A call Saturday afternoon about a person allegedly throwing a cement block through the windshield of a car resulted in the arrest of a 30-year old woman. Red Oak Police report following an investigation, Shana Nichole Mills, of Red Oak, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault, Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree, and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Medication. Mills was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash bond.

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

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The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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The Cass County Communications Center reports a girl missing from the Lewis area has been found. Word was received at around 7:04-a.m.  11-year old Trinity Nichole Ericksen was located, but additional information is currently not available.

Trinity Nichole Ericksen

Authorities in Cass and Montgomery County had been coordinating efforts in the search for the missing juvenile.The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports was last seen wearing jeans and a blue shirt with a light bulb on the back, along with the saying “Learn today, live tomorrow.”

Deputies with the Cass and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Departments, along with Lewis and Atlantic Fire Department personnel, gathered to begin a search for the girl at around 5:30-a.m.

Authorities in Cass and Montgomery County are coordinating efforts in the search for a missing juvenile from the Lewis area.The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports 11-year old Trinity Nichole Ericksen was last seen wearing jeans and a blue shirt with a light bulb on the back, along with the saying “Learn today, live tomorrow.”

Deputies with the Cass and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Departments, along with Lewis and Atlantic Fire Department personnel, gathered to begin a search for the girl at around 5:30-a.m.

Trinity Nichole Ericksen

Anyone with information about her location is asked to call 9-1-1.

(updated 7:57-a.m. and clarifies some details)

A vehicle being pulled over for a defective headlight led a Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy on a brief chase early this (Saturday) morning. According to scanner traffic at around 2-a.m., a deputy tried to pull a vehicle over on Birch between 6th and 7th Streets, for having a headlight out, when the vehicle sped-off. Authorities were able to corner the vehicle in the vicinity of State and Commerce Streets at around 2:10-a.m.

One of two people in the vehicle were reportedly maced by the deputy, and required treatment by medics. The driver was taken into custody. Atlantic Police officers assisted at the scene. Additional information is currently not available.

Police in Red Oak arrested a local man Friday, on a valid Montgomery County warrant for Probation Violation. 31-year old Zachariah Michael Holland, of Red Oak, was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $20,000 cash bond.

Low gas prices and the last holiday of the summer will combine to possibly make this weekend one of the busiest of the year on Iowa’s highways and interstates. Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Nate Ludwig also points out that the University of Iowa’s first football game kicks-off this (Saturday) morning in Iowa City, while UNI plays at Iowa State tomorrow night.

“So, there’s going to be a lot of people on the interstates traveling,” Ludwig says. “We just ask that everybody takes their time getting to where they’re going, make sure you wear seat belts, and at all cost avoid texting while driving or distracted driving.” Last weekend, law officers in Iowa and 15 other states took part in a stepped-up enforcement effort along Interstates 80 and 35. Just over 5,900 motorists were issued speed citations, including more than 11-hundred speeding tickets in Iowa.

Ludwig says over 1,100 seat belt citations were issued, but only 41 were in Iowa. “That’s pretty indicative of our 93 to 94 percent seat belt compliance rate in Iowa,” Ludwig says. There were 18 arrests for OWI and 9 for drug offenses in Iowa. The goal of last weekend’s enforcement effort was to reduce serious crashes. Authorities says there were zero fatal crashes over the three-day period along Interstates 80 and 35 in the 16 states.

(Radio Iowa)

A national survey of land ownership shows just over two-percent of farmland will be available for beginning farmers and ranchers in the next year, perhaps ten-percent over the next five years. Traci Bruckner, senior policy associate at the Center for Rural Affairs, says land access is a long-standing problem for those just starting to farm, though she calls the U-S-D-A report “really disturbing.”

“The continual unaffordability of land and then just what the survey is saying, there’s only going to be 2% available for new entrants that don’t have a natural, direct access to land,” Bruckner says. “That is an issue and Congress needs to start taking it seriously. They need to have policies that are more meaningful to help a new generation get started.” Bruckner says the land access problem needs help at the federal level, with changes that will help young producers who want to farm.

“We need to be serious about beginning farmer policy, not just throwing a few million dollars here and there to help create training and mentoring,” she says. “We need to actually have some meaningful reform on some of the main conventional commodity market-driven programs, like the farm program and the crop insurance program.” Bruckner says the student loan forgiveness program that is in the works would help beginning farmers with their cash-flow issues.

“But at the end of the day,” she says, “if we don’t do something about land access, then none of our other efforts are worthwhile.” While land values have come down some, she notes they’ve been rising for years to levels that make it impossible for beginning farmers and ranchers to buy. The Center for Rural Affairs is based in Lyons, Nebraska.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says since Iowa has no laws governing the transfer of fetal tissue his office has no authority to investigate abortion providers about the practice of donating tissue for research. Republican lawmakers delivered a letter in August to Miller asking him to investigate abortion practices. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which operates 13 Iowa clinics, voluntarily offered answers, saying it has never accepted donated fetal tissue for research.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged a Marshalltown school board member with child endangerment and animal neglect after finding numerous pets in her home, including two dead cats. KCCI-TV reports someone called police Tuesday to express concern about the living conditions of school board member Kendall Derby’s 13-year-old child.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A surge in absentee ballots is forcing Black Hawk County officials to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on new voting machines and vote-counting equipment. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the county Board of Supervisors this week received bids from three firms.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Iowa president-select J. Bruce Harreld has erased doubts about his qualifications before, but this time could be an even tougher sell. Many faculty, staff and students are revolting against Harreld’s appointment as Iowa’s president, arguing the businessman was the least qualified out of four finalists. But a former colleague says Harreld will succeed by listening and leading.