WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Iowa wildlife experts have released two squirrels after a vet removed electrical zip ties from around their necks, including one with a bell attached. Dreama Bartz with the Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project said Wednesday that she trapped the animals this month after a Waterloo resident called to report the apparent cruelty. A vet helped to remove the ties and determined the squirrels were not hurt before they were released back into the neighborhood where they were found.

Members of an Iowa wildlife rehabilitation organization have returned two squirrels to their Waterloo neighborhood after removing electrical zip ties from around the necks of both and a bell from the neck of one. (Dreama Bartz/Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project via AP)

Bartz thinks a resident captured the squirrels as infants and let them go months later, after realizing the frisky pair wouldn’t works as pets. She thinks the zip ties and bell were ways to keep track of them. Bartz says the squirrels could have been choked by the ties as they grew.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports 51-year old Michael James Brown came to the Sheriff’s Office this (Wednesday) morning, and inquired if he had a warrant for his arrest. In checking with Pagecom dispatch, it was confirmed that Brown did have a valid Page County warrant for Failure to appear on an original charge of Animal running at large. Brown was arrested, and posted a $300 cash only bond on the warrant and was released pending further court proceedings in the case.

The Atlantic Police Department reports five recent arrests. On Tuesday (5/29), 38-year old Melissa Wheeler, of Atlantic, was arrested as an accessory to a misdemeanor. Last Sunday, 32-year old Christopher Castillo, of Atlantic, was arrested for Harassment and Public Intoxication. And, 29-year old Katherine Coleman, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault.

On Saturday, 38-year old Kantauo Mark, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI, Domestic Abuse Assault, and Child Endangerment. And, on May 24th,  36-year old Adam Petersen, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication. All five subjects were booked into the Cass County Jail.

Seven fire departments in northwest Iowa’s Plymouth County are now equipped with pet oxygen mask kits, thanks to the efforts of a Le Mars 7th grader. Brooklyn Bockelmann raised nearly $1,000 within a month to purchase the kits. She collected much of the money by selling root beer floats at a middle school dance. “I read a news article about two girls in California who purchased these per oxygen masks for their fire department and I really love animals, so I thought it would be a really cool idea if I did the same thing for our (fire department),” Bockelmann said.

Each pet oxygen kit contains three masks of varying sizes. “The large can be used on large dogs and small horses, the medium can be used on small dogs and cats, and the small can be used on gerbils, hamsters and parrots,” Bockelmann said. This week, Bockelmann delivered the pet oxygen mask kits to the Oyens, Hinton, Kingsley, Merrill, Remsen, Akron and Le Mars fire departments. Her new goal is to raise enough money for every fire department in Iowa to be equipped with the kits.

(Radio Iowa)

Justin Garey

Deputies in Page County, Tuesday, received custody from a law enforcement agency in Missouri, of 32-year old Jeffrey Scott Dewit, of Linn Creak, MO. Dewit was taken into custody on a Page County Warrant for Indecent contact with a child (an Aggravated misdemeanor). He was arrested in Rock Port, MO., and transported to the Page County Jail where he is being held without bond bond. Also arrested Tuesday, was 38-year old Justin William Garey, of rural Villisca. He was arrested about three-miles east of Clarinda on a Texas warrant for Probation Violation. Garey was transported to the Page County Jail and held without bond, pending extradition proceedings to Texas.

Jeffrey Dewit

Audubon Police Chief Matt Starmer reports three recent arrests. On Tuesday, 31-year old Randy Travis Kurth, of Audubon, was arrested for Harassment in the 1st Degree. He was transported to the Audubon County Jail and held pending an appearance before a magistrate. On May 21st, 21-year old Andrew Allen Malloy, of Audubon, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Causing Injury. He was also transported to the Audubon County Jail.  Malloy was seen by a magistrate the following day and released on promise to appear in court. And, on May 18th, 32-year old Brandon Gregory Hayes, of Vancouver, Washington, was arrested on a warrant for Felony Escape from a Washington State Facility.  Hayes is currently awaiting extradition back to Washington.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa-based utility is proposing a massive wind turbine project that would be the nation’s first investor-owned electric utility to generate all of its customer demand from wind energy.
Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy said Wednesday that it’s submitting its proposal for a $922 million wind project to the Iowa Utilities Board. The utility says the project would generate 591 megawatts of power, or enough electricity to power 2.4 million homes. If approved, the proposal would mark MidAmerican’s 12th wind project.

MidAmerican is a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. It already has 2,189 wind turbines on 27 wind farms in Iowa, producing 4,400 megawatts of power.
If the latest project is approved and completed, the utility’s total investment in wind will total more than $12 billion. The project is slated for completion in late 2020.

Creston Police said today (Wednesday), 22-year old Fransisco Martinez, of Creston, was arrested this (Wed.) morning, at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. He was taken into custody on a warrant for Violation of Parole.  Martinez was being held in the Union County Jail without a bond until seen by a magistrate.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A man already given a life sentence for murder in Iowa has pleaded guilty to assaulting two guards in the Des Moines County Jail in Burlington. Court records show Jorge Sanders-Galvez, of St. Louis, entered pleas Tuesday to willful injury and to assault on a correctional officer. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Monday. Sanders-Galvez was given a life sentence for his role in killing a gender-fluid Burlington teenager, Kedarie Johnson.

The two officers were attacked Dec. 10 by Sanders-Galvez and two other inmates. Court records say the two other inmates, Earl Booth-Harris and Bobby Morris, also pleaded guilty. Each was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years. Booth-Harris is serving a life sentence in a different slaying.