Montgomery County Emergency Management Director Brian Hamman reports this morning that the Midwest Regional Dive Team was enroute to the Lewis and Clark State Park in Monona County near Onawa, to assist authorities with a dive recovery effort at Blue Lake.

According to KETV in Omaha, a call for help came just after noon Wednesday. Officials said a man from Onawa was swimming with others when he went under water and never resurfaced. Search teams are also using cadaver dogs and a helicopter to assist in the search.

A woman from eastern Iowa was hospitalized following a rollover accident this morning on Interstate 80, in Cass County. Cass County Chief Deputy Sheriff John Westering says the woman, 66-year old Susan Herman, from Cedar Rapids, was ejected from the 2001 Ford Explorer she driving as it rolled. She was conscious and breathing when rescue crews and law enforcement arrived on the scene. Herman was taken to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic by Medivac Ambulance, before being transferred to a hospital in Omaha for additional treatment.

Westering says the call about the crash on I-80 westbound near the 54-mile marker came in at around 6:40-a.m. The woman told authorities she was driving the SUV – registered to her son in Colorado – enroute to Colorado, when the vehicle hit a cable guardrail as it was changing lanes. The SUV spun into the north ditch, where it rolled several times, causing Herman to be ejected.

She was found lying in the north ditch. Westering said Herman was not wearing a seat belt, but in this case, her being ejected may have resulted in less serious injuries, as the roof of the Explorer was crushed during the rollover, and likely would have resulted in more serious trauma, or even death. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $6,000.

Photo courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County Emergency Mgmt.

Vice President Joe Biden’s scheduled appearance at Senator Tom Harkin’s “Steak Fry” this weekend (Sunday) is spurring talk about Biden’s 2016 intentions. Biden’s maintained a core group of supporters in the state for decades. He came to Iowa in 1987 to run for president, then again in 2007. Over the years he’s kept in touch with a broad network of Iowa contacts. Connie Gronstal of Council Bluffs — the wife of Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal — says Biden reached out to the Gronstal’s daughter when Kate Gronstal’s 33-year-old husband died unexpectedly in 2012.

“He called her like the next day and said he was so sorry that her husband died and that he had gone through that and that he would really like to have a private conversation with her, face-to-face, and see what he could do to help her because someone did that for him when his wife died,” Connie Gronstal says, “and he felt he should help other people that have that same situation.”

Connie Gronstal uses the word “genuine” to describe Biden. “You know I’ve been around a lot of politicians,” the wife of the state’s most powerful Democratic legislator says, laughing, “and people are supportive and nice and remember names and details, but they aren’t quite as caring about you as he is.” If Hillary Clinton runs in 2016, some party activists believe others — including Biden — would not, but Representative Jim Lykam of Davenport, who was the first legislator to endorse Biden in 2007, says Biden’s appearance at Sunday’s Steak Fry will “fuel the fire” of speculation.

The Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola has become something of a rite of passage for Democrats contemplating a run for the White House. Barack Obama was the event’s keynote speaker in 2006. Then-Vice President Al Gore was the event’s main draw in 1995 and again in 1999. Biden will be making his first solo appearance at the 2013 Harkin Steak Fry. Biden spoke, along with five other presidential candidates, at the 2007 event which attracted a crowd of 15-thousand. At the 2003 Harkin Steak Fry, about 12-thousand people turned out to see former President Bill Clinton speak after the field of 2004 presidential candidates addressed the crowd.

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police report the arrest Wednesday evening of 20-year-old Jesse Patrick Beaman, of Red Oak. Beaman was taken into custody in the 100 block of West Reed Street on a charge of 3rd degree criminal mischief.  He was brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and held on $2,000 cash bond.