DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An operations manager at the Iowa Department of Transportation has been named the agency’s permanent director. Gov. Kim Reynolds says she has appointed Scott Marler, a 22-year veteran of the department who has worked in traffic operations, highway project development and regulatory compliance. He began work on Monday.

Marler succeeds Mark Lowe who was asked to resign by Reynolds in December. Her only reason was that she sought a change in leadership. Marler was the director of the operations division which has oversight of the construction and materials bureau, maintenance, motor vehicle enforcement and the traffic and safety bureau.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports 29-year-old Casey Baker, of Indianola, was arrested on a drug charge following a traffic stop for having expired license plates. He was taken into custody at around 1:30-p.m., Monday, in Prescott, after he was found to be in possession of a waxy substance containing THC. Baker was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (THC Wax) and booked into the Adams County Jail, where he was held on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — Two police officers in the northern Iowa town of Milford answered an unusual Valentine’s Day 9-1-1 call Friday. The call came from an elderly man around 2:50 a-m. He told the responding officers Keaton Verner and Garth Wolff that he was lonely and wanted someone to talk to. The two officers pulled up chairs and said they would keep him company.

Officer Wolff

Officer Verner

The department posted a picture of the man and officers on Facebook — but then said it was taken down out of respect for the man’s privacy. The post says community policing is key to law enforcement having a good relationship with the citizens. The post encourages everyone to go out in their communities and pay it forward.

(Radio Iowa) — The coronavirus isn’t the only thing from China that’s invading America this winter. An insect expert says people across Iowa and the Midwest are reporting they’re finding droves of half-inch-long stink bugs in their houses. Creighton University Biology Professor Ted Burk says it’s a species of creature we haven’t seen in the U-S before and the critters are plentiful.

“What we’ve been seeing this year, more than we’ve ever seen before, is this new invasive species, the brown marmorated stink bug,” Burk says. “This is the first year we’ve really had lots of widespread comments about them getting into people’s houses.” The bugs don’t really do much but hide in cracks and crevices. They don’t bite but — like a skunk — they do emit a foul smell if disturbed. Burk says this is just the latest of several invasive species of insects that have found their way to Iowa in recent years.

“We’ve got the Asian long-horned beetle, we’ve got the emerald ash borer, we have the Asian multicolored ladybugs that have been invading people’s houses so much in the past few years,” Burk says. “It’s really just a reflection of the fact there’s so much worldwide trade originating in China now that things are being spread all over the world.”

Because of their odor, some people like to avoid trying to swat or capture the stink bugs, however, Burk says they’re resistant to most chemical insecticides. “You can buy little insect vacuums to vacuum them up in your house,” Burk says. “If you go to Amazon, there’s about ten different varieties of insect vacuums which seem to be developed mainly for stink bugs. There’s even one called the ‘Bugzooka’ for collecting them.”

Stink bugs are attracted to water and warmth, which we can use to our advantage. “You just get a tin foil roasting pan or something like that, put an inch or so of soapy water in it and then take a desk lamp and shine it on the pan,” Burk says. “The light will attract the stink bugs and they’ll drown in the soapy water.” He also suggests you focus on the future and work to caulk or seal any cracks and all entrances to avoid an infestation next fall.

There -could- be a threat to agriculture, as Burk says the brown marmorated stink bug feeds on more than 300 different kinds of fruit and vegetable plants.

(Radio Iowa) — A small group of Iowa House members and hunting enthusiasts are debating whether to increase the number of licenses for out-of-state deer hunters. Under current law, six-thousand deer hunting licenses are available for residents of OTHER states.

Representative Dean Fisher, a Republican from Montour, says expanding deer hunting opportunities would be good for Iowa’s economy. “As a landowner, I’ve got deer — including big bucks — running through my barnyard all the time and where I live, it’s just overpopulated,” Fisher says. “Instead of just keeping the number the same, adding to the licenses is what I would favor.”

Fisher’s on a House SUB-committee that’s embracing the idea of offering 15-hundred MORE deer hunting licenses to out-of-staters — and setting aside 500 of those licenses for hunters who’ve signed up with an Iowa-based hunting guide. The Iowa Bow Hunters Association opposes the move. Bob Haney is president of the group.

“What we have in Iowa is unique. It’s known worldwide when you talk about white-tailed deer, the quality of the herd that is managed by the DNR and enjoyed by the residents of Iowa is second-to-none. We’re all for maintaining that same similar kind of structure,” he says. “We also understand people want to come here. There’s a reason they want to come here. They don’t enjoy what we have in their home states.”

Eric Goranson, a LOBBYIST for the Iowa Bow Hunters Association, says Iowa hunters should be the priority — and it’s getting harder and harder for Iowans who live in urban areas to find places to hunt.  “If we don’t take care of them and give them access and keep them in mind during these conversations, our conversations 10-12 years from now are going to be very different,” Goranson says. “It’s going to be: ‘How do we get hunting back in Iowa again?'”

Jim Obradovich, a lobbyist for the Iowa Conservation Alliance, says other hunting-related proposals under consideration could complicate the system even more. “You look at it like one of those Jenga games and you can periodically pull one or two of those pieces out, but sometimes you pull the wrong piece out and the whole thing collapses,” Obradovich says.

There’s a deadline this week for all of these kinds of policy discussions. Most bills must be endorsed by a House or Senate committee by this Friday to stay eligible for consideration.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Jefferson City News Tribune) — A former Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper who was driving a boat when an Iowa man fell out and drowned has dismissed three lawsuits he filed over losing his law enforcement license. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office says Anthony Piercy voluntarily dismissed lawsuits against the patrol, the state Department of Public Safety and the department’s director. He will receive more than $200,000 in back pay and for agreeing not to be reinstated to the patrol or to protest his peace officer’s license being revoked.

Brandon Ellingson, of Clive, Iowa, died in May 2014 at the Lake of the Ozarks after he fell out of a boat while handcuffed after Piercy arrested him.