WEST POINT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have ruled the death of a woman who jumped out her boyfriend’s car in southeast Iowa was accidental. The Des Moines Register reports that authorities don’t expect to file more charges against the man driving the car, 29-year-old Damian Hamann. He’s pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident. The body of 20-year-old Sadie Alvarado was found Aug. 5 in a ditch on a gravel road, about 5 miles southwest of West Point.

Hamann told authorities that he and Alvarado were arguing when she leaped out. He drove home to Morning Sun but went back to look for her.
Lee County Attorney Ross Braden says an autopsy showed Alvarado’s injuries jibed with Hamann’s explanation. Braden also says it doesn’t appear that had Hamann gone back sooner or remained that he “likely would have been able to do anything to save her.”

HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — Rep. Steve King is keeping a low profile. Engulfed in controversy for his past support of white supremacist groups and leaders in light of Saturday’s massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the Iowa Republican is riding out the closing days of a re-election campaign whose success is suddenly in question. King has no campaign events scheduled and his staff has stopped responding to inquiries. His public appearances have been limited to friendly territory, such as the Crawford County Republican Party fundraiser Sunday. Democrats are already hoping to flip two of Iowa’s four congressional seats, and the turmoil surrounding King has them thinking they could take his seat as well. It’s a tough task in a district that President Donald Trump won by 27 percentage points. But even some Republicans acknowledge King is in for a tough challenge from Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten.

“This is the strongest competition he’s ever faced,” said Gwen Ecklund, a former GOP chairwoman in Crawford County, one of 39 counties in the vastly agricultural district that stretches from most of the Minnesota border west to the Missouri River. “But I think the stronghold of his support remains intact.” That premise has been challenged in recent days, as King has come under fire from House GOP leadership for tweets he’s posted endorsing a white nationalist candidate for Toronto mayor, and praising a nationalist party in Austria with Nazi ties. The comments were the latest in a long line from the 69-year-old congressman lamenting the rise of minorities as a threat to white Americans, along with anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic comments over the years.

Not until Tuesday, in the days after the Pittsburgh shooting, did National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers decry King’s comments. That day, longtime King financial backers Land O’Lakes, a Minnesota-based food company, and its subsidiary Purina Pet Care, both with plants in King’s district, withdrew their support from King, as did the microprocessor company Intel.
In Iowa, however, Republicans have been silent. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who named King her campaign chairman a year ago, said nothing amid calls from Democrats for her to disassociate herself from the congressman. King’s son, Jeff, who is managing the congressman’s campaign, could not be reached for comment, despite several attempts.

Instead, King has spent the past few days stopping in at county GOP events and tweeting. He unapologetically blamed the media Tuesday for the turmoil. “These attacks are orchestrated by the nasty, desperate and dishonest fake news,” he wrote, borrowing from Trump’s script. As King has hunkered down, the 38-year-old Scholten has only charged ahead. The former minor-league pitcher and paralegal from Sioux City was rumbling across northern Iowa Wednesday in a Winnebago RV emblazoned with his name. He has put more than 25,000 miles on the vehicle since last summer. He was stopping in at coffee shops along Highway 3, making his fourth and fifth visits to the district’s counties. “With this bump, for lack of a better term, I’m getting more confident every day. We’ve been able to capitalize on this momentum,” Scholten said of the King controversy as he walked through tiny Hampton en route to Rustic Brew Cafe. “But this has been 15 to 16 months in the making.”

As of this month, King had raised roughly $737,000, less than half of Scholten’s haul, which has received renewed backing from rising national Democratic figures such as California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is weighing a 2020 bid for president. Scholten has spent $1.3 million, more than twice that of King, and has been running radio and television ads for months boosting his name in a district where King is well known.
Although King’s favorability in the district has dipped since his 2016 re-election, Republicans still outnumber Democrats in the district by more than 20,000 registered voters. Scholten has netted former Republicans, including former state Sen. David Johnson, who left the GOP in 2016 after Trump won the party’s presidential nomination.

However, early voting tallies so far show Republicans have outpaced Democrats in returning ballot requests by more than 10,000. Music teacher Randi Heisler, a Democrat, said after meeting Scholten in the cafe that she’d converted her Republican husband to support Scholten. But she fears that may not be enough. “Are enough people fed up and ready to vote with their hearts and minds, above the party?” she said. “I don’t know.”

Police in Red Oak, Wednesday evening, arrested a man wanted on a Page County warrant. 28-year old Mark Lee Parkinson, Jr., of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 6:45-p.m. on the warrant charging him with three counts of Harassment in the 1st Degree, an aggravated misdemeanor. Parkinson was transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where he was being held on $6,000 bond while awaiting extradition to Page County.

(Radio Iowa/Karla James – Omaha) — A National Park Service employee is credited with rescuing a man who jumped from a bridge into the Missouri River. Biologist Chris Holbeck says he was in his office Tuesday morning when he noticed, from a window, something splashed in the water. Holbeck quickly realized it was a man who jumped from the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge that connects Council Bluffs and Omaha.

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian bridge; Photo credit: Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau

“So I called out to my colleagues to call 911 and I ran downstairs,” Holbeck said. “We keep a rescue ring by the back door because we’ve seen people jump from the bridge before.” Holbeck took the rescue ring down to the riverbank, but the current was pulling the man too far away.  “I couldn’t get to him. I kept calling to him to keep his head above water and swim toward shore,” Holbeck said. “Eventually, the boardwalk runs out and I lost sight of the guy.” Although he believed the man likely drowned, Holbeck continued to search the banks.

