(Radio Iowa) – Authorities are investigating a home explosion that injured two people in northwest Iowa. The explosion was reported just after 9 a.m. Monday at an address 2 miles northeast of Ottosen, in southwestern Kossuth County. Upon arrival, emergency workers confirmed two people were inside the home at the time and began a search.

44-year-old Catherine Fleischhacker was located under debris on the west side of the home and freed by Fire and EMS personnel. She was transported to Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona before being life-flighted to MercyOne Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City with undetermined injuries. 21-year-old Brett Lanning was able to crawl out of the debris on his own. He was taken to the Humboldt County Hospital for examination there.

The state fire Marshall’s office has been called in to determine what may have caused the explosion.

(Radio Iowa) – Libertarian candidates for three Iowa congressional seats who’ve been removed from the ballot vow to run write-in campaigns if the state’s highest court rules against them. In late August, a state panel ruled the Libertarian Party did not follow state law when it held county conventions on January 15th, the same day as the party’s caucuses. The Iowa Supreme Court’s justices heard legal arguments in the case this (Tuesday) morning.

Marco Battaglia of Des Moines is the candidate Libertarians nominated to run in Iowa’s third congressional district. Battaglia told reporters he took the time to make sure he did things the right way and the Republican Party’s challenge of his candidacy is unfair. “If they use lawfare to take me off the ballot, I will stay in until the end of the race regardless,” Battaglia says. “I plan to do that no matter what happened today or yesterday or tomorrow.” Charles Aldrich of Clarion, the Libertarian candidate in the fourth congressional district, is striking a hopeful tone about today’s (Tuesday’s) legal arguments.

“The justices had a lot of questions for both sides,” Aldrich told reporters, “so they were paying attention.”Alan Ostergren  is the attorney who represented the Republicans who challenged the Libertarian congressional candidates. Ostergren told the justices the Libertarian Party failed to follow the procedural steps for its county conventions. “They’re like an insurance policy for the elections process. They’re so that elections officials, when they have to make decisions on a quick timetable, know that there is regularity in the process,” Ostergren said. “…If the court says: ‘Well, we’re not going to enforce that ’cause, gosh it seems harsh,’ then there is no logical stopping place.”

Jennifer DeKoch, a lawyer representing one of the Libertarians kicked off the fall ballot, told the justices a ruling against her client would lead to similar challenges of other candidates. “The fundamental question before this court is does the failure to wait 181 minutes after caucus to begin convention justify kicking Libertarian candidates off the ballot and violating Iowa voters’ constitutional rights to political opportunity?” she asked rhetorically.

The Iowa Supreme Court’s chief justice indicated the court will issue its decision before tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:59 p.m. That is the deadline Iowa’s secretary of state has established for certifying the ballots in the first, third and fourth congressional districts — and getting those ballots printed on time.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests:

23-year-old Chase Jonathan Ives, of Bellevue, NE, was arrested last Friday (Sept. 6th) on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. Ives was taken into custody at the Sarpy County, NE Jail. His bond was set at $5,000.

35-year-old Christopher Lee Petersen, of Glenwood, was arrested early Sunday morning, for OWI/1st offense, two counts Possession of Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $3,300.

And, 37-year-old Reynaldo Domingo Rivera, of Bellevue, NE, was arrested Monday at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Willful Injury. His bond was set at $10,000.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman was arrested on a warrant at around Noon today (Tuesday) in Red Oak. The Red Oak Police Department reports 32-year-old Maura Elizabeth Jones, of Red Oak, was taken into custody on a Montgomery County warrant for Impersonating a Public Official, an aggravated misdemeanor. Jones was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.