DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say two occupants were hospitalized after a fire at their Des Moines home. Firetrucks were dispatched around 10 p.m. Wednesday, and firefighters found the two outside the home when they arrived. Their names haven’t been released. The front of the home was heavily damaged. The fire cause is being investigated.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office reports 38-year old Clinton Johnson, of Athelstan, was arrested Wednesday, in Athelstan, on a Department of Corrections warrant for Parole Violation. Johnson is being held at the Taylor County Jail without bond.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday morning, reviewed a recommendation from the County Compensation Board, who suggested a five-percent pay raise for Elected Officials. The Supervisors did not take any action on the recommendation during their meeting, but when it comes time to making a decision during the budgeting process, they may choose to accept the Compensation Board’s recommendation, or reduce the percentage, but they cannot go above the recommended amount. Regardless of which way they choose to act, the percentage must be the same for each of the elected officials.

Supervisor Mark O’Brien pointed out that in the last 10-years, the Board of Supervisors has approved a combined 23.5-percent in pay raises. During the same time, the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Federal Employees has been around 13-percent. He said Cass County has given more raises than the national government. A trend toward population decline, he said, means less people will assume the tax burden for the pay increases.

The Supervisors agreed to inform elected officials that they may base their budgets on a 2.8-percent increase, at least for now, but again no official action will be taken until they begin work on the FY2020 budget.

The Creston Police Department reports one arrest occurred Wednesday afternoon. 24-year old Jordanne Beardsley, of Creston, was arrested on the 100 block of E. Adams Street, on a charge of Driving While Suspended. Beardsley wass being held in the Adams County Jail on a $300 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 (4.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A western Iowa woman accused of having sex with a teenage boy staying at the Child Saving Institute shelter in Omaha, has been sent to prison. Douglas County, Nebraska, District Court records say 24-year-old Hanna Dickerson, of Neola, was sentenced Tuesday to two years. She’d pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a protected person. Prosecutors lowered the charge in exchange for her plea.

The 17-year-old boy was a ward of the state who told investigators that he and Dickerson engaged in sex several times in July and August 2017. Her job at the institute was to supervise wards of the state, sometimes overnight. The institute specializes in adoptions, emergency foster care and family therapy.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a woman whose body was found alongside a highway near Muscatine in eastern Iowa. The Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office identified the woman as 20-year-old Lea Renae Ponce, who lived in Fairfield. The sheriff’s office received a call around 1 a.m. Tuesday that reported a woman lying on a side of Iowa Highway 38. Arriving deputies found the body.
Officials are awaiting autopsy results.

Red Oak Police arrested a man on a Public Intoxication charge late Wednesday night. 31-year old John W. Jett, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:35-p.m. in the 1200 block of Senate Avenue. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 cash bond.

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

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has pleaded guilty to three kidnapping charges related to the 2017 starvation death of her 16-year-old adopted daughter. The Des Moines Register reports that 41-year-old Misty Jo Bousman Ray pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of third-degree kidnapping involving two other adopted children in her care illegally confined to her Perry home. First-degree kidnapping carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped first-degree murder and other charges. The charges stem from the May 2017 death of Sabrina Ray, who weighed only 56 pounds when she died.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Palestinian immigrant who was jailed in Iowa for two years while awaiting deportation has been released after a federal judge ruled he had been held for too long without a reasonable expectation of being repatriated soon. Advocates for immigrants’ rights say Hasan Salama Dibai Ghithan’s case is not unusual and that far too many immigrants awaiting deportation are jailed indefinitely because they don’t know how to navigate the U.S. legal system. Ghithan was released last week.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has struck down a 2012 Iowa law making it illegal to get a job at a livestock farm to conduct an animal cruelty undercover investigation. Judge James Gritzner in an order filed Wednesday sided with opponents of a law intended to stop organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from doing animal abuse investigations at farms and puppy mills. The judge found the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment right to free speech.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Billionaire Tom Steyer says he’s decided to stay focused on getting the president impeached instead of trying to replace him. The investor and Democratic activist has been traveling around the country promoting a political platform. But in his announcement Wednesday in Iowa, Steyer said he would spend $40 million this year to encourage the impeachment of President Donald Trump rather than mount a presidential campaign himself.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A three-term Iowa state senator says he plans to challenge longtime U.S. Rep. Steve King in next year’s Republican primary. Randy Feenstra, an assistant Republican legislative leader, announced Wednesday he intended to run for the northwest Iowa seat and has opened a federal campaign committee. King just began his ninth term. He’s known for hardline views on immigration, abortion and gun rights.