“I started searching the riverbank and sure enough, there he was and I pulled him from the river,” Holbeck said. According to Omaha Police, the jumper was taken to a hospital and will be okay.

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

HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King is keeping a low profile in the closing days of a re-election campaign that has suddenly turned competitive. King has been engulfed in controversy for his past support of white supremacist groups and leaders in light of Saturday’s massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue. King has announced no public campaign events and is sticking to a light schedule.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese in Iowa is acknowledging that it kept quiet for 32 years about a priest’s admission to having sexually abused dozens of boys. The Diocese of Sioux City told The Associated Press in a statement Wednesday that it never contacted police or informed the public about the Rev. Jerome Coyle, despite his 1986 admission. With diocese assistance, Coyle recently moved into a Fort Dodge retirement home that’s across the street from a Catholic school.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — A former friend of an Iowa father whose infant son was found dead and maggot-infested in a baby swing last year has testified he wasn’t even aware the man had a baby. The Courier reports that Jordan Clark testified Wednesday at the trial of 29-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn, who’s charged with murder and child endangerment in the August 2017 death of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn.

LARCHWOOD, Iowa (AP) — A former employee has bought out the owners of an animal vaccine plant in northwest Iowa. The Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus Leader reports that Eric Schuler completed the deal in mid-August for Elanco’s operations in Larchwood, where he once was head of engineering. He’s formed Vos BioTech and intends to retain as many of the plant’s employees as possible.

DORCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man killed when a farm machine ran over him in northeast Iowa’s Allamakee County was a Minnesota man. The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office says first responders were called Tuesday morning to a farm field northwest of Dorchester and found 64-year-old Gerald Oren Myrhe, of Caledonia, Minnesota. The sheriff’s office says a combine had backed up over Myrhe when it was being maneuvered to unload corn.

Myrhe was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department said Wednesday, that their 17th Annual “Operation Medicine Cabinet” take back prescription drug program held last Saturday, resulted in nearly 306 pounds of miscellaneous pharmaceuticals being turned-in, with 138 people participating in the DEA sponsored event.

To date, the Departments “Operation Medicine Cabinet” events have resulted in 6,050 pounds of miscellaneous pharmaceuticals being collected and over 3,295 individuals participating.

Officials say the Department’s success with these events would not be possible without the collaboration of several community organizations including Promise Partners and Prevention Means Progress; volunteers, the Council Bluffs Recycling center, Walgreens and Pizza Counter.

An accident in Mills County early this (Wednesday) morning, resulted in a woman from Missouri being transported to a hospital in Council Bluffs. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says 80-year old Audrey Brooks, of Kansas City, MO., was transported to Jennie Edmundson Hospital by Pacific Junction Rescue, following the accident that happened at around 3:30-a.m. on Interstate 29 at about mile marker 33.

Brooks was traveling northbound in the SOUTHbound lane of I-29 in a 2017 Honda. 25-year old Marcos Bautista-Ramirez, of Canton, GA., was traveling southbound on I-29 in a 2009 Toyota, when he noticed the wrong-way Honda. Bautista-Ramirez attempted to miss Brooks’ car, by swerving. In doing so, the left front side of his vehicle struck the left front of the Honda.

The Honda became disabled on the road during the collision, while the Toyota ended-up in the median.

In other news, the Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports 36-year old Nicole Jean Cronland, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Sarpy County, NE., on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear in court. Her bond was set at $10,000. And, at around 8:45-a.m. today (Wed.), 42-year old Steven Wayne Thompson, of Omaha, was arrested at the Douglas County, NE. Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Probation Violation. His bond was set at $6,000.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — A former friend of an Iowa father whose infant son was found dead and maggot-infested in a baby swing last year has testified he wasn’t even aware the man had a baby. The Courier reports that Jordan Clark testified Wednesday at the trial of 29-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn, who’s charged with murder and child endangerment in the August 2017 death of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn.

Clark testified that he was aware Koehn had a young daughter, but said he didn’t know Koehn had an infant son, despite having visited Koehn’s Alta Vista apartment. Clark also testified that he, Koehn and the baby’s mother smoked meth, and that Koehn bought $20 to $40 worth of meth from him weekly.

A coroner’s report showed the baby died of malnutrition, dehydration and an infection caused after he was left in a soiled diaper for up to two weeks.

The Iowa Gold Star Military Museum will host a Veterans Tribute Celebration on Saturday, Nov. 10th, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The celebration includes a musical performance, vendor tables, luncheon and comments from retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Larry Spencer who spent nearly seven years as an American prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Spencer was born in Wichita, Kansas and grew up in Earlham, Iowa graduating from Earlham High School in 1958. He entered the U.S. Navy in February 1963, completing aviation officer candidate school at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. During Vietnam, Spencer had two deployments to Southeast Asia serving aboard the USS Ranger and USS Enterprise from 1964-1966.

On Feb. 18, 1966, while flying an F-4B Phantom II on reconnaissance escort mission over North Vietnam he was shot down and captured near Thanh Hoa. Spencer spent six days shy of seven years in captivity as POW, for a total of 2,551 days. Spencer was one of the first 20 American POWs to return from North Vietnam, arriving back in the United States on Feb. 14, 1973. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 1985 after 22 years of service.

During the celebration the museum will host a supply drive for veterans with a collection point sponsored by Operation Barnabas of Des Moines. All donations will go to benefit veterans in central Iowa. Some examples of what to bring include coffee, canned goods, chewing gum, bath soap, and cleaning supplies. For a complete list go to www.iowamilitarysupport.org

The lecture will take place in the Col. Al Rolfes Education Center at the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum on Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa. Admission to the museum is free.