved haven’t been released.

Red Oak Police arrested a woman at around 1:40-a.m., today (Wednesday). 36-year old Rachel Hope Shum McAlpin, of Red Oak, was arrested for Violation of a Custodial Order, a serious misdemeanor. She was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After initially saying he acted in self-defense, police have charged an off-duty jail employee who brandished a handgun during a fight at a car show at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The fair police announced that John McCormick is charged with assault while displaying a weapon, carrying a weapon under the influence and impersonating a peace officer. The charges came after witnesses said they were outraged that McCormick wasn’t arrested for the July 6 incident at the Good Guys car show.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man already in federal prison on gun convictions has been sentenced to another 20 years for trying to hire a hitman from behind bars to kill two northeastern Iowa people. Federal prosecutors say 45-year-old Jason Harriman was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Cedar Rapids. Prosecutors say Harriman began serving a 15-year federal sentence in 2011 on gun charges and made multiple phone and email contacts from prison with someone he thought was a hired killer.

FAIRFAX, Iowa (AP) — Linn County authorities identified a teen killed when a lawn mower he was operating overturned, pinning him beneath. Authorities say 17-year-old Alexander Wade Prochaska, of Cedar Rapids, died in the accident. First responders were sent around 8:20 p.m. Monday to a site about a 1 mile east of Fairfax. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says Prochaska was trapped under the mower, which had overturned while he was trying to mow a ditch.

WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — Police in Rhode Island have arrested an Iowa man they say intended to visit singer Taylor Swift’s beachfront mansion in the state and was carrying a backpack containing items commonly used in burglaries and a baseball bat. Westerly Chief Shawn Lacey tells The Sun of Westerly that 32-year-old David Page Liddle, of Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested Friday after residents reported a suspicious man at a boat yard near Swift’s home. Liddle was held on $10,000 bond at a court appearance Monday.

A special election was held Tuesday, in the Adams County City of Prescott. Voters cast their ballots for Mayor, and two Council Member At-Large positions, all three posts were to fill vacancies. There were a total of 80 votes cast out of a possible 157 (50.96% turnout).

Unofficial results from the Adams County Auditor’s Office the vote totals follows (*=winner):

Mayor

Jerry Loghry     26

Theresa West   54*

Council At-Large (Term expires 2019)

Lanna Ray        26

Kimberly Reed 53 *

Undervote   1

Council At-Large (Term expires 2021)

Cheryl Holbrook   55*

Gregory Allen Wilkinson   24

Undervote   1

(Radio Iowa) — Despite months of heavy flooding in the southwest Iowa community, Hamburg officials say Popcorn Day is still on for September. The annual town festival dates back to the 1960s. Judy Holliman, a member of the Hamburg Kiwanis — which sponsors the event, says with all of the devastation the community has endured this year, having the celebration is important to restore a sense of normalcy.

“We’ve had the barriers up and we’ve had sand on Main Street,” Holliman says. “We’ve had people leaving, families leaving and businesses leaving. We’ve been asked if we’re going to have Popcorn Day and yes, we need Popcorn Day. We need to have a diversion besides looking at water and looking at sand.” Holliman says community members will work hard over the next six weeks to prepare the town for the celebration on September 7th.

“The mayor, city council and city workers have all said that they are going to take the sand off Main Street and take the barriers down,” Holliman says. “They want us to have a full day of Popcorn Day like we’ve had in the past.” Another event organizer, Elaine Howard, says Governor Kim Reynolds is scheduled to serve as the parade’s grand marshal. Howard hopes Popcorn Day can serve as a thank you to the dozens and dozens of volunteers who helped the community in recent months.

“So many people have wanted to give support to Hamburg,” Howard says. “We just want them to come and join us on Popcorn Day for our celebration. The ‘Not All Heroes Wear Capes’ is very apropos for our parade title. We’ve had such wonderful volunteers that have come in since March 17th and prior to that since we were sandbagging on the 15th and 16th.”

The festival got its start in 1961 when local businessman Art Vogel, the owner of Vogel Popcorn, created a way to thank farmers who grew popcorn for his business.

(Radio Iowa) — An explosion rocked a northwest Iowa feed mill Tuesday afternoon.
No one was injured in the explosion at Deluxe Feeds in Sheldon, but the facility was damaged. According to a statement from Muscatine-based Kent Feeds — which owns the feed mill — “the cause of the explosion is under investigation.”

The facility produces livestock feed that’s shipped to swine, beef and dairy producers in Iowa and three other states. A 37-million dollar expansion of the plant began in 2017 and has not been completed.