DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A recent survey has found Iowa residents are struggling to find child care in communities that lack options or have few providers. Researchers with the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., think tank, last year surveyed U.S. Census tracts in 22 states, the Telegraph Herald reported . They found that about half of the population that they studied lived in neighborhoods or communities that lacked child care services. Researchers said 24 percent of Iowa residents live in child care deserts, places where child care is scant. That figure jumped to 37 percent in rural areas.

Cascade and portions of Dubuque are located inside a child care desert, according to the study. Large parts of Clayton, Delaware and Jackson counties are also considered to be child care deserts. Mary Janssen is the regional director of Iowa Child Care Resource & Referral of Northeast Iowa. She said reasons for the shortfall are multifaceted. “We’ve seen a big group of providers in our area retire,” she said. “We also see providers that need health care benefits. They need things to support their family. We see providers that don’t want to deal with the regulations.”

About 42 percent of children nationally were cared for by a relative, including a parent, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey. Another 7 percent were care for by a nonrelative in their home or a caretaker’s home.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The wife of a man being sought in a fatal Des Moines hit-and-run crash has been arrested in the case. Police say 31-year-old Jennifer McGilvrey, of Newton, was arrested Friday and charged with permitting an unauthorized person to operate a motor vehicle. Police say she allowed her husband, Anthony McGilvrey, to drive her sport utility vehicle on July 28 knowing that he wasn’t licensed to drive. Police say while driving that day, Anthony McGilvrey hit a bicyclist, identified as Darrel Ford, who later died.

An arrest warrant has been issued charging Anthony McGilvrey with leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. He has yet to be found or turn himself in. Police say the red SUV he was driving was found Wednesday abandoned and hidden in a rural area east of Mitchellville.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa man who fatally hit a Des Moines motorcyclist in 2016 and fled the scene has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Television station KCCI reports that 67-year-old Jack Janda was sentenced in a Polk County courtroom Friday. He had earlier entered an Alford plea to vehicular homicide by reckless driving in the death of motorcyclist 57-year-old Joseph Davis of Des Moines. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped charges of vehicular homicide by operating while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Police say Janda swerved his pickup around Davis’ motorcycle at the end of a construction zone, causing the bike to hit another vehicle.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — A day after police in southeastern Iowa engaged in a deadly shootout that left one man dead and another seriously injured, authorities have not released the names of the suspects or officers involved. The shootout happened Friday afternoon after police received a report of people with guns in an outdoor area near Liberty Elementary. Arriving officers say they encountered several suspects and that at least one of them fired at officers, who fired back, killing one suspect and injuring another who remained hospitalized Saturday. A third suspect was arrested quickly.

The Ottumwa Courier reports that a fourth suspect was arrested Friday evening after he was found hiding in a wooded area near Ottumwa. No one else was injured in the shootout. Officials say two officers were treated for dehydration during the search for the fourth suspect. Police have not released details about what led the suspects to be armed near the school, which spent hours on lockdown Friday.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Police in southeastern Iowa say one person is dead and another injured following a shootout with officers that sent a nearby elementary school into lockdown. The Ottumwa Courier reports that the shootout happened Friday after police received a report around 1:40 p.m. of people with guns outside near Liberty Elementary.

Ottumwa Police Chief Tom McAndrew says that when officers arrived, the suspects and officers exchanged gunfire. The shooting left one suspect dead. McAndrew says another suspect was taken to a local hospital with “very serious injuries.” He says another person was arrested and a fourth suspect initially was on the run. Police confirmed Friday evening that the fourth suspect was arrested.

Students and staff at Liberty Elementary were taken to a shelter inside the school guarded by police and remained there until late Friday afternoon.

(Radio Iowa) — More than four-dozen Iowa communities will be taking part in next week’s National Night Out. The events are always held on the first Tuesday of August. Hamilton County Sheriff Doug Timmons says it’s an effort to foster relationships between law enforcement and the towns they service.

“This is community-based policing to get people to come out and see who we are, see that we’re everyday citizens,” Sheriff Timmons says. “Come and look at our stuff, come and have a quick meal. We have games for the kids, handouts for the kids. We have blue light bulbs so people can help support us. We’ll have a lot of fun activities and a lot of donated stuff.” The National Association of Town Watch launched the event in 1984 and now thousands of communities nationwide take part every year. Matt Peskin is the event’s national project coordinator.

Peskin says, “On this night, people go outside with their neighbors and local police and they host block parties, cookouts, parades, festivals, all different types of things to get people out, meeting their neighbors, meeting local law enforcement, and hopefully strengthening crime prevention and safety in their areas.”

To see if your community is participating in National Night Out, visit: www.natw.org. Here’s a list of some of area towns registered as having events: Bridgewater, Carroll, Carter Lake, Council Bluffs, and Red Oak.

Today: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 10am and 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 84. S @ 11-21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 69. S@ 8 -17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. SSW @ 9-13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. S @ 6 -10 mph becoming north northwest in the afternoon.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 87.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 87.

On August 3, 2018, at approximately 11:27 p.m, officers of the Red Oak Police Department arrested 35 year old Jamie Leigh Flynn in the 900 block of E. Hammond Street for driving while suspended and failure to have SR-22 Insurance.  Flynn was transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center where she is being held on $1000 cash bond.

On August 3, 2018, at approximately 9:58 p.m. the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office arrested TIMOTHY JAMES KIRSCH, 34, OF OMAHA, NE, on a valid Polk County Warrant for Criminal Mischief 4th Degree and Assault causing bodily injury following a traffic stop at Highway 34 at the 47 mile marker. Kirsch was also charged with interference with official acts following multiple incidents during transport. Kirsch was being held on $300 bond and no bond on the warrant in the Montgomery County Jail.

Officials with the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa said Friday, a District Judge sentenced 45-year old Dale Volney Freeman, of Council Bluffs, to prison for 10-years (120 months), for possession of methamphetamine. Freeman was also ordered to serve seven years of supervised release following his imprisonment and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund.

Freeman pled guilty to the charge on March 23rd, 2018. The case arose from officers being called to a local motel for a disturbance involving a man with a gun trying to break into a room. When officers arrived they determined that an unknown male had been trying to get into a room which had been rented by Freeman. Officers then found methamphetamine in Freeman’s motel room. Freeman was located in another room where he had over 250 grams of pure methamphetamine. Freeman was also carrying approximately $1,600 cash.

The matter was investigated by Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force and the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation Lab. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.