CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Officials have identified two people killed in a head-on crash in eastern Iowa. The Linn County Sheriff’s office said Saturday in a news release that 22-year-old Kaelonnie Moore and 43-year-old Darla Moander, both of Cedar Rapids, where killed in the late Friday night crash.

Officials say the crash happened on Highway 151 near Cedar Rapids when a southbound vehicle tried to pass another car and hit a northbound vehicle head-on. Investigators say Moore was passenger in the passing vehicle and Moander was the driver and lone occupant of the northbound vehicle.

Deputies say the 22-year-old Cedar Rapids woman driving the southbound vehicle was taken to a hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

The crash remains under investigation.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports that 19-year-old Chelsea Leeann Adams of Atlantic turned herself in to the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office on Friday on outstanding warrants. Adams has been charged with 12 counts of Aiding and Abetting the Violation of a No Contact Order. The charges stem from the investigation into a no contact order being violated by an inmate at the Audubon County Jail.

Sheriff’s Officials reported Thursday that a current inmate at the jail, 28-year-old Joseph Dean White of Exira, received additional charges of 15 counts of Violation of a No Contact Order in the same case.

Adams and White are both also being charged with Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia after a search warrant was executed at White’s home at 311 West Washington Street in Exira as part of the investigation.

Adams was booked into the Audubon County Jail and held on $2,300 bond. White was reported on Thursday as being held in the Audubon County Jail on $11,500 bond.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reported the arrest of a Red Oak man on drug charges Friday morning. At 9:00am Deputies arrested 34-year-old Bryan David Sapp Jr. of Red Oak on a charge of Delivery of Methamphetamine, a class C Felony. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $10,000 cash bond. Sapp Jr. was also just arrested the night before in Red Oak for Interference with Official Acts.

A northwest Iowa woman ended a 31-year career as a 9-1-1 dispatcher on Thursday — a career highlighted by a plane crash with nearly 300 people on board. Louise Keleher says she’ll remember many calls, but none more vividly than the emergency summon she answered 28 years ago.

“Probably the biggest call of all was the crash of Flight 232. I was working fire radio that day. I took the call from the tower and I’m the one who sent out the fire rigs and the ambulances that day,” Keleher said. The crash of United Flight 232 in Sioux City on July 19, 1989 killed 111 people. Another 185 survived. The plane’s crew and emergency responders were praised for their actions in the incident that most thought would not be survivable.

Keleher landed the dispatcher’s job after answering a newspaper ad. She noted the technology to dispatch emergency crews has changed dramatically since her first day on the job. “We had one computer. We did not have anything that we have today. So, everything was hand written on cards and dispatched that way,” Keleher said.

Louise Keleher

While Keleher’s calm demeanor has helped many people in need over the years, the job is often stressful and isn’t ideal for just anyone.

“You miss a lot of family time because you work holidays and weekends,” Keleher said. “It’s something you really have to commit to and have your family’s support before you can do this kind of job.” Keleher’s son is a lieutenant with Sioux City Fire Rescue and has been dispatched on calls by his mother. A reception for Keleher was held Thursday at Sioux City Police and Fire headquarters.

(Radio Iowa)

The Adams County Sherrif’s Office reports the arrest early Saturday morning of a Creston man on drug charges. At 1:03am a traffic stop was conducted near the Adams/Taylor County line on a vehicle operated by Paul Lee Albrechsten of Creston.  After investigation Deputies found Albrechsten to be in possession of a white crystalline substance that tested positive for methamphetamine. An additional baggie of the substance was found in his wallet along with a small straw in a cup holder that had residue.  Albrechsten was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance 1st Offense (Methamphetamine) and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.  He was taken to the Adams County Jail and held on $1,300 cash only bond until seen by the Magistrate.

Taylor County Sheriff’s Officials assisted with the arrest.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports three separate arrests Friday and early Saturday.

On Friday at 7:03pm Deputies arrested 26-year-old Michael Ryan Weeden of Red Oak in the 200 block of East Corning Street in Red Oak. He was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and had a valid Adams County Arrest warrant for Willful Injury-Causing Serious Injury. Weeden was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on no bond.

At 10:47pm Friday Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 23-year-old Diego Miguel Juaquin of Red Oak in the 200 block of West Oak Street in Red Oak. He was charged with Driving While Revoked. Juaquin was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and is being held on $300 bond.

Early Saturday morning at 2:44am Deputies arrested 40-year-old Jason Alan Bills of Atlantic in the 1200 block of Highway 71 for OWI 1st Offense. Bills was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 bond.

Iowa’s treasurer says Gov. Kim Reynolds’ plan to tap an emergency fund to address a budget shortfall is not compliant with state law.

Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald sent a letter to Reynolds on Friday that says revenue tied to the state budget that ended in June did not drop below a certain legal threshold. Since revenue didn’t meet that threshold, Fitzgerald says funds can’t legally be transferred from the state’s economic emergency fund.

Reynolds announced recently that a shortfall to last year’s $7.2 billion budget wouldn’t trigger a special legislative session. She said she would instead transfer $13 million from the fund.

Multiple messages left with the Republican governor were not immediately returned Friday.

Fitzgerald says he wants Reynolds to carefully review the budget numbers before she formally taps the fund.

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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ staff is dismissing a letter from the state treasurer that questions the legality of a budgetary move aimed at addressing a shortfall.

Reynolds’ press secretary Brenna Smith criticized Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald Friday by saying he and other Democrats should “quit manufacturing problems.”

Fitzgerald sent a letter Friday to the Republican governor about the $7.2 billion state budget that ended in June. He says revenue tied to the budget did not drop below a certain legal threshold that’s needed for tapping an emergency fund.

Smith says Fitzgerald is reviewing the wrong numbers. Fitzgerald disagrees with that assessment, but he says he won’t formally challenge Reynolds. He warned Reynolds could open herself up to inquiries from others if she ignores the letter.

(re-posting due to earlier coding error) A western Iowa native who now lives in Puerto Rico says riding out Hurricane Irma followed by another hit from Hurricane Maria has been a horrible experience that’s left most of the island devastated. Sadie Gray, who’s originally from Denison, says she is getting by but there’s little left of the island and what’s there is battered from the one-two punch from the hurricanes.

“We were still hurting from Irma and Irma wasn’t even that bad for us,” Gray says. “Before Maria came, we had friends (nearby) who still didn’t have power and this was two weeks after Irma came to town. People haven’t had power for going on almost a month now. We got our power back after Irma, three days after she was done. We’re still on generator power.” Gray says the whole island is suffering.

“It’s a mess,” she says. “I’m standing in my back yard right now because it’s where I get a good cell signal and I’m looking at what used to be a forest. It’s just naked, broken, sad trees.” Gray says her water was turned on two days after the storm and they have a filtration system, so it’s okay to drink and they stocked up on bottled water prior to the storm. She says gasoline for generators and vehicles is one of the hottest commodities on the island right now.

“Personally, we’re okay, we’ll be fine through this whole thing,” Gray says. “It’s just a matter of riding it out, but there are so many people here who don’t have fresh water to drink. They haven’t had power for weeks and they are definitely not okay.” Another thing that’s in short supply on Puerto Rico is patience, as there is a lot of standing around, waiting in line.

“There are people at the grocery store every single day because they don’t have any way to refrigerate their food because they don’t have any power or generators,” she says. “The grocery lines are almost as ridiculous as the lines at the gas stations.” There are also lines at automatic teller machines that could be two-to-four hours long on the hopes of withdrawing $20, if there’s any money left at all. Without power, credit and debit cards are useless. Some people are getting up in the middle of the night to get in line to get gas to run their generators.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Karla James in Omaha)

A spokesperson for the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund said Friday (today), that she was “Happy to present Gaylord Schelling a check to cover the improvements to the pitching mound, batters box and catchers box.” The Funds’ Melanie Petty said in a Press Release that “All areas were reconstructed with the pitching mound being raised up around 3-4″. With fall just starting it’s exciting to see what will be new at the Atlantic High School Baseball field in the spring. We look forward to watching the Trojans play ball and can’t wait to help with their next project.”