ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new study suggests cougars are again spreading across the Midwest a century after the generally reclusive predators were hunted to near extinction in much of the region. The findings by a University of Minnesota doctoral student, a Southern Illinois University wildlife ecologist and the Cougar Network are detailed in the latest Journal of Wildlife Management. The study showed 178 cougar confirmations in the Midwest and as far south of Texas between 1990 and 2008. Confirmed sightings of Midwest cougars were sporadic before 1990, when there were only a couple of big cats spotted. The study shows that number spiked to more than 30 by 2008. Sixty-seven confirmations were in Nebraska, 31 in North Dakota, 12 each in Oklahoma and Texas, 11 in South Dakota and 10 in Missouri. Other states had single-digit tallies.

Only minor injuries were reported following a rollover accident Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 80, in Adair County. The Iowa State Patrol says 61-year old Timothy Turk, of Adair, was driving a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire eastbound on the interstate, when he reportedly blacked-out for a moment. His car entered the median and crossed into the westbound lanes of travel before Turk over-corrected. The action caused his vehicle re-enter the median and cross both eastbound lanes of traffic before it rolled over and slid into the south ditch. The accident happened at around 3:55-p.m.

Businesses and individuals from Atlantic to Red Oak have banded together to offer a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the theft of a three-piece concrete garden bench that sat next to the grave of a woman who died in a rollover accident in August, 2011. Patty Amos suffered the loss of her 21-year old daughter Kayleen in the crash. She said the bench located at the Whipple Cemetery northwest of Griswold, was a gift to her family from a cousin. She says the family visits the cemetery frequently, and uses the bench when they visit Kayleen’s grave. Patty says her second daughter discovered the bench was missing when she went there to put roses on the grave, on the date of the Griswold Junior Prom on April 28th.

She says they’ve narrowed down the dates of the theft from April 23rd to the 28th. Patty says she has no idea why anyone would steal the nearly 100-pound three-piece garden bench, or how they would know it was there, because of the remote location. The bench has three separate concrete legs and a curved seat which sits on top of them. Patty says her brother-in-law put a protective coating on the bench to seal it from the elements. There’s also an inscription engraved into the bench. The verse was similar to an Eskimo proverb that says “The stars in the sky are like openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon to let us know they are happy.”

If you have any information which may lead to the return of the stolen bench, please call the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office at 712-328-2200. Patty says letters have been written to many areas news papers and other media have been contacted, but so far there’s been no luck in getting the graveside bench returned to the family, so they hope by spreading the word even further, someone will step forward with information that leads to its return.