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

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Red Oak Police arrested a man from Polk County early this morning. Authorities say 30-year old Seth Allen Simmons, of Des Moines, was arrested at around 3:15-a.m. for Trespass, Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree, and urinating in public. Simmons was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

Sheriff’s Officials in Adams County say two Union County women were arrested on drug charges at around 1:25-a.m. today (Friday), following a traffic stop. The driver of the vehicle, Amber Dawn Miller, and passenger, Pamela Dea Claiser,both of Creston, weres found to be in possession of a glass smoking devices used to ingest methamphetamine. Miller also had a small baggie of marijuana

The women were brought to the Adams County Jail, where Miller and Claiser were each charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Miller was also charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/Meth – 1st offense. Her cash bond was set at $1,300, while Claiser’s cash bond was set at $300.

Police in Red Oak Thursday night, arrested a man on two counts each of trespassing and theft in the 3rd degree. 36-year old Luke Daniel Rinehart, of Red Oak, was taken into custody a little after 11-p.m. in the 400 block of E. Joy Street. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond was set at $2,000. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted Red Oak Police in making the arrest.

A lot of Iowans are calling the Iowa Department of Revenue asking about the status of their tax return. Victoria Daniels is spokeswoman for the agency. “A lot is an understatement,” Daniels said, laughing.More than half as many income tax refunds have been issued this year in Iowa compared to last year at this time. “It’s been crazy,” Daniels said. “People are upset, they’re frustrated, and sometimes they’re not very nice.”

The issue isn’t unique to Iowa. Many states are warning that income tax refunds may take several months. The reason refunds are taking longer involves new protections against fraud. “The incidents of tax refund fraud has just skyrocketed in the last five years or so,” Daniels said. “There’s been some (fraud), to some extent, for a long time, but just within the last five years, it’s just out of control.”

Another factor in the refund delay is a new federal law requiring the IRS to hold refunds until February 15 for people who claim certain tax credits. The federal agency conducts an additional review of those returns that are considered especially vulnerable to fraud. Daniels suggests taxpayers get used to waiting longer for their returns. “We’ve been telling taxpayers to allow at least eight weeks before the even think about seeing a return show up,” Daniels said.

And instead of calling the Iowa Department of Revenue to check on a return, Daniels wants Iowans to visit the agency’s website. “We have an app on our website called Where’s My Refund? You just need your social security number, the amount of your return, and the tax year you filed for, and that will give you the status of your refund,” Daniels said.

Iowa has issued just under $142 million in income tax refunds on 2016 returns as of March 24. “Comparatively to last year, that’s about 58-percent less — both in terms of dollars and number of checks that have been issued,” Daniels said. The Iowa Department of Revenue received more than 10,000 fake tax returns for the 2015 filing season, according to Daniels.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A fast-moving Iowa bill would eliminate the public’s right to access 911 calls involving emergencies in which people are injured, sealing key information about public safety. The House passed the measure this month, and a Senate committee approved it Thursday. The bill declares that 911 calls involving injured victims are medical records and exempt from Iowa’s open records law. Calls involving juveniles would all be confidential.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The long-time best friend of former lottery computer technician Eddie Tipton is poised to testify at trials in Iowa and Wisconsin about how Tipton created computer code that enabled him to predict winning numbers. Robert Rhodes, a Texas businessman who has known Tipton for decades, has reached a plea agreement to testify.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad has signed into law a ban on local governments raising the minimum hourly wage and another law changing Iowa’s workers’ compensation system. Branstad signed the measures Thursday at a public event. The wage reversal is effective immediately and comes just days before the state’s most populous county was set to raise pay for some workers. The law restricting workers’ compensation will change benefits for on-the-job injuries in the state.

HOPKINTON, Iowa (AP) — Law enforcement officials in northeastern Iowa are on the lookout for some hot artifacts and antiques. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG report that someone broke into the Delaware County Historical Society’s building in Hopkinton on Wednesday night and stole several items dating back to the 1800s. The items include about 40 arrowheads, a silver tea set and Native American moccasins and a vest.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 43-year-old Winterset woman has been charged with child endangerment after police say she was found drunk at the West Des Moines preschool where she worked.

Other preschool workers called police on March 23 to report their suspicion that Angela Hircock was intoxicated. A responding officer said Hircock had bloodshot eyes, was unable to stand on her own and that her water bottle smelled strongly of alcohol. Prosecutors say she had a blood alcohol content of .37 — nearly five times the legal limit to drive.

The preschool director says Hircock was kept from children after workers suspected she was drunk. She’s been fired. She is free after posting $2,000 bail.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad has signed into law a ban on local governments raising the minimum hourly wage and another law changing Iowa’s workers’ compensation system. Branstad signed the measures Thursday at a public event.

The National Employment Law Project says Iowa is one of two states to reverse local wage increases that have already gone into effect. The wage reversal is effective immediately and comes just days before Polk County, the state’s most populous county, was set to raise pay for some workers.

