MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (AP) — The DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa will offer a chance to learn more about the Civil War-era steamboat that sank nearby in the Missouri River. On Sunday morning at 11, artifacts recovered from the Bertrand will be on display, and an expert will discuss them. The ship’s cargo included an assortment of items that settlers would have needed to survive on the frontier. The Bertrand sank on April 1, 1865.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in western Iowa say a Nebraska man was killed after he became trapped under a vehicle he was repairing. Council Bluffs police say the man was working on the suspension system of a volunteer fire department ambulance Friday morning at a truck repair shop. Officials say the system failed for unknown reasons and the man became trapped. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are trying to identify a woman found dead near an intersection in Cedar Rapids. Police say the woman was found early Friday. Her body is being sent to a medical examiner to determine the cause of death. Police say they don’t believe there’s any risk to the public.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Two brothers who own companies that distribute and certify halal food products have pleaded guilty to federal charges. Midamar Corporation president Jalel Aossey pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to commit fraud. He admitted that labels on meat products and documents exported to Malaysia and Indonesia were falsified. His brother, Yahya Aossey, pleaded guilty to selling misbranded meat products.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa says a sorority has been temporarily suspended after an online video showed members performing a song that references binge drinking. University officials say the Delta Epsilon chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority received a notice Friday informing the group of the suspension. The chapter won’t be able to hold organized events until a judicial board reviews the case.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department have released the name of a man who died during a workplace accident Friday morning. Sgt. Jason Bailey says the victim was 32-year old Andy Stroud, of Omaha. Stroud died after being trapped in the wheel well of a vehicle at 275 Truck Service, located at 805 32nd Avenue, in Council Bluffs. The accident happened at around 9:15-a.m., Friday. Stroud had worked for the business for three-years.

By the time rescue crews’ arrival, Stroud had been removed from under the vehicle by his co-workers. The man was declared dead at the scene. An initial investigation determined Stroud was working on the suspension system of a volunteer fire dept ambulance. While looking for a leak in the system, he was between the wheel and the body of the ambulance. The suspension system failed at some point for unknown reasons, trapping the man.

The incident remains under investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest estimates show Iowa is on track for record soybean production and will tie the largest corn crop ever. The monthly crop production report released Friday says Iowa farmers are growing an estimated 2.41 billion bushels of corn, which ties the 2009 crop for the highest on record.

The average yield is expected at 181 bushels per acre which ties 2004 and 2009 as highest on record. Iowa farmers are expected to bring in 526 million bushels of soybeans, exceeding the 2005 record by 1 million bushels.

Soybean yield is estimated at 53 bushels per acre, a half-bushel per acre higher than the 2005 record. Iowa farmers are expected to harvest 13.3 million acres of corn for grain and 9.92 million acres of soybeans.

Authorities in Council Bluffs say a man working on an ambulance’s air suspension system died this (Friday) morning, when the wheel well of the vehicle collapsed, trapping the victim beneath the vehicle. Police told the Daily NonPareil the accident happened at 275 Trucking Service at 805 32nd Avenue, at around 9:15-a.m.

The victim was trying to figure out the cause of an air leak in the suspension system, when the accident occurred. His Coworkers called 9-1-1 after finding the man and pulling him from beneath the vehicle.

The mans’ name was being withheld pending notification of family. The accident remains under investigation.

Rabbit season got underway in Iowa this month. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz says hunters shouldn’t have any trouble finding targets. “On our roadside surveys they’re actually a little bit down from last year, not much, basically unchanged,” Bogenschutz says. “But our rabbit numbers are 20 percent above the long-term average right now — so we’ve got plenty of bunnies in Iowa.”

While the population is doing well, he says fewer hunters are looking to hunt rabbits.
He says the number of hunters has been trending down and he is not sure if that is following the pattern of more people moving from rural to urban settings. “There’s just a lot more opportunity for other species right now, 30 years ago we didn’t have a turkey season or deer season, or giant Canada geese,” Bogenschutz says. He says rabbits are a good way to get a young person started in hunting.

“For beginning hunters, there’s nothing easier than cottontails and squirrels. All you need is a 22, and you don’t need any camo, you just need a place to go and sit in the woods,” Bogenschutz says. Rabbit season runs through February 28th, with a daily bag limit of 10 rabbits and a possession limit of 20. Shooting hours are sunrise to sunset.

Hunters looking for places to go rabbit or squirrel hunting should use Iowa’s online hunting atlas at www.iowadnr.gov/hunting.

(Radio Iowa)

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman reports Frank Waters, the chair of the Cass County Conference Board (Office of County Assessor), has called for a meeting to be held Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 5:30-p.m.

In a statement, Cass County Attorney David Wiederstein said “I asked the Conference Board Chair, Frank Waters, to reconvene the Board and to rescind the vote of non-appointment because of how the vote was conducted. There may or may not have been a violation of Open Meetings laws when the three voting units caucused at the same time.

“Members of the public in attendance, therefore, had to simultaneously divide their attention three different ways. At the next meeting Frank will ask the voting units to caucus one at a time so the public can have unimpeded attention to the deliberations of each voting unit. I have already brought this to the attention of the IPIB (Iowa Public Information Board) Director, Margaret Johnson, and it is my belief that IPIB needs no further involvement in this matter due to corrective measures being followed by the Board Chair.”

This past Wednesday, several members of the public spoke up at the Board of Supervisor’s meeting, and asked him to reconvene for a re-vote on the Conference Board’s Sept. 3rd decision not to re-appoint County Assessor Brenda Nelson.

An accident Thursday afternoon in Page County caused $1,000 damage, but there were no injuries. The Page County Sheriff’s Office says 65-year old Larry Hamm, of Clarinda, was driving a 2004 Chevy pickup southbound on Highway 71 at around 3:45-p.m., about a mile and a-half north of Clarinda, when his pickup was scraped on the side by a passing trailer hauling an oversize load.

The accident happened as Hamm was behind a semi tractor-trailer and was trying to see oncoming traffic in an attempt to pass, after an escort vehicle in front of the semi hauling the oversize load in the opposite lane, had gone by. The trailer hauling the big load was not damaged. No charges were filed.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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