(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston say three people were arrested on separate charges, Monday. At around 8:17-a.m., Monday, 39-year-old Valerie Ann Cross, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston/Union County LEC (Law Enforcement Center), on a Union County Warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree, for damage amounting to anywhere from $750-$1,500. Cross was taken to the Union County Jail and released on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

Monday afternoon, Creston Police arrested 21-year-old Garrett Neal Thomson, of Creston, at the Creston/Union County LEC. Thomson was charged on a Union County Warrant, with Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drug/FTA for Pretrial on a Serious Misdemeanor. He was taken to the Union County Jail and later released on a $1,000 cash only bond.

And, Monday late Monday evening, 24-year-old Sydney Arlinda Martin, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston/Union County LEC, an a charge of Disorderly Conduct-Abusive Epithets/Threatening Gesture. Martin was cited and released.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic has a full agenda for their meeting 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, at City Hall. First-up: Mayor Grace Garrett will administer the Oath of Office to Atlantic Police Officer Adam Roberts, who was hired in April 2024, and is a graduate of the Clarinda High School. Roberts will complete his field training at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy at the end of August.

The Council will act on an Order to close 6th Street, between Poplar and Chestnut, every Thursday from 3-until 7-p.m., effective June 1st through Oct. 10th, for Produce In the Park, and during that same period on Thursdays, from 4-until 6-p.m., for other events, and, to allow a Produce In the Park banner to cross Chestnut Street, from late May though mid-October. The Council is also expected to approve a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the International Union of Operating Engineers, representing the City’s Public Works Department (Street Dept. & Wastewater Dept.). The agreement was ratified by Union membership on April 17th, and is in effect from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will hold the second reading of an Ordinance amending the City’s Code of Ordinances, with regard to RAGBRAI ®, to help the locate RAGRAI Committee deal with the public health and safety issues that can be created by an influx into the City of a large number of people. RAGBRAI arrives in Atlantic on July 22nd. Riders will depart the following day. The Council will also act on an Order to approve an update to the City’s Comprehensive Plan, as unanimously recommended by the Personnel & Finance Committee, and is recommended for updates every five-years.

They’ll also act on an Order to refer a request for vacating a “Phantom” right-of-way (ROW) to the Planning and Zoning Commission.The request is for an area that begins at the corner of W. 4th and Laurel Streets, terminating westward, at a phantom railroad ROW. The City Council will then review and act on approving the Contract and Bonds for the Sunnyside Park Splashpad project. The Council previously passed a resolution awarding the project to the Hensley Group, LLC, out of Muscatine, in the amount of $552,084.

(Red Oak, Iowa) The Red Oak Fire Department and Red Oak Police Department, along with their partner, Behind the Shields are bringing a Bike Rodeo to the Inman Elementary this
spring. In an effort to promote bicycle safety for the summer, 3rd through 5th graders are encouraged to bring their bicycles and helmets to Inman Elementary on Monday, May 13th, 2024. The bike rodeo will be from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.

Officials urgently stress that all children in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade bring their helmets with them to ensure they fit properly. If your child does not have a helmet, there will be some helmets on hand. However, there is a limit in the helmet inventory.

The Bike Rodeo is a free event designed to teach children essential bike safety skills and promote safe cycling habits. Participants will have the chance to engage in a variety of skills and activities at different learning stations. These stations will include helmet fitting, safety inspections, and skill-building exercises. This event is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors and partners:

Children’s Nebraska – Trauma Injury Prevention, Blank Children’s Hospital – Unity Point Health Des Moines, Behind the Shields, and the Red Oak Community School District. Officals said also, the event could not have made this possible without the support of Fire Chief John Bruce and Police Chief Justin Rhamy.

If you are interested in volunteering to help with the bike rodeo please reach out to either Amber Jennings at jennings@redoakpolice.com or Levi Kinnison at fireprevention@redoakia.city.

Waterloo is assembling a task force to create sustainable solutions for the Cedar Valley’s homeless population. The first step for the group is to identify and catalog Waterloo’s available homeless resources, which range from transportation to shelter and rehab services. Mayor Quentin Hart says the task force will look at solutions both inside and outside the city. The task force is made up of philanthropists, city officials and other community leaders, while Hart says voices from the homeless population itself will be key to the group’s success. The task force expects to start its work in May.

