A single-vehicle rollover accident Friday afternoon in Page County resulted in the death of a man from Coin. The Iowa State Patrol says 24-year old Bryan Scott Hull died from injuries he suffered in the crash, located about two-miles east of College Springs. Hull was driving a 1999 Chevy Blazer that went out of control as the vehicle was traveling west on 290th Street, at around 4-p.m.   The SUV left the road, hit a utility pole and rolled once before coming to rest. Officials say Hull was not wearing a seat belt, and at died at the scene.

The American Red Cross was assisting a rural Villisca family in finding a place to stay following a residential structure fire Friday morning.

House fire near Villisca (Brian Hamman/MCEMA photo)

According to Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman, his office assisted Villisca Fire and EMS at 104 N. 5th Street, after fire crews were paged shortly after 9:35-a.m.  Hamman says once the initial units arrived on scene, they found a 2 story dwelling with heavy fire throughout the structure.

Mutual aid was requested from Stanton Fire for additional manpower. The American Red Cross was called to provide support for the home owners and additional rehabilitation for the firefighters. Hamman said he appreciates all agencies that helped at the fire scene Friday morning, and thanks Villisca Foods for providing food for the firefighters.

MC-EMA photo/Brian Hamman

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were arrested this past week and one accident was investigated. Thursday night, 45-year old Laurie Ann Stephens, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held in the Mills County Jail Friday without bond. And, on Wednesday, 26-year old Curtis Lin Harrod, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for revocation of his pre-trial release. Harrod’s bond was set at $10,000.

That same day, authorities in Mills County investigated an accident that happened at around 11:30-a.m., about 7-miles north of Glenwood. Officials say a 2006 Chrysler driven by Theresa Wissing, of Glenwood, was traveling south on 221st Street when a northbound 1996 Lincoln driven by Jeramy Elrod, of Mineola, crossed the center line of the road. After the cars collided, the Chrysler spun around and came to rest in the west ditch. The Lincoln went off the road to the left, went up an embankment and hit a stop sign and roadway sign, before coming to rest in the west ditch. No serious injuries were reported.

Authorities in Page County say an investigation into the assault on Tuesday night of a juvenile, has resulted in an arrest. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says deputies met with the alleged victim and her mother at around 9-p.m. Tuesday at the Shenandoah Memorial Hospital, where the victim was being treated for an unrelated medical issue.  On Thursday, 59-year old Terry Lee Hale, of rural Imogene,  arrested on a charge of Assault, in connection with the investigation.  Hale was later released from custody, pending an appearance before a magistrate.

A bill awaiting committee action in the Iowa House would set up a centralized school bus purchasing system for Iowa school districts. Representative Curtis Hanson, a Democrat from Fairfield, is the bill’s sponsor. “This vision is for schools of Iowa to help taxpayers and help schools reduce the cost of their buses. Schools in the past have been purchasing buses one or two or three at a time,” Hanson says. “If we can consolidate that bidding process and bid on 300 or 400 — or maybe 500 or 600 at a time, then we can get a substantial cost reduction.”

Hanson says he got the idea from other states, such as Minnesota, where it has been very successful, and saves both the taxpayers and schools money. The average cost for a standard yellow school bus is 70-thousand dollars. Hanson estimates buying buses in bulk would save at least 500-dollars per bus. Multiply that by 400 buses and that’s 200-thousand dollars. Buses must meet minimum safety standards, but districts do have many options to sort through when buying a bus. Hanson’s bill calls for the centralized purchasing of school buses to be handled by staff in the Iowa Department of Education as well as staff in the Iowa Department of Administrative Services who handle other state purchasing contracts.

“There’s about 300-400 buses in the state of Iowa purchases each year,” Hanson says. “They have a normal recycling plan that every so many thousand miles or every so many years they will renew their bus fleet and so that’s a planned purchase that they need to keep up on and this will help administratively, too, because the changes in requirements and so forth will be centrally located.”

School districts would not be required to join the bus purchasing coop if Hanson’s bill becomes law. The decision to turn over school bus purchasing to state administrators would be voluntary. Hanson’s bill cleared a subcommittee this week and awaits action in the full House Education Committee.

(Radio Iowa)