(Radio Iowa) – Four tickets purchased in Iowa came close to snagging a portion of the one BILLION dollar Powerball jackpot. One winning ticket was purchased in California and the Iowa Lottery reports four tickets bought here were just one number away from claiming a portion of the prize. Two of those tickets were purchased in Council Bluffs and Manson — and are each worth 100-thousand dollars. The other two were purchased in Polk City and Des Moines and are worth 50-thousand.

The Iowa Lottery reports players here bought more than two-point-seven million dollars in Powerball tickets — including nearly two million dollars worth on the day of the drawing Wednesday.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University is being named Entrepreneurial University of the Year for the Americas, following an international competition held in Barcelona, Spain. Judi Eyles is the director for the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship on the Ames campus. Eyles says, “We were excited to first be a finalist, and then to actually receive the award was unexpected but very, very awesome.”

The award was presented by the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities, which is based in Germany. It’s honored universities in Europe, Asia and Africa in the past. “This is the first time they’ve ever done in Americas Division, so we applied for this honor which recognizes an institution that has embedded entrepreneurship across its campus,” Eyles says. “We ended up being a top five finalist in our category and ended up getting the first place prize. So it was great!”

Callan Randall gives her pitch at the Student Innovation Center. (ISU photo)

She says there’s a wide range of entrepreneurial opportunities at Iowa State, from undergraduates to grad students to PhDs. “And then for anybody who has an idea that needs help, we have a whole group of people that can help people move that idea along, build teams, gain funding, figure out how to market, connect with mentors,” Eyles says. “So it’s really from the classroom to the boardroom.”

Iowa State ranks number-four in the Midwest and 11th nationally in the Princeton Review’s annual survey of undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies.

(Radio Iowa) – Those thousands of bicyclists who will trek across Iowa next week will face many challenges, not the least of which will be Iowa’s summer heat. Meteorologist Kristy Carter, at the National Weather Service, says they’re predicting a heat wave to arrive right around the time the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa begins on Sunday, meaning, those RAGBRAI riders will be roasting for much of the journey. “We still have the generally cooler conditions through the rest of this week, but we are looking at that warming trend starting next week with some actually pretty hot conditions by roughly mid next week, where our heat index values may reach or near at least 100 degrees,” Carter says. “We are certainly looking at that signal for above-normal temperatures.”

So far, this July hasn’t been as brutal as in summers past, but forecasters say that’s about to change. Carter says, “Right now, the official forecast only goes out through really next Wednesday, but we are looking at highs in the mid to upper 90s on both Tuesday and Wednesday.” Depending on the humidity levels, the weather service may be issuing heat advisories or even heat warnings next week. “That’ll certainly be something we’ll be watching over the next several days, just to see how everything plays out with what are the temperatures, what are those dew point values,” Carter says. “Right now, our heat indices are, for the most part, below 100 and our forecast for next week, that’ll certainly be something we’ll be watching.”

The experts say one key way to stay safe when it’s sweltering outdoors is to limit physical activity, which isn’t an option for those who are pedaling their way across the state. Carter says RAGBRAI riders should follow the rest of the guidelines. “Wear light-colored clothing, make sure to have plenty of water,” Carter says, “and just try to maybe bike a little bit earlier in the day, if possible, just to kind of avoid that late afternoon heat.”

The 50th annual ride starts Sunday in Sioux City and ends next Saturday, 500 miles later, in Davenport.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports federal search warrants were executed this (Thursday) morning at multiple locations in the Des Moines metropolitan area. The locations include:
• 900 block of Creston Avenue, Des Moines,
• 1200 block of 23rd Street, Des Moines,
• 200 block of East Caulder Circle, Des Moines,
• 400 block of East Thornton Avenue, Des Moines,
• 2500 block of East Sheridan Avenue, Des Moines,
• 1500 block of South 50th Street, West Des Moines,
• 9000 block of Burkwood Drive, West Des Moines, and
• 15000 block of Boston Parkway, Clive.

The searches at those locations were an official law enforcement action involving officers, agents, and investigators from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Des Moines Police Department, United States Postal Inspection Service, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement (DNE), Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Intelligence and Fusion Center, Iowa State Patrol SWAT, United States Marshals Service, Clive Police Department, West Des Moines Police Department, Ames Police Department, Altoona Police Department, Mid-Iowa Narcotics Task Force, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Suburban Emergency Response Team (SERT), and Metro Special Tactics and Response (STAR).

Additional details were not released.

(Le Grand, Iowa) – A crash early Wednesday morning northeast of Le Grand, in Marshall County, left one person dead and two others injured. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2007 Chevy Impala was traveling east on Quarry Road at around 3:05-a.m., when the car left the road an entered the north ditch, where it rolled over. 21-year-old Giana Dominique Alvarez, of Marshalltown, was ejected from the car and died at the scene.

Two other people were injured in the crash. They were identified as 29-year-old Bernard A. Brooks, of Des Moines, and 27-year-old Devrann Nichole Harding, of Marshalltown. The Patrol was working to identify who was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred. The incident remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office.