Officials with MidAmerican Energy report one person died and another was injured during an accident near Emerson, Wednesday. According to MidAmerican Spokesman Geoff Greenwood, the accident involved private contractors working for the company to restore power. Greenwood released a statement saying the crews were working to repair storm damage when the accident occurred. The names of the victims weren’t immediately released, and the incident remains under investigation. Greenwood said the company was heartbroken by what transpired, and that their thoughts are with the family and friends of both linemen.

Reports say more than 4,000 people in MidAmerican’s coverage area lost power during peak of the storms, Monday. Power to those residences and/or businesses had been restored since then.

ROCKFORD, Iowa (AP) — A northern Iowa man was driving through a storm when his truck was lifted in the air and carried into a farm field. The Globe Gazette reports that 22-year-old Parker Brumm left Rockford on Saturday before the storm became severe to visit a friend in Nora Springs. Brumm says conditions worsened so he decided to turn back, but the storm lifted his vehicle off the ground before he could return home.
Rockford volunteer firefighters Corey Johnson and Jim Moore spotted Brumm’s truck in the air. The pair helped Brumm to safety once his truck hit the ground. Moore estimates that the storm carried the truck about 50 feet. The National Weather Service says it can’t confirm tornado activity in Rockford Saturday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve King is a Republican congressman from Iowa who’s a hard-liner on immigration with a penchant for making racially charged comments. Now he’s facing heat for sharing a Twitter post by a Nazi sympathizer from Britain. Mark Collett posted a screenshot of a Breitbart.com story citing opinion in Italy on immigration, where the new government recently refused to admit a vessel carrying African migrants. Collett is a self-described admirer of Adolf Hitler and is active in the digital “alt-right.”

King retweeted the post and added: “‘Europe is waking up … Will America … in time?” King has stirred controversy with previous anti-immigrant comments such as a tweet last year that said, “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A jury has awarded $29.5 million to the family of a northwest Iowa woman who died after she had an allergic reaction to a dye she was given for a medical scan. The Sioux County jury made the negligence award Wednesday to the family of 40-year-old Carrie DeJongh. She died June 9, 2015, after receiving the dye at Sioux Center Health in Sioux Center.

Her attorney Nicholas Rowley says DeJongh went into anaphylactic shock and lost consciousness upon receiving the contrast dye for a CT scan. Rowley says Dr. Roy Slice gave her an antihistamine drug but didn’t immediately take her vital signs or administer epinephrine, which could have countered her shock. The doctor and Sioux Center Health denied the negligence allegations.

The monthly Healthy Cass County meeting was held Monday, June 11 at Cass County Memorial Hospital. The group watched a documentary titled ”Wasted – The Story of Food Waste,” which was followed with a short discussion led by Lora Kanning, Cass County Naturalist. Additionally, walking maps for each community in Cass County have been printed and will be distributed in each town, soon. If businesses would like to have their town walking routes on display, please contact Public Health at (712) 243-7552 for copies.

Healthy Cass County would like to remind all residents of the Urgent Need Community Resource Guide, which is reviewed and updated at a minimum bi-annually. The guide is available online at the Public Health, Healthy Cass County and Cass County Extension websites for easy access to the latest version. For more information on local health and wellness events or resources, follow the Healthy Cass County Facebook page.

MATURA Head Start in Creston and the IowaWORKS Center in Creston, together with the U.S. Department of Labor/Office of Apprenticeship, has launched a Child Care Development Specialist Registered Apprenticeship Program. A Registered Apprenticeship is employer-driven training combined with on-the-job learning and related classroom instruction. The program allows the Registered Apprentice to earn a paycheck from day one while learning. The Child Care Development Specialist Registered Apprenticeship is a two-year program.

Julie Lang, Director for MATURA Head Start, said her organization decided to offer a Registered Apprenticeship to increase recruitment and staff retention. This is the first Registered Apprenticeship Program for a child care development specialist in southwest Iowa.  “One of our goals is to be viewed as a premier early childhood workplace,” Lang said. “Offering a Registered Apprenticeship in child care development brands us as someone who takes this career seriously.”

Growing the number of Registered Apprentices in Iowa is one of the goals of an ApprenticeshipUSA State Expansion Grant received by Iowa Workforce Development from the U.S. Department of Labor. MATURA Head Start is a free comprehensive child development program, serving children from three to five years old, who live in Madison, Taylor, Ringgold, Union and Adams counties. Job seekers interested in learning more about the Child Care Development Specialist Registered Apprenticeship Program are encouraged to contact the IowaWORKS Center in Creston or complete the online form at earnandlearniowa.gov.

Registered Apprenticeship Programs help recruit, train a skilled workforce and retain talent. There are currently more than 1,000 apprenticeable occupations in industries that include energy, information technology, healthcare, financial services, transportation, advanced manufacturing, food and beverage preparation, and the building trades. Businesses interested in learning more about Registered Apprenticeship opportunities can visit the earnandlearniowa.gov website and complete a form to receive more information.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines homeless shelter has settled a class action lawsuit filed for several dozen people over bedbugs that had infested the facility. A Polk County District Court judge preliminarily approved the settlement Tuesday and scheduled a settlement hearing Aug. 17 to hear any objections to it. The Des Moines Register reports that the people who stayed at Central Iowa Shelter & Services or in its transitional housing or apartments between November 2014 and December 2015 could receive as much as $400, depending on the length of their stays.

The lawsuit filed Dec. 28, 2015, listed 70 people as complainants, saying the infestation subjected them to substandard living conditions. Plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Wandro says the shelter had problems in the past but has brought them under control.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports two inmates at the Pott. County Jail were served with additional warrants this week. Wednesday morning, 70-year old Michael Ray Christensen, of Council Bluffs, was served with a warrant for Criminal Trespass/1st offense.  Christensen was originally arrested in May for Harassment in the 1st degree. His total bond amounts to $2,300. And, Wednesday afternoon, 30-year old Christopher Sean Owens, of Council Bluffs, was served with a warrant for Driving While Barred. Owens was originally arrested June 10th for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. His total bond amounts to $20,000. After being read their separate warrants, both men were returned to the custody of Pott. County Corrections staff.