Two people have been arrested on drug-related charges, in Red Oak. According to Red Oak Police, 25-year old Caleb Robert Renn, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 1-a.m. today (Friday), for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Renn was cited and summoned to court before being released.  And, 38-year old Becky Jo Brace, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 6:25-p.m. Thursday, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

(PANORA) – Searchers in Guthrie County will resume their search early this morning for a boater who reportedly fell into the water at Lake Panorama Thursday evening. The call came in at around 6:15-p.m. As of the very latest report, the missing boat occupant has not been located. Dive team members from the SW Iowa Dive Team were on scene until 1-a.m. today, when the search was suspended until daybreak.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man who was granted a new trial in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Television station KGAN reports that Luerkens was in court Thursday for a hearing on a motion, but unexpectedly changed his plea. Luerkens admitted stabbing 29-year-old Lynnsey Donald to death on April 21, 2015, in front of Donald’s son in the Marion grocery store parking lot. He then injured himself.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa women who lost limbs when they were struck while trying to climb through trains that were blocking the road are suing the railroad for allegedly ignoring a safety hazard that’s left a trail of horrific injuries. The lawsuits filed Thursday allege that trains operated by the Canadian National Railway and its subsidiaries routinely block street crossings in Waterloo, sometimes for hours. They say at least five people have lost hands, arms or legs in this way since 1991.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has pleaded guilty to fraud and identity theft for stealing more than $191,000 from her now-dead fiancee and his elderly mother. Robin Ann Bertelli, of Cedar Rapids, was arrested last month on a 35-count indictment and pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday. Prosecutors say the 60-year-old Bertelli stole checks that belonged to her fiancee _ former Navy SEAL Ken Martin Jr. _ and Martin’s mother and wrote them payable to herself.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — Police in eastern Iowa say a 71-year-old Muscatine man has died after being hit by a semitrailer as he crossed a highway pushing a shopping cart. The Muscatine Journal reports that Patrick Hazelwood died following the crash just before 3 a.m. Thursday on Highway 61. An Iowa State Patrol trooper says Hazelwood was wearing dark clothes at an unlit intersection when he stepped in front of the southbound semi. He died at the scene.

Searchers in Guthrie County continue to look for a missing boater on Lake Panorama. The Sheriff’s Office said that at around 6:16-p.m. Thursday, Guthrie County Dispatch received a 911 call from boaters at Lake Panorama regarding a missing boat occupant that fell in the water. Numerous agencies responded and were on the scene within minutes of the call having been placed.  Dive team members from the SW Iowa Dive Team are on scene doing conducting the search for the individual. Emergency Services are also being assisted by the Adair-Guthrie County Emergency Management Staff.

The incident remains under investigation. Additional information is currently not available.

All six Democratic gubernatorial candidates support expansion of the state’s medical marijuana law. John Norris, a long-time aide to former Governor Tom Vilsack, says Republican Governor Reynolds should respond to critics who contend cannabis products intended for medical use will be exploited as recreational drugs.

“The governor’s not leading when she needs to,” Norris said. “People are suffering in this state. She’s spending all her political capital on tax cuts for millionaires. As governor, I would spend some political capital on educating Iowans about how this helps people. Let’s get over this paranoia…and get this fixed for people who need it.”

Ross Wilburn of Ames, the former mayor of Iowa City, says it’s an “over-reaction” to suggest there is a “direct line” between medical cannabis and recreational marijuana.
“There are people who are hurting now,” Wilburn said. “My mother died of cancer in 1985 when I was 20. She could have certainly benefited from medical marijuana.”

And Wilburn says his father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, could have used medical marijuana as pain medication in the last two weeks of his life. Cathy Glasson, a nurse from Coralville, says medical cannabis has been very effective in treating lots of very serious ailments. “Medical cannabis is actually used to treat opioid addition,” Glasson said. “So evidence is showing that it’s actually beneficial in keeping (prescription opioids) from being a gateway drug.”

Andy McGuire, a medical doctor, says doctors, not politicians, should decide which conditions can be effectively treated with cannabis. “Doctors, looking at scientific medical literature, ought to be making those decisions,” McGuire said. “This is the problem. You don’t want to have the legislature, you don’t want to have the governor involved in this. You want to have it done by physicians, with their patients.”

Fred Hubbell, a Des Moines businessman, supports that approach, too. “If we’re really committed to quality, affordable health care for all Iowans…the science is clear that there are a lot more medical illnesses and issues that medical marijuana can be actually be very beneficial for, much broader than what we allow in our state,” Hubbell said. “Other states have gone a lot more broader than we have.”

Hubbell also supports letting cannabis oils, pills and creams with a higher concentration of the drug T-H-C be sold in the state. Nate Boulton, a state senator from Des Moines, says the medical marijuana law must be expanded or the businesses that just won state licenses to sell cannabis products here won’t be profitable. “We’re not going to get more providers coming into our state to invest in a medical cannabis solution if we don’t have more accessibility,” Boulton said. “We’re not going to get people who are going to come here, only to be able to offer to a small number of Iowans.”

The candidates made their comments Wednesday night, during a 90-minute forum on Iowa Public Television. Current state law has set up a system for allowing cannabis products to be used as treatment for a limited number of conditions. Five Iowa dispensing sites have been chosen for Iowa-produced cannabis oils, pills and creams, starting this December.

(Radio Iowa)

Four years from now, telephone companies and cable companies will pay about 30 million dollars less in Iowa property taxes as a result of legislation Governor Kim Reynolds has approved. Buildings and cell towers will remain subject to local property tax assessments, but property taxes on “transmission equipment” like wires, cables and fiber will be phased out. Republican Representative Chip Baltimore of Boone says that brings property taxation on telecommunications companies in line with how other commercial property is taxed.

“This is an important bill in terms of trying to free up dollars to encourage these telecommunications companies to invest in that ‘last mile’ of infrastructure,” Baltimore says. “It’s going to be very helpful for those companies to do that, especially in rural Iowa.”

But Democrats like Senator Chaz Allen of Newton complained there’s nothing in the bill that forces companies doing business in Iowa, but headquartered out of state, to use the tax savings to expand broadband service in Iowa. “I’m just saying if we’re going to give this tax cut, Iowans need to know that this money’s going to stay in here, be reinvested,” Allen said, “not that this money is going to leave this state.”

Allen called for yearly public reports showing how the cable and telephone companies use the tax savings, but Republicans voted the idea down. “That’s sort of like us having the Department of Revenue saying: ‘Hey, we want to know how you’re going to spend your tax money when you get a return.”

That’s Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull. Another Republican legislator said telecommunications companies should be able to use the tax savings to do things like pay investors or hire more workers if that’s a higher priority to the business.

(Radio Iowa)