Two men were arrested on separate charges in Creston, Monday. According to Creston Police, 20-year old Kane Farlow, of Creston, was arrested at around 3:40-a.m. on a Union County warrant for Parole Violation, for which he was being held without bond. Farlow was also charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, A controlled substance violation, possession of drug paraphernalia, and for being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm. His bond on those charges was set at $16,000.

And, at around 12:45-p.m., Monday, 64-year old John Stephens, of Lorimor, was arrested in Creston for Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 23-year-old woman has been accused of stealing from an Iowa City church. Authorities say Markell Leach, who lives in Iowa City, is charged with felony theft and unauthorized use of a credit card. Records say Leach was issued a church credit card while working for First Baptist Church from June 2016 through April this year. She’s accused of making about 1,400 unauthorized and fraudulent personal transactions totaling around $50,000.

A Nebraska man was arrested at around 9-p.m. Monday on drug charges, in Fremont County. Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports the Fremont County K9 unit stopped a vehicle driven by 18 year old Hunter Bickle, of Nebraska City, NE., for a traffic violation.

Hunter Bickle

During the course of the stop deputies found Bickle allegedly trying to conceal a controlled substance. He was arrested for possession of a controlled substance 2nd offense and transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center. A records check indicated Bickle is currently on probation for the same charge. His bond was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) — The top two Democratic leaders in the state legislature say they’re open to considering changes to when Iowa voters may cast “absentee” ballots, but both say they will resist wholesale changes. Janet Petersen of Des Moines is the Democratic leader in the state senate. “My concern is that the clean-up language doesn’t make it harder for people to have their votes counted,” she says.

The rules for counting absentee ballots are at the center of a disputed northeast Iowa legislative race. Absentee ballots are to be mailed the day BEFORE the election, but the Postal Service no longer guarantees mail gets a postmark showing when it was mailed. Bar codes on a batch of UNCOUNTED ballots show they were mailed by the deadline. Representative Todd Prichard of Charles City is the new leader of House Democrats. “All of these 29 disputed ballots were mailed by the information put on the envelope, so it would be nice, maybe, to clarify, but I think the law is pretty clear,” Prichard says.

Prichard and Petersen made their comments this weekend during an appearance on Iowa Public Television. A state senator has introduced a bill that would allow county auditors to determine when absentee ballots are mailed by “any means of tracking” offered by the U.S. Postal Service. The attorney representing the lawmaker who won the northeast Iowa House race by nine votes argues the 29 uncounted ballots do not have the legally required “intelligent bar code” that can only be tracked through a subscription service — and the Winneshiek County auditor did not pay for that subscription.