STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) – A Storm Lake nursing home has been fined more than $31,000 after an incident in which a woman fell on her head while being transferred onto a bed and later died from the injury. The Des Moines Register reports North Lake Manor was cited in June by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals for failing to protect residents from harm and failing to provide adequate care.

Reports said 87-year-old Darlene Carbaugh died a day after she fell from the mechanical lift used to transfer her to bed on May 17.  The home is owned by two companies controlled by Sioux City accountant Joseph P. DeWitt.

(Update 10:42-a.m.)

Members from the Midwest Regional Dive Team have recovered the body of a missing boater. Officials say the victim was recovered this (Tuesday) morning. The team was deployed Monday night to 12 Mile Lake, in Union County. Union County Sheriff Rick Piel said authorities received a report of an empty boat on the lake at around 6:15-p.m., Monday. Evidence at the scene led officials to initiate a search of the lake, including by use of the Dive Team.

Members of the team were unable to locate a victim and the search was called-off last night. The search resumed this morning. The Dive Team typically responds to incidents of missing swimmers and boaters.  The name of victim has not been released, pending notification of relatives.

Coca Cola Days will be held in Atlantic September 26th and 27th. The event is the second biggest collector’s show in the United States and includes a tailgate barbeque dinner and a Show Swap and Sell. More information is available at CocaColaDays.org.  Event Committee Chair Dolly Bergmann says t-shirts for the 2014 Coca-Cola Days Celebration are now available for purchase. The shirts feature the theme, “Thirst knows no season.”

Coca –Cola Days Committee Members Pictured: Kathie Hockenberry, Dolly Bergmann, Jolene Roecker, Mike Papas, Charlene Johnson, Ali Krogman and Margret Sleepsky.

Bergmann said “The theme is created by a volunteer committee each year.”  T-shirts for the event can be purchased at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce or on-line at www.atlanticiowa.com. Prices are $16 for short sleeved and $22 for long sleeve.

Call the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce if you have any questions, at 712-243-3017, or email chamber@atlanticiowa.com.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Police in Red Oak say two people were arrested on drug charges overnight. Authorities say 29-year old Crystal Lynn Hansen, of Red Oak, was arrested today (Tuesday) at around 3-a.m., on a valid Pottawattamie County warrant for Failure to Appear on a possession of controlled substance/marijuana charge. During her arrest in the vicinity of north 3rd and east Washington Streets, Hansen was found to allegedly be in possession of marijuana and  drug paraphernalia, along with an unlawful possession of prescription drugs. She was brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center (LEC) and held on $10,000 cash bond for Pott. County.

And, at around 10:35-p.m. Monday, 16-year old Daniel Lee Vance-Hunt, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 200 block of east Reed Street, on a Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. The teen was cited and released to the custody of his parents.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say only minor injuries were reported following an accident Monday night near Anderson Conservation on 190th Street. Authorities say a 2002 Chevy Impala occupied by the driver, Allison N. Aufdenberg and her passenger, Kendra A. Hardy, both of Red Oak, was traveling east on 190th Street at around 10:20-p.m., when Aufdenberg turned to look at her passenger during a conversation. When she looked back, she noticed her car was near the south edge of the road.

Aufdenberg took corrective action, but the car entered the ditch and scraped the side of a utility pole. The car continued east in the ditch until Aufdenberg determined she couldn’t drive out of the ditch. Hardy suffered minor lacerations from broken glass, but declined treatment at the scene.

The car sustained $4,000 damage. No citations were issued.

The state’s water situation has turned around after things got very dry at the end of last year and drought was a big concern. Tim Hall of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources keeps track of the groundwater numbers. “We’d been watching various parts of the state pretty closely, but of course June was a very wet month, and that moisture came in a fairly decent widespread pattern and it’s helped to alleviate just about all of the drought conditions that we had in the state as of last week,” Hall says. July has been cooler than normal and Hall says that also plays a big role in the water situation — especially during the growing season.

“When the weather is cooler there is less demand from all the vegetation — not just corn and soybeans — but from the trees and grasses,” Hall says. “They tend to use less water when it’s not as hot. And that tends to keep that water down in the soil, and that improves and prolongs the benefit of the rainfall we’ve gotten.” He says nearly all of Iowa had some form of drought in October of 2013, but that has all changed. “There’s a very tiny spot in southeast Iowa that’s only rated ‘abnormally dry.’ So, for all intents and purposes, the state is free of drought,” Hall says.

Hall says the conditions are just where they should be at this point in the year. “This is about as normal as we are going to see it here in the state,” Hall says. “We don’t have any major groundwater issues around the state. It looks like the subsoil moistures are pretty health for the most part. So, we are sitting pretty good right now.” Hall reminds us that the water situation was looking good around this time last year until the weather changed. But, he’s not expecting a repeat.

“We were looking really good in the first half of the year and then the rainfall kind of shut off in the second half of the year. But I think my colleagues in the National Weather Service and some of the longer-term predictions are looking at what will be pretty close to normal conditions for the rest of the year,” Hall says. He says rainfall normally starts to slow beginning in July, but he says if it stays around normal in the later summer and fall months this year, the groundwater should be in good shape.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man found dead in the Des Moines River may have been in the water for up to two weeks. Des Moines police say an autopsy has been completed on the man, but his identification remains unknown. Authorities are asking the public for help identifying the man, who was wearing a dark swim suit when his body was discovered Sunday. Authorities say there is no indication of foul play.

WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) — A northeