GOWRIE, Iowa (AP) – Some residents in a Webster County town have organized to keep open the only grocery store in their community. The newly formed Gowrie Grocery LLC has scheduled a meeting for Monday to discuss the Jamboree Foods store. It serves the nearly 1,000 residents of Gowrie and others in southwest Webster County. It’s part of a chain owned by Nick Graham, who’s closed stores recently in other small communities.

Marcie Boerner is one of the Gowrie organizers, and she told The Messenger that Graham’s willing to sell. She says the Gowrie group’s goal is to raise at least $250,000 to buy Jamboree Foods and ensure it stays open.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A 19-year-old driver has made a plea deal on charges stemming from a fatal collision during a police chase in Davenport. Court records say Angel Ochoa intends to plead guilty to vehicular homicide, reckless driving and other charges. The records say that in return, prosecutors will drop a charge of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence. The judge is not bound by the agreement. On June 13 an officer tried to stop Ochoa’s car and a chase ensued. Investigators say Ochoa’s car reached speeds of up to 90 mph and ran through several red lights before broadsiding a car, killing Lori Letts.

A man and woman from Creston were arrested Tuesday afternoon on several charges. Creston Police report 45-year old Jennifer Campbell and 55-year old Roger Austin were taken into custody for Child Endangerment, Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense, and Possession of Paraphernalia. Both were later released from the Union County Jail on $3,300 bond, each. And, at around 12:45-a.m. Wednesday (Jan. 1st), Creston Police arrested 19-year old Isaiah Jones, of Dallas Center, for OWI/1st Offense. Jones was later released on $1,000 bond.

(7:05-a.m. Newscast)

(Radio Iowa) — New Jersey Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Cory Booker says he hopes the election raises the moral conscience of the country — and he’s cautioning his fellow Democrats not to succumb to tribalism. “The 60 million people that voted for Donald Trump are not our enemy. They are our countrymen and women,” said Booker. “And Understand this…The call of the Democratic Party — the ultimate moral call — is not to beat Republicans, simply. It’s to unite Americans in common cause and common purpose.”

Booker urged a crowd in Shenandoah on New Year’s Day not to get hung up on the policy differences among the Democratic candidates. “Let me tell you a little secret. Whoever becomes your president, is probably going to steal the 90 or 100 policy ideas, platforms that each of us have,” Booker said. “…They better be taking the best ideas from the whole lot to bring them to bear in our policies.” Booker, the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, says mayors understand how to enact real change with little money. “All the candidates here are really good people, but the next president is going to face impossible problems, and they can’t play by the rules that we are playing by now. They have to think of creative ways to get us out of these situations,” Booker said. “If I’m your president, I am not going to give in and give up on anything.”

Booker campaigned in Creston early Wednesday afternoon and spoke to more than 100 people Wednesday night, in Perry. California billionaire Tom Steyer kicked off a bur tour of Iowa with an event in Council Bluffs on New Year’s Day.