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

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

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FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a refrigerator likely touched off an explosion of natural gas that ripped through a house in Fort Dodge. The four residents had just been told to leave the house when the blast occurred Feb. 14. Two were unharmed. Two were taken to a hospital. The Messenger reports that officials think the gas had migrated into the house through the soil and that the refrigerator compressor turning on provided the spark of ignition. Investigators have yet to confirm whether the leak was caused when a city public works crew stuck a gas line while repairing a broken water main in front of the house.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A former Dubuque police officer who stole from his employer has been sent to prison. The Telegraph Herald reports that 32-year-old Kyle Cross was given five years for the theft and 10 years for a sexual abuse conviction because the theft conviction violated terms of his probation. The sentences will be served at the same time.

Cross said January when he pleaded guilty that he wasn’t responsible for all the nearly $7,200 in cash and merchandise stolen from Boost Mobile, a Dubuque cellphone store. He said the loss was between $1,300 and $1,500. Authorities say an employee that Cross fired contacted the store owner about thefts that he and Cross committed when they pocketed payments for phone repairs and fraudulently reported paying people to hold business signs on a sidewalk.

If you’ve ever stumbled across an object in an Iowa corn field which you think may be a dinosaur bone or a stone tool from an earlier civilization, now’s the time to have your questions answered. An Archaeology Road Show is planned for this weekend at the Whiterock Conservancy in Coon Rapids, according to executive director Dan Gudahl. “This is one event that we’ve held for a couple of years now that encourages people to come in and bring whatever they’ve got that they know what it is — or they don’t know what it is — that may have some sort of history to it, whether it be artifacts from Native Americans or fossils or rocks or whatever,” Gudahl says.

Two experts from the Office of the State Archaeologist will be at the conservancy on Saturday to analyze whatever potential treasures Iowans may bring in. “It’s quite amazing to see fossilized bones from past eras, epochs, that are from animals that are now extinct,” Gudahl says. “That’s quite unusual.”  In past years, items brought in typically date from long before Iowa became a state to its first human inhabitants, things like arrowheads, axe heads and shards of pottery. “This year, we’ve got a fellow that’s going to bring in a large rock-bowl, carved out of rock that was used for grinding,” Gudahl says. “He was just using it as a dog bowl, like for feeding his dog, and determined, hey, this has some archaeological significance.”

From 1 to 3 P-M Saturday, the experts will examine items brought in by the public with a discussion from 3 to 4 P-M. The event is free at the Bur Oak Visitors’ Center at Whiterock Conservancy on Highway 141 in Coon Rapids. (more at www.whiterockconservancy.org)

(Radio Iowa)

Three people were arrested Tuesday night, in Red Oak. Red Oak Police say 38-year old Jacob Ray Hill, of Red Oak, was arrested a little after 10-p.m., for Driving While Suspended. Hill was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond. Just after 8-p.m., Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 35-year old William James Bartlett, and 33-year old Sunshine Marie Bartlett, both of Red Oak. They were taken into custody in the 100 block of E. Corning Street in Red Oak, for Violation of No Contact Orders. Their bonds were set at $300 each.

A new analysis from the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency indicates the tax plan Senate Republicans may debate as soon as today (Wednesday) would cut Iowans’ taxes by 200 million dollars next year.

The state has a more than seven-point-two BILLION dollar budget this year. Five years from now, the new analysis indicates the state will be taking in more than a billion dollars less in tax revenue if the Senate G-O-P’s plan becomes law. Democrats say that would “break the state budget” and is “more fiscally irresponsible than first imagined.”

Republicans in the Senate use the word “bold” to describe their tax plan and say it will stimulate the state’s economy, although they promise to cut the budget as well. Republicans in the HOUSE are using Republican Governor Kim Reynolds’ tax proposal as their starting point. Reynolds has called for cutting income taxes for individuals now, but waiting ’til later to cut the state’s income tax on corporations. Her plan would reduce taxes by one-point-seven BILLION over six years. The Senate Republican plan would reduce taxes by more than four BILLION over the next five years.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa House has unanimously approved a bill to address some of the gaps in Iowa’s system for providing mental health care services and substance abuse treatment. Representative Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta, says it’s been “heart-wrenching” to hear from Iowans who’ve been unable to find “a clear path” to proper services. “We’re making steps forward,” Lundgren said. “The work is never done, but today we can tell Iowans that mental health care matters.”

The bill primarily outlines new policies. For example, supporters believe a regulatory change will boost the number of spaces for patients who are not having an acute mental health care crisis, but who need still need residential care. The bill also seeks to relieve police of the duty of transporting Iowans suffering a mental health crisis. Patients instead could be transported by private services that have secured vehicles and trained drivers. Representative Timi Brown-Powers, a Democrat from Waterloo who’s a nurse, is among a bipartisan group that worked on the legislation. “This bill, we know, is not perfect. This definitely is a start,” Brown-Powers said. “We needed to start somewhere because we were in the negative zone.”

According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the state has “consistently” ranked among the bottom five states in programs and services available to mentally ill Iowans. Representative Mary Mascher of Iowa City notes the bill that passed the House primarily deals with mental health care services for adults. “We still do not have that and the needs for that population are just as great, if not greater, than for our adult population,” Mascher says.

The bill calls for designating six “access centers” around the state where health care professionals are available to assess patients of any age who may not need to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

(Radio Iowa)

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

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Police in southeastern Iowa say two people have died in a crash that began with the theft of a pizza delivery car. The Ottumwa Courier reports that the crash happened Monday night after a 21-year-old man delivering pizza was assaulted and his delivery car stolen. Police say shortly after the assault, the car was involved in a crash with another vehicle on Highway 34, killing the assailant and the other driver.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A trial date has been set for Chris Soules, the Iowa farmer-turned-reality television celebrity who is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Judge Andrea Dryer signed an order Tuesday setting a four-day jury trial for Nov. 7 in Independence. Soules appeared on “The Bachelor” and “Dancing With The Stars” in 2015 and became a television celebrity. However, after returning home to his family’s northern Iowa farm, he struck a tractor driven by a neighbor on April 24 last year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Senate has approved a bill that would ban automated traffic enforcement cameras in the state, though its future is unclear. The Republican-controlled chamber voted 32-18 Tuesday for the legislation, which would prohibit devices tracking vehicles that speed or run a red light. The measure heads to the GOP-majority House, where leadership hasn’t commented on its chances. A separate bill in the Legislature would instead add regulations for such cameras.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says talks will continue on a dispute over the future of the renewable fuel standard, which has pitted lawmakers from corn-producing states against those representing refineries. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says President Donald Trump had a productive meeting Tuesday with four Republican senators. The White House says Trump has been clear about his commitment to the fuel standard and his support for farmers and energy workers.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Police in southeastern Iowa say two people have died in a crash that began with the theft of a pizza delivery car in Ottumwa. The Ottumwa Courier reports that the crash happened Monday night after a 21-year-old man delivering pizza was assaulted and his delivery car stolen. He was treated at a hospital for a cut to his face.

Police say shortly after the assault, the car was involved in a crash with another vehicle on Highway 34. The Iowa State Patrol says 28-year-old Nathaniel Wesley Stroud, of Centerville, was driving the stolen vehicle and was speeding and going the wrong way on the highway when he crashed into a vehicle driven by 34-year-old Summer Leanne Cox, of Allerton. Both Stroud and Cox died at the scene.