(Creston, Iowa) –  The Creston Police Department reports two weekend arrests: At around 3-a.m. Saturday, 33-year-old Zackary Charles Huddleson, of Creston, was arrested near the Casey’s store on W. Taylor Street. Huddleson was charged with OWI/1st Offense, Urinating in Public, and Interference with Official Acts. He was taken to the Union County Jail and later posted a $1,600 bond before being released.

And, a little before 3-a.m. Sunday, 39-year-old John David Foster, of Creston, was arrested in the 400 block of S. Vine Street, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana 1st offense. Foster was cited and released from the scene a promise to appear in court.

(Radio Iowa) – A first-in-the-state combination store and craft studio is now open in central Iowa that’s geared towards people with A-D-H-D. The Glitter Factory in Des Moines offers classes, crafts and activities like moss art, button making and beading at what are called “hyper fixation stations.” Store founder Britney Brown works as a neurodiversity consultant and says she’s constantly honing her techniques for making the place more neurodivergent-friendly.

“We shift, we find a new way, we figure out a new strategy, we figure out a new learning tool,” Brown says, “and that allows me to create a more accessible space in real time, which is different, but also very valuable.” Brown was diagnosed with autism and A-D-H-D as an adult and she says she saw the demand for a store like hers from the neurodivergent community online. “There was this meme that was floating around on the socials for the last year or so that’s like, best business idea ever: somebody take everybody’s ADHD craft hoards and turn them into a library,” Brown says, “and that’s almost exactly what I’ve done.”

The store also offers “Blind Date with a Hobby” sessions where people can sign up for a random craft that will be revealed to them in class. In addition, there’s a subscription service for $25 that will deliver a new craft to your home every month. The studio doubles as a sensory-friendly co-working space.

(Radio Iowa) – Today (November 16) is the 80th anniversary of the start of the “Battle of the Bulge, the last ditch effort by the Germans in World War Two that broke through American lines in 1945. The Iowa Goldstar Museum at Camp Dodge recently honored one of the Iowans in that battle. Museum board member Bob Holiday talked about First Lieutenant John Phillipps of Waterloo, who got involved in the battle while trying to get some rare rest in the village of Medell, Belgium. “He was woken up before daylight. Captain wants to see you. You take six men a mile east out of town, down the road, and you find a fire break on a hill. Go up that fire break to top the ridge and put a machine gun out, because the Germans are going to counter attack,” he says. Phillipps took his men to the area, but the Germans were already there.

“They opened up on the Americans, and there were five Americans killed instantly. If you go back in the back of our exhibit hall, back here towards the back, you’re going to find the shirt that John Phillipps had on that day he was hit five times by this German machine gun,” Holiday says. Phillipps and a sergeant survived, but the Germans wanted him because he was an officer. “One of these Germans spoke English, and he said, You’re coming with us. And John said, What about the sergeant? And the German who spoke English said, you’re going to bring him with you, or we’re going to shoot him right here. John said he drug this guy — now John’s been hit five times — and he drug this guy against a tree, gave him his canteen, and they went on,” Phillipps ended up in a prison camp, but never found out what happened to the sergeant.

Holiday met Phillipps through the museum and went looking for the sergeant in 2020. They found out he was Lawrence Lyon from Texas and had survived the war, but was now dead. Holiday was able to contact the man’s family in Texas so Phillipps could to talk to his kids before he died a few years ago. Phillipps’ daughter Sharon Monfredini says it took a long time before she found out about her dad’s heroic actions. “As a child, neither my sister or myself ever heard anything. Dad would not talk about it,” Monfredinisays. “And it wasn’t until we were much older, in fact, probably ten years before he passed away, that he started to share his story.” She says it was an amazing thing to learn about her dad. “It was just shocking that we didn’t know what he had gone through. It maybe explained some behavior,” she says, “if there was maybe some violence on T-V that was very hard for him to watch. He was a very quiet man, but internalized a lot. He was quite a thinker.”

Bob Holiday and Sharon Monfredini. (RI photo)

Monfredinisays her dad was so glad to be able find out the sergeant he saved made it through the war. “Oh, my goodness, it meant everything, because he had actually survived and gone on to have such a wonderful life, married with kids and was a professional, and he was just so thankful for that, but very sad that the two of them never reconnected,” Monfredini says. Phillipps went on to become a successful businessman after the war.

