Fairfield News

DES MOINES (AP) ? State officials have decided to save some money by shutting down some rest areas along Iowa?s interstates.Iowa Transportation Department director Paul Trombino told The Des Moines Register that the agency won?t replace two rest areas in Dallas County that will be demolished for an interchange project in 2015. It?s unclear yet what will happen to the 38 other full-service rest areas.Trombino ...

COLFAX (AP) ? The driver of a car that crashed into the back of an Iowa school bus has died.Jasper County authorities say the accident occurred around 4 p.m. Thursday on County Highway F48 between Colfax and Newton. The school bus didn?t have any students aboard because they?d already been dropped off.Authorities say the car rammed into the back of the bus and burst into flames that spread to the bus. Another ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? Des Moines? police chief has issued an updated policy that outlines when officers must end vehicle pursuits.The Des Moines Register says the revamped chase policy was sent to officers last week.The revisions include nine specific points on how to begin and end chases and the responsibilities of each vehicle and agency involved in a pursuit.Among the revisions is a new rule that only marked ...

MASON CITY (AP) ? Officials say they?ve begun the adoption process for seven puppies found cold and wet in a storage bin on the side of a street in Mason City.The Humane Society of North Iowa says a good Samaritan brought the puppies to a shelter managed by the Humane Society on Dec. 5 after he spotted a plastic bin on a neighborhood curb that said, ?Free Puppies.? The National Weather Service says Mason City ...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The South African government says it is aware of reports that the bogus sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela?s memorial once faced a murder charge, and says he?s being investigated.Phumla Williams of the government communications office said today the government is investigating Thamsanqa Jantjie and how he was selected to interpret at a memorial Tuesday at which he stood close to U.S. ...

Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States will continue to seek the release of an American citizen missing in Iran.But at a news conference in Tel Aviv, he sidestepped questions about an Associated Press report saying the missing American, Robert Levinson, had been working in Iran for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence-gathering mission when he vanished nearly seven years ago.Kerry says, quote, ?I ...

Ukraine?s president proposed an amnesty Friday for all those facing criminal charges in the country?s wave of anti-government demonstrations, but the gesture did little to mollify opposition leaders driving the protests.The opposition, their determination bolstered by the stand-down of riot police in a pair of confrontations this week, grudgingly decided at the last minute to attend the round-table talks with ...

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Republican establishment?s much-anticipated pushback against the tea party wing is underway. House Speaker John Boehner made that clear Thursday, when he renewed his denunciation of groups that try to defeat GOP incumbents they consider too willing to compromise with Democrats.Some Republican loyalists wonder what took so long. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently took steps to help ...

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? The execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un?s uncle brought a swift and violent end to a man long considered the country?s second most powerful. But while Jang Song Thaek is now gone, the fallout from his purge is not over.In a stunning reversal of the popular image of Jang as a mentor and father figure guiding young Kim Jong Un as he consolidated power, North Korea?s state-run ...

Rosie Witherspoon makes Swedish pancakes Friday in At Home Store during Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk. Swedish pancakes tend to be thin and are often eaten with lingonberries and whipped cream.

Fairfield Fire Department responded to a report at 1:17 p.m. Thursday of a gas smell at 52 N. Main St., the At Home store. A firefighter checked all lines to the furnace and water heater and no leak was found. The firefighter returned to the station at 1:44 p.m.

Fairfield Police Department?s log of dispatch calls Thursday included:10:11 a.m. James Mitchell, who had been served with a no trespassing notice Wednesday, returned and was arrested for trespassing at the fire station and for public intoxication.6:58 p.m. an abandoned gray, KHS bicycle was placed in the police impound.9:57 p.m. Within a 15-minute time period, someone threw a pumpkin through a front window of ...