Police in Council Bluffs said Wednesday that a former Lewis Central student whose body was found late last year in the back seat of a vehicle in the parking lot of a J.C. Penny store off of Marketplace Drive, died of alcohol poisoning. Authorities say an autopsy determined 15-year old Mireya Mata-Alvarez‘ death the night of Dec. 21st was ruled “accidental.” The cause was listed as “acute ethanol intoxication,” which is commonly referred to as “alcohol poisoning.”  The girls’ blood alcohol level registered more than five-times the legal limit of .08. No foul play was involved.

Officials say Mata-Alvarez had been with two juvenile girls and five juvenile males earlier that same evening. Both girls – one of whom dialed 911 – were on scene when emergency crews arrived, but the boys were no longer present.

Mata-Alvarez had attended Lewis Central High School during her freshman year, but was not enrolled for her sophomore year, because she had transferred out of state.

Authorities in Pottawattamie County said Wednesday a second arrest has been made in connection with a murder that took place in the Summer of 2003 in Council Bluffs. According to Council Bluffs Police, 36-year old James Cain Harris,of Council Bluffs, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree murder for the July 2003 death of Nelson Alvarez-Hernandez. Harris was being held in the Pott. County Jail on $1-million bond. His preliminary hearing was set for March 14th.

Officials say Alvarez-Hernandez was killed after a fight outside of a home in the 1600 block of south 13th St. in Council Bluffs. Witnesses had reported a loud altercation taking place outside the residence and heard Alvarez-Hernandez call for help. According to police, those same witnesses said they saw several subjects near the victim who fled prior to police arriving.

Someone had stabbed Alvarez-Hernandez to death, and the case remained unsolved until late last year, when authorities were able to link DNA evidence to 47-year old Thomas J. Sanchez,of La Vista, Neb. Sanchez was arrested in late January, 2014. He remains held on $1-million bond at the Pottawattamie County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder. Sanchez’ trial is set to begin April 15th.

The Walnut City Council will hold a Public Hearing and take action on adopting, the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget, Thursday. Both will take place during a regular meeting of the Council, which begins at 5-p.m., Thursday.

In other business, the Council will receive and possibly act on approving a letter of support for a grant application being submitted by the Walnut Questers. Other discussion will include that which pertains to the Peace Haven Retirement Home and possible street work. The Council may also act on approving a letter to the Wheatley Estate, providing Notice of Intent with regard to a former gas station and associated real estate.

The Walnut City Council is also expected to discuss matters pertaining to the concessions stands at the City Park.

Nearly three dozen plaintiffs from western Iowa are part of lawsuit filed today (Wednesday) against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The case concerns recurring flooding along the Missouri River between 2006 and 2011. Edwin Smith is an attorney with the law firm Polsinelli PC, based in Kansas City, Missouri.  “We’re seeking to be compensated for the devastating losses that our clients, which number of 200, have experienced as a result of this flooding,” Smith announced at a news conference in Omaha.

Thirty-three Iowans are among the roughly 200 landowners, business owners, and farmers along the Missouri River seeking damages. The other plaintiffs are from Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and South Dakota. According to Smith, up until a decade ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prioritized flood control when managing operations of dams, reservoirs, and other structures along the river. Smith claims those priorities changed in 2004, which led to severe and frequent flooding.

“The Corps changed it’s policies and procedures, sacrificing our clients’ interests, in order to promote fish and wildlife and other environmental interests,” Smith said. The lawsuit contends the Corps violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. “It’s the Fifth Amendment that ensures each and every one of us…that the U.S. government cannot take our private property for the good of the public unless they give us just compensation,” Smith said.

The lawsuit alleges the Corps increased water storage levels and altered the schedule for water release from six large reservoirs. It also claims the Corps changed the structure of dikes and dams along the river to scour the banks and make the river shallower and created secondary channels that increase the frequency and duration of floods.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Patients and medical experts told lawmakers about the positive uses of medical marijuana, arguing the medical community and public could benefit from the drug. Relatives of patients with epilepsy and cancer who testified Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee told lawmakers they’ve exhausted all their options for pain-relieving and seizure-related drugs. They say medical marijuana can ease the side effects of drugs already taken or in ways other drugs cannot.

Even lawmakers who support medical marijuana legislation has acknowledged it won’t pass this session, but Sen. Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says he hopes to educate lawmakers on its positive uses and hopefully legalize it next year.

Members of the Iowa Supreme Court will visit area high schools in southwest Iowa, to meet with students and discuss the role of the courts. On Wednesday, March 12th, the justices will visit Clarinda High School, Shenandoah High School, Red Oak High School, Atlantic High School, and Southwest Valley High School in Corning.

In addition to the school visits, the supreme court will hold a special session in Clarinda on Tuesday evening March 11th. During the special session, the court will hear oral arguments in two cases in the Clarinda High School auditorium, 100 North Cardinal Drive. The session begins at 7-p.m. As always, oral arguments are open to the public. A public reception with the justices, sponsored by the Clarinda Chamber of Commerce, will follow the oral arguments in the high school commons.

The Iowa Supreme Court will hear lawyers argue in two cases:

State of Iowa v. Dustin Dean Short

On further review, the Iowa Supreme Court must determine whether law enforcement’s warrantless, but limited-in-scope search of the residence of defendant, who was on probation at the time and had executed a probation agreement, was valid under Iowa’s constitutional search and seizure provision. In State v. Ochoa (2010), the supreme court concluded that a warrantless, suspicionless search of a parolee in his motel room by a general law enforcement officer violated article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution.

In the Matter of the Guardianship and Conservatorship of Kennedy

The Iowa Code provides that a guardian must receive court approval to arrange for a ward’s nonemergency medical procedure. In this case, the Guardian Ad Litem of the developmentally delayed adult ward asks the Iowa Supreme Court to determine whether a vasectomy is a major elective surgery requiring the ward’s guardian to first obtain court approval before the procedure.

Here is the schedule to the high school visits on March 12th:

Chief Justice Mark Cady will visit Shenandoah High School at 8:30 a.m.

Justice David Wiggins will visit Red Oak High School at 9:30 a.m.

Justice Thomas Waterman will visit Southwest Valley High School at 10:00 a.m.

Justice Bruce Zager will visit Clarinda High School at 10:30 a.m.

Justice Daryl Hecht will visit Atlantic High School at 12:40 p.m.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is backing state Sen. Joni Ernst in the crowded GOP primary for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat. In a Wednesday press release from Ernst, Romney calls the lawmaker from Red Oak “a proven conservative with a great record.”

Ernst is among six Republicans running in the June 3 primary. The others include radio host Sam Clovis, businessman Mark Jacobs, former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker and lesser-known candidates Paul Lunde and Scott Schaben. They are vying to run against U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley of Waterloo, the only Democrat running for the seat now held by Democrat Tom Harkin, who is not seeking a sixth term in November.

Romney campaigned aggressively for Iowa in the 2012 election but lost the state to President Barack Obama.