The latest area News from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former employee has been charged with sexually abusing a teenage resident at the Youth Emergency Services & Shelter in Des Moines. Court records say 20-year-old Zachary Campbell, of Urbandale, is charged with sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Campbell. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 29.

Polk County Jail records say he remained in custody Friday, pending $22,000 bail. Shelter officials say Campbell no longer works there.

Allow extra time for your morning commute as there are plenty of ice or snow covered roads per @iowadot. Especially watch out for untreated secondary roads and parking lots.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man who assaulted a police officer after a traffic stop in eastern Iowa has been sent to federal prison. Prosecutors say 36-year-old Erwin “Duffy” Bell, from Clinton, was given 20 years and eight months during sentencing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He’d pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Prosecutors say he was a passenger in a car that was pulled over on Feb. 4 along U.S. Highway 30 in Mount Vernon. He struck the officer and fled but was soon run down and taken into custody after another violent struggle. Officers say they founded a loaded firearm on the ground nearby.

A study by University of Iowa researchers finds accidents between passenger and farm vehicles end up being a lot worse when alcohol is involved. Lead investigator Kari (Kerry) Harland says
it shows another reason to lay off alcohol when you are driving. She says the proportion was small with only three percent of all the crashes they studied had an alcohol-impaired driver involved, but of the 61 crashes, 75 percent had an injury or fatality.  And she says the non-farmers ended up worse off than the farmers. “In our study, the person most likely to be injured — and this is what previous studies have found — is the person who is in the passenger car,” Harland says.

Harland says the drivers of other vehicles already were at a disadvantage. She says collision between motor vehicles and farm equipment are more likely anyway to result in an injury because of the size of the farm equipment. Harland says the study shows another reason why you need to be alert to farm machinery, and why you should never drink and drive. Harland says a previous study by her colleagues found it was already hard for those drivers who hadn’t been drinking to judge the speed of farm vehicles. “And if there is not a shoulder and you try to pass them, it can get very complicated, even for unimpaired drivers,” Harland says.

The study found a greater percentage of the alcohol-impaired crashes occurred at night and on weekends, which she says not surprisingly coincides with the main times farmers are moving equipment.

(Radio Iowa)

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

OAKLAND, Iowa (AP) — An autopsy blames a fire for the deaths of a driver and teenager who were killed when a school bus burst into flames in western Iowa. An autopsy by the Iowa State Medical Examiner released Wednesday found that 16-year-old Megan Klindt and 74-year-old Donnie Hendricks died Dec. 12 from smoke and soot inhalation and thermal injuries. Their deaths were found to not be related to injuries from a crash. It’s unclear what caused the bus to burst into flames near Oakland.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced a date early next year for a special election to fill a state House seat. Reynolds says in a Thursday press release that the election for state House District 6 will be held on Jan. 16. District 6 covers areas of Woodbury County in northwest Iowa. The seat became vacant after Rep. Jim Carlin, a Sioux City Republican, was elected to the Senate in a special election earlier this month.

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — The former director of a southeast Iowa boarding school testified he never hurt students, at times tearfully rejecting charges he sexually and physically abused children before the school was closed in 2016. The Burlington Hawk Eye reports Benjamin Trane broke down on the witness stand Wednesday in South Lee County District Court during three hours of questioning by his attorney. He’s pleaded not guilty to sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and child endangerment charges.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Delhi city clerk has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $100,000 from the eastern Iowa city. U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade sentenced former Delhi City Clerk Angela Billings, of Anamosa, to 15 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay $133,915 in restitution to Delhi. Billings acknowledged stealing more than $100,000 from Delhi by using the city’s credit card for personal expenses and adjusting her utility bill. The thefts were from 2007 to 2015.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, reviewed the renewal rates for the County’s full funded health insurance program (member of Iowa State Association of Counties [ISAC] Group Health Program).  Auditor Dale Sunderman said the rates will go into effect July 1, 2018.  The county’s plan base rate has increased 11.61%.  The county also buys down the full funded plan deductibles and out of pocket to a lower deductible and out of pocket amount using a third party administrator (TPA).  The board decided to offer flexible spending accounts beginning January 1, 2018 using the same TPA.  The board proposed increasing the employee contribution towards premium by $30 per month.

And, the County Compensation Board met December 12, 2017 and submitted its recommendations for compensation of Cass County’s elected officers for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018.  The recommended annual compensation schedule was: Auditor, Recorder and Treasurer $60,000; Sheriff $79,000; full time county attorney $100,000; and each supervisor $30,000.  The Board of Supervisors officially receive and act upon the recommendations at the public hearing on the county budget in March of 2018.  At the hearing, the recommendations are reviewed and the board determines whether or not to reduce the recommended increases and determine the final compensation schedule which shall not exceed the recommendations.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy remains weak in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states, but it improved slightly. The overall economic index for the region grew to 47.8 in December from 44.7 in November, but any score below 50 suggests a shrinking economy in the months ahead. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says low commodity prices and concerns about trade continue to weigh on the economy in rural areas.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

The Iowa State Patrol reports a man from Denison was injured during a single-vehicle accident Wednesday afternoon, about two-miles west of Vail, in Crawford County. 68-year old Donald Ladehoff was traveling west on Highway 30 at around 2:20-p.m., when he lost control of the 2010 Hyundai Elantra he was driving. The car went off the road to the left and came to rest in the south ditch. Ladehoff, who was wearing his seat belt, was transported by Crawford County Ambulance to the Crawford County Hospital. The accident remains under investigation.

The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office along with Vail EMT & Fire assisted at the scene.