The Iowa Department of Public Safety said today (Saturday), that Sheriff’s officials in northwest Iowa’s Lyon County had requested the Iowa State Patrol investigate a single-vehicle motor vehicle accident involving a Deputy. The crash happened Friday morning. The Deputy’s name was not immediately released.

A preliminary investigation shows that crash occurred on County Road K-52/Hickory Ave. Just south of 160th St.  A Lyon County Deputy was operating a 2018 Ford Explorer Police SUV northbound in non-emergency status on K-52 entering a sharp curve to the right.  The SUV left the roadway to the left, entered the ditch, vaulted a private driveway, and rolled.  The SUV came to rest on the driver’s side on the gravel driveway.

The Deputy suffered incapacitating injuries and was flown by air ambulance to Sioux Falls, SD. The crash remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol, and a technical collision investigation is being completed by the Iowa State Patrol.

Other agencies assisting at the scene were the Lyon County Ambulance, Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and Rock Rapids Fire and Rescue.

A 53-year old male reportedly suffered from a gash on his head, during a motorcycle accident at around 3-p.m. Saturday on Highway 6 about a mile west of Highway 59, near Oakland. He was said to be conscious and alert. No other details are currently available.

STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) — A northwestern Iowa school librarian and art teacher has been accused of stealing more than $2,000 from two school fundraising events.
The Sioux City Journal reports that 50-year-old Susan Slagle-Boyd, of Storm Lake, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of theft. Police say officers were called to St. Mary’s Catholic School on Thursday after school officials discovered money collected from two book fairs missing.

Police say Slagle-Boyd is accused of using $630 from a fall book fair and $1,500 raised from a spring book fair for her personal use. The money was supposed to go to the school system for curriculum supplies.

Slagle-Boyd was booked into the Buena Vista County Jail and her bond set at $5,000.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of fatally punching a Sioux City resident is scheduled to enter a plea in the case.

The Sioux City Journal reports that a plea and sentencing hearing has been set Monday for 25-year-old Ray Avila. He had been scheduled to stand trial on Aug. 20.
In June, Avila pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, assault and flight to avoid prosecution. Avila was arrested in May in Jalisco, Mexico, where he had relatives.

Sioux City police say Avila became involved in an altercation on July 29, 2018, between Juan Espinoza and Peter Johnson. Police say Johnson suffered a skull fracture when Avila knocked him to the pavement. Johnson later died.

A power outage that struck Griswold and Lewis early this (Saturday) morning, was restored to most residents in the Griswold area by around 3:10-p.m., according to Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon. Power was restored to Lewis by around 4-p.m., according to citizen reports.

Kennon said earlier, that a utility pole fire was reported at around 11-p.m. Friday, with the power going out for most customers in Griswold and Lewis, at around 3-a.m. At the time, he thought the power would be restored to both communities by around 4-p.m., Saturday.

About 300-to 600-MidAmerican Energy customers were without power in the Griswold area.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates on Saturday placed responsibility for inaction on gun violence in the hands of President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association, in the face of broad national support for some gun-control measures.

“If most Americans insist that something be done and it doesn’t happen, it means we need fundamental reform,” Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said at a presidential forum on gun violence in downtown Des Moines.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, in response to a question on how to avoid stigmatizing mental illness when the president has repeatedly highlighted that issue in response to mass shootings, called Trump a liar.

“It’s just President Trump lying to the American people again, being inauthentic about what the problem is . trying to distract, and trying not to take responsibility for what is happening in this nation,” she said.

Most people with a mental illness are not violent. The forum comes a week after a pair of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, shook the nation and reignited a debate surrounding gun rights in America. Seventeen candidates were due to speak and answer questions from members of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action in the crowd, some of whom teared up while emotionally describing the ways gun violence had affected their families.

A number of candidates have released gun-control policies in the week since the shootings. On Saturday, the Democrats largely agreed on the broad contours of the policy debate, emphasizing the need to close background check loopholes, ban assault weapons and fund research into gun violence. Most of the candidates also called on campaign finance reform as a solution to combat the influence of the NRA on elections.

A trio of more moderate candidates — Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar — all called on gun owners to get involved in the gun-control effort. “If we can ever look at this issue as not a political issue but a public health issue, we know what to do. The majority of gun owners, the majority of NRA members, all of us think universal background checks make a heck of a lot of sense,” Bullock said, noting he uses guns and has taken his son hunting.

A 2017 Pew Research Center poll showed a slight majority of NRA members — and more than three-fourths of gun-owners polled — support stronger background checks.

Buttigieg, who recently dealt with a police shooting of a black man in his home city, was asked how he’d address the issue of police shootings. He proposed deescalation training, equipping police officers with nonlethal weapons, and more accountability so that “officers who do the wrong thing live with justice.”

But a number of the candidates expressed optimism that there was momentum in favor of gun reform because of the growing political pressure from the public on lawmakers to act. “There’s a tipping point that’s been reached. I feel it out there,” Klobuchar said.