The Sioux City Police Department is investigating after one person died in a crash between a car and a train on the north side of Sioux City Thursday. Lieutenant Mark Kirkpatrick was at the accident scene. “At this point in time we believe the train was stationary — it was not a moving train. And we are still investigating how and why the accident actually happened,” Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick said the man who was driving the car was found dead inside after it struck the train. “Our preliminary indication is that it was traveling at a higher rate of speed. Apparently it did go around the stop arm, because the stop arm is still intact.

The victim’s name has not been released. The accident happened around 9 a-m Thursday.

(Radio Iowa)

The longtime band director of a northwestern Iowa high school is retiring this month and his band’s final march could set a new world’s record. Steve Connell is in his last days as director of the Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band at M-O-C-Floyd Valley Senior High School in Orange City. At this weekend’s tulip festival, all previous band members are being invited to return to march and play. “It’s one of the more unique things that happens in the country,” Connell says. “People who haven’t played their horns for 20 years or 30 years or 40 years get their horns out and without any practice, they line up on the street and march just like they did when they were 18 years old.”

After 42 years of waving the baton, Connell is retiring at month’s end, so this will be his final time leading the marching band comprised of current students and alumni. “Since it’s my retirement, there’s just a lot people who are going to come back,” Connell says. “I’ve probably taught two- or three-thousand kids and a lot of them are coming back to march in this alumni band for the last time.”

Based on the cards, letters, emails, phone calls and social media postings, Connell says this year’s band will be like none other and will include many hundreds, perhaps thousands of his former students. He says it could set a new world’s record for pick-up marching band performances. “We’ve played the same song for probably 40 years now,” Connell says. “Everybody knows the song. We’re doing the same twirling routine. We’re doing the same flag routine. They all know those things. They come back and form on the street. There’s no practice involved. When they march down the street, you would think they’ve been practicing for months.”

That song is known as “Championship” and it was originally used on the CBS-TV program “NFL Today” some four decades ago. Connell says the alumni band is a wonderful tradition that’s been enjoyed for decades.  “When you’re 60 years old, not many people can go back and relive that great high school basketball game they had with their friends or that great football championship they had. You just can’t do it,” Connell says. “But you can still get out your horn and relive a high school memory that was important to you and I think that’s what’s bringing people back.”

The big band is scheduled to march down Orange City’s Central Avenue at 6:30 P-M Saturday to close out the city’s annual Tulip Festival.

(Radio Iowa)

Shelby County Sheriff Neil Gross reports Deputies Wednesday evening arrested 22 year old Brandon L Anderson, of Harlan. Anderson was taken into custody at around 7-p.m., and charged with interference with official acts, and disorderly conduct, both simple misdemeanors.

The charges were the result of officers being called to a disturbance at the 1700 block of 8th St in Harlan around 6:45-p.m., Wednesday. Anderson was arrested and brought to the Shelby County Jail, where his bond was set at $300.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The Waterloo Police Department has destroyed surveillance video of a 2010 incident in which an officer used “unnecessary force” against a juvenile in a department holding cell. Police Chief Daniel Trelka said Thursday that the video involving officer Corbin Payne was likely destroyed in April 2016, six years after Payne was suspended without pay over the incident. He says department policy requires such records be kept for six years.

Trelka recently demoted Payne from lieutenant to officer after an off-duty road rage incident in which Payne confronted and used force against a motorist. Trelka says that force was “very similar in nature to” the force he used against the juvenile in April 2010. Trelka says a television station anchor inquired about the video after the road rage incident, but that it was gone by then.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Planned Parenthood says it’s closing four of its 12 clinics in Iowa after the Republican-led Legislature cut its state funding. Local affiliate Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said Thursday the closings will reduce its facilities in the state that provide abortions from eight to five. Republican lawmakers agreed last session to give up millions in federal Medicaid money to create a state-run family planning program that excludes organizations that provide abortions.

