OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is establishing a new field division based in Omaha that will include Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. In a news conference Thursday in Omaha, DEA Acting Administrator Robert Patterson said the new division will open in July. It is the agency’s 23rd division office in the United States.

Patterson says the move was prompted in part by the nation’s growing opioid crisis. In April, authorities seized a record 118 pounds of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl during a traffic stop. The Omaha division will be led by Matthew Barden, who previously served as the Associate Special Agent in Charge of the St. Louis Division. Barden says the new division will “produce more effective investigations on methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and prescription opioid trafficking.”

Police in Red Oak say one person suffered what were suspected minor injuries, during a single-vehicle accident this (Thursday) morning. A 2013 ChevyC-1500  pickup driven by 81-year old Donald C. Dobbs, of Red Oak, was traveling north on Broadway Street, in Red Oak, when the vehicle left the road and struck a tree, head-on. The accident, which caused $10,000 damage to the truck, happened at around 8:50-a.m.  Police say Dobbs was evaluated and transported by Red Oak EMS to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, due to possible medical issues. No citations were issued.

Red Oak Police were assisted by Red Oak Fire/EMS, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Dept., Montgomery County EMA and the Iowa State Patrol.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, June 7, 2018 – Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett today (Thursday), announced that USDA is investing $309 million in 16 projects to improve rural electric infrastructure in 12 states. Hazlett made the announcement during a visit to the Central Iowa Power Cooperative. One of its members, Farmers Electric Cooperative in Greenfield, (Iowa) is receiving a $1.4 million USDA loan to invest in smart grid projects. Farmers plans to install more than 5,800 single-phase meters and additional meter reading equipment in its west-central Iowa service area.

Hazlett also announced that Harrison County REC, in Woodbine (Iowa), is receiving a $6 million loan to build 20 miles of electric line, improve 57 miles and make other system improvements. Its loan includes $578,000 for smart grid projects.

The loans are being made through USDA’s Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee program. It helps finance generation, transmission and distribution projects; system improvements; and energy conservation projects in communities with 10,000 or fewer residents. Farmers Electric Cooperative and Harrison County REC join many other rural electric cooperatives and utilities that partner with USDA to use smart grid for computer applications, two-way communications, geospatial information systems and other tools to increase the reliability and efficiency of electric power systems.

The investments will build or improve 1,660 miles of electric line serving rural homes, farms and businesses.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 28-year old Chelsey Kile, of Creston, was arrested at around 2:15-a.m. today (Thursday), for domestic assault. Kile was being held for Union County in the Adams County Jail without bond, until seen by a Magistrate.

CRESTON, Iowa – June 7, 2018 – A bridge replacement project on the U.S. 71 bridge over Lone Tree Creek, one-tenth of a mile south of Cass County Road G-35, and 3.1 miles south of Atlantic, may take longer to complete than planned, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Creston construction office. As crews began removing the roadway to construct the bridge extension they discovered the slide that had damaged the roadway had impacted the existing piling at the south abutment.

To correct the piling, crews will need to remove the south deck of the bridge and beams to remove the bent piling before they construct the new pier. The new south abutment has been completed. The additional work will likely push the opening back to mid-November 2018.

The Iowa DOT and our contracting partner AM Cohron are committed to making the necessary repairs and getting the roadway opened as quickly as possible. During the closure, traffic will be detoured around the work zone using Iowa 83, Iowa 92, and Iowa 148.

A single-vehicle accident early this (Thursday) morning in northwest Missouri, resulted in a southwest Iowa man being transported to a hospital in Maryville, MO. The Missouri State Patrol reports 23-year old Spencer Zarek, of Stanton, was traveling north on Highway 71 at around 12:15-a.m., when his 2007 Chevy Malibu left the road to the east, about three-miles south of Maryville. The car impacted an embankment and went airborne and overturned before coming to rest on its wheels. Zarek was taken by a private vehicle to SSM Health St. Francis Hospital in Maryville for treatment of what were said to be minor injuries. The car was totaled in the crash.

The Missouri State Patrol was assisted by the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office and Maryville Public Safety.