Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — A snowy section of Interstate 80 was closed Thursday afternoon in central Iowa after a massive crash involving roughly 40 vehicles. Iowa authorities closed the eastbound lanes of the interstate west of Newton after the chain-reaction crash happened shortly before noon. The Iowa State Patrol said two troopers were in the middle of assisting with several multi-car crashes in the area when the larger pileup happened. Iowa Transportation Department spokeswoman Andrea Henry said several serious injuries have been reported in the crash but no deaths. Officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads across most of eastern Iowa because they were mostly covered with snow Thursday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa continues to have the third-worst coronavirus vaccination rate per capita in the nation as the state reached a milestone Thursday of more than 5,000 people killed by the virus. Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is working on improving vaccination efforts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Iowa has 6,315 people per 100,000 given the first vaccine dose. That is worse than all other states except Idaho and Missouri. Public health officials reported 58 additional deaths on Thursday, increasing the state total to 5,033 since the beginning of the pandemic nearly a year ago.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Attorney General’s Office says the state will receive nearly $4.7 million over five years as part of a multistate settlement with a firm that worked with opioid manufacturers to promote addictive painkillers. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said Thursday that the settlement will be used to address problems caused by opioids, including paying for substance abuse treatment services for Iowans. Iowa is part of a coalition of 53 attorneys general who collectively won $573 million in a settlement with McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. The settlement will be split among 47 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has announced its new special agent in charge of its Omaha Division that covers all of five Upper Plains states. The agency named Justin King as the division head overseeing the division’s 11 offices, according to a news release sent Thursday. King began his new duties on Monday, replacing Richard Salter Jr., who retired from the DEA in January. King’s territory includes Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and a handful of counties in western parts of Wisconsin and Illinois. King is a 19-year veteran of the agency and comes to the Omaha Division after serving three years as assistant special agent in charge of the Little Rock District Office.

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (AP) — A teen wanted in connection with the fatal shooting at a mall in eastern Wisconsin has been arrested in Iowa. The Grand Chute Police Department announced U.S. Marshals arrested 17-year-old Dezman Ellis on Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa. Ellis’ arrest comes days after authorities say he fatally shot 19-year-old Jovanni Frausto of Neenah and wounded another person inside the Fox River Mall outside Appleton. Outagamie County prosecutors say the shooting Sunday came after the two began arguing over a girl who was with Ellis. The shooting forced crowds of people to shelter in place inside the mall. Outagamie County prosecutors filed charges of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree recklessly endangering safety against Ellis on Tuesday.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says the impeachment of former president Donald Trump won’t do anything to unify the country and there is still a question about whether a private citizen can be impeached.  Ernst says if there truly is a case against Trump, he can be held accountable in the courts, and it is up to the Senate to follow the U-S Constitution. Ernst says President Joe Biden spoke about unity in his inaugural address — but hasn’t followed through.

“His actions have been totally opposite of that with so many of the executive orders that he has signed already. They are very, very, left-leaning liberal policies that will continue to divide the nation,” Ernst says, “you know he’s done that without engaging members of Congress.” She says she wants to work with Democrats to get things done, but their leadership isn’t doing that.

“The actions in the Senate of (Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer not agreeing upon the filibuster. Not agreeing that’s an important part of our institution and wanting to do away with minority rights in the Senate — which Republicans have upheld — even against President Trump, we upheld the minority rights in the Senate,” according to Ernst. “And Chuck Schumer is being very divisive.” Ernst says some Democrats are trying to work across the aisle to get things done.

“I mean, there’s a number of us who continue to work together to move forward on solutions. And right now, I just don’t see that guidance coming from the administration so far,” Ernst says. Senators were sworn in today (Tuesday) to serve as jurors in the impeachment trial. The trial will start on February 8th. Ernst made her comments during her weekly teleconference with reporters.

ELK HORN – Officials with the Danish Windmill announced Thursday, that the organization has received an Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program Grant from the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. The Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program Grant funds support recovery of expenses, such as payroll, utilities and PPE as well as goods and services that were needed to transition and ensure a safe reopening.

The Danish Windmill, Elk Horn, Iowa

The Windmill’s manager, Lisa Steen Riggs stated, “We are so grateful for receiving $15,600 from the Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program Grant. As a small non-profit cultural heritage museum in rural Iowa the value of receiving these public funds cannot be understated. We managed through the challenges and although visitor attendance was down almost forty percent from the previous year, we still were able to welcome almost 30,000 visitors originating from all fifty states and twenty-one different countries.”

Funding for Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program Grant is made possible by Governor Kim Reynolds allocating $7 million of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs for the purpose of providing economic relief to Iowa’s arts and culture industry. The funding is administered by the Iowa Arts Council, on behalf of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, through the Iowa Arts & Culture Emergency Relief Fund.

To learn more about the Danish Windmill and how you can support the organization and about the projects, visit danishwindmill.com or contact the Danish Windmill at 712.764.7472.

