(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s attorney general filed suit today (Thursday) in Polk County District Court against a Nebraska-based stem cell therapy center. Attorney General Tom Miller accuses Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha of making deceptive, misleading claims that targeted older Iowans.  “They made incredibly strong claims about dealing with pain, back pain, knees, hips, arthritis, but they went beyond that,” Miller says. “They made claims that they could reverse COPD to some extent, and even in the Alzheimer’s area.”

The suit alleges the company’s salespeople used high-pressure tactics to persuade possibly hundreds of Iowans to buy unproven, expensive procedures that aren’t covered by health insurance.  “They made claims that, as their title indicated, that they could roll back aging,” Miller says. “They even quantified it at some point as three years, they’d give you three years back in terms of aging.” The marketing campaigns were highly aggressive, Miller says. “They had newspaper ads, they had TV ads, and what they focused on in Iowa, they recruited people to come to educational seminars concerning their product and they did 90 of those in Iowa,” he says. “They were essentially high-pressure sales, it wasn’t a seminar as much as a high-pressure sales event.”

Those events were held in cities across the state between April of 2018 and September of 2019. Nebraska’s attorney general is also filing a simultaneous lawsuit in that state today, accusing the company of fraud. It’s still unclear, Miller says, how many people in the two states may have bought into the “wild” claims. “The cost is considerable, anywhere from $1,400 to $27,000 to have a treatment,” Miller says. “They pushed a lot for the treatments that cost $16- and $17,000.” Miller’s office is seeking an injunction against the defendants and consumer restitution.

The suit also seeks civil penalties of up to $40,000 for each violation of the Consumer Fraud Act and $5,000 for each violation of the Older Iowans Law.

(Radio Iowa) – The number of new and continuing unemployment claims both increased in the last week. Iowa Workforce Development says the first-time claims for unemployment hit 11-thousand-125 in the last week. That’s up by just about 12-hundred, and came after the U-S Labor Department adjusted the previously reported number for the prior week down by 741. The number of continuing claims was up by about 28-hundred. And that comes after the Labor Department adjusted the claims for the previous week done by 926. Manufacturing had the most NEW unemployment claims filed last week — with 4, 471.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa meth kingpin who kidnapped and killed five people, including two young girls, to thwart his prosecution for drug trafficking in 1993 is set to become the third federal inmate to be executed this week. Fifty-two-year-old Dustin Honken would become the first defendant from Iowa to die from capital punishment since 1963 if his lethal injection takes place as scheduled on Friday in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he has been on death row since 2005.

FILE – In this Oct. 11, 2005, file photo, Dustin Lee Honken is led by US Marshals into the Federal Courthouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, prior to his sentencing. Honken an Iowa meth kingpin who kidnapped and killed five people, including two young girls, to thwart his prosecution for drug trafficking in 1993 is set to become the third federal inmate to be executed this week. Honken would become the first defendant from Iowa to die from capital punishment since 1963 if his lethal injection takes place as scheduled on Friday, July 17, 2020 in Terre Haute, Ind. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette via AP, File)

Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965, but federal prosecutors sought that punishment against Honken because of the horrific nature of his crimes. This week’s federal executions have been the first in 17 years.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Iowa, South Carolina and South Dakota have now joined Nebraska in agreeing to share driver’s license information with the U.S. Census Bureau to help the Trump administration determine the citizenship status of every U.S. resident. Until recently, Nebraska had been the sole state to sign an agreement with the Census Bureau to share their information. President Donald Trump ordered the Census Bureau last year to gather citizenship data from the administrative records of federal and state agencies after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his administration’s effort to place a citizenship question on the 2020 census questionnaire.

A crash in Atlantic late Wednesday night caused $11,000 damage and resulted in a juvenile being transported to the hospital. According to Atlantic Police, the crash happened shortly after 10-p.m. In the 1200 block of Locust Street, when a vehicle driven by a 17-year old male struck a parked van. The impact caused the car, a 2002 Honda Accord, to roll onto its top on the west side of Locust Street.

The unidentified teen was transported by Cass EMS to the Cass County Hospital. Authorities say charges are pending.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office has released a report on recent arrests. Authorities say a little after 7-p.m. Wednesday, 36-year old Jonathan Timothy Bunten, of Council Bluffs, was arrested following a traffic stop. Bunten faces charges that include Possession of Marijuana and Methamphetamine/both 1st offenses, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving While Barred. He was being held in the Pott. County Jail on bond amounting to $4,300.

