KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — A judge who presided over the trial of a man charged with murder in southeast Iowa must now decide whether he’s guilty. The nonjury trial of Adam McCain ended Thursday. He’s been charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing his former girlfriend, 27-year-old Calove Sackman. Authorities have said McCain stabbed Sackman once on Feb. 5 in Keokuk, got into his vehicle and ran her over, and then got back out and stabbed her several more times.

Defense attorney James Beres in his closing argument that the slaying was not premeditated and that McCain had a bipolar disorder and other problems that would make him compulsive.
Prosecutor Jonathan Stensvaag said McCain had told Sackman if she ever left, he’d kill her and her children. It’s not clear when the judge will announce her verdict.

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — A former chief executive officer of a northeast Iowa hospital has pleaded guilty to theft. Delaware County District Court records say 61-year-old Lon Butikofer entered the plea Tuesday. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 3. Butikofer was accused of stealing nearly $257,000 from January 2009 through March 15, 2017, by failing to properly record personal trips as vacation or paid time off and by seeking reimbursement for the expenses.

Another former executive at Regional Medical Center in Manchester, 53-year-old Mike Briggs, has been accused of similar actions. He’s pleaded not guilty to a theft charge and is scheduled to begin trial Dec. 4.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County report a call about a possible burglary in Oakland Thursday night, resulted in an arrest. 30-year old Scott David Wilson, of Oakland, was taken into custody for Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300. And, an investigation into a pickup truck parked in the intersection of W. Kanesville Blvd. & N. 2nd Streets, in Council Bluffs, resulted in the arrest Thursday night, of 21-year old Trevor Kenneth Henderson, of Council Bluffs. Henderson was taken into custody at around 11-p.m. for OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Transportation is making the transition into its winter operation phase. Winter operations director, Craig Bargfrede, says they will gradually refit equipment from construction maintenance work to be ready for winter.  “The garages have to balance having the ability to go out and treat should we get and early season storm — and to be able to continue do other maintenance activities that are appropriate for this time of year,” Bargfrede explains. “So there’s a certain percentage of the equipment in each one of the garages that they’ll have outfitted and ready to go.”

The D-O-T has 101 maintenance garages across the state that house 902 trucks, 42 motor graders, 27 tow plows, and 11 heavy-duty, self-propelled snowblowers. “A lot of the garages are doing the overall maintenance, checking equipment and making sure everything is functioning properly. Installing blades, doing all of the calibration on our sanders that we need to do to be ready once winter hits,” Bargfrede says. The department buys salt during the spring and summer when prices are lower to have it ready for winter use. “Garages have been receiving salt over the summertime and getting the sheds filled and ready to go. So, at this point in time we’ve got plenty of the supply on hand and on the ground and ready to go once those first storms hit,” he says.

While you might buy a one pound bag of salt for your driveway — the D-O-T buys truckloads.”Overall statewide we’re somewhere just over 222-thousand ton of salt,” Bargfrede says. They spread salt and sand and also use 28 million gallons of salt brine to treat the roads during the winter. The department has more than one-thousand full-time employees — and Bargfrede says they are also searching for some more people to work this winter. “We’re looking for just over 600 seasonal employees to be able bring on statewide to help augment our fulltime staff. It’s really a key part of our winter operations to be able to have that level of augmentation of our full-time staff in order to meet what our requirements are,” Bargfrede says.

He says many of the added winter workers come from other occupations that are seasonal. “Construction is a large area,” He says.”We do in the rural areas have a lot of farmers that once they are done with the harvest, then they come out and help us plow, drive truck and do the things we need to do from a maintenance standpoint as well.” Bargfrede encourages anyone who is interested to check out their winter work opportunities. He says the best thing to do is to go to the D-O-T webpage and look under the careers heading. “Otherwise you can stop into your local garage and contact your local garage supervisor and they would be able to give you information as well,” Bargfrede says.

Bargfrede says he gets asked all the time when he expects the first snow — and says he doesn’t have a crystal ball to predict that — he just wants his crews ready when it hits.