A traffic stop Saturday night in Adams County resulted in the arrest of two Nebraska residents on drug charges. Sheriff’s officials say 52-year old Thomas Lee Bendixen and 51-year old Teri V. Scully, both of Lincoln, NE., were charged with Possession of Synthetic Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, after the vehicle they were in was pulled over at around 7:25-p.m Saturday, at the intersection of Highways 34 and 148.

Officials say the Adams County deputy detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. A search resulted in the recovery of six bags of synthetic marijuana and a pot pipe. Bendixen and Scully were being held in the Adams County Jail on $500 bond, each.

Shenandoah School District Superintendent Jeff Hiser will have his day – or days – in court to fight to keep his job. The Daily NonPareil reports a hearing before an administrative law judge has been set, after the Shenandoah Community School District Board of Directors voted Nov. 5th to consider the termination of Hiser’s contract. Jim Hanks, an attorney for a law firm that represents the school district, said Hiser was not fired by the school board when it voted to consider the termination of his contract because he has tenure and is a non-probationary administrator. The school board can only start the proceedings for termination of his contract by considering such action.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — About 50 people turned out for a rally in eastern Iowa to show support for police — a counterpoint to recent protests across the country following police killings of unarmed black men by white officers in Missouri and New York. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports that the rally Friday was dubbed “Blue Lives Matter Too” and followed the December 20th ambush killings of two New York police officers.

TRAER, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials are investigating the accidental shooting death of a hunter. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the Tama County Sheriff’s Office received a call just before 8 a.m. yesterday reporting a hunting accident in rural Traer.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center has a new leader. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that Liz Ford, who has worked for years as a volunteer, fundraiser and staff member for the shelter, was recently hired to replace former director Misha Goodman.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The second annual Three-State Beef Conference is scheduled next month in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Topics titles include “Financial Impacts of Fertility and Infertility in the Current Cattle Market.” The first conference session is in Creston, Iowa, at Southwestern Community College on Jan. 13.

The Missouri session will be held Jan. 14 in Albany at the University of Missouri Hundley-Whaley Learning Discovery Center. On Jan. 15 there will be two sessions in Nebraska. The first will be at the Gage County UNL Extension Center in Beatrice. An evening session will be held at the UNL Ag Research and Development Center near Mead.

The registration fee is $25 per person. For more information or to register, contact Paul Hay, phay1@unl.edu, 402-223-1384 or Lindsay Chichester, lchichester2@unl.edu, 402-624-8030 or go online at http://extension.iastate.edu/feci/3StBeef/.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A system that left close to 5 inches of snow in parts of central and northern Nebraska, as well as parts of northeast Iowa, came a day too late for a white Christmas. Snow began falling in Nebraska on Friday, sweeping up to the northeast and into Iowa overnight into early Saturday.
The National Weather Service says the system dropped 4 inches of snow at St. Paul in central Nebraska and nearly 5 inches in western Knox County on the South Dakota border.

In Iowa, a National Weather Service map shows an area around Northwood near the Minnesota border getting more than 4.5 inches of snow. Most other areas in northern Iowa saw anywhere from a dusting to 3 inches of snow, while parts of western Iowa got 1 to 2 inches.

In Atlantic, we received just two-tenths of an inch of snow overnight Friday into early Saturday morning, with some mixed precipitation preceding the light dusting of snow.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A western Iowa nature center is asking people for their discarded live Christmas trees. Sioux City television station KTIV reports that the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center will be collecting undecorated live Christmas trees through Jan. 11th.

The center plans to mulch the trees and use them for the nature center’s trails. The nature center is located on Highway 12 in Sioux City.

A fight at a rural residence early Friday morning near Prescott, in Adams County, resulted in one person suffering critical injuries from being stabbed. Authorities said Saturday, the unidentified victim was transported to Mercy Hospital in Corning before being flown by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office became aware of the incident when they received a 9-1-1 call just before 2-a.m., Friday, about two vehicles trying to run one another off the road. Deputies made contact with both vehicles and discovered that in the second vehicle was a male subject who had suffered stab wounds. An investigation resulted in the suspect in the case, 47-year old Kirk Frederick, of Corning, being charged with Willful Injury causing Serious Injury, and Going Armed with Intent.

An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

With Ric Hanson.

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Police in Red Oak arrested a man Friday evening on an assault charge. Officials say 45-year old Lynn Kenneth Houtchens, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 5:20-p.m. at a location on Market Street, and charged with Domestic Assault. Houtchens was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond while awaiting his trial.