DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad won’t commute the sentence of a woman convicted of setting fire to her family’s home in Griswold in 2005. Branstad on Friday denied applications for commutation from Tracey Dyess, and three other inmates. Dyess is serving a 45-year prison sentence for arson, attempted murder and voluntary manslaughter. She was 17 when she set the fire, telling investigators she wanted to kill her stepfather, Brian Street, because of sexual abuse. The fire killed her sister and nephew. Street was later convicted. The Iowa parole board denied her request for early release in July.

Branstad also rejected commutation applications from convicted murderers David Foell in Franklin County and Yvette Louisell in Story County and LeAnn Werts, who was convicted in Polk County of attempted murder and child endangerment.

The Iowa State Patrol says a Michigan woman died Thursday, after her car collided with a pickup truck on Interstate 29 in Pottawattamie County, west of Honey Creek. 80-year old Beatrice Delpy, of Fraser, MI, was traveling southbound on I-29 at around 2:40-p.m., when for reasons unknown, she stopped on the traveled portion of the road. After her 1991 Cadillac Seville was rear-ended by a 2005 Ford F-650 truck, both vehicles came to rest in the west ditch.

Delpy was transported to Creighton University Hospital in Omaha, where she died from her injuries. A passenger in the car, 87-year old Bernard Delpy, of Fraser, MI, was injured and taken to the same hospital. The Patrol says the couple had been wearing their seatbelts. The driver of the pickup, 48-year old Frank Bernard, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was not injured.

The accident remains under investigation.

The Iowa Department of Transportation said today (Friday) plans are in-place to reopen Interstate 29 at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 8th, from the Missouri state line to U.S. 34 (exit 32) near Pacific Junction. Interstate 29 in southwest Iowa has been closed since June 15th due to flooding from the Missouri River. Heavy traffic and congestion is expected on I-29 around the reopening time. To help minimize this congestion and allow for safe restarting of traffic flow, the Iowa DOT asks that vehicles not park on the interstate while waiting for the road to reopen. Please give yourself some extra time before starting out on your trip through the area after the barricades are removed.

Temporary lane crossovers will be in place at mileposts 0.8 northbound and 3.2 southbound, near Hamburg. Two-way traffic conditions will be present between the crossovers and diverted into the southbound lanes. The crossovers are necessary until repairs can be completed to the embankment of the northbound bridge, which was damaged during the flooding.   Exit 1, Iowa 333 to Hamburg; and exit 10, Iowa 2 to Nebraska City, will remain closed after I-29 reopens. Iowa 333 has sustained flood damage; and now that the water has receded, the Iowa DOT will be able to perform a more thorough assessment of the roadway. Iowa 2 sustained substantial damage due to the flooding and must be repaired. The goal is to restore traffic on these roadways as quickly as possible. U.S. 34 under I-29 to Pacific Junction, which has been closed for bridge construction, has also reopened to traffic. 

If you encounter a road closed sign, fence, gate or other traffic control device, turn around. Do not move the barricades or enter a closed roadway. Not only is it illegal, these roads are unsafe for travel.  For the latest updates on the Iowa DOT’s “fast-track” flood recovery efforts, photos of damaged roads and recovery work, and information about roads still closed due to flooding or flood damage, visit: http://www.iowadot.gov/floods/index.html

Jeffrey Scott Martin

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says a 6 month long ongoing investigation between the Page County Sheriff’s Office and the Clarinda Police Department resulted in the arrested Thursday of one person on drug charges. 48-year old Jeffrey Scott Martin, of Clarinda, faces charges which include  3 counts of Delivery Marijuana, 1 count of Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Deliver, Failure to Affix Tax Stamp & Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

His arrested followed the execution of a search warrant Thursday at a residence on East Washington Street in Clarinda. As a result of the search, numerous items of property were seized including marijuana and drug paraphernalia.  The Page County Sheriff’s Office & the Clarinda Police Department were assisted by the Shenandoah Police Department K-9 unit in the execution of the search warrant.

Martin remains in custody at the Page County Jail on a $5,000.00 bond. The investigation continues and additional charges are pending.

A Council Bluffs woman was arrested this (Friday) morning on felony Neglect of a Dependent Person and Child Endangerment Charges. The charges against 37-year old Teresa Chapin stem from an incident which took place on August 17^th which resulted in the death of a 5-month old child.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says Chapin was the operator of Teresa’s Tiny Tots Day Care center at 133 Rosebud Lane in Council Bluffs. During the afternoon of August 17^th, deputies and emergency personnel were called to the home for a child that was not breathing. The infant, Lane Thomas, was brought to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs, where he was pronounced dead a little over an hour later.

An investigation revealed the boy was put in an adult bed for a nap, at around 2:30-p.m., after he had been fed his formula. Chapin’s daughter checked on the child less than an hour later, but did not verify that he was breathing. When the daughter went to wake the boy from his nap at 4-p.m, he was laying face down, cold to the touch, and unresponsive. Teresa Chapin then initiated CPR and called 9-1-1.

An autopsy at the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny was unable to determine the cause of death, which was deemed a Sudden, Unexplained Infant Death. Evidence at the home of Teresa Chapin indicated she displayed a level of negligence that contributed to the death of the child. Officials say she is a licensed day care provider in the State of Iowa, and has experience and education about child development needs. They say she should have been aware of the hazards of excessive bedding for an infant Lane Thomas’ age.

No injuries were reported after a van came into contact with two, low hanging power lines Thursday afternoon, in Adams County. Sheriff’s officials say 40-year old Thomas A. McCarthy, of Omaha, was traveling south on Birch Street in Corning, when the 2010 Chevy E-15 van he was driving struck the power lines, which were hanging across the road due to a fallen tree.

Minor damage was reported to the van as a result of the accident, which happened at around 3:25-p.m., Thursday.

Iowa Department of Transportation officials said on Tuesday that the formerly-flooded Interstate-29 would reopen “later this week.” It’s now Friday and the agency has not yet released a timetable for the reopening. DOT engineer Bob Younie says they will open I-29 in southwest Iowa “soon,” even if only two lanes are driveable. “We will accept less than the four lanes that are there right now just to get folks moving and we’re willing to do that other work under traffic,” Younie says.

That 34-mile stretch of Interstate is the last remaining segment to reopen after a summer-long shutdown due to the record flooding of the Missouri River. Younie says I-29 may be reopening, but other segments of road linking Iowa and Nebraska will remain closed. “Iowa (Highway) 2, right underneath I-29, was pretty significantly damaged on the north side, the pavement was undermined,” he says. “We also have a section of roadway west of I-29, closer to the river, that had some damage also and it’s going to have to be reconstructed.”

Younie says he’s hoping to see Highway 2 repaired and open before Thanksgiving, linking up Iowa cities in the area like Hamburg and Sidney to Nebraska City, Nebraska.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad’s office has announced his Special Assistant for Education, Linda Fandel, and Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass, will hold two town hall meetings this month on the governor and lieutenant governor’s blueprint for education transformation, “Unshakable Vision.” Additional town hall meetings are planned as well, with the dates and locations to be announced later.

The first meeting takes place in Council Bluufs, in the Woodrow Wilson Middle School Auditorium, beginning 3:30-p.m., on Saturday, October 21st.  The second meeting will be in Iowa City, on October 16th. Both events are open to the public. For more information, visit www.governor.iowa.gov.