(Radio Iowa) — With the cool, crisp weather of October comes the increased risk of hitting an animal with your car. Iowa drivers rank fifth in the U-S for the most animal collisions, according to the state’s largest auto insurer. Kelly Pargett, a spokeswoman for State Farm, says the company’s study finds 58-percent of the animals Iowans hit are deer. “The other animals that follow closely behind are dogs and cats,” Pargett says. “Farm animals for this part of the country were high, and then large rodents, including rats, were high in our claim count.”

Iowa drivers have a one-in-55 chance of colliding with an animal while driving, according to the report, and repairs can be very expensive. “They range a lot, depending on how large the animal is and how severe the collision is,” Pargett says, “but anything from a couple hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.”

The report says most animal-related crashes occur during October, November and December. The oft-repeated Iowa D-O-T motto is: “Don’t veer for deer,” as steering away from an animal could put you in the ditch or into oncoming traffic. Pargett says to watch your speed, buckle up and be vigilant, especially from dusk onward. “At night is most dangerous, and they’re swerving, so some of the tips are do not swerve,” Pargett says, “and be cautious when you’re driving through the areas where they do have the deer signs.”

The most dangerous state for animal collisions is West Virginia, followed by Montana, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. The state with the lowest risk? Hawaii.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A company has taken another step toward redeveloping the former Waterloo Greyhound Park. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that the Waterloo planning and zoning commission voted Tuesday to endorse a special permit that would let Deer Creek Development fill 7 acres on the site to get it out of the 100-year flood plain. Deer Creek President Harold Youngblut says doing so will make the site more appealing to companies because they wouldn’t have to pay for costly flood insurance.

He bought the property in 2018 and demolished the dilapidated buildings. The track opened in 1986 but later fell into disrepair. The special permit to bring in an estimated 16,500 cubic yards of clean fill now heads to the city’s board of adjustment for final approval.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man has been convicted of video recording girls in the bathroom of his West Des Moines record store. Polk County court records say 50-year-old Robert Kuhn was found guilty Wednesday of three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and three counts of invasion of privacy. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 14.

Kuhn was arrested in 2017 after a girl who had worked for him told police she found a video camera hidden on a shelf in the bathroom after Kuhn had asked her to try on dresses. Federal prosecutors also had filed a child pornography charge but later dropped it.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Google is holding a groundbreaking this (Friday) morning for a $600 million data center it plans to build in an Omaha suburb. A news release says Gov. Pete Rickets will join Papillion Mayor David Black and other officials at the event. Google confirmed Thursday that it was behind the project, which had been known locally only as Project Wizard as officials worked on development and utility agreements.

The center will be erected on a 275-acre site on the west side of Papillion. Among its future neighbors are data centers for Travelers Insurance and Facebook. Officials have said at least 30 people will work there after the center is completed over the next 18 to 24 months. Google also has two data centers less than 13 miles northeast, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

A Clarinda man was being held on a $32,000 cash-only bond, following a domestic incident, Thursday night. Adams County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 34-year old Tyrel Thomas Scott McCallister a little after 7:40-p.m., when they responded to a residence in the 26-hundred block of Highway 148. Upon arrival, deputies determined McCallister gained entry into the home without permission from the homeowner, and that McCallister was in possession of numerous weapons.

He faces: a Class-C Felony charge of 2nd Degree Burglary; Class-D felony charges for 3 counts Possession of an Offensive Weapon by a Felon; 2 counts of Carrying Weapons (Aggravated misdemeanor), and 3 counts of Carrying weapons (Serious Misdemeanor).