Photo by KJAN News Director Ric Hanson showing the street flooding at 3rd Street Place in Atlantic

Two waves of showers and thunderstorms wreaked havoc on the KJAN listening area on Tuesday night. Reports of large hail, strong winds, and heavy rain came in across the region. With daybreak on Wednesday, area residents were able to begin to further assess the damage.

The evening started with large hail reported in Harrison County around 6:00pm. Funnel clouds and a possible tornado were spotted in Harrison and Shelby counties in the 6:00pm hour. 1″ diameter hail was reported in the Panama area a little after 7:00pm, as was 1.25″ hail near Neola. 1.75″ diameter hail was reported by trained spotters near Avoca around 8:00pm. Flash flooding then followed during the 9:00pm hour. Many intersections and roads were flooded throughout Atlantic.

As a result of the heavy rain some flooding of homes and businesses was reported throughout Atlantic and the area. Numerous trees and tree limbs were down. Some substantial tree and water damage was reported at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. Some power issues were noted in a few locations due to lightning as well. Rising water also got to some road equipment near the KJAN studios as the Atlantic Little League complex filled with storm water last night.

Standing water is still an issue in many areas and some roadways may have been impacted by storm water, so area residents are urged to use caution while traveling.

w/ Chris Parks

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IDA GROVE, Iowa (AP) — Hail and heavy rain have pounded parts of northwest Iowa. Hailstones up to 1.75 inches were reported Tuesday evening near Holstein and other communities. More than an inch of rain was reported in several areas. The hail battered homes, business, vehicles and crop fields in Ida County and others nearby.

The National Weather Service says a tornado was reported around 5:30 p.m. about 5 miles southeast of Cushing, and another tornado report was received around 5:40 p.m. from 5 miles north-northeast of Ida Grove. It’s uncertain whether the sightings were of the same twister.

No injuries have been reported.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City couple who run a day care out of their home have pleaded not guilty to child endangerment.

Cerro Gordo County District Court records say 55-year-old Kyle McLaughlin and 58-year-old Peggy McLaughlin each entered a written plea to the misdemeanor count. Station KIMT reports that her trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 3. His trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 10.

A criminal complaint says a 3-year-old boy left in the McLaughlins’ care went home in December 2016 with a welt and bruise on his lower back. He told his mother than Kyle McLaughlin had spanked him. The complaint says Peggy McLaughlin later told the mother that her husband had “swatted” the boy and another child and said it wouldn’t happen again.

Another criminal complaint says a 20-month-old girl suffered a fractured leg at the home in August 2017 and the McLaughlins didn’t seek medical assistance for her.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 19-year-old Iowa man reported to have been driving more than 30 mph over the speed limit just before causing a fatal crash has been sentenced to probation.

The Des Moines Register reports that Charles Everman was sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation. Everman pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to vehicular homicide by reckless driving and serious injury by vehicle for the Nov. 5 crash in Ankeny that killed 38-year-old Samantha Jo Kriegel.

Prosecutors say data from Everman’s 2012 Toyota Highlander showed he was driving between 68 mph and 72 mph in a 35 mph zone shortly before the crash that killed Kriegel, who was in another car. Two passengers in Everman’s vehicle were also hurt.

The Cass County Emergency Management Agency reported as of 10:08-p.m., “There is currently widespread street flooding throughout the City of Atlantic. Travel is not advised. Please avoid driving through standing or running water on the streets.”

Several streets in Atlantic have been inundated with flood waters due to heavy rain. 7th and Walnut was just one of the troubled areas where cars were having difficulty making it through. Dispatch reports said it was completely flooded.

6th Street was being shut-down from Sunnyside to Palm Streets. A stranded motorist was being rescued at 2nd and the area of Cedar, near the Atlantic Locker. A tree is down at 12th and Plum as of 9:40-p.m.

If you don’t have to be out in the storm, stay home until the rain subsides and streets are more navigable.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest on Tuesday of 27-year-old Nathan Allen Aldrich of Red Oak on a warrant for Harassment 1st Degree, an aggravated misdemeanor. Aldrich was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 bond.

ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) — Sports betting kiosks at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona have been shut down while a vendor figures out why they came on in the middle of the night when they were supposed to have been turned off.

Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Administrator Brian Ohorilko says surveillance video shows no one at the machines when they powered up overnight recently but William Hill, the company providing sports betting at the casino, has chosen to keep them off until the glitch can be resolved.

Sports bets can still be placed through casino personnel at betting windows and on a mobile app, but the self-service kiosks at the casino sports book area are off for now. The casino’s sports betting area closes at midnight except on Friday and Saturday when it closes at 1 a.m.

Ohorilko says sports betting in Iowa, which began Aug. 15, has gone smoothly otherwise. Prairie Meadows reports total amount wagered in August was $3.4 million, the highest of the 13 casinos now taking bets. Sports wagers for all the casinos last month totaled $8.5 million.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines lawyer who interviewed to be an Iowa Court of Appeals judge but wasn’t a finalist is suing Gov. Kim Reynolds and other state officials, arguing a new law that gives the governor more power over the commission that selects Supreme Court and appeals judges is unconstitutional.

It’s the second such lawsuit filed in state court challenging the measure passed by lawmakers in April during the final days of the legislative session and signed a few days later by Reynolds. The law shortened the term of Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady, removed Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins from the commission and allowed Reynolds to replace him with her own appointee. Critics say the changes shifted the balance of the commission, allowing the GOP governor to get more conservative nominees onto the courts.

Supporters of the law say lawyers had too much clout in deciding which judicial nominees were sent to the governor and the change places more control with the governor, an elected official instead of non-elected members of the state bar association. The first lawsuit, filed by a group of Democratic legislators and a member of the State Judicial Nominating Commission, was dismissed in June by a judge who said the legislators and commission member lacked standing to sue. An appeal of that decision is before the Iowa Supreme Court and will take months to resolve.

The new case was filed on Sept. 11 by Thomas Duff, a trial lawyer for 30 years who focuses on personal injury, employment law and medical malpractice. His legal challenges to the new law are similar to the first lawsuit, but he believes since he was personally affected by the new makeup of the commission he has a better chance of proving standing to sue.
He’s asking the court for an expedited hearing on his request for a temporary injunction to immediately stop the judicial selection procedure outlined in the law and halt the section of the law that alters the term of office for the chief justice. A judge set a hearing for Oct. 11.

Duff also seeks a permanent finding that the law is unconstitutional, in part because he says it violates the separation of powers article of the state constitution, claiming the lawmakers cannot change the term of chief justice because it is an improper encroachment on the judicial branch by the legislative branch.
He said Republican efforts to control the courts undermine the credibility of the courts and people’s confidence in the judicial system.

“I do feel that the way that the bill was passed that this strikes me as politicization of the court which I have always thought was a bad idea whether it’s Democrats or Republicans,” he said Monday in an interview.
Sixteen people applied for the job that became available with the July 1 retirement of Iowa Court of Appeals Judge Gayle Vogel. The names of three finalists were sent to the governor on Aug. 5 including two judges and a lawyer from Ames. Reynolds has 30 days from the date she received the nominees to name a judge.

A spokesman for the Iowa attorney general declined to comment and the governor’s office did not respond to a message.