Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety said Friday evening, that a southeastern Iowa woman was arrested Friday in connection with the July 7th, 2016 death of her infant son. 23-year old Angel Poole, of Birmingham (IA), was taken into custody on warrant for Child Endangerment Causing Death. Poole was being held in the Van Buren County Jail on $15,000 bond, pending an initial court appearance.

Authorities say that at around 3:30-a.m. July 7th, Poole called 911 to say her 67-day-old son, Judah Wessels, was having difficulty breathing.  The child was transported by ambulance to the Van Buren County Hospital in Keosauqua, where he was pronounced dead a little over an hour later. The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office (VBSO) launched an investigation and requested the assistance of the Iowa Department of Public Safety-Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

An autopsy was conducted by the Iowa State Medical Examiner in Ankeny, Iowa.  The autopsy revealed Judah Wessels was “markedly malnourished”.  The cause of Wessels’ death has been ruled to be due to “starvation and dehydration.”  The manner of death “undetermined” by the medical examiner.

After a joint investigation by the Iowa DCI, VBSO, Van Buren County Attorney’s Office and the Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office, officials secured an arrest warrant for Angel Poole. She was arrested Friday at her residence.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest today (Friday), of 20-year old Travis Michael Knipp, of Clarinda. Knipp was arrested at the Page County Sheriff’s Office for Sex Offender Registry Violation, an Aggravated Misdemeanor.  He was unable to post the $2000 bond, and was held in the Page County Jail pending further court appearances.

Travis Knipp

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man accused of firing at a Woodbury County sheriff’s deputy has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. The Sioux City Journal reports that 24-year-old Melvin Spencer entered the plea Friday before in Woodbury County District Court. His trial has been set for May 9.

Authorities say a deputy had tried to pull over a vehicle carrying Spencer around 3:30 a.m. Feb. 26. The chase ended when the vehicle stopped south of the Sioux Gateway Airport. Authorities say Spencer opened fire at the deputy, who shot back.

Another man in the vehicle was injured during the shootout and hospitalized. The deputy and Spencer weren’t injured. Authorities say Spencer fled on foot, but was caught a few hours later.

The Iowa legislature has voted to narrow the window for Iowans to file lawsuits about construction complaints. Under current law, Iowans have 15 years to take legal action after discovering construction defects in their home or business. The bill that has cleared both the House and Senate would give homeowners a decade to file a lawsuit over serious flaws in construction. Commercial property owners would have an eight year window for these kind of lawsuits that aren’t about injuries to people, but alleged faults in the construction. Representative Kevin Koester, a Republican from Ankeny, says Iowa is out of step with every other state and contractors here have to pay more for insurance.

“This bill is good for our state,” Koester says. “It will reduce costs. Over time that’ll have a calming effect also on premiums. Over time, there will be lower cost, actually, of that kind of insurance.” Koester says the bill aligns with the G-O-P’s pledge to reduce regulations. “Protection and regulation come with a cost,” Koester says. “Homebuilders inform us that 25 percent of the cost of new home construction is strictly from the cost of regulation on building that home.”

Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, says the bill helps negligent contractors who do things like use shoddy materials. “Taking away protections from everyday Iowans who are just trying to buy a house that will last them the rest of their lives,” Wolfe said.

Representative Brian Meyer, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the narrower time frame for lawsuits about construction faults may prevent homeowners from getting compensated for defects like black mold that often appear long after construction. “Your average, every day person is getting completely rolled on this,” Meyer said.

The bill advanced out of the Iowa Senate with the votes of all the Republicans and a couple of Democrats. It was a party-line vote when the bill cleared the House earlier this week. It’s now headed to Governor Branstad for his consideration. Former Republican Governor Robert Ray vetoed similar legislation in 1980 and former Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack rejected a bill like this in 2001.

(Radio Iowa)

Some Iowa law enforcement officials question the accuracy of a Homeland Security report listing jurisdictions refusing to cooperate with federal requests to hold undocumented immigrants. President Trump signed an executive order in January calling on the government to document jurisdictions not cooperating with federal efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally.

According to the Des Moines Register, the first list released Monday cited 206 examples of immigrants who were said to have been released from custody by local jails despite requests from federal agents. According to the report, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued 12 detention requests to Montgomery County and five requests to Franklin County during the week of January 28th to February 3rd.

Montgomery County ranked fourth nationally among non-compliant jurisdictions for the number of detainers it received during that week, according to the report. But Montgomery County Sheriff Joe Sampson and Franklin County Sheriff Linn Larson, both Republicans, told the Register their departments did not receive any detainer requests during that period.

Sampson says his department has not been contacted by anyone from ICE since October. Larson said his department has proactively flagged ICE to check the immigration status of five people since the start of the year.

