United Group Insurance

Iowa early News Headlines: Monday, March 29 2021

News

March 29th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:00 a.m. CDT

ANITA (KJAN) – Interstate 80 westbound in Cass County was completely blocked this morning at mile marker 71, due to a semi tractor-trailer rollover accident with minor injuries. The crash happened at around 2:35-a.m. Traffic was being diverted to Adair. Additional details were not immediately available.

AMES, Iowa (AP) ā€” One Iowa State University student died and another was missing after members of the school’s crew club had an accident on a lake north of Ames. The university says the students were practicing Sunday morning at Little Wall Lake in Hamilton County when their boat capsized. Three were rescued and a dive team recovered the body of one student later in the day. The search for the fifth student was called off Sunday night and will resume Monday morning. The three students who were rescued were treated at an Ames hospital and released. The names of the students were not released Sunday. The students were part of the Iowa State Crew Club, a recognized student organization. Little Wall Lake is about 15 miles north of Ames.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ā€” Only days after a mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, prompted renewed discussions about the nation’s gun laws, Gov. Kim Reynolds is considering a bill that would make handgun carry permits and background checks on unlicensed sales optional in Iowa. The bill was approved in the Senate with only Republican support after clearing the House with the backing of only one Democrat. Reynolds, a Republican, has made statements in the past in support of the state’s current background checks and permits to carry handguns. However she has rarely vetoed measures supported by her GOP colleagues. When asked last week if she had changed her mind on such gun rules, she suggested an openness to the bill.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ā€” Iowa residents in the 515 and 319 area codes will soon have to get used to dialing all 10 digits of a phone number when making calls. The Federal Communications Commission is requiring Iowa callers to start dialing both the area code and phone number when making a call starting Oct. 24. The reason for the change is that officials are preparing to add a new three-digit number, 988, for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. The Iowa area codes that include Des Moines and Cedar Rapids must make the change because some of their local phone numbers use 988 as the prefix for some seven-digit phone numbers.