The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information in regards to a burglary that occurred early Thursday morning. The burglary occurred at Dickel Duit 2227 Highway 48 in Red Oak between about 3:10 a.m. and 3:15 a.m.

Investigators say two males broke glass to the front door of the building and stole over $10,000 in Stihl chainsaws, backpack leaf blowers, and a cut off saw. Two vehicles were observed parked on the highway during the incident. One vehicle is a late 90’s to early 2000’s dark colored Dodge Minivan and the other vehicle was unknown.

Anyone that has information about the burglary or who saw anything in the area is asked to call the Montgomery County Crime Stoppers at 1-888-434-2712 or 712-623-5107.

(Radio Iowa) — A bill has been introduced in the Iowa House in response to the recent case of more than 24-hundred fetal remains found in the garage and vehicle of an Indiana doctor who performed abortions. Tom Chapman of the Iowa Catholic Conference says burying the dead respectfully is important to the Catholic Church.

“Whether people oppose or support abortion, I think the least we can do is ensure that all human remains, including the bodily remains of all unborn children, are treated with dignity and respect,” Chapman said, “and I think this bill helps do that.” If the bill becomes law as currently written, the C-E-O of a medical facility must ask women who have a miscarriage, abortion or stillbirth to choose burial or cremation for the remains.

Daniel Zeno, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, says medical facilities already have trained staff ask these kinds of questions. “One of the things that happens in this bill is it deletes the word ‘fetus’ and replaces it with ‘bodily remains,'” Zeno says. “This is part of a bigger effort to define what life is.”

Connie Ryan of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa told committee members she had a miscarriage and could not have coped with the decisions this bill forces on a woman who has lost a pregnancy. “All I wanted to do was go home and be in my bed and I did and I stayed there for three days,” Ryan says.

Representative Robert Bacon, a Republican from Slater, is a funeral director who supports the bill. “This is a human life that we’re talking about and the remains on this we need to treat with respect and care and we also need to care for everyone involved in this,” Bacon says. Bacon and another Republican on a House subcommittee have voted to advance the bill. It’s now eligible for consideration in the House Human Resources Committee.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The National Weather Service says there’s an elevated flood risk along the eastern Missouri River basin this spring. That’s because the soil remains wet and significant snow is on the ground in North Dakota and South Dakota. Communities along the lower Missouri River already were bracing for the prospect of more flooding this spring because many of their levees remain in poor shape after last year’s massive flooding.

FILE – This March 18, 2019, file photo, taken by the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol and provided by the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management shows flooding along the Missouri River in rural Iowa north of Omaha, Neb. (Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management via AP, File)

Nearly everywhere that flooded last year in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri is at some risk to flood again because of the extensive damage to levees.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An arctic cold front that descended upon eastern Nebraska and most of Iowa may have claimed an elderly victim. Omaha police say officers found the body of an 80-year-old man a little before 5:40 a.m. Thursday in a street not far from an assisted living center where he lived. He’s been identified as Robert Freymuller. Police say he was not dressed appropriately for the cold.

The National Weather Service says the wind chill had dropped to minus 26 degrees at that time.  Many schools, businesses and organizations remained closed or opened late because of the frigid air blast.

An Iowa State Patrol Trooper responding to a report of a jack-knifed semi suffered moderately severe injuries when she was struck by a semi Wednesday evening, in eastern Iowa. The Patrol says Trooper Gentry Johannes was transported to a local hospital after she was struck when a second semi hit the jack-knifed rig on I-80, near Newton. Authorities say the roads were 100% ice covered at the time of the collision. Additional details are currently not available.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A 19-year-old driver was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison for a fatal collision that occurred while he was fleeing police in Davenport. Scott County District Court records say Angel Ochoa had pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide by reckless driving and two others crimes. Prosecutors dropped another charge in return. The chase began June 13, when a police officer tried to stop Ochoa’s car and a chase ensued. Investigators say Ochoa’s car reached speeds of up to 90 mph and ran through several red lights before broadsiding a car, killing 48-year-old Lori Ann Letts.

WATERLOO, Iowa (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier) — A former Waterloo teacher accused of stealing money from the teachers union has pleaded guilty. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Anthony Dehl entered the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. The charge: wire fraud. It carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. His sentencing date has not yet been set. Prosecutors say Dehl took more than $54,000 from the union’s accounts over about five years, when he was the union’s treasurer. Authorities say he spent some of it on gambling. Dehl retired from Waterloo Community Schools last year after more than 30 years in the profession.

Cass County Attorney Vanessa Strazdas today (Thursday), said charges have been filed against an Anita woman, 36-year old Alison E. Dorsey, for causing the death of an 11 week old newborn, identified only as “L.H.” Strazdas said the child suffered from internal bleeding resulting in brain death, while in the sole care and custody of Dorsey at her daycare on October 7, 2019.

L.H. died on October 8, 2019.  Medical evidence revealed the injuries causing death were inflicted and non-accidental, commonly called shaken baby syndrome.  Onset of brain hemorrhaging would have been immediate. Strazdas told KJAN News Dorsey was arrested this (Thursday) morning on a Class-A Felony charge of Murder in the 1st Degree, which carries a Life term in prison, and a Special Class-B Felony charge of Child Endangerment resulting in the death of a child. The maximum she would serve if convicted on that charge is 50 years in prison.

Dorsey was being held in the Cass County Jail on a $250,000 cash-only bond. Her initial appearance is set to take place by Friday. (See the Criminal Complaints filed in her arrest here – 04151__FECR016406_CRCM_242055  and 04151__FECR016406_CRCM_242054

Des Moines – Officials with the Iowa Division of Insurance report John A. McAfee of Hannibal, Missouri, and McAfee & Associates were recently ordered by the Iowa Insurance Division to cease and desist from creating or purchasing and sending certain mailers or envelopes to Iowa residents or Iowa locations as stated in the enforcement order. McAfee and McAfee & Associates are now subject to a one year monitoring period and are also ordered to pay a total of $10,000 in civil penalties and $1,800.00 in costs of investigation.

McAfee, the owner and registered agent of McAfee & Associates, sent mailers to Iowa consumers that were deceptive, misleading, and created a false impression that the mailers were sent by the government. The mailers were sent for the purpose of generating marketing leads for life insurance, even though that information was not disclosed on the mailers. Chance McElhaney, Iowa Insurance Division spokesman said “We encourage Iowa consumers to reach out to our office if something seems misleading. Scammers will use a variety of tactics to be deceptive in order to take advantage of folks.”

McAfee & Associates were previously barred on February 4, 2019 from sending mailers to Iowa residents or any location in Iowa that “create a false impression that the mailer is sent from any government entity or department” and ordered to pay $5,000 to the Iowa Attorney General to be deposited in the Consumer Education and Litigation Fund.

Iowans are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division if they need assistance.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa D-N-R reports a drop in the number of deer taken by hunters this year. D-N-R Wildlife Biologist, Tyler Harms, says the drop coincides with a drop in the number of hunters. “We saw about a three percent drop in license sales and about a 14 percent drop in the deer harvest statewide this year,” Harms says. The deer taken dropped to 94-thousand — compared to nearly 108-thousand the year before. Harms says an outbreak of disease is likely behind the drop in license sales. “We had a significant outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease across the state. And that could’ve resulted in lower numbers of deer out on the landscape — and ultimately resulting in lower harvest,” Harms says. “We do know after an outbreak that we had in 2012 and 2013 we had similar trends in terms of license sales and harvest. So in other words — when we see these big E-H-D outbreaks statewide — we would expect to see a slight drop in both license sales and harvest.”

Harms says some hunters want to help the deer recover from such outbreaks. “Our hunters are conservationists, and so when they perceive that there’s a threat to the deer population, if they are seeing fewer deer, they are going to make decisions to not harvest deer. To not put additional pressure on the deer population,” Harms says. He expects future deer season will return to harvests of 100-thousand or more. Harms says the disease outbreaks cause some concern, but they monitor the deer population closely. “Both at local scales and also statewide. And we would anticipate, given what we know about the deer population status in Iowa currently, that the deer population would recover back to goal levels,” Harms says.

The state also reported the most positive tests for Chronic Wasting Disease this season since it started the testing. Harms says that is also a concern. “What we’re trying to do is gather more information on where the disease is and what the prevalence of the disease is in certain areas,” Harms says. “And then that helps us make a decision on how we are going monitor and manage the deer population moving forward to try and reduce disease spread and disease prevalence.” Harms says hunters have been very helpful in trying to manage the spread of C-W-D. He says they can continue to do that by following some simple steps. “Like refraining from putting mineral licks or bait piles out for deer — because that artificially congregates the deer with contributes to the spread. And then also minimizing carcass transport,” Harms says.

He says transporting the carcasses of deer that are infected can spread the disease.