LONG GROVE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified two people killed in an eastern Iowa crash that also injured three others earlier this week. The crash happened Tuesday morning north of Davenport on Highway 61 near Long Grove, killing 47-year-old Gary Warren and 45-yearold David Muller, both of Maquoketa. Investigators say Warren was driving and Muller was a passenger in a car that was hit when an oncoming van crossed the median. Another passenger in the car, a 19-year-old man, remains hospitalized in Iowa City in critical condition.

Police say the 18-year-old driver of the van was taken to a Davenport hospital with serious injuries and faces charges. The van also hit a pickup truck, and the truck’s 59-year-old driver suffered minor injuries.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Police have made an arrest in the shooting death last year of a Waterloo man. The Courier reports that police arrested 28-year-old Stephen Devon Phillips on suspicion of first-degree murder in the May 15 death of 30-year-old Terrell Bernard Flowers. Investigators have said the shooting followed an argument between the two men earlier in the day during a gathering at a Waterloo home.

Police say Phillips was told to leave the house and that he told people on his way out that he would return and “shoot up the place.” Police say Phillips later returned to the house and again argued with Flowers before pulling a gun and firing.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — This year is shaping up to be drier than normal throughout the Missouri River basin, and the risk of flooding is generally below normal throughout the region because conditions remain dry and snowpack levels are below average. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday officials expect only about 84% of the normal amount of water will flow down the Missouri River this year. The Corps said it has increased the amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border slightly, but the river remains at a low level heading into spring.

Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau said Thursday, 32-year old Stephanie Lynn Rink, of Remsen, has been charged with one Class-D Felony count of Insurance Fraud – Presenting False Information, following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau.

Photo courtesy of the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office.

The charge against Rink stems from an investigation which began in March of 2020. According to a criminal complaint filed by the Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau, Rink was involved in a motor vehicle collision in June of 2019. Rink was later involved in a second collision in August of 2019. After the August 2019 collision, Rink provided false information to her insurance company indicating damage from the June 2019 collision had been repaired, when it had not, in order to obtain additional insurance benefits to which she would not have otherwise been entitled.

On February 25, 2021, Rink was arrested and booked into the Plymouth County Jail and later released after posting a $5,000 bond. Trial will be set for a future date. No additional details will be provided at this time.

(Radio Iowa) – Two California men are behind bars in Marshall County after a high speed pursuit in a stolen vehicle and the discover of two pounds of meth. Late Wednesday afternoon, a Marshall County Deputy located the stolen vehicle from California on Highway 330. A pursuit reached speeds of 100 miles per hour onto a county road and into Story County, where the driver lost control and the car ended up in a ditch. That wasn’t the end of it, according to Marshall County Sheriff Steve Hoffman.

Uriel Ruelas, the driver, and passenger Rueben Magallenes face multiple drug charges as well as theft and other traffic citations. Ruelas is wanted on felony warrants in the state of Nevada.So how did the men end up on Highway 330 in Marshall County?

Authorities in Story County, the Iowa State Patrol and the Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force are also assisting in the investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Legislative Black Caucus is calling on Republican Governor Kim Reynolds to intervene on so-called “back the blue” legislation. In January, Reynolds proposed a package that included enhanced penalties for those who riot and who harass and attack police as well as provisions to address racial profiling by police. Representative Ras (like “Ross”) Smith, a Democrat from Waterloo, says the Republican majority in the legislature is leaving a key part out.

Smith says after the police reform package that passed unanimously last June, the G-O-P controlled legislature appears to be taking Iowa backwards.

Smith cites bills to prohibit the teaching of a New York Times project on slavery in Iowa public schools and to get rid of voluntary diversity plans in five Iowa school districts.

Four other black members of the Iowa House joined Smith for an online news conference this (Thursday) morning. All five are Democrats. A spokesman for the governor has not responded to a request for comment.

(corrected positive case count) The Iowa Department of Public Heath at 10-a.m., Thursday, reported an additional 615 positive COVID-19 test results returned from the lab, for a pandemic total of 365,491. There were also 35 additional deaths reported, for a total of 5,536. In our area, Adair County had one more death, for a pandemic total of 29. Pottawattamie County had three more deaths, for a total of 146. Long Term Care facility deaths account for 2,181 of the State’s total number of deaths.

The number of Long-Term Care facility COVID-19 Outbreaks remain at a dozen. Hospitalization data show 184 Iowans are hospitalized with COVID, compared to 191 in the previous report. COVID patients in an ICU amount to 39. There were 30 patients admitted to hospitals over the 24-hour reporting period (compared to 28 previously), and 11 patients remain on a ventilator.

Hospitals in Western & Southwest Iowa report: 13 people are hospitalized for COVID; six COVID patients are in an ICU, three patients with COVID symptoms were admitted over the past 24-hours, and one person remained on a ventilator.

Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate is 4.1%, while the seven-day rate is 4.0%.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} – if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:

• Cass, 1,356 cases; {+1}; 51 deaths
• Adair, 921; {+0}; 29
• Adams, 325 {+0}; 4
• Audubon, 490 {+2}; 9
• Guthrie, 1,167 {+1}; 28
• Harrison County, 1,796; {+3}; 69
• Madison County, 1,552; {+4}; 18
• Mills County, 1,632; {+2}; 20
• Montgomery, 1,043; {+0}; 36
• Pottawattamie County, 10,803; {+12}; 146
• Shelby County, 1,223; {+6}; 33
• Union County,  1,263; {+0}; 31

(Radio Iowa) – If you’re going to threaten someone, especially a high-ranking government official, don’t do it on their voicemail. A southwest Iowa man is charged with first-degree harassment after leaving a profanity-laced voicemail at the office of Governor Kim Reynolds. The Iowa State Patrol says 48-year-old Harvey Eugene Hunter of Stuart left the voicemail in January. In the recording, troopers say Hunter calls the governor a “treasonous dictator,” calls COVID-19 a scam, and says everyone involved, including Reynolds, should be “hung for treason” or “face a firing squad.” Hunter was arrested February 3rd and released on bond. In his court appearance this Wednesday, he entered a plea of not guilty.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – For the first time since they started tracking the data, the Better Business Bureau says more young people are getting scammed than older Americans. The bureau’s Bao Vang says consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 suffered the highest median losses — about 150-dollars — to scams last year. Before 2020, Vang says older age groups consistently lost more money to con artists.  “More than 46,000 reports were submitted into Scam Tracker in 2020,” Vang says. “That’s a 25% increase from the previous year.”

Scams related to pets and also to P-P-E spiked during the pandemic, although she says they weren’t the worst categories.  “The number-one riskiest scams for consumers was online purchase scams,” Vang says. “Perhaps that’s no surprise to some, that’s because the COVID crisis shut down many stores, people were home and spending more time online.”

Online purchase scams made up just over 38-percent of all scam reports.