(Radio Iowa)

The Archbishop of the Dubuque Catholic Diocese says a priest has been charged with sexual abuse that allegedly occurred during his time in Iowa. A statement from Archbishop Thomas Zinkula says Father Leo Riley has been charged in Florida with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse from allegations of abuse committed in Dubuque from 1985 to 1986. An allegation was first made in May of 2023, and a second allegation was made after the Archdiocese asked anyone with information to come forward. The Archdiocese statement says an allegation of abuse had been made against Riley in December of 2014, but it is their understanding the Dubuque County Attorney’s Office chose not to investigate because the statute of limitations had expired. Riley had moved to Venice, Florida in 2002 and was most recently assigned to Port Charlotte, Florida.

(Radio Iowa)

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is moving forward with plans to construct a new hydraulic modeling facility for the College of Engineering. U-I Vice President Rod Lenhertz in a presentation to the Regents, says the facility will provide space for future growth. “To consolidate a lot of their work around the research related to as the as the docket item suggests and indicates canal, large rivers, dams, spillways and other projects they do,” he says. Lenhertz says the Hydroscience & Engineering program is a world-renowned center for education, research, and public service focusing on fluids. He says it requires a specific facility for the work.

“Generally large volumes of space with the equipment and water that are needed to model different bodies of water at the project sites that they’re working on. We would start the planning immediately and would come back to the Board of Regents with a with a budget and design,” he says. The budget right now is estimated at 32 to 40 million dollars. The Board of Regents also gave Iowa State University permission to expand the existing two wards at the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Large Animal Hospital. I-S-U vice president, Heather Paris says they would also add a new third ward.

“This project would expand the facility by over 17-thousand square feet to include expansion of current large animal reproductive services as well as enhancement of our professional student and resident training opportunities,” Paris says. She says they would expand in multiple phases. “With the first focused on the equine I-C-U stall, reproductive services, feed and bedding storage and shared storage space,” Paris says. “The total proposed budget of nine-point-two million would be funded by College of Veterinary Medicine funds, with construction scheduled to begin in spring of 2025.”

The Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Large Animal Hospital was built in 1976. The Board of Regents approved the two projects at their meeting last week in Ames.

(Radio Iowa) – Farmers made a lot of progress planting corn and beans last week. The U-S-D-A report says the amount of corn planted reached 39 percent complete — up from 13 percent the week before. That is four days ahead of last year and three days ahead of the five-year average.

Two percent of the expected corn crop has emerged. Twenty-five percent of the expected soybean crop has been planted — up from just eight percent last week. The bean planting is now four days ahead of last year and five days ahead of the average.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County, Monday, arrested 28-year-old Rebecca Sue Warren, of Council Bluffs. Warren was taken into custody on Pottawattamie County warrants, Possession of Methamphetamine/4th Offense, and for being a person ineligible to carry weapons. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The National Weather Service office in Des Moines, in it’s latest update on Monday, said based on preliminary reports and completed storm surveys, severe storms that lifted northeast across western into central Iowa late in the afternoon into the evening of Friday, April 26, 2024, numbered at least 19. Damage to trees and homes has been reported in multiple counties from Crawford to Union and Ringgold up to around Polk and Jasper Counties.

Teams continue to evaluate damage. Additional tornado tracks and rating will be added in the coming days. A final tornado count will take days to a few weeks as we review radar data, examine hi-res satellite imagery, and look at videos.

• A tornado affecting parts of Shelby & Crawford Counties was rated EF-2, with winds of up to 112-mph and a width of 200-yard. It tracked 9..24-miles. A second tornado was rated EF-1, with winds of 107-mph, a track of 12.32-miles, and a width of 200-yards.
• One tornado hit part of Creston just before 7-p.m., Friday. It was rated an EF-2, with 125-mph winds. It traveled nearly 8.5-miles and was 350-yards wide. A second tornado near Creston was an EF-1 w/100-mph winds, and a width of 80-yards. It tracked for nearly 3-miles.
• Another tornado formed west of Afton and traveled 6.23-miles, with an estimated width of 150-yards and winds as high as 125-mph. EF-2 rating.
• A tornado that formed east of Afton was EF-2 that whipped across Union and into Madison County (13.91-miles), with winds of up to 130-mph. It was 150-yards wide.
• A Ringgold County tornado, near Tingley, was an EF-2 that was 100-yards wide, and traveled 10.31-miles.
• A second tornado near Mount Ayr was rated EF-1, with 100-mph winds, a track of 11.74-miles, and a width of 300-yards.

Learn about the other tornadoes covered by the NWS office in Des Moines, HERE.