(Radio Iowa) — The11th annual Iowa Mission of Mercy (IMOM) free dental clinic is on the western side of the state this year in Sioux City. Dentist Richard Hettinger says all the patients will be treated in the Tyson Events Center. “We’ve got a hundred dental chairs set up on the surface that normally has ice on it for hockey this time of year,” Hettinger says.

Doctor Hettinger practices in Sioux City and says they will treat patients on a first-come, first-serve basis.”We can do fillings and extractions and cleanings and root canals. We’ll be able to do some partial dentures for people who have missing front teeth.” He says the dentures are something he particularly enjoys making because of the impact they can have. “Those are the kinds of things that allow people to go apply for a better job or maybe get a promotion in the job that they’ve got, according to Hettinger. “When they can have the confidence that they can smile and talk to somebody and not look like a picket fence.”

He says it is important to treat dental issues people have to avoid longer term problems. “Infections that can reside in the mouth can be kind of long-term and chronic. And then flare up into something that can be life-threatening if it happens to invade into the brain or something like that,” Doctor Hettinger says. “And it’s not something that happens every week — but it does happen someplace every month in this country.”

Hettinger says they are able to get a lot done in their makeshift dental office. “We will probably take care of about a thousand people in the next two days. We’ll do about 900-thousand dollars worth of dental care,” Hettinger says. All of the care is donated. He says they’ll have around 900 volunteers who are dentists, dental assistants, hygienists and other doctors to clear the patients to have the dental care.

Hettinger says people already had started lining up Thursday to get in when the doors opened at 6:30 in the morning today (Friday). The free dental clinic continues Saturday from 6:30 a-m until 5 p-m in Sioux City. This is the second time the free clinic has stopped in Sioux City.

WEST UNION, Iowa (AP) — Owners of three eastern Iowa wind energy turbines are fighting a court order to tear them down. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that attorneys asked Judge John Bauercamper on Wednesday to put a hold on his previous order to remove the turbines by Dec. 9th. The turbine owners are appealing a decision by the Fayette County Board of Adjustment to deny a variance that would have legalized their towers. The wind towers built in 2015 drew opposition from housing developers and homeowners in nearby Fairbank who believed they would be detrimental to the town.

The city and housing developers filed a lawsuit claiming the county issued construction permits for the turbines without following zoning ordinances. Bauercamper sided with the city in 2016, and the Iowa Supreme Court upheld that ruling.

Authorities in Central Iowa are investigating two reported incidents of strangers allegedly trying to pick up students outside schools. According to KCCI-TV in Des Moines, Des Moines Public School District parents received an email from school officials, claiming a man tried to convince a middle school student to get into his vehicle near Moulton Elementary School.

The school district said the vehicle was a black Range Rover with tinted windows and described the man as being heavyset with dark skin and a nearly-shaved head. The man appeared to be in his early 30s and had facial hair, according to the school district.

Parents of students in the Prairie City-Monroe Community School District said they received an e-mail about an incident that allegedly happened Wednesday afternoon, outside the Monroe Elementary School. During the incident, a woman and two men in a silver car approached a female student and claimed the girls’ parent asked them to pick her up and take her home from school.

The driver of the car was a woman with red, bushy hair. The men were wearing T-shirts with cut-off sleeves.

BLAIRSTOWN, Iowa (AP) — The state Department of Transportation is looking to expand U.S. Highway 30 from two lanes to four on a stretch in eastern Iowa. KWWL-TV in Waterloo reports that the DOT wants to do the work on a 14-mile stretch of highway near Blairstown and Van Horne in Benton County. Catherine Cutler, a district transportation planner, says the idea has been in the works since the early 2000s.

Culter says it’s the last segment between Cedar Rapids and Ames to become a four-lane highway, and the project is driven by additional capacity needs for passenger cars and semitrailers. Cutler says expanding the road’s capacity will also improve safety by giving drivers better passing opportunities. The first stages of construction could take place next summer.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have arrested a Council Bluffs man who is accused of threatening to kill the city’s mayor. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 33-year-old Chase Points faces charges of first-degree harassment, assault and disorderly conduct in a place of business. Points was being held without bond Thursday at the Pottawattamie County Jail. Council Bluffs police say an officer who was sent to Mayor Matt Walsh’s city hall office on Wednesday heard Points screaming expletives.

A subsequent records check showed Points had an outstanding arrest warrant for harassment and assault at City Hall on Sept. 27, when employees say he got in an employee’s face and left a threatening note on Walsh’s desk. Police say Points posted other threatening messages on Facebook.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report an incident in the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Room Thursday, resulted in the arrest of a Villisca man. 61-year old Kurt Alan Wagaman was taken into custody at around 11:25-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail. Wagaman was charged with Disorderly Conduct, and Interference with Official Acts. His bond was set at $300. Red Oak Police assisted Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies in handling the incident.

(Radio Iowa) — Republican Senator Joni Ernst says she’s still hopeful a group of negotiators can agree on a new Farm Bill, but she says that may not happen until after next month’s election. Ernst is the only Iowan on the congressional committee trying to come up with a compromise. The 2014 Farm Bill expired September 30th. Congress is supposed to revisit federal food and ag policy issues every five years and vote to reauthorize the Farm Bill.

“If it is possible to bring the House and the Senate together, get to a consensus, do that after the midterm election, maybe we would be able to get the Farm Bill reauthorized by the end of the year,” Ernst said. “If that does not happen, then we would be looking at some sort of extension.” Voting to keep the the 2014 Farm Bill policies in place for another year is an option. Congress has used temporary extensions in the past when negotiations over a new Farm Bill have faltered.

“I would much rather have the Farm Bill reauthorized than go through these short-term extensions,” Ernst says. A few federal programs have been impacted since the Farm Bill expired five days ago. “However, SNAP and crop insurance, they are still good to go,” Ernst says. “No worries there, those remain in place.” SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also referred to as food stamps.

Having the so-called “lame duck” congress approve the next Farm Bill in November or December — after the election — is not unprecedented. The 1970 and 1990 Farm Bills were passed in the weeks after the mid-term elections in those years. The 2014 Farm Bill was actually supposed to be passed in 2013, but it took congress 21 months to come up with a final deal that could pass both the House and Senate.

(Radio Iowa) — An Iowan buried overseas as an unknown soldier for over 70 years is coming home. Army Private Donald Brown of Thompson was killed in World War II on July 28, 1944. Iowa National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Michael Wunn says research found Brown, who was 24 at the time of his death, was buried at an American Military Cemetery in France.

Army Pvt. Donald Brown

“With modern science, through DNA analysis, positive identification of the previously unknown remains of Private Brown were identified and are being brought home to his family here in Iowa for burial,” Wunn said. The ceremony will take place tomorrow (Saturday) at 3 p.m. at the Thompson Cemetery in Brown’s hometown, located in north-central Iowa’s Winnebago County. Some of his relatives plan to be there.

“Of course, his parents are gone, and his siblings are gone, but there will be a number of nieces and nephews who will be coming back for his service. Many of them have military service of their own they’ve provided to our country over the years,” Wunn said. Brown left for overseas duty in March of 1944. He was killed just four months later when his M-4 Sherman tank was destroyed near Cambernon, France.

“My understanding of it is that he was in a tank that was hit by enemy fire and he was one of the only ones in that tank who was killed,” Wunn said. “Some of the other crew members were able to get out. Unfortunately, because the tank was burning and the rapid pace of the advance, they were not able to recover his remains at the time of his death.” This is the third case this year that the Iowa National Guard has supported in which a previously unknown soldier was identified and brought back to the state for burial.

“I think it’s important to remember there’s ongoing work that continues in Europe and the Pacific to try to identify the unknown remains that we have of those missing from those conflicts – particularly World War II, Korea, and Vietnam,” Wunn said. “That work doesn’t stop, it continues, and it’s really important we bring everybody home that we’re able.”

Brown’s military awards and honors include the Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. Tomorrow’s interment ceremony is open to the public.

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

WAUKON, Iowa (AP) — A northeast Iowa man convicted of fatally shooting his stepfather at the home they shared has been sentenced to up to 50 years in prison. The Courier reports that 32-year-old John Quanrude was sentenced Monday in Allamakee County District Court. He was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the April death of 60-year-old Dean Russell. Quanrude will spend at least 35 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has dealt a blow to the defense for an Iowa youth basketball coach charged with secretly recording his teenage players undressing. Judge C.J. Williams ruled Thursday that the seizure of a USB device from former Iowa Barnstormers coach Greg Stephen didn’t violate his privacy rights. The ruling means prosecutors can use videos found on the device against Stephen, who is charged with transporting and possessing child pornography and sexually exploiting minors

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell will meet in the Des Moines area for their first debate. The candidates for governor will debate at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ankeny campus of Des Moines Area Community College. The debate is being organized by KCCI-TV and The Des Moines Register. It will be aired live on KCCI. The campaigns also have agreed to debates Oct. 17 in Sioux City and Oct. 21 in Davenport.

FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) — A group that studies paranormal activity wants to examine the former Winnebago County jail, but officials worry that allowing the visit could create liability problems. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports two men from a group based in Forest City asked the Winnebago County Board if they could spend the night in the former jail.