Governor Reynolds issued a proclamation recognizing the importance of the Battle of the Bulge in defeating the Germans and ending the war.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Dubuque announced it will open a medical school after receiving a 50-million-dollar donation. The school announced Friday will be called the John and Alice Butler School of Osteopathic Medicine after the donors. Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh said the influx of students will provide an economic boost to the city. “Not only will this initiative create a tremendous opportunity for workforce development for our already strong community of local healthcare providers, but the addition of more faculty and students to our increasingly vibrant downtown will be a true catalyst for the great momentum we’re already experiencing in our city” Cavanagh say.

The school plans to start accepting students in August of 2028. The University of Dubuque anticipates that the school will have 800 students in full enrollment. It will be Iowa’s first new medical school in 125 years.

(Red Oak, Iowa)  – The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest Sunday night, of 64-year-old Jill Renee Schmadeke, of Red Oak. She was arrested at around 10-p.m. on serious misdemeanor charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense, and OWI/1st offense. Schmadeke was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Iowa News Service story) – Livestock being raised with antibiotics is on the rise in Iowa, the nation’s number one hog producer. Doctors say the trend increases the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections for people who consume drug-treated meat.  Scientists have described drug-resistant infections as a growing crisis. The National Institutes of Health say the drugs are overused.  The Food Animal Concerns Trust’s Safe and Healthy Food Program Director and Senior Analyst, Steven Roach, said federal data show sales for antibiotics used in cattle and other animals is as high as it’s been in nearly a decade.

That’s especially important in Iowa. “In pigs in the U.S. – it’s up by 24%, and in cattle it’s up by 10%,” said Roach. “The chicken industry has continued to reduce their use, so it’s possible for the animal ag industry to make changes – but we haven’t seen that happen in cattle and pigs.” Data for 2024 show the use of antibiotics in chickens dropped by 50% over the last 7 years.

hog farming in iowa

In Iowa, livestock, including hogs, are mostly raised in large corporate confinements – which are known to pollute the air and nearby ground and surface water.  Confinement operators say they are trying to keep up with consumer demand for a high-quality, consistent source of meat. Roach said most of the meat available at grocery stores has been raised in confinements and treated with antibiotics.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates antibiotic-resistant infections kill at least 35,000 Americans every year. Roach said large-scale ag producers could help reduce that number by changing their philosophy of routinely using drugs in their operations. “We know we’re raising animals in unhealthy conditions,” said Roach, “so then we’re going to give them antibiotics independent of whether they’ve been diagnosed with an illness.”

Roach said meat in the grocery store that has been raised without antibiotics is identified as such on the packaging.

(Red Oak, Iowa)  The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday (Dec. 17), are expected to act on approving several matters:

• The Board is expected to approve the final vouchers for the Boxelder and T Avenue box culverts that were constructed in the Fall/Winter of 2021, as part of the bundle project with Council Bluffs.
• They will discuss, and possibly act on an ICAP (Iowa Communities Assurance Pool) renewal. Rick Taylor will facilitate the discussion, with action by the Board as necessary.
• The Montgomery County Supervisors will discuss and possibly act on appointments to Township and Board Committees, with action as necessary.
• And they are expected to act on the appointment of Emergency Management Director Brian Hamman, as Medical Examiner Investigator for a 2-year term, beginning January 1, 2025.

And, the Board will receive a presentation from the Monday Club. The meeting begins at 8:30-a.m.

View the proceedings here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85039693411

Meeting ID: 850 3969 3411

or

Dial by your location   +1 312 626 6799 If you are calling in, Press *9 to raise your hand if you wish to speak.31

(Creston, Iowa) – An accident in Creston Saturday afternoon was attributed to a vehicle traveling too fast for conditions. According to Creston Police, a 16-year-old male was driving a 2010 Chevy Silverado pickup truck southbound on Wyoming Avenue at around 12:25-p.m., when he couldn’t stop in-time, before striking a legally parked 2011 Sure utility trailer. The impact pushed the trailer up and over a curb and through the mud. There was freezing drizzle at the time, and the road surface was wet/icy, according to the report.

The driver was issued a citation for Failure to Maintain Control. Damage from the collision amounted to $2,000.

MARS Public Information Release Report-24C05031