PERRY, Iowa (AP) — Investigators say a 16-year-old girl found dead last week in the central Iowa home where she lived weighed just 56 pounds and was severely malnourished. Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn said Thursday at a news conference that Sabrina Ray was found dead inside the Perry home Friday evening after a 911 call was placed from the home. Vaughn says the girl’s adoptive parents have been arrested and each charged with child endangerment resulting in death and other counts.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Norwalk man convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the heroin overdose death of a West Des Moines woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. The Des Moines Register reports that 30-year-old Travis West was sentenced Wednesday in Polk County District Court. A jury found West guilty in March of involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa police supervisor with a history of misconduct has been demoted after an off-duty road rage incident in which he was drinking and grabbed a driver by the neck. A disciplinary decision shows that Waterloo Police Chief Daniel Trelka believed he could have fired Lt. Corbin Payne for failures in “judgment, discipline, professionalism, and integrity.” But Trelka instead demoted Payne, while acknowledging his service exposes the city to liability for “negligent retention.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — More stable crop prices have improved the economic outlook for rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states, but bankers expect little growth in the next few months. The overall economic index for the region crept into positive territory above 50 at 50.1 in May from April’s 44.6. This is the first time the overall index was above neutral since August 2015.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the slightly better commodity prices helped improve the outlook, but the bankers surveyed remain concerned about farmers. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

The City of Atlantic announced on Thursday that they will be shutting down a portion of 3^rd Street due to construction work on the Whitney Inn. The closure will impact 3rd street between Chestnut Street and the alley on the east side of the Whitney Inn. The roadway will be closed starting Monday, May 22nd and is expected to be closed for a little over a month.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Stanton man on Thursday after he drove a pickup through a yard with the intent to cause damage.  At 4:30pm deputies arrested 58-year-old Darwin Eugene Schurr of Stanton and charged him with Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. He is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Planned Parenthood says it’s closing four of its 12 clinics in Iowa after the Republican-led Legislature cut its state funding. Local affiliate Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said Thursday the closings will reduce its facilities in the state that provide abortions from eight to five. More than 30 employees will be laid off.

Republican lawmakers agreed last session to give up millions in federal Medicaid money to create a state-run family planning program that excludes organizations that provide abortions.

The health centers slated for closing are in Sioux City, Bettendorf, Burlington and Keokuk. Planned Parenthood says more than 14,600 people visited the four closing clinics in the past three years.

The Police chief in Perry says the parents of a 16-year-old girl found dead last Friday are each facing multiple counts of child endangerment. Chief Eric Vaughn says they found Sabrina Ray dead at her home after getting a 9-1-1 call about an unresponsive person. “Although final autopsy results are not expected for a few weeks pending further laboratory testing — sever malnutrition was noticed by the medical examiner. At the time of her death, Sabrina’s weight was 56 pounds,” Vaughn says.

Vaughn says 41-year-old Marc Ray and 40-year-old Misty Ray were arrested and each face four counts of child endangerment causing serious injuries, three counts of neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, and one count of child endangerment resulting in death. He says four of the charges are related to Sabrina’s death and the others are related to two young girls who were removed from the home on the day they found Sabrina dead. Those two children are 12 and 10 years old. Both are being held on a one million dollar bond.

A third child was also removed from the home and Vaughn was asked if there may be additional charges in connection with the treatment of the children.He says the case is still under investigation and he can’t comment on any pending or future charges. Vaughn also could not say what condition the other two children are in. “I really can’t comment on their conditions at this time, other than they are being treated by a physician,” Vaughn says. The Rays operated a daycare center and had reportedly adopted the children.

D-C-I Special Agent Rick Mortvedt says they are working with the Department of Human Services, but he says they can’t say much about the other investigations associated with Sabrina’s death. “A lot of this is an ongoing investigation, obviously the priority is dealing with the death investigation first,” Mortvedt says. “And there’s going to be a lot of follow up investigations that all the agencies involved is going to have to take place,” Mortvedt says.

He says those other investigations will answer a lot of the other questions about the case. Sabrina’s death is the second of a teen girl in a home which had been flagged over child welfare concerns, and the is says it is hiring “an outside expert” to examine how the Iowa Department of Human Services handles such cases. An adopted 16-year-old starved to death in her West Des Moines home last fall, even though neighbors and school officials had reported the girl was malnourished.

(Radio Iowa)