Two male juveniles were arrested in Red Oak on Friday morning after a bench was set on fire. At 7:22am Red Oak Police was called to the “Cage” area across the street from the Red Oak Middle School in the 300 block of East Corning Street for a report of a wooden bench on fire. The fire was quickly extinguished.

After an investigation two juvenile males were arrested for Reckless Use of Fire, which is a Serious Misdemeanor. The two males used an accelerant and a lighter to light several fires in the area. There was an estimated $700 in damage to the school property. No injuries occurred during the incident which took place between 3:30am and 4:10am.

Both juveniles were taken to the Montgomery County Jail, processed and then released to their parents.

The Red Oak Police Department was assisted by the Red Oak Fire Department, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Red Oak Schools.

A Red Oak resident was arrested on Friday afternoon on an active warrant. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 38-year-old Holly Ann Dalton of Red Oak on a Montgomery County Bench Warrant for Willful Contempt. Dalton was being held on no bond with a 30-day jail sentence.

(Radio Iowa) — The deadline passed Thursday on someone’s chance to collect one million dollars on a Powerball ticket. Winning tickets have to be cashed in one year from the date of purchase, and whoever bought the ticket at the Casey’s in Nevada on April 11th 2018 did not bring it to Lottery Headquarters for the payoff.

Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer, said earlier this week it would be a first to have a six-figure prize go unclaimed. “To the best of our knowledge, this has never happened before.”

The one million dollars now goes back into the prize pool. The Iowa Lottery plans to announced Monday their plans for distributing the unclaimed money

Gov. Kim Reynolds, Friday, extended existing proclamations of disaster emergency for counties impacted by March flooding. The proclamation extends the governor’s March 14 activation of Iowa’s disaster response and recovery efforts for an additional 30 days, to May 12, 2019, and allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of this severe weather across the entire state.

The proclamation also provides impacted Iowans additional time to apply for the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program. The new deadline to apply for the program is May 12, 2019.  Among the counties covered under the extended proclamation for the Individual Assistance Grant Program is: Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Crawford, Dallas, Guthrie, Madison, Montgomery, Page,  Pottawattamie, and Shelby.

The Disaster Case Management Program remains in effect for all counties currently covered by governor’s disaster proclamations. For information on the Disaster Case Management Program, contact your local community action association or visit www.iowacommunityaction.org.

Friday’s proclamation also extends the governor’s temporary suspension of regulatory provisions pertaining to hours of service for disaster repair crews and drivers delivering goods and services while responding to disaster sites during the duration of this disaster, along with weight limits related to disaster repairs. In addition, the proclamation waives fees for issuance of replacement motor vehicle registrations cards, plates and driver licenses, additional fees for car and travel trailer lots, and waives some types of recycler licenses.

The proclamation also suspends length-of-stay and fee requirements at Waubonsie State Park located in Fremont County. Requirements suspended include:

• Limiting campers to no more than 14 consecutive nights
• Requiring a minimum of three nights separating each two-week stay
• Camping and related transactions fees
• Establishing a minimal number of campground sites that must be made available through the online reservation system

To be eligible for the fee waivers, persons displaced by this disaster should show up in person to check for availability. For more information, visit the DNR Disaster Assistance website or the Waubonsie State Park website. For more information on Iowa’s flooding and disaster assistance, visit floods2019.iowa.gov.

PACIFIC JUNCTION, Iowa (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is touring areas in Iowa and Nebraska devastated during last month’s flooding. Pence was joined by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst in touring an area around Pacific Junction, a community in southwest Iowa where floodwaters still prevent some residents from returning home more than three weeks after the flooding began.

Iowa officials have estimated the March flooding caused $1.6 billion in damage in the state. Pence last month toured areas swamped by floodwaters in Nebraska , where state officials estimate nearly $1.4 billion in damage and losses.

Democratic presidential candidate and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee also was in southwest Iowa on Friday. He toured the flooded town of Hamburg.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Transportation says Iowa may make immediate use of $9 million in Federal Highway Administration emergency relief funds to repair roads damaged by flooding. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced the emergency grant on Friday.

The money can be used to begin short-term repairs while further damage assessment for long-term repairs takes place. The money is allocated for federally eligible highways and bridges damaged by natural disasters or catastrophic events

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley says the money will help get roads reopened in southwest Iowa. Heavy rain and rapid snowmelt in March resulted in widespread flooding that closed many primary and secondary routes as well as interstate routes.

Damaged federal-aid routes include Interstate 29, Interstate 680 and U.S. Highway 34.

(Radio Iowa) — Cedar Rapids police say burglars broke took dozens of wedding and prom dresses from a local seamstress. Police say they broke into “Seams Easy” store and two other businesses sometime late Wednesday. The shop’s owner, Loiza Edgington, told K-C-R-G T-V that the burglars threw everything about looking for things to steal. She says she first looked for the wedding dresses and found them gone and then saw that the prom dresses were also taken. It’s believed they made off with at least 30 different articles of clothing, ranging from prom and wedding dresses to t-shirts. Edgington thinks the cost of the loss is about 10-thousand dollars in money in merchandise, and is a difficult situation to accept.

“I just cried and cried yesterday waiting for my husband and police to come,” Edgington says. Valerie Porter told K-C-R-G T-V she found out her wedding dress for a June ceremony was stolen after getting a call from her seamstress. “I thought she was calling to say, hey you have an appointment come back in and I was in the car crying,” Porter says. “I really didn’t know how to take it.” It’ll be tough to track down those responsible because there’s no surveillance video or any witnesses. Edgington is hoping social media will help I-D the burglars.

“We’re trying to check Facebook market or if somebody tries to sell them maybe that would lead us,to finding this guy,” said Edgington. “Find the guy, please.”
Seams Easy is asking anybody who’s seen any prom or wedding dresses at consignment stores, or even online, to call the store. Cedar Rapids police are also asking any information on the burglary to contact them or Crimestoppers. Meanwhile, Porter has a wedding to prepare for. She’s scraped together the money for a new dress and has ordered it. Even so, she and her soon to be husband hope the original returns.