ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Ankeny police have arrested a man suspected of engaging in a drag race that ended when one of the vehicles crashed, killing its two occupants. An Ankeny news release says 21-year-old Brandon Ferin, of Johnston, was arrested Tuesday. He’s charged with misdemeanor drag racing and felony vehicular homicide. Polk County court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
Police say Ferin was racing his pickup truck against another the night of Aug. 25 at speeds of up to 80 mph (129 kph) in a 35 mph (56 kph) zone. The other truck went out of control and crashed into another vehicle in a restaurant parking lot.

The two people in the other truck were killed: 41-year-old Brad Stover, from Colfax, and 50-year-old Ronald Girtz, from Pine City, Minnesota.

Firefighters in Audubon County were dispatched to a hog confinement operation fire this (Tuesday) morning, about three-miles east of Ross. The incident at 1599 Mockingbird Avenue was reported at around 10:15-a.m., according to the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office. No further details are available at this time.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska man has been sentenced for defrauding banks in Iowa and Nebraska. U.S. District Court records say 32-year-old Joshua Huffman, of Lyons, was given three months behind bars and five years of supervised release. He also was told at an Omaha hearing Monday to pay restitution to Washington County Bank in Blair and United Bank of Iowa in Ida Grove, Iowa. He’d pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors say Huffman gave false and fraudulent financial statements to the banks to obtain loans for his farming operation from December 2014 through May 2015. He defaulted on the loans, so United Bank of Iowa suffered a loss of about $320,000, and Washington County Bank suffered a loss of almost $14,000.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 32-year old Sean Patrick Bagby, of Creston, was arrested Monday morning at the Union County Courthouse. Bagby was arrested on a Union County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. His bond was set at $1,000.

The Sheriff’s Office also took two theft reports, Monday. An Afton woman said that someone entered her vehicle overnight Sunday into early Monday morning, and took cash, credit cards, identification, a wallet and thermostat. The loss was estimated at $160. An Afton man told Union County authorities that a Keltek 9-mm. semi-automatic handgun was stolen from his vehicle during the same time frame. The loss was estimated at $300.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — A March trial has been scheduled for a man accused of killing his girlfriend in central Iowa. Hamilton County District Court records say 32-year-old Zackery Bassett, of Webster City, entered a written plea of not guilty Monday to a charge of first-degree murder. His trial is set to begin March 5.

Investigators say Bassett called Webster City police on Sept. 22 to report that his girlfriend , 50-year-old Andrea Sokolowski, was not breathing. Sokolowski was taken by ambulance to a Webster City hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Bassett was arrested on an Iowa warrant Nov. 14 in St. Joseph, Missouri.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley expects a swift confirmation process for President Trump’s nominee for U-S Attorney General. Grassley calls William Barr a “talented, well-respected lawyer” who has served in that post before — from 1991 to ’93 under President George H.W. Bush. “I think he had an outstanding reputation as attorney general in the past,” Grassley says. “I would expect him to be confirmed unless there’s something that’s really bad about something that he’s done in the last 20 years but I can’t think of anything.”

Grassley is now chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee but will step down from the position in a few weeks to become chair of the Finance Committee. Still, Grassley will remain a member of the Judiciary Committee in the new Congress and will participate in Barr’s confirmation hearings. “I would assume that it’s going to be early January,” Grassley says, “and I would assume that it’s not going to take a long time for the FBI to get through vetting him since he’s been vetted for several other government positions.”

An Iowa native is now the acting U-S Attorney General. Matt Whitaker was appointed to that post by the president after the resignation of Jeff Sessions last month. Whitaker had been Sessions’ chief of staff. Grassley is unsure what will become of Whitaker once Barr is confirmed. “It probably would be unusual if he’d stay on as the chief of staff for the next attorney general. That would be up to the attorney general,” Grassley says. “If he wants public service, I’m sure that he could have some comparable position within the administration but I have not talked to him.”

Whitaker is an Ankeny native who played football at the University of Iowa under Coach Hayden Fry. He was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa for more than five years before heading to Washington.