MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – A RAGBRAI participant from Sioux City has been found dead in his tent in Mason City in the second death during the weeklong bicycling event. The Des Moines Register reports 74-year-old George “Frank” Brinkerhoff was found dead inside his tent Thursday morning at Parker’s Woods Campground. Mason City police Sgt. Greg Scott ways Brinkerhoff was participating in the Register’s Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa. Scott didn’t know if Brinkerhoff was riding alone or with a group.

Scott says Brinkerhoff appeared to die of natural causes, but a medical examiner who responded hasn’t determined the cause of death. On Monday, 62-year-old Tom Teesdale, of West Branch, had a heart attack and died at a hospital in Emmetsburg.

There have been 30 deaths during RAGBRAI’s 42 years.

Police in Council Bluffs report one person was arrested Wednesday in connection with a robbery that occurred Saturday morning. Warrants for 1st degree robbery were issued Wednesday for 21-year old Jared Brandt, and 34-year old Misty Huff, both of Council Bluffs. Huff was arrested that same day, while Brandt remains at-large. Both are suspected robbing two men who agreed to meet with a man after arranging for the sale of a pickup truck.

Jared Brandt. Wanted for 1st degree robbery.

When 56-year old James Burdick and 54-year old Robert Coates, both of Omaha arrived at the pre-determined location at around 10:40-a.m., Saturday, Brandt allegedly pointed a small caliber revolver at the men and demanded their cellphone and cash they’d brought with them to purchase the truck. Huff allegedly was armed with a crow bar.

Misty Huff. Arrested 7/23/14

The Council Bluffs Police Department is asking for your help in finding Jared Brandt, who’s 6-feet 1-inch tall, weighs about 270-pounds, and has short black hair. He should be considered armed and dangerous. If you have any information on his whereabouts, call the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4765.

Three people were hurt when a semi and a pickup collided Tuesday afternoon on Highway 71, in Montgomery County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 1995 Chevy 1500 pickup driven by 41-year old Dannie Runyon, of Red Oak, was traveling north on Highway 71 at around 4:45-p.m.. A 2012 Kenworth semi driven by 41-year old Keith Steen, of Queen City, MO., was also traveling northbound behind the pickup, when Steen tried to pass at the intersection with Highway 34.

The semi clipped the left rear corner of the pickup, which went off the road to the northeast after the impact, and entered a ditch. The pickup came to rest after striking a tree. Runyon, and two passengers in the pickup, 36-year old Kevin Houchin, and 42-year old Robert Denny, both of Red Oak, were transported to area hospitals.

Runyon and Houchin, who were wearing their seat belts, were both flown by LifeNet to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, while Denny, who was not belted-in, was transported to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital by Red Oak Rescue.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department and Villisca Fire and Rescue personnel assisted at the scene.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley blasts the Obama administration for not telling state officials about dozens of Central American children being placed in Iowa after entering the U-S illegally. Grassley, a Republican, says the feds were wrong to put the 139 children in Iowa homes without giving the state a heads-up to provide health care, mental health care and other state services. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, disagrees.

“My colleague is just wrong in saying that somehow we ought to let everyone know where these kids are, who they are,” Harkin says. “That is wrong.” Harkin says the operation was kept secret for a reason as there have been angry protests in other U-S cities along the Mexican border which likely traumatized the already-frightened children. “These kids need to be protected, housed and kept safe,” Harkin says. “They don’t need to be made public objects where perhaps people can go out and picket a house. Maybe some family has taken in two or three of these kids to feed them and keep them safe. This is a humanitarian gesture.”

Reports say as many as 57-thousand children from Central American nations have entered the U-S, undocumented and unaccompanied, since last fall. Earlier this week, Governor Branstad said he didn’t want the children brought to Iowa, calling them “lawbreakers.” Again, Harkin disagrees: “There’s a reason for the privacy, there’s a reason to protect these kids,” Harkin says. “Keep in mind, these kids are not criminals, they’re refugees. They’re kids that are escaping murder and violence and rape and all kinds of bad things.” The children deserve due process, Harkin says, and it needs to be determined if they qualify for asylum.

“I just met yesterday with the ambassadors of all three countries, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala,” Harkin says. “Things are now being put in place to help stem the exodus of these kids from those three countries.” Grassley is quoted as saying the cost to taxpayers to care for the children could be as much as one-thousand dollars per day.

(Radio Iowa)