Officials with the Glenwood Police Department said today (Tuesday), 35-year old Travis Long, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Monday, for Driving While Barred, and Violation of a No Contact Order. He was being held without bond on the latter charge until seen by a magistrate, and a $2,000 bond for the DWB charge.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County say a man being held in the Pott. County Jail on a $2,000 bond for Probation Violation, was presented with a warrant Monday, charging him with felony Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree. 22-year old Ramon James Scarpino, of Council Bluffs, was read the warrant and then returned to his cell. He was being held without bond on the latest charge. And, 36-year old Mark David Dahl, of Council Bluffs, turned himself-in to the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office Monday morning. Dahl was wanted on a warrant for Failure to Comply with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, the bond for which was set at $5,000. He was transported to the Pott. County Jail and turned over to Corrections staff.

(Radio Iowa) — Republicans at the statehouse have unveiled a proposal to give the legislature and governor more authority in choosing Iowa judges. Iowa governors would continue nominating eight members of the panel that interviews and recommends a slate of nominees for judicial openings, but senators would no longer review and vote on the governor’s appointments. And the Iowa Bar Association — representing the state’s legal profession — would no longer name the other eight members of the Judicial Nominating Commission. Representative Steve Holt of Denison says under the G-O-P alternative, the top four legislative leaders in the House and Senate — from both parties — would nominate half of the commission members.

“Much more accountability for the people,” Holt said, “because now everyone in this process that would be naming people to this commission would be elected representatives of the people.”

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Cady, author of the 2009 opinion that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa, was elected by the other justices as their chief eight years ago. The G-O-P’s plan also would require Iowa Supreme Court Justices to vote every two years on who among them should be chief justice.  “And we think that just brings more accountability to him from his own justices on the court,” Holt says.

Senate Democratic Leader Janet Pedersen says Republicans are trying politicize Iowa’s court system because they’ve never gotten over the court’s 2009 same-sex marriage ruling.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — After decades of failed attempts, work has begun on a $73 million project to restore a once elegant but long abandoned hotel in Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal reports that developer Lew Weinberg and real estate company Restoration St. Louis are working to restore the Warrior Hotel. The hotel was built in 1930 but closed in 1976. The adjacent Davidson Building is also being remodeled, and the two sites are slated to be turned into a hotel, luxury apartments and retail spaces.

Amy and Amrit Gill own Restoration St. Louis. The Gills are researching the hotel’s Art Deco design, with the goal of depicting some of the building’s original style in some areas while also adding modern amenities.
Work is expected to be completed in 2020.

(Radio Iowa) — A bill that would dramatically raise the fine for killing a bald eagle in Iowa has again soared past an initial hearing in the House. Backers say last year’s attempt to raise the state fine from 50 bucks all the way to 25-hundred dollars failed due to timing, not from lack of support. Kay Neumann of Saving Our Avian Resources — which stands for SOAR — says in January her non-profit received an eagle that was shot in Dallas County. “It destroyed a wing. We had to euthanize that bird,” Neumann says. “…This would be a wonderful deterrent.”

About eight percent of the eagles admitted to the Carroll County facility Newmann works in have been shot. Neumann says raising the state fine for shooting at an eagle should have been raised long ago.  “We need to have some protection for eagles in the state of Iowa,” Neumann says, “and we need to give this to our conservation officers so that they can have a better opportunity to prevent this from happening.”

Dale Garner, a top administrator in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says it’s difficult to imagine someone accidentally shooting a bald eagle.  “There’s not many birds that have a pure white head and a black body,” Garner says, “so it’s hard to mistake them.”

The number of eagles in Iowa swells from about 500 to three-thousand in the winter. Officials say about 40 eagles have been illegally killed IN IOWA over the past four years and all cases were forwarded to the feds. That’s because the federal penalty for capturing, killing or destroying an eagle is 25-hundred dollars. The bill to raise the fine to that level is now eligible for debate in the House Natural Resources Committee. The bald eagle became a federally-protected species in 1940. The Continental Congress chose the bald eagle as the national emblem in 1782.