The U-S Department of Justice’ Criminal Division reports an Iowa woman plead guilty Thursday to unlawfully using a former Department of Justice contractor’s government computer to access government records and to obtain sensitive, non-public law enforcement information. According to admissions made in connection with her guilty plea, Rachel Manna, 33, of West Des Moines, was acquainted with Danielle Taff, who was employed as a contractor paralegal by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa. Taff was assigned to the office’s Civil Division, where she worked exclusively on matters related to civil forfeiture and was neither required nor authorized to access files and information related to the district’s investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.

Manna admitted that in the spring of 2018, she asked Taff to obtain non-public information about certain defendants in a criminal investigation and prosecution being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. As a result, on or about May 16, 2018, Taff used her U.S. Department of Justice computer to access criminal files stored on the district’s shared electronic data storage drive, including reports of law enforcement interviews with at least two individuals who cooperated with the district in a drug-trafficking investigation. Taff then used her cell phone to take approximately 30 photographs of the sensitive, non-public documents related to the drug-trafficking investigation.

After photographing the documents, Taff shared them with Manna, who subsequently shared the photographs with several individuals on Facebook. As a result, in October 2018, other individuals posted those photographs to a Facebook group dedicated to outing “snitches,” or law enforcement cooperators, in the Des Moines region. Among other sensitive information, the photographs taken by Taff and subsequently posted on Facebook identified at least two cooperators in the drug-trafficking investigation by name and other personal identifiers.

Taff pleaded guilty in November 2020 for her role in the scheme and is scheduled to be sentenced March 9. Sentencing for Manna is scheduled for June 4.

The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Chicago Field Division, is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Erica O’Brien Waymack and Matthew Palmer-Ball of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — A snowy section of Interstate 80 was closed Thursday afternoon in central Iowa after a massive crash involving roughly 40 vehicles. Iowa authorities closed the eastbound lanes of the interstate west of Newton after the chain-reaction crash happened shortly before noon. The Iowa State Patrol said two troopers were in the middle of assisting with several multi-car crashes in the area when the larger pileup happened.

This image provided by the Iowa Transportation Department from a traffic camera shows a massive pileup on Interstate 80, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, west of Newton, Iowa. A snowy section of Interstate 80 was closed Thursday afternoon in central Iowa, after the massive crash involving roughly 40 vehicles. Iowa authorities closed the eastbound lanes of the interstate west of Newton after the chain-reaction crash. (Iowa Transportation Department via AP)

Iowa Transportation Department spokeswoman Andrea Henry said several serious injuries have been reported in the crash but no deaths. Officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads across most of eastern Iowa because they were mostly covered with snow Thursday.

These two images are from the ISP Facebook page

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a man who failed to appear on possession of a controlled substance and driving while barred charges, was arrested Tuesday afternoon.

Alfred H. Wright, II

Authorities say 48-year-old Alfred Henry Wright II, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail. Wright was transferred to the Mills County Jail and held on $10,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa continues to have the third-worst coronavirus vaccination rate per capita in the nation as the state reached a milestone Thursday of more than 5,000 people killed by the virus. Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is working on improving vaccination efforts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Iowa has 6,315 people per 100,000 given the first vaccine dose.

That is worse than all other states except Idaho and Missouri. Public health officials reported 58 additional deaths on Thursday, increasing the state total to 5,033 since the beginning of the pandemic nearly a year ago.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of two scams Thursday morning. One was on a marketplace site (unclear if it was the Facebook marketplace or not), where a person was trying to sell items that are not really for sale. The scammers request payment via EBAY cards.

A second scam appear to originate from Cass County on a caller ID, and shows a local number. The caller asks about an Apple computer account and wants to log onto your computer.

Do Not falls for these types of scams!

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa has landed an eight-million dollar grant to purchase three semi-sized simulators that will help Iowa’s rural first responders and community hospital staffs brush up on emergency medicine. Cormac O’Sullivan, a U-I nursing professor, says each of the three simulators will be equipped with a mock-up ambulance cab and an emergency room.

Teams from the U-I will work with the rural Iowa crews on medical procedures and in situations they don’t often encounter in sparsely-populated areas.

The grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to the U-I College of Nursing will allow O’Sullivan and other health care professionals from Iowa City to offer valuable hands-on experience to rural agencies in their own backyards for those seldom-seen situations.

O’Sullivan is co-director of the U-I’s Simulation in Motion program. The first of the three vehicles is expected to be delivered in the spring of 2022, with the other two arriving that summer.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is asking developers to submit proposals to the state for creation of a system that will help Iowans schedule Covid vaccinations.

Since vaccinations began on December 14th, about 70-thousand Iowans have received both doses. Nearly 137-thousand others have gotten a first dose. Iowa has the 3rd lowest per capita rate of vaccinations compared to other states.

Iowans with internet access may go to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s coronavirus website where there’s an interactive map with information about each county health department’s vaccination plan. Starting tomorrow (Friday), Iowans over the age of 65 who don’t use the internet and haven’t been able to get a Covid shot can call their local Area Agency on Aging for help. Iowans who’ve gotten a first dose, but haven’t been able to schedule a second dose should call the provider who administered the first shot.