The Creston Police Department reports six recent arrests. Arrested Sunday, Feb. 18th, was: 20-year old Tyler Ray, of Creston, for Driving While Suspended, and on a Union County warrant for Probation Violation. His bond was set at $2,000; 21-year old Jeffrey Campbell, of Des Moines, was arrested for Possession of Paraphernalia, and on a Polk County warrant for Theft in the 3rd Degree. He was being held in the Union County Jail pending transfer to Polk County; And, 58-year old Jonathan Selim, of Creston, was arrested Sunday for OWI/2nd offense. Selim was later released on $2,000 bond.

Saturday, Creston Police arrested 32-year old Cassondra Arni, of Creston, on a Clinton County, MO., warrant for Failure to obey a Judge’s Order on an original charge of two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Arni was transferred to the custody of Clinton County authorities. Last Friday, Creston Police arrested 43-year old Lois Taylor, of Creston, for Theft in the 5th Degree. She was released on a promise to appear later, in court. And, 35-year old Mathew Scherer, of Creston, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on a $1,000 bond.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — A former city accounting clerk has been charged with stealing from the Des Moines suburb of Johnston. A city news release says Teresa Osburne surrendered to police Monday morning and was charged with three counts of theft and related crimes.

A state audit of the city books determined that nearly $14,000 collected from library fines and fees and other revenue sources had not been deposited in city accounts between July 1, 2015 and July 31, 2017. The city says Osburne falsified those records and was fired.

The state’s legal community is warning proposed budget cuts in the state’s court system “will still cause significant disruption.” House Republicans propose cutting far less than Republicans in the Senate. Steve Eckley, president of the Iowa State Bar Association, thanked House members for that move Monday during a public hearing at the statehouse — but Eckley says Iowans will still notice a one-point-six million dollar cuts to the courts for THIS budgeting year.”These include people involved in domestic abuse cases who need immediate attention to their very charged situations, mothers and fathers involved in domestic relations matters ending marriages and affecting children,” he said, ” the prosecution of criminal cases that may ultimately be dismissed because of the speedy trial requirements.”

More than half a MILLION cases will move through the state’s courts this year. Eckley told lawmakers the court delays caused by state budget cuts will hit every county. “Whether it be your constituents waiting to close a probate matter so that the proceeds of an estate can be distributed, criminal cases that need to be prosecuted or civil cases that have been set for trial for months or even years, they will all be negatively impacted,” Eckley said.  Danny Homan, president of AFSCME Council 61, says “several thousand” state employees who are members of his union will be adversely affected by the cuts. “Overall, state government has been cut to the bone and I know these departments cannot effectively and responsibly provide essential services under this bill,” Homan says. Homan told lawmakers there will “real life consequences” in the state’s prison system. “As president of this union that represents these workers, this keeps me up at night: when will an officer be killed? Please, don’t vote this budget through,” Homan said.

State tax collections are lower than expected so cuts must be made in the CURRENT year’s state budget. Today’s (Monday’s) hour-long public hearing on the House G-O-P’s budget-cutting package attracted University of Northern Iowa students who thanked the House for shielding the Cedar Falls campus from this latest round of cuts. Students from the other two state-supported universities expressed concern about the cuts they’ll see on the campuses in Ames and Iowa City.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa House has overwhelmingly passed a plan to provide extra state money to about 40 percent of Iowa school districts to help cover transportation costs. Some rural districts spend nearly a thousand dollars a year to bus students to school. Representative Tedd Gassman, a Republican from Scarville, says four school districts have merged into one in his area. “There used to be about 1600 students in all of those districts. Today it’s down to about 450 students,” Gassman says. “The cost of transportation has increased exponentially around the state after all of these reorganizations.”

The money spent on busing in districts like his takes away from what could be spent educating the students once they get to school, according to Gassman. “There’s left work to be done with both the transportation and state aid equity,” Gassman says.  Republicans in the SENATE last year voted for a permanent fix, but the House plan that emerged last (Monday) night is a one-time allotment to address the transportation issue, plus extra money for address inequities in the formula that distributes general state aid on a per pupil basis. Representative Cindy Winkler is a Democrat from Davenport who argued for at least a three-year funding commitment. “Give some predictable and sustainable funding…for our school districts,” Winckler says. “…Bring true equity to every student in the state.”

Davenport’s superintendent is using cash reserves to make up for a state funding inequity. He’s been notified by state officials he could lose his professional license for using more of his district’s reserves than is allowed by law.

(Radio Iowa)