WELLSBURG, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a man killed in a weekend crash in northern Iowa. The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office identified the man Monday as 51-year-old Scott VanGorder, who lived in Evansdale. The crash was reported shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday on U.S. Highway 20 near Wellsburg in Grundy County, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) west of Iowa Highway 14.

Deputies say the vehicle was headed west when it ran off the north shoulder and entered a ditch, striking a fence and a tree. VanGorder was pronounced dead at the scene.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska dentist has been sentenced to 10 months for submitting fraudulent bills to Nebraska and Iowa Medicaid programs. Authorities say 59-year-old Gregory Garro, of Omaha, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. He was ordered to pay restitution of more than $82,500 to the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department and more than $4,700 to Iowa’s Inspections and Appeals Department. Garro pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud. He originally was indicted on 24 counts. Authorities say Garro provided dental services at several nursing homes in Omaha and in Iowa and submitted false claims between Feb. 12, 2013, and Jan. 22, 2016.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County report a possible “rolling disturbance” between the occupants of two vehicles, Monday afternoon, resulted in the arrest of a Nebraska man. At the time of the call, the vehicles were located on Rolling Hills L-P property. The suspect, 19-year old Cody Grant Smith, of Omaha, left the scene, but his 2013 Hyundai Sonata was located traveling northbound on Wabash Ave. His car was stopped and a investigation started. Smith was found to be revoked in the state of Iowa. He was taken into custody on the moving violation.

The Griswold School Board, during their regular monthly meeting, Monday evening, made some changes to the Student Handbook. Superintendent Dave Henrichs told KJAN News the most significant change is with regard to backpacks. Next year students at the High School will not be allowed to carry around backpacks for safety reasons, including because some classrooms are too small for all those backpacks and it’s hard to get around. Another is that it reduces the potential for concealing anything inappropriate.

Henrichs said also, the Board also filled some open teacher and sponsor positions. Those include Kelly Williams – Science Teacher; Donna Forsythe – yearbook sponsor; Alex Wulkekuhle as 3^rd Grade Teacher in Elliott; Amy Smith as Co-Music and Co-Speech sponsor; Larissa Potter as Cross Country Coach. He said they’re still trying to find a Middle School/High School TAG (Talented and Gifted) Teacher for a couple of hours per day. The Griswold School Board also discussed the sale of the District’s Elementary buildings in Lewis Griswold, since those students will be combined into the new facility.

He said they’re putting together a proposal for a bid, with advertising to begin on or about August 1^st. The bid request will not only request an offer on each building, but what the buyer intends to use them for as well as how they plan to maintain each building. The bids will be due by November 1^st, with the prospective buyers meeting with the School Board and either the Lewis or Elliott City Council. The Council will determine who has the best plan to maintain the structures, which was important to the District’s patrons, who didn’t want the buildings to fall into disrepair and become an eyesore.

The Board also discussed, but took no action on crosswalks. Henrichs said they’ve been working with City officials to make sure once the new building is erected the kids have a safe way to get there. Their initial goals are to get some speed zones reduced from 45 or 35 down to 25, especially on Highway 48, and have push-button crosswalk traffic control devices installed at strategic locations so kids could cross safely. In both case, they found they have to work with the DOT, and the City of Griswold is leading the way with that effort. The DOT, Henrichs said, will not allow push-button crosswalks to be installed unless there are sidewalks leading to those areas, which is very expensive. The City, he said is exploring ways to fund those crosswalks. In the interim, four-way stop signs near the school may be erected to further try and keep the kids safe.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two men who shot at each other in downtown Cedar Rapids are claiming a legal shield from prosecution under Iowa’s “stand your ground” law. The Des Moines Register reports that Michael Hodges Jr., of Cedar Rapids, and Zevon Johnson, of Urbandale, have pleaded not guilty and say the law passed last year makes them immune from prosecution. Security video shows them exchanging gunfire Jan. 28 outside a downtown Cedar Rapids bar and restaurant. Johnson was wounded; Hodges was not.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder. The law says a person doesn’t have to retreat before using deadly force if he or she thinks his or her life is being threatened.

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

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a woman was found intoxicated in her Des Moines home after her 8-year-old son wandered to a neighborhood gathering. Polk County Court records say 35-year-old Morgan Brown-Edmundson is charged with three counts of child endangerment and is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 2nd. Neighbors called police Sunday after the boy showed up at a neighborhood gathering. He told adults there he was worried about his mom because he couldn’t awaken her. Officers found her asleep and intoxicated and a 6-year-old child and a 2-year-old passed out or sleeping. A criminal complaint says the 8-year-old told officers his mom regularly makes him and his siblings ingest sleeping pills and other medicines to make them sleep during the day.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports four people were arrested on drug charges, Monday. At around 10:24-p.m., Deputies arrested three people at the Viking Lake State Park campground. 19-year old Christopher Bermejo-Pimentel and 18-year old Manuel Carrillo, both of Waterloo, were arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance. And, 21-year old Juan Daniel Jaime-Hernandez, also of Waterloo, was arrested for Possession of drug paraphernalia. Jaime-Hernandez was cited into court and released at the scene. Bermejo-Pimentel and Carrillo were transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where their bonds were set at $1,000 each.

And, 55-year old Bruce Warren Fitzwater, of Villisca, was arrested at around 6:34-p.m. in the 800 block of N. Broadway in Red Oak. He was charged with Possession of drug paraphernalia and held on a $300 bond. At the same time and location, 63-year old Jeff E. Mendenhall, of Corning, was arrested for Driving While License Revoked. His bond was set at $1,000. Deputies were assisted during the traffic stop by the Montgomery County K9 Unit.

At around 11-p.m. Monday, 39-year old Becky Jo Brace, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 100 block of W. Coolbaugh Street, in Red Oak. She was charged with Unlawful use of a credit card, and theft in the 5th Degree. Brace’ bond was set at $2,000.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Parole has granted work release to a woman convicted in 2004 of fatally shooting her husband and leaving his body in a bedroom for more than a year. The Des Moines Register reports 50-year-old Dixie Shanahan Duty, of Defiance, was granted work release earlier in June.

Duty acknowledged killing her husband, Scott Shanahan, but said it was in self-defense. She argued her husband had battered and verbally abused her. A jury convicted Duty of second-degree murder, a conviction that carried a sentence of 50 years. Shortly before leaving office Gov. Tom Vilsack commuted her sentence so she only had to serve a minimum of 10 years before being eligible for parole.

When she begins work release, Duty will be able to leave a work release center for a job. Corrections Department spokesman Cord Overton says the center could later recommend that she be paroled. The parole board would make the final decision.

As of Monday, she remained in the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville, east of Des Moines. Prosecutors say Duty used a shotgun to kill her husband while he slept in August 2002. She told people he’d left the community.