The law restricting workers’ compensation will change benefits for on-the-job injuries in the state. It decreases some coverage for shoulder injuries and permanent injuries impacting the whole body. It also creates a retraining program for some injured workers. The changes go into effect July 1st.

If you were in the vicinity of the Atlantic High School this (Thursday) afternoon, you may have been wondering what was going on with all the rescue units on the street in front of the High School. It was all part of “Every 15 minutes,” a program held in Atlantic and other Cass County schools, before, that deals with the consequences of impaired and distracted driving.

Students watching the “accident” scene aftermath.

The alleged “drunk driver” takes a Field Sobriety Test

In the mock accident, Hunter Oliver, who plays the “drunk driver” of a vehicle, lost control of the vehicle on Highway 71 and collided head-on with a vehicle “driven” by Sam Coder. A 16-year old passenger in the Oliver vehicle, Gratt Reed, “dies” at the scene. Another passenger, Bailey Schildberg, “dies” later at the Cass County Memorial Hospital. A third passenger in the Oliver vehicle, Lexington Grooms, along with Sam Coder, were transported to the hospital for treatment of their “injuries.”

Program Coordinator Judi Nelson, says the scenario plays out from the moment of the crash, through the sobriety test, courthouse appearance and sentencing for two counts of “Homicide by motor vehicle,” and concludes tomorrow (Friday), with a “Memorial Assembly and funeral” presented to the high school students and parents. The whole idea is to get students and parents to understand there are life altering consequences to impaired and distracted driving, and change their habits.

The program has been held at the Atlantic high school twice before, and seventh time in Cass County. Griswold and CAM students have also experienced the “Every 15 minutes” program, the premise of which is that someone dies every 15 minutes from dangerous driving habits.

The “accident scene” (Ric Hanson/photos)

And, while the accident, trial and other activities are “staged,” Nelson says what isn’t staged are the emotions involved, especially when it comes to Friday’s “Memorial Service” at the High School, and in the testimony of families who have lost loved ones, as well as man who was convicted following a western Iowa crash that claimed four lives.

The “Memorial service” will be complete with caskets, flowers, music and obituaries, along with letters the “victim’s” parents and the victims wrote to each other called “Today I died.”

Program organizers hope it stimulate conversations between parents and their children about distracted and impaired driving.

A new report ranking the healthiest places to live in Iowa finds both the worst- and best-ranked counties in the state are on the western border. Andrea Ducas, a program officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says the philanthropic organization’s 8th annual County Health Rankings study looked at more than 30 factors. “In addition to measuring things like poor health days and obesity rates, we also look at education rates, we look at employment, we look at children in poverty,” Ducas says. “We want to attain a complete picture of what’s making people healthy and contributing to health where people live, learn, work and play.”

In northwest Iowa, Sioux County ranked number-one in the state for the health of its residents, while Monona County, just a few counties to the south, ranked 99th. Still, the last-place ranking doesn’t mean Monona County is a “bad” place to live, Ducas says it just helps to identify some areas where improvement is needed. “They’re doing well when it comes to excessive drinking, they’re doing relatively well when it comes to the number of people with insurance and with housing issues,” Ducas says, “but some of those factors that are more of the predictors like high school graduation rates, college, unemployment, those are high and that tends to be the case across low-performing counties.”

On the other side of the coin, Ducas says just because Sioux County ranked first on this year’s list doesn’t mean everything there is perfect, either. “If you were to dig into a data point like children in poverty, these are kids that are born behind, and we hope, won’t stay behind, the number is very low in Sioux County, it’s 8%, but if you look at it across different population groups, you actually see for white children in Sioux County, it’s only 6% are living in poverty but 41% of Hispanic children are living in poverty.”

The ranks for Health Outcomes are based on two types of measures: how long people live and how healthy people feel while alive. The ranks for Overall Health Factors are based on four types of measures: health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic, and physical environment factors.

In the immediate KJAN listening area, Cass County ranks 80th overall in Health Outcomes and 68th in Health Factors. Other counties list as follows for Health Outcomes: Shelby, 49th; Harrison, 62nd; Guthrie, 64th; Montgomery, 65th; Adams, 68th; Adair, 71st; Union, 87th; Mills, 89th; Audubon, 90th and Pottawattamie, 91st. And, as for Health Factors: Shelby County ranks best, coming in at #12; Adams County ranks 33rd; Adair County is 36th; Audubon County, 39th; Harrison County, 40th; Guthrie County, 49th; Mills County, 59th; Union County placed 65th; Montgomery County, 88th; and Pott. County, 95th.

The reports shows the five healthiest counties in Iowa are: Sioux, Winneshiek, Lyon, Chickasaw and Cedar. The five counties in the poorest health are: Monona, Decatur, Wapello, Pocahontas and Lee. Sioux and Monona counties were also numbers-one and 99 on last year’s rankings. The study covers all 50 states and some 3,000 counties nationwide.

Ducas says the rankings are designed to bring revealing data to communities across the country and the tools and resources to help them take action to improve health. See where your home county stacks up at: www.countyhealthrankings.org.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN)