(Radio Iowa) – Iowans impacted by the tornadoes, storms and flooding that led to three federal disaster declarations have gotten millions of dollars in FEMA funding. FEMA Spokesman John Mills says they’ve helped some six-thousand people already.

Mills says there have been other payouts as well.

Mills says they encourage anyone who hasn’t visited a FEMA disaster center to stop by.

The time to get help from those centers for the earliest disasters is winding down this week.

This applies to residents of Adair, Adams, Cedar, Clarke, Harrison, Jasper, Mills, Montgomery, Polk, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Story and Union counties. Mills says it has been a rough year for Iowa.

Mills says his Midwest crews have been very busy.

You can call FEMA directly at 800-621-FEMA (3362) to see if you are eligible for disaster relief. You can also go online at DisasterAssistance.gov, or use the FEMA app.

(Radio Iowa) – About half the Iowa delegates at this week’s Democratic National Convention made the trip to Chicago aboard Amtrak. Gregory Christensen, vice chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, is temporarily being called “the conductor” by his colleagues because it was his idea.

Since they bought the tickets together and got a group rate, the cost of one ticket is about what it costs to park a vehicle in Chicago for a single day.

The infrastructure bill Biden signed into law in 2021 is providing millions to upgrade Amtrak, which Biden used to commute between D.C. and Delaware when he was a U-S Senator. Christensen also notes the Iowa Democrats rode the California Zephyr and the line starts at San Francisco Bay.

A couple of Iowa Democrats in western Iowa boarded the California Zephyr in Omaha. Others got aboard at stations in Osceola, Ottumwa and Mount Pleasant. Christensen says they had some strategy sessions and phone time during the trip.

Christensen says he helped one Iowan re-register to vote. The person had been purged from the rolls because they hadn’t voted in recent elections. The Democratic National Convention is being staged at the United Center in Chicago, the same venue used when Bill Clinton and Al Gore were renominated in 1996.

(Afton, Iowa) – A boat loaded onto a trailer that was parked in a ditch, somehow managed to roll down the ditch and into a pickup truck Saturday night, in Afton. According to the Union County Sheriff’s Office, the owner of the boat/trailer had chocked the tires of the trailer, which struck the driver’s side of his parked, 2016 Chevy pickup truck located in the man’s driveway.

The boat’s propeller went into the side of the pickup. The mishap resulted in a police-estimated $3,000 damage to the pickup, and $300 damage to the lower portion of the boat, owned by Derrick Ellsworth, of Afton. No one was injured in the accident, that happened at around 11:30-p.m., Saturday.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s undeterred by criticism of her proposed alternative to providing food next summer to low income households with children who qualify for a free or reduced price lunch during the school year. The U-S-D-A will provide 120 dollars in electronic benefits for each child in the summer. Reynolds rejected the 29 million dollars in benefits for Iowa families for THIS summer AND next — and is proposing the state provide food boxes to families next summer.

Last week, a U-S-D-A spokesperson said the governor is asserting the State knows better than its own families do about what their needs are. Reynolds says the state’s Summer Food Service Program — which she would expand — has been providing meals and snacks to children in low-income areas of the state. And Reynolds stresses that having the state rather than families buy the food is key.

Iowa was one of 13 states which did not accept the additional food benefits this summer.

(Statewide News) – Authorities in Iowa say (as of late Sunday afternoon), five people died in separate crashes over the past three days. Sunday morning, a man from Minnesota died in a single-vehicle rollover accident in northern Iowa’s Winnebago County. The Iowa State Patrol says 63-year-old Mark Claassen, from Albert Lea, MN, died, when his pickup left the road and rolled several times, after he failed to negotiate a curve on 200th Avenue near 485th Street near Lake Mills. Claassen, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected and died at the scene.

(also reported in a separate posting on the kjan.com News page) – A collision on a curve early this (Sunday) morning in Webster County, claimed the life of a woman from Rockwell City. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident happened at around 3:15-a.m. near Moorland, on D-20, on the curve near Hayes Avenue. A 2010 GMC Acadia SUV driven by 30-year-old Sasha Brown, of Rockwell City, was traveling west on D-20, when the vehicle crossed the center-line of the road and collided with an eastbound semi driven by 47-year-old Wyatt Lundberg, of Fort Dodge. Brown died at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt. Lundberg was checked-out by medics and released. The Patrol was assisted by the Webster County Sheriff’s Office and Moorland Fire Department.

Saturday night, a collision in northwest Iowa’s Plymouth County resulted in two deaths and two people injured. The State Patrol says a pickup truck driven by 43-year-old Julio Cesar Pena, of LeMars, was traveling east on Plymouth County Road C-12 at around 10:30-p.m., when Pena failed to stop at the intersection with Highway K-22. His vehicle was struck by an ambulance  driven by 21-year-old Courtney Nicole Johnson, of Sioux City (IA). The private ambulance was southbound on K-22 and transporting a patient in a non-emergency status (no lights/siren), when the collision occurred.

Pena and the ambulance patient, 94-year-old Ernest John Petty, of Elk Point, SD, died at the scene. Courtney Johnson suffered minor injuries. A passenger/medic in the ambulance – 54-year-old Lisa Marie Wise, of Sioux City (IA) – suffered serious injuries. The injured were transported to the hospital in Hawarden. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, Ireton, Lemars and Hawarden Ambulance services assisted at the scene.

And, a 23-year-old man from Altoona died he was critically injured in a Friday night motorcycle crash in Des Moines. According to the Des Moines Police Department, 23-year-old Trever Ray Vinzant was riding a 2008 Kawasaki motorcycle eastbound on East Euclid Avenue around 11:40 p.m. Friday. A 2019 Lexus SUV driven by a 44-year-old Des Moines man was heading westbound on East Euclid when it turned left onto Wright Street, directly in the path of Vinzant’s motorcycle. Both vehicles crashed in the intersection.

Medics began lifesaving efforts on Vinzant and transported him to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries on Saturday. According to DMPD, this is the 12th crash fatality of 2024 in the city, the sixth involving a motorcycle. The investigation into the crash remains active.

(Moorland, Iowa) – A collision on a curve early this (Sunday) morning in northern Iowa, claimed the life of a woman from Rockwell City. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident happened at around 3:15-a.m. near Moorland, on D-20 in Webster County, on the curve near Hayes Avenue.

The Patrol says a 2010 GMC Acadia SUV driven by 30-year-old Sasha Brown, of Rockwell City, was traveling west on D-20, when the vehicle crossed the centerline of the road and collided with an eastbound semi driven by 47-year-old Wyatt Lundberg, of Fort Dodge.

Brown died at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt. Lundberg was checked-out by medics and released. The Patrol was assisted by the Webster County Sheriff’s Office and Moorland Fire Department.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report two people were arrested early this (Sunday) morning. Officers arrested 21-year-old Adriana Rose Monreal, and 22-year-old Deven Anthony Hatfield, at a residence in the 2400 block of N. 8th Street, in Red Oak. They were taken into custody at around 2:40-a.m.  Monreal was arrested on an active Montgomery County warrant for Failure to Appear/Violation of a No Contact Order. Her bond at the Montgomery County Jail, was set at $1,000.

Hatfield was arrested for Assault on a Peace Officer w/out injury, Interference with Official Acts, Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree, and Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $2,000.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with AAA report (as of August 18th), the price of regular unleaded gasoline was down 5 cents per gallon over last week, averaging $3.22/gallon. That’s also down an average of 49-cents from a year ago. The national average for unleaded as of August 18th, was $3.41/gallon, down 4-cents from the week before.

Retail diesel prices in Iowa were three-cents lower, averaging $3.51/a gallon. One year ago, diesel was selling for $4.12/gallon in Iowa. The current Iowa diesel price is 23 cents lower than the national average of $3.74/gallon, according to the automobile club. By comparison, the national price of diesel last year on Aug. 18th, was $4.35/gallon.

(Clear Lake, Iowa) – The Iowa State Patrol reports a woman from Minnesota was injured during a collision Saturday night, in northern Iowa’s Cerro Gordo County. The crash happened at around 9:15-p.m. near Clear Lake, when a 2023 Tesla Model X, driven by 38-year-old Dina Loginova, of Seattle, WA, was rear-ended by a 2005 Ford Focus, that was driven by 27-year-old Kyle Haney, of St. Paul, MN.

Both vehicles were traveling south on Interstate 35 near mile marker 192, when Loginova slammed on her brakes to avoid striking wildlife on the road. Haney was injured when his vehicle hit the Tesla. He was transported by Clear Lake Fire/EMS to Mercy Hospital in Mason City.

(Stuart, Iowa) – Stuart Police Chief David Reha, Saturday evening, posted a report on social media, with regard to an ongoing investigation that has resulted in multiple arrests, the recovery of incendiary devices, drugs and a “hit list” with the names of several law enforcement officials. A Stuart man, 52-year-old Bobby Glen Agan, was arrested and booked into the Adair County Jail. He faces several felony and misdemeanor charges including Stalking (Dangerous Weapon), Possession of a Controlled Substance (x2, Second Offense), Possession of Prescription Medications, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of an Offensive Weapon, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm.

Chief Reha says officers with the Stuart Police Department successfully executed a search warrant in the 500 block of South Harrison Street Friday night, August 16th, and continuing into the early hours of Saturday, August 17th. Their action was the culmination of a month-long investigation by Stuart Police, aimed at addressing a series of incidents involving projectiles directed at a local residence.