(Radio Iowa) – A 37-year veteran of the Iowa Army National has become the first African-American promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major in the organization. Sergeant Major is the highest enlisted rank you can reach without becoming an officer. Sergeant Jeffrey Lewis of Johnston has been in the Iowa Guard for 37 years. “I was excited, very excited, I told everyone I talked to it was the most happiest time of my life besides when I joined the military,” Lewis says. “I’m the type of person I don’t want praise for doing my job. I know what my job is, I will do my job every single time I’m out there.”

Sgt. Major Jeffrey Lewis

Lewis is a 54-year-old medic who has worked for the guard full time for 15 years. As Sergeant Major he will now assumes the duties of chief operations sergeant, 109th Multifunctional Medical Battalion (MMB), located in Iowa City. Lewis says becoming the first African-American to achieve this rank is important. “I think what it does to me, it holds that people of color…either women, minorities, people who have different ethnic backgrounds, different beliefs, can become a sergeant major,” according to Lewis.

While he is proud of making history, he doesn’t think it puts any more pressure on him as a role model for others. “I’ve been a medic for 37 years and my job is to take care of people. So, me becoming a Sergeant Major has no affect on me to put added pressure onto me to do better or do anything different. I am going to do the exact same things I’ve done when I was a private as a sergeant major,” Lewis says. “And that is to take care of everyone below me and make sure I follow the rules and regulations the military puts out for me.”

Lewis has deployed twice, supporting Operation Desert Storm with the 209th Area Support Medical Company and Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 134th Ground Ambulance Company. He says you sometimes see soldiers in the worst of times as a medic — but he finds the job rewarding. “You see the good and the bad. But the reward is you do see the bad and you see someone and if you save their life and they recover, that is the reward out of it,”Lewis says.

Lewis says he has seen the Iowa National Guard improve since the time he first joined in 1981. He has two more sergeant major steps in rank above him and he says he would like to continue up the command chain to one day become the Command Sergeant Major.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers got a lot of harvest work done last week, following three weeks of little activity due to nearly non-stop rain and muddy fields. The USDA crop report released Monday shows 29-percent of Iowa’s corn is out of the ground and 37-percent of the state’s soybeans are harvested. The corn harvest figure increased from 17-percent a week ago, while the soybean harvest jumped from 19-percent. Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist Daren Mueller says the wet weather in September and early October has resulted in reports of poor seed quality in soybeans. “Most fungi like moisture to grow and obviously the rains provided that,” Mueller says. “We’ve received a lot of calls on seed decay and other reports of discolored seeds, and I think this is either frog-eye leaf spot or cercospora leaf blight.”

The new USDA report rates 65-percent of Iowa’s soybeans in good-to-excellent condition and 35-percent between very poor and fair condition. Mueller says some farmers are reporting pod shatter in soybeans.
“Definitely that, and we’re also getting reports of seeds starting to germinate – both in corn and soybeans,” Mueller said. “I would say, in soybeans, having pods shatter would be the tricky thing (if) you’re not able to get into that field.”

Sixty-eight-percent of Iowa’s corn is rated in good-to-excellent condition. The USDA report notes the state’s corn harvest is three days ahead of last year, but four days behind the five-year average. Iowa’s soybean harvest is 12 days behind average and it’s also the smallest percentage of the crop harvested by October 21st since 1985.

(Radio Iowa) — More Iowans may end up available to serve on juries through a project underway at the Iowa Judicial Branch aimed at making jury pools more inclusive. The Jury Reform Commission wants to ensure African-Americans and other minorities are fairly represented. State court administrator Todd Nuccio says they hope to tap lists of Iowans registered with the Department of Revenue, in addition to the current lists from voting rolls and driver’s licenses: “Not so much because the Department of Revenue list is going to increase the number of names that we have access to,” Nuccio says, “but we know that the accuracy of the addresses are better from the Department of Revenue than they might be for the voter or driver lists.”

He explains why addresses from the Department of Revenue might be better.  “People are more likely to update their address with the Department of Revenue to get access to checks and other things than they are to update their addresses when it comes to those other source lists,” Nuccio says, “So, we’re working in that regard.”

Officials say the legislature may have to approve using the tax-collection agency’s information to summon jurors. The Jury Reform Commission also updated jury summons forms and introduced text reminders for jurors to show up in court. Nuccio spoke at the NAACP’s annual summit on disparities in the criminal justice system.

