WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Another Democrat has been elected to represent the Waterloo area in the Iowa Senate. Eric Giddens beat Republican Walt Rogers and Libertarian Fred Perryman for the District 30 seat in Tuesday’s special election. Giddens will replace Jeff Danielson, who resigned Feb. 14 for a new job as a regional state policy director for the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade group for the wind energy industry.

The 45-year-old Giddens is a Cedar Falls school board member and a program manager for the University of Northern Iowa. The district includes Hudson, Cedar Falls and Waterloo in Black Hawk County.

(Radio Iowa) — Power was restored in the western Iowa city of Hornick Monday and residents could return to their flooded town. Mayor Scott Mitchell says he’s worried some residents won’t want to stay and the town will lose people. “In turn, you can’t really blame them, but I hate to see it. This is a small community, we’re all a little family and we all kind of stick together. Anybody we would lose or could lose, it’s a big hit to every one of us,” Mitchell says.

People in the city have been asked to avoid using their toilets, sinks and showers as officials work to get the city’s sewer system back to 100-percent functional. Mitchell says people have already started cleaning up their properties. “They’re tearing out carpet and we have groups of volunteers in to help deal with the cleanup effort and start the process of rebuilding and trying to get back to a normal life,” he says.

Mitchell says his own basement had about five feet of water when he first got back in Monday. Flooding took out his furnace, washer and dryer. Governor Kim Reynolds visited Hornick on Sunday to see the damage.

Red Oak Police say a 17-year old male was issued a Juvenile Referral Tuesday night, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana (a simple misdemeanor), after officers were sent to investigate a suspicious vehicle in the 400 block of E. Joy Street, at around 10:15-p.m.  Police located the vehicle where it was parked, and made contact with a juvenile, who was issued the referral and then released to the custody of his parents. Because of his age, the teens’ name was not released.

(Radio Iowa) — Vice President Mike Pence surveyed flood damage in Iowa and Nebraska yesterday (Tuesday) and Pence used the word “crisis” to describe the situation.

Pence stopped to pray with a small group of flood victims at a shelter in Omaha. He thanked Midwesterners for their resolve and for helping their neighbors in need. Pence also flew over the flood zone. The governors of Iowa and Nebraska have asked President Trump to declare a national emergency in both states.

The governor of Nebraska told Pence his state was facing an “epic” disaster. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds used the word “catastrophic” to describe the flood damage in western Iowa.

Every Missouri River levee from Council Bluffs to the Missouri River has been compromised by flooding and rebuilding that system will take billions. Tuesday morning, the water treatment plant in Glenwood was shut down after it was inundated by floodwaters. Officials say 300-thousand gallons of water will be hauled each day to Glenwood from Shenandoah and Red Oak. In Hamburg, residents have to drink bottled water because Hamburg’s water treatment plant was compromised by flooding too.

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

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa highway patrolman who was recently elected to the Legislature wrote almost no tickets to his future constituents as he made his first run for public office. The annual number of citations issued by Trooper Jon Thorup plummeted in 2018 as he campaigned for the Iowa House. He issued 8 tickets, or 1 for every 45 issued by the average trooper statewide. Thorup says he should have written more but that his priority was responding to calls in rural areas.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence took a look at the raging Elkhorn River at the small town of Waterloo, Nebraska, which found itself cut off from the outside world last week by floodwaters. Pence met with a group of first responders who helped pluck people from their flooded homes along the river’s banks.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Police in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny say an officer has shot a burglary suspect who advanced on officers. Police say the incident happened around 4 a.m. Tuesday when Ankeny officers were called to a car wash for a burglary in progress. Police say arriving officers a masked man inside the business, and Officer Tony Higgins fired when the man advanced on Higgins and other officers. Police have identified the suspect as 27-year-old Myles Matthew Regenold. He is expected to recover.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Police in eastern Iowa say officers and firefighters have found the body of a person in a burning car. The Iowa City Police Department says in a news release Tuesday that the body was found after first responders were called just before 11 p.m. Monday to a car on fire in an Iowa City parking lot. The person’s identity has not yet been released.