Wednesday afternoon, 45-year old Kathleen Marie Gerhardt, of Oakland, who was being held in the Pott. County Jail on other charges, was served with a warrant for Violation of Probation.  Wednesday morning, 37-year old Wendi An Johnson, of Omaha, was arrested for Violation of Probation. Johnson turned herself-in to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office and turned over to Corrections staff.

Tuesday evening, 41-year old David Leroy Walker, JR., of Underwood, was arrested at an Underwood motel. He was taken into custody on a warrant for Violation of Parole. And, Tuesday morning, 46-year old Sandra Annette Graham, of Omaha, was arrested for Public Intoxication, after a caller reported a woman was in a ditch and possibly intoxicated, in the vicinity of the Neola Kum-and-Go Store.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – July 16, 2020 – The  Iowa Department of Transportation’s District 3 Office reports a project to replace a reinforced concrete box culvert on U.S. 59 south of Denison in Crawford County requires closing the roadway to traffic beginning on Monday morning, July 27th, and lasting until November 2020, weather permitting. During this closure, motorists will be directed around the work zone using U.S. 30, Crawford County Road E-59, and U.S. 59. Midwest Contracting, LLC is the prime contractor of this $805,159 project.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

The Salvation Army Store in Atlantic is set to close Friday (July 17th). Salvation Army Officials in Omaha issued the following statement to KJAN News this (Thursday) morning:

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the closure of our Atlantic, Iowa Salvation Army Family Store—effective as of the close of business Friday, July 17.  Declining sales revenues accelerated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have forced this decision.  We are working to assist our remaining store staff as they search for new jobs in the community.  We were hoping to mark the store’s tenth anniversary of operation this year; unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic’s damaging economic effects have made it impossible to keep the store open.

We thank the Atlantic community for its faithful support of this store over the years, and we want to reassure the community that Salvation Army social services will continue in the area despite the store’s closure.  We have had a presence in Cass County for decades, and we will maintain that presence—serving those in need—going forward.”

The store, in the Atlantic Shopping Plaza, held its grand opening Dec. 7th, 2012.

(Radio Iowa) — Work is underway on a four-point-two million dollar expansion of the Des Moines Area Community College campus in Carroll. Provost, Joel Lundstrom, says the expansion helps meet a need for more classes and space. “The project is 11-thousand-700 square feet and two labs. A welding lab and industrial tech lab — and will primarily serve our welding students. We have a record number of welding students coming in this fall,” Lundstrom says. He says they will have 45 students taking welding classes throughout the day. The building also gives them more space for other things.

“A new event space community area for up to 145 community members for when we bring speakers on campus,” according to Lundstrom. “We often time bring speakers…we’ve had an astronaut, we’ve had a number of people speaking on diversity and inclusion the last couple of years, and just bring a lot of educational events into the community.”

He says the DMACC campus in Carroll has a wide reach.”We actually serve ten high schools with a career academy options for them to take concurrent enrollment classes while they are in high school with no cost to them,”Lundstrom says. “We are an hour-and-a half from Des Moines, an hour-and-half from Omaha, kind of right in northwest Iowa and we serve a pretty big region.”

The school has agreements with the University of Northern Iowa, Buena Vista University and the University of Iowa’s Bachelor of Nursing Program that allows students to start with two years of DMACC classes and then finish with two years at the other schools. he Carroll addition is expected to be completed in August 2021

What little rain that fell overnight Wednesday into Wednesday morning, did little to help the crops and soil they live in. The latest edition of the Iowa Drought Monitor released today (Thursday, shows parts of Cass, Adair, Audubon, Dallas and Guthrie Counties, are in a Severe Drought. Other area counties affected by the severe drought include Boone, Carroll, and Greene, along with the northwest corner of Madison County. Other area counties are in a “Moderate Drought,” which is characterized by: Soybeans aborting pods; Struggling corn test weights; Grasses are brown & more grass fires occur; The possible issuance of bans; and pond levels decline.

Officials say a continued severe drought could potentially result in: extremely low corn yields; A high fire danger; fewer mosquitoes observed; low surface water, increased algae blooms, and a requested voluntary effort at water conservation.

For more information: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?IA