(with Thanks to Joyce Russell, Iowa Public Radio)

Police in Red Oak, early this (Tuesday) morning, arrested a man on an assault charge. 32-year old Dustin Keith Edie, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 2:50-a.m. at a residence off Skyline Drive, for Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding air and/or blood flow, and Child Endangerment, both aggravated misdemeanors. Edie was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held without bond.

(Radio Iowa) — The names of the two men killed in the Monday morning shooting in Fort Dodge have now been released. The victims are identified as 37-year-old Marion T. Rhodes and 34-year-old Eldominic Rhodes, both of Fort Dodge. The victims in this case are both brothers.

The bodies of both men were discovered just after midnight by police in an alleyway at 910 Second Avenue North. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting Fort Dodge Police in the shooting incident.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For all the anticipation about whether someone will finally snag the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot and the $620 million Powerball prize, the games come down to simple math and very long odds. But there are some quirks and surprises about the math equations that likely will soon vault someone into stratospheric wealth after the jackpots grew for months without a winner.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An investigator who helped uncover the sexual exploitation of 400 boys by an Iowa basketball coach says victims can still come forward to share their information. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Ryan Kedley says state and federal investigators have attempted to contact all 400 known victims of former Iowa Barnstormers Coach Greg Stephen, which he called a massive undertaking. But he says some individuals who were victimized haven’t been identified or contacted.

IOWA FALLS, Iowa (AP) — A hospital in north-central Iowa says it’s going to stop delivering babies. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Hansen Family Hospital in Iowa Falls announced last week that the doctor who performs most of the deliveries is leaving the hospital, so the deliveries will stop Nov. 23. Hospital CEO Doug Morse says it’s difficult to find doctors willing to deliver babies in a rural setting with its attendance malpractice risk and call burdens.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A grateful mother is thanking an emergency services dispatcher in eastern Iowa for calmly guiding her husband as he helped her deliver their baby daughter. Twenty-seven-year-old Kala Walker gave birth to little Kalee last week at home with her 29-year-old husband, Lee Walker, assisting. Kala Walker says Ben Sharpe at Muscatine County Joint Communications knew what to say to her husband and “knew how to walk him through it, which was wonderful.”

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were arrested on separate warrants last week. 38-year old Jennifer Marie Woollums, of Greenfield, was arrested Oct. 15th, and 64-year old Dale Douglas Custard, of Stuart, was arrested Oct. 18th. Both were arrested on Adair County warrants for Violation of Probation.

Woollums was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $2,000 cash only bond. Custard was released on his Own Recognizance.

In an attempt to head off troubles before they start, with regard to prescription drug abuse, Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater says he’s pleased to announce the addition of a Prescription Drug drop box to the lobby of the Adair County Public Safety Center.  The drug drop box is available 24 hours a day. If you arrive after business hours or if they lobby door is locked, just inform the dispatcher on the intercom of your desire to use the drug drop box and they will let you in. If any Adair County resident has difficulty or a hardship in getting to the Adair County Public Safety Center, you are welcome to call Sheriff Jeff Vandewater directly at (641) 743-2148, and he will make arrangements to personally pick up and dispose of your unneeded or unwanted prescription drugs.  The prescription drug drop-off box is made possible through a grant from the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy. 

Prescription drug diversion can be defined as the unlawful transfer of prescription drugs to people they were not originally prescribed for. Prescription drug abuse is a very real concern, even here in mostly rural Adair County.  The misuse of prescription drugs, especially narcotic painkillers (opioids) can have serious consequences.  When not used as directed, prescription drugs can lead to behavioral disorders, addiction and even death.   One of the biggest steps that we can take to avoid prescription drug diversion is to dispose of medications that are no longer needed or are outdated.

These same drugs unfortunately have become the target of theft and misuse, often times by people who have access to the residence where the prescription drugs are stored.  America’s 12-17 year olds have made prescription drugs the number one substance of abuse for their age group, and much of that supply is unwittingly coming from the medicine cabinets of their parents, grandparents and friends.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports 24-year old Joel Shawn Thomas White, of Atlantic, was charged Oct. 17th, with felony Ongoing Criminal Conduct (B Felony); three felony charges of Drug Trafficking (B Felonies); and three felony charges of Drug Tax Stamp Violation (D Felonies). White was already incarcerated at the Cass County Jail on felony charges of Possession with Intent to Deliver Marijuana (D Felony), Drug Tax Stamp Violation (D Felony), and, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a Simple Misdemeanor. White remains held at the Cass County Jail on $130,300 bond. On Oct. 17th also, 38-year old Peter A. Mualia, of Anita, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Mualia was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on his own recognizance.