(Mike Peterson/Radio Iowa – Shenandoah)

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports numerous warrants were served to inmates at the Pott. County Jail, and several arrests were made in other cases. Among them: 67-year old Franklin Dean Jensen, of Neola, who was arrested Thursday afternoon on warrants for OWI/2nd offense, Driving While Revoked, and a second Driving While Revoked charge, for Failure to Appear. He was taken into custody at his home at around 3:40-p.m., with bond set at a combined $20,000 for the two OWI-related charges.

And, an employee of a restaurant in Crescent was arrested Thursday night for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Drug Paraphernalia. 26-year old Holly Lynne McDaniel, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the restaurant for allegedly having a clear plastic bag with about 1.5 grams  of a white crystal substance believed to be Meth, and paraphernalia that included syringes, a spoon, stamp bags and a box.

DES MOINES, IOWA – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 3.2 percent in February. The state’s jobless rate was 3.8 percent one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate decreased to 4.7 percent in February. “Iowa took another step towards full employment with the unemployment rate dropping to its lowest level since 2001,” said Beth Townsend, Director of Iowa Workforce Development. “A large number of Iowans found work in February. This was evident in the establishment survey which showed Iowa businesses added 3,000 jobs this past month.”

The number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 53,600 in February from 56,900 in January. The current estimate is 10,600 lower than the year ago level of 64,200. The total number of working Iowans increased to 1,639,700 in February. This figure was 2,700 higher than January and 1,900 higher than one year ago.

Seasonally Adjusted Nonfarm Employment
Iowa businesses again expanded in February, adding 3,000 jobs and lifting total nonfarm employment to 1,580,400 jobs. Last month’s employment experienced a moderate revision downward and this month’s gain helps recover much of the drop. Private sectors were responsible for all of the growth this month as government shed jobs (-500) primarily at the local level. Despite this loss, government remains up 800 jobs annually and the state combined is up 10,900 jobs.

Among private sectors, education and health services added 1,800 jobs in February to lead all sectors. Education added the majority of the jobs (+1,300), although healthcare also expanded their payrolls (+500). Construction added jobs this month (+1,600) and this month’s gain could signify an earlier than usual start to the building season. Other gains this month included professional and business services which added jobs for the fourth-consecutive month, and finance which has steadily trended up since August. Losses this month were limited to just three sectors and led by leisure and hospitality (-900). This sector pared jobs evenly in both recreational activities and hospitality and eating and drinking places. Despite the monthly loss, this sector has fared well and added jobs annually (+2,000). Alternatively, information services again trended down this month (-400), as did manufacturing (-200) due to cutbacks in durable goods.

Annually, total nonfarm employment continues to slowly add employment and has been fueled by hiring in professional and business services (+4,200). This sector alone has been responsible for 39 percent of all annual job gains in the state. Finance continues to grow its footprint in Iowa and is up 3,000 jobs versus last year. Other sectors experiencing growth annually include trade and transportation (+2,400), education and health services (+2,000), and leisure and hospitality (+2,000). Annual losses have been largest in manufacturing (-4,000) and wholly limited to durable goods factories. Information is the only other sector to pare jobs versus last year (-1,400).

Visit www.iowalmi.gov for more information about current and historical data, labor force data, nonfarm employment, hours and earnings, and jobless benefits by county.

There have been -no- cases reported in Iowa, but a strain of bird flu that’s deadly to humans has already killed 140 people in China. The U-S-D-A’s head veterinarian, Dr. Jack Shere, says the agency is preparing to fight the strain should it be found here. Shere says it’s possible migrating wild birds could bring the killer strain over from China which is why vigilance is so important.

“We look at the 21 biggest poultry states and we test wild birds throughout the year in those states to make sure that we have an early warning notice if this virus is changed, if we got a new virus,” Shere says, “that we have we have an awareness and we can pick it up.”

An outbreak of a different strain of bird flu in 2015 resulted in the destruction of more than 31-million chickens and turkeys in Iowa and an economic loss to the state of $1.2 billion dollars. The disease was confirmed at 77 Iowa poultry operations in 18 counties. Shere says producers need to button up their flocks.

“Basically it’s a hurdle concept,” Shere says. “What can I put in place that will prevent the virus or eliminate the virus so I don’t bring it into my facility? We have to consider the environment often as contaminated and anything we’re bringing into the house has a potential to bring the disease.”

There were bird flu outbreaks this year in Tennessee and Wisconsin, but federal health officials say the risk to people from those strains is low.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Sarah Boden, Iowa Public Radio)

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Police in Shenandoah, Thursday,arrested 35-year old Alfred Mutchler, of Shenandoah. Mutchler was taken into custody at around Noon Thursday, following a brief foot pursuit.  He was wanted for Failure To Appear in court. Mutchler faces an additional charge of interference with official acts for leading police on the chase. Alfred was transported to the Page County Jail where he was being held on $300 bond.