SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – An October trial has been scheduled for one of three people accused of trying to pass counterfeit cash at Sioux City’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Court records say 29-year-old Brittany Derby entered a written plea of not guilty to a forgery charge last week in Woodbury County District Court. Her trial is set to begin Oct. 31.

Police say Derby, Kurt Jones and Jackelen Hartsock made several cash transactions at the casino on Aug. 5. Police say the bills were later found to be counterfeit. Jones and Hartsock also have pleaded not guilty.

Creston Police report the arrest early this morning of 32-year old William McKinley, of Winterset. McKinley was taken into custody at the Law Enforcement Center on a Union County Warrant for the charge of Theft 2nd. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The adoptive mother of a West Des Moines teenager who officials say was starved to death plans to use “diminished responsibility” as a murder trial defense. Polk County court records say notice of the defense was filed last week for 43-year-old Nicole Finn.

Finn has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in the death of 16-year-old Natalie Finn. Nicole Finn’s trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 23. The girl’s adoptive father, 46-year-old Joseph Finn II, has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, neglect or abandonment and child endangerment. His trial is set to begin Nov. 27.

Medical examiners say Natalie Finn died from emaciation due to denial of critical care.

A smattering of area School Board Elections (with contested races and/or issues) are being held today. The polls open at Noon and close at 8-p.m.

In Cass County, there is a race for two At Large seats (4-year terms) on the Griswold School Board. The candidates include Incumbent Robert D. Peterson, and Bruce Brunk, both of Griswold, and Aaron Houser, of Henderson.

In Adair County, there are two At Large seats up for grabs in the Nodaway Valley School District, and four candidates: James Campbell and Terri Lee Raasch, both of Fontanelle, as well as Maureen Lonsdale and Melissa Schwartz, both of Greenfield.

In Audubon County, voters in the Exira/EHK School District will determine the fate of a $3.9 million bond issue intended to improve District facilities. The improvements would include: new bleachers at the football field in Exira; updating the boiler in the Elk Horn building; upgrading air-conditioning and heating systems in the Exira building; upgrading the playground in Exira, and renovating a school parking lot in Exira.

In Montgomery County, two incumbents, Mark Lindgren and Brian Bates, face a challenge from Amy Tibben and Travis Taylor, for one of three seats on the Stanton School Board. And, there’s a Public Measure calling for the renewal of a 10-year Instructional Equipment levy for counties in the merged, Area 14 of Southwestern Community College. The question asks if the voters wish to continue the levy for another 10-years, beginning July 1st, 2018, at a rate not to exceed 6 cents per thousand dollars assessed value in any one year.

In Shelby County, in the IKM-Manning School District, Larry Blake and Amy Ferneding are vying for one open seat in Director District 1B, and five candidates are running for two At Large seats: Kathleen Blake; Mike Blum; Sam Hansen; Brandi Perdew, and Lucas Potthoff.

In Pottawattamie County, two people are running for one position on the AHSTW School Board in each of Director Districts 1, 4 and the At Large seat. Running in District 1 is Katie S. Goshorn and Angie Grote. In District 2: Bobbi L. Lund and Thomas J. Ryemyk. And running for the At Large seat is Jamie Coon and Bernadette Hatch.

Four people are running for two seats on the Treynor School Board: Lisa Chambers, Greg Goos, Mickey Stogdill and Brandon Vorthmann. And, in the Underwood School District, three people are hoping to fill two seats on the School Board: Jeff Bonsall; Ashleigh Robinson and Michelle Soloth.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The City Council has decided to establish an emergency medical services division to handle Sioux City 911 ambulance calls starting Jan. 1st. The council voted Monday to adopt a plan offered by Sioux City Fire Rescue Chief Tom Everett.

Siouxland Paramedics cited financial difficulties when it told the city last month that it would stop providing 911 services to Sioux City and North Sioux City by the end of the year. Sioux City considered two main replacement options: hire another private firm or offer the services through the city’s Public Safety Department.

A civilian paramedic/ambulance division now will be formed, employing 27 new full-time equivalent employees. The city won’t provide non-emergency transfers of patients or provide services to other communities.

Officials with the Page County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, said they were notified Saturday morning about a vehicle in the ditch about one-mile west of Clarinda, in the 2600 block of 220th Street. Deputies arriving at the scene located a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 in a pasture.  Their investigation determined the vehicle had been traveling west on 220th, when it left the roadway on the south side, traveled down a steep embankment, and crashed through a fence owned by Wendall Woldruff (of rural Clarinda), before the pickup came to rest in the pasture.  The vehicle was owned by  32-year old Cole Curtis Johnson, of College Springs.

During the investigation of the accident, it was determined Johnson driving the pickup  when the accident occurred at around 2:30-a.m., Saturday. Johnson failed to report the incident to the Sheriff’s Office, and was not at the scene of the accident when it was reported.  Deputies cited Johnson for Operating a non-registered vehicle.

Red Oak Police, Monday morning, arrested a man wanted on a Cass County warrant for Violation of Probation. 35-year old Paul Earl Lemburg, II, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:05-a.m., in the 100 block of N. 5th Street, in Red Oak. Lemburg was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond, pending extradition to Cass County.

School board elections are being held today (Tuesday), but a small segment of registered voters are expected to participate. Secretary of State Paul Pate is the state’s commissioner of elections. “This year alone we have 330 school districts roughly and over 900 school board positions on the ballot and when you only see four-to-seven percent turnout out to vote for those kind of positions, we can do better,” Pate says, “especially when you think about there are 480,000 K-12 kids in our public schools and it’s 60 percent of our state budget.”

This is the last time school board elections in Iowa will be held in September. Starting in 2019, school board elections will be held in November, on the same day as city elections. Today (Tuesday), there are many school board members who are unopposed as they seek another term. In addition, Pate says there are a number of ballots which show no candidate filed nominating papers to run, so the school board slot may be filled by a write-in candidate.

“The write-ins tend to have a higher role in some of these elections that have low turnouts,” Pate says. Pate says most of the people who step forward to serve on a school board tend to have children in the district. “Or they just have a real strong bond in wanting to see their education system be up to par,” Pate says. School board elections are managed by county auditors. Many school districts extend into more than one county. In those situations, the auditor in the county that has the greatest number of students from the district takes the lead in managing the school board election.

“It’s just like any other normal election, they’ll total ’em up this evening,” Pate says. “Most people, before they go to bed tonight, they’ll know who won the school board elections.” Some precincts open at 7 a.m., others at Noon. The polls close at 8 p.m. That’s an hour earlier than most elections in Iowa. Pate says the new voter verification procedures former Governor Terry Branstad approved this past spring do not go into effect until January.

(Radio Iowa)

A man and a 7-year old were injured during an ATV refueling accident Saturday afternoon, in Fremont County. Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports deputies were called to 2982 250th Avenue, just outside of Hamburg, at around 4:40-p.m., for a single vehicle ATV accident. The caller reported that while fueling-up an All Terran Vehicle, the fuel ignited and caught 43-year old Shane Daniel Adams and 7-year old Chevy Adams, both on fire.

The man and child were transported by Hamburg Rescue to Grape Community Hospital, for treatment of serious injuries. They were flown shortly thereafter by LifeNet, to Saint Eves Burn Center, in Lincoln, NE., for treatment of severe burns to their arms and legs.

No foul play was determined at the scene.