(Radio Iowa) – A large sinkhole south of Knoxville is growing. The sinkhole is in an area where coal was mined decades ago. Marion County officials closed a gravel road on Friday after being alerted to the hole, which was 30 feet in diameter and about 20 feet deep. County officials say the hole has grown wider, up to 40 feet in diameter.

Representatives from various county and state agencies met Wednesday to come up with a plan to determine what has caused the collapse and how to mitigate the damage.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – A burning ban has been lifted for Adair County and Guthrie County starting Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. The ban that prohibited open burning in Adair County and Guthrie County, including all the cities within the counties has now been removed. Emergency Management Deputy Coordinator Jeremy Cooper says the previously dry conditions throughout the region that caused an increase in fire responses throughout Adair and Guthrie County has been eased with the exceptional amount of rain we have received this week. As we look ahead, it appears to be off and on-again rain chances in the coming week or so, therefore it was the decision of the local Fire Chief’s to have this Burn Ban removed.

“Adair and Guthrie County Fire Departments have seen the effects of fires during control burns that suddenly become uncontrolled” according to Cooper. He says “The tragic accident in Northern Guthrie County is a prime example of these kinds of situations that our Local Fire Chief’s were trying to avoid by issuing a Burn Ban.” Authorities said Alex Krueger, of Bagley, remains in serious condition at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Burn Unit. He was seriously injured when burning field debris spread to his cultivator. He managed to escape, but not before suffering extensive burns.

Jeremy Cooper said “I urge everyone to take the time and thank their local Fire Department for the dedication to the communities they serve. Issuing a Burn Ban is not taken lightly and is a hard decision for our Departments to make as they understand everyone has work to get done.”

When you plan to do a controlled burn, it is best practice to contact your local Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Office and inform them of your controlled burn prior to ever lighting the fire. Have location, date, and time information of your controlled burn to provide to them so they can prevent potential false alarms for our local Volunteers.

For more information on burn bans and the law or to check the current status of burn bans statewide on the State Fire Marshal’s statewide burn ban website: https://dps.iowa.gov/divisions/state-fire-marshal/burn-bans.

(Mills County, Iowa) – A man from Pacific Junction was injured Thursday morning in Mills County, when the vehicle he was driving collided with a semi on 202nd Street. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2004 Ford driven by 46-year-old Corey Manley was traveling east after completing a gradual turn in the 55000 block of 202nd Street. A 2016 Freightliner semi driven by 50-year-old Arthur Sales, of Council Bluffs, was westbound, when, according to a witness, the car came around the corner “out of control.” The witness, who a was traveling westbound about a car’s length in front of the semi, said he had to pull off to the side of the road to avoid a collision. When he looked in the rear-view mirror, he just saw “A cloud of dust” after the Ford hit the semi.

Sales saw the car coming, but was unable to avoid the collision. The semi pushed into a ditch during the ensuing collision. Corey Manley was transported to Methodist Hospital by Glenwood Rescue.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests from over the past week. Wednesday evening, 57-year-old Timothy Scott Tompkins, of Omaha, was arrested on I-29, following a traffic stop. Tompkins was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bond was set at $2,300.

Tuesday evening, Mills County Deputies arrested 55-year-old Jolene Kay Christensen, of Omaha, following a traffic stop on I-29. She was also arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bond was set at $2,300.

There were two separate arrests Monday, in Mills County. At around 12:14-a.m., 25-year-old David Ben Jorgensen, of Omaha, was arrested on Highway 34 at Kidd Road, for Theft in the 1st Degree. Bond set at $10,000. And, at around 9:40-a.m., Monday, Mills County Deputies arrested 53-year-old Melissa Renee Pedersen, of Carroll, on a warrant for Driving While Barred. She was taken into custody at the Greene County Jail. Bond was set at $2,000.

And, last Sunday, 22-year-old Orland Estrada, of Omaha, was arrested for Simple Assault. Bond set at $300.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percent in March. Last month’s two-point-eight percent unemployment rate is half a percent lower than it was a year ago. The percentage of working age Iowans who have a job or are actively looking for one increased to 68-point-two percent. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says it’s a sign people who quit a job or retired during the pandemic are returning to the labor market. “Even though it’s a positive sign the unemployment rate is dropping we really are focused on getting more Iowans back in the workforce,” Townsend says. “We were at about 69.5% before the pandemic and so we want to get back that number or even higher.”

The retirement rate was higher than projected during the pandemic and Townsend says there are a combination of factors prompting those people to return to the workforce. “Whether it’s due to inflation impacting their retirement savings and if they’re on a fixed income, it’s not going as far as they planned…and older workers who may have retired earlier than they had planned wanting to come and because we have so many open jobs they can be more selective,” Townsend says. “Obviously the higher wage has gone up significantly across all industries, so there’s greater opportunity to earn more money in today’s job market.”

Government records indicate 27-hundred workers started new jobs in March. Nursing and residential care facilities were responsible for most of the thousand or so jobs added in the health care sector.  “Nursing has always been the highest demand occupation,” Townsend says. Over the past three months, Iowa’s manufacturing sector has bounced back from what Townsend describes as a weak fourth quarter. “We’re doing well in manufacturing. We’ve added 700 jobs in March. We’ve added almost 2000 jobs in the last three months in manufacturing. We’re up 3900 jobs in manufacturing since last March. We’re up 3800 jobs in construction since last March,” Townsend says. “Manufacturing and construction are trending in the right direction in Iowa.”

There were about a thousand job losses in Iowa’s transportation, warehousing and utility industries. Townsend says that may be due to supply chain issues. The leisure and hospitality industries in Iowa have added more than 51-hundred jobs since last March as the sector continues to bounce back from pandemic closures.

(Adel, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Dallas County report a man died during a single-vehicle accident today (Thursday), south of Dawson. Dallas County Deputies and Dallas County EMS were dispatched at around 12:40-a.m. scene in the 12000 block of 160th Street. When Deputies arrived, they located a truck, on it’s top, in the north ditch of 160th Street.

Deputies located a single occupant inside of the vehicle who was deceased. The occupant was identified as Kurtis Gustaveson, 29 years old, of Perry, Iowa.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation. The Perry Police Department and the Perry Fire Department assisted in this investigation.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports a man was arrested at his home Wednesday afternoon. 40-year-old Mark Anthony Weems, Jr., of Creston, was taken into custody on two Union County warrants charging him with 2-counts of Theft in the 1st Degree, Theft in the 3rd Degree and Theft in the 4th Degree. The second warrant was 2-counts of Theft in the 5th Degree. Additional details were not provided.

Weems, Jr., was being held in the Union County Jail on $23,600 bond.