(In an update to our story posted below, just after 4-p.m. Tuesday) – Authorities say an AMBER ALERT issued for three children out of northwest Iowa, was cancelled at around 9:20-p.m., Tuesday, after the three abducted girls from Spencer were found abandoned, but safe, in Sanborn, Iowa, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. No arrest has been made. Police were still searching for their mother 25-year-old Danica Arzaga — the girls’ biological mother and alleged abductor. The girls, who had previously been removed from her custody and placed into the care of a relative, were taken at around 7:30-a.m., Tuesday.

The Amber Alert was immediately picked up by broadcasters and other media yesterday, but officials say technical issues delayed delivery of text messages to cell phones for a few hours.

************** Original story:

A statewide Amber Alert has been issued out of Clay County, Iowa, for three children. Authorities are looking for a 2003 Maroon Cadillac CTS with Iowa tags 561 XEY driven by 25-year-old Danica Arzaga. She’s described as being 5’3″ tall, 135-lbs, black hair, brown eyes, and has a large eagle tattoo on her chest. It is believed they are traveling in northwest Iowa or Minnesota.

The children abducted are 8-year-old Lillian Enos-Johnson, 8-year-old Adia Johnson Enos and 4-year-old Oliva Arzaga. They were abducted on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. from Royal. Olivia was wearing a pink pajama sleeper with slippers.

If you see this vehicle, you are asked to call 9-1-1. All abductors should be considered dangerous.

The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports 10 more candidates have filed nomination papers in advance of the Nov. 7th City Elections in Cass County. As of the close of business Tuesday at the Auditor’s Office:

• Darrin Hardisty, of Cumberland, has filed to fill one of 3 seats on the Cumberland City Council.
• Don Cohrs, Leroy Easter and Ryan Archibald (who was appointed to a seat earlier), all of Lewis, have filed for one of two seats on the Lewis City Council. There are now five candidates on the ballot for those two seats.
• Incumbents Lori Holste and Angela Redler have filed to run for one of five seats on the Marne City Council. Also filing papers for those seats on Tuesday, was Mark Opbroek, Wayne Preiester and Jericho Schmitt. All candidates are of course, from Marne. There are six candidates running for the two Marne City Council seats.
• Incumbents Jackson Bissell and Doug Venteicher, both of Massena, have filed to run for re-election to fill two seats on the Massena City Council.

In addition to those latest filings, the Cass County Auditor’s Office reports some City’s will have Public Measures on their ballots.

• In Cumberland, Public Measure C will ask voters if the Composition of the Cumberland Library Board should be altered. (50% approval is needed)
• In Lewis, Public Measure B will ask voters to approve a Lewis Library Tax Levy. (50% approval required)
• In Marne, Public Measure D asks if the terms of office to change to 4-years, and Public Measure E asks for a change in the use of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenue. (50% approval is required for both measures)
• In Massena, Public Measure F also asks the voters in that community if there should be a change in the use of LOST revenues.
• And finally, in Atlantic, Public Measure G will ask voters if the Hotel-Motel Levy should be increased from 4-percent to seven-percent.

This Thursday at 5-p.m. is the deadline to submit nomination forms to the Cass County Auditors Office for persons wishing to run for office in your respective community.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government continues to review Iowa’s short-term funding proposal to redirect Affordable Care Act money to lower some people’s health insurance costs.

A representative for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says Iowa’s application for a so-called stopgap measure is complete and a public comment period will run until Oct 19. The federal government says in a letter Tuesday that a decision will be made within 180 days.

Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen says he’s more optimistic about an approval than he was earlier this month. He says he expects a decision after the comment period but before open enrollment for ACA health insurance coverage begins Nov. 1.

The proposal would use federal subsidies to offer a single, standard insurance plan for Iowa’s individual market under the ACA.

A Red Oak man was arrested Tuesday afternoon on a Montgomery County Warrant for Failure to Appear and Contempt of Court. Red Oak Police arrested 54-year-old Michael Robert Ransom at 2:10pm Tuesday at 100 North Broadway in Red Oak.  He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 cash bond.

A statewide Amber Alert has been issued out of Clay County, Iowa, for three children. Authorities are looking for a 2003 Maroon Cadillac CTS with Iowa tags 561 XEY driven by 25-year-old Danica Arzaga. She’s described as being 5’3″ tall, 135-lbs, black hair, brown eyes, and has a large eagle tattoo on her chest. It is believed they are traveling in northwest Iowa or Minnesota.

The children abducted are 8-year-old Lillian Enos-Johnson, 8-year-old Adia Johnson Enos and 4-year-old Oliva Arzaga. They were abducted on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. from Royal. Olivia was wearing a pink pajama sleeper with slippers.

If you see this vehicle, you are asked to call 9-1-1. All abductors should be considered dangerous.

Next week, hotel and motel employees in Cedar Rapids will undergo training in how to spot the victims of sexual exploitation. It’s part of a new, statewide effort to combat human trafficking in Iowa hotels and motels. George Belitsos of the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery says commercial sexual exploitation is now a bigger business than the drug trade.

“Humans can be exploited for many years,” Belitsos says, “plus human trafficking is more hidden from public view.” He says that’s why training everyone who works in an Iowa hotel or motel is so important. Training exercises were held last week in the Des Moines area. Steven Patrick O’Meara, the former leader of the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force, is now president of an Omaha-based coalition that has trained employees in more than 100 Omaha hotels to be on the look-out for victims of sex trafficking. He’s now conducting similar seminars in Iowa.

“Much, if not most of sex trafficking is actually carried out in hotels and motels,” O’Meara says, “although I think currently that is often without the awareness of the hotel and motel.” O’Meara cites Creighton University research indicating in any given month, more than 800 people in Iowa and Nebraska are at “high and moderate risk” to become victims of sex trafficking. O’Meara has appointments with groups in the Quad Cities, Dubuque, Council Bluffs and Sioux City to discuss how to teach hotel and motel employees about the warning signs of human trafficking.

“To build in growing concentric circles to squeeze the air out of this market,” O’Meara says. People who pay for sex are willing to drive more than an hour to a hotel or motel, according to O’Meara. He says that means hotel staff in urban AND rural Iowa need to be trained. He’s also encouraging people who book events at hotels to ask if the facility has trained its hospitality staff to report suspected cases of human trafficking.

(Radio Iowa)

AMES, Iowa – Sept. 19, 2017 – The Iowa Transportation Commission today (Tuesday) approved more than $6.8 million in funding for 60 new transit vehicles that will replace vehicles past their useful life. The funds are granted through the Federal Transit Administration Bus and Bus Facilities Formula Program and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program.

Vehicle replacement projects were approved for 19 urban and rural public transit systems. Included among them were the following transit programs based out of Atlantic and Creston:

Region 13 – Atlantic: 4 light duty buses with video surveillance systems with a total cost of $344,000 ($292,000 Federal participation).

Region 14 – Creston: 1 light duty bus with video surveillance system with a total cost of $90,000 ($76,500 Federal participation).

Iowa has public transit in all 99 counties. For more information on public transit, visit: www.iowadot.gov/transit.