The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports two separate arrests took place, Thursday. At around 6:10-p.m., a Deputy investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle in the area of Pioneer Trail and Wabash Avenue in Council Bluffs, arrested 46-year old Jerry Lee Dawson, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of Meth/1st offense. And, just before 6-a.m. Thursday, an investigation into an unknown injury accident resulted in the arrest of 18-year old Alexander Cosmo Knotek. He was taken into custody in the 25,000 block of Dogwood Road in Council Bluffs, and transported to the Pott. County Jail.

The Sheriff’s report did not indicate where either man was from, and there was no listing for them on the jail roster late this (Friday) morning.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate climbed to 3.7% in March as the state began to see the impact of an economic downturn amid efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday the jobless rate increased from 2.8% in February. Despite the jump in the unemployment rate, officials say the March rate only reflects the beginning of the economic slowdown.

A more accurate picture of unemployment is expected next month when April figures are released. The U.S. unemployment rate for March was 4.4%

(Radio Iowa) — A Sioux City businessman and former state lawmaker Rich Bertrand has filed a lawsuit against Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill’s plan for reducing the number of voting centers for upcoming elections. Only two vote centers are currently scheduled to be open, with Gill requesting that most people vote absentee. Bertrand, a former Republican state senator claims that more Democrats traditionally vote absentee than Republicans and that a higher percentage of men vote on election day. He says a large number of Republicans and non-party male votes will be harmed by not being able to vote in person on election day. Bertrand also claims long lines at only two vote centers that day will put voters more at risk for COVID-19.

Bertrand wants all voting centers open for the July 7th county supervisor election and the June 6th primary election.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Friday press conference on COVID-19. We plan on having live audio of the presser on KJAN as well. The press conference is set to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.

Two men from Creston were arrested on separate warrants, Thursday afternoon.  Creston Police say 34-year old Trel Peterson was arrested on an outside agency warrant. He was charged with two-counts Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd Degree, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bond at the Union County Jail was set at $10,300. And, 27-year old Kevin Davis was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on an outside agency felony warrant. He was later released on a summons to appear.

Creston Police said also, a woman residing in the 200 block of N. Maple Street, reported Thursday that sometime between March 30th and 31st, someone stole money out of her drop box and her rental building. The loss was estimated at $750.

(Radio Iowa) — The release of around one-thousand gallons of wastewater into a creek near Ainsworth this week is prompting another reminder about flushing the wrong things down your toilet. The D-N-R’s Brian Lee says a plugged sewer line was the cause of the problem. He says the contractor did confirm that flushable, wipes, Kleenexes and other material had plugged the pipe. Lee says they continue to get calls about problems like this with sewer systems. “Just continue to remind people to only flush toilet paper…anything else can be discarded in the trash. There’s other services out there that can help get rid of your trash as needed,” Lee says.

Lee says the materials that aren’t supposed to be flushed can do several different types of damage. “Failures of electronic equipment. Pumps can burn up causing facilities to have to contact a contractor or get other people in there and fix it because they have other things that they need to do as far as operating the system normally otherwise,” he says.

Lee says they don’t believe the wastewater that was released did any harm to the environment.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, said they had received a report of an email scam. An individual reported they received an email that appeared to be from Mediacom Billing. The email said there was an issue with the payment method the customer used, and requested they click a link to update their personal banking information. The email address in the “From” line was: UF4@mediacombb.net.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reached out to Mediacom, who verified that the email address their customer received did not come from the company. Any email coming from Mediacom, they said, would end with: @mediacomcc.com.

Authorities say you should be “Very observant when receiving emails or phone calls requesting you provide your personal information. If you feel it’s a scam call the company directly.” Mediacom says if you receive a questionable email, should forward that email to their abuse team at: abuse@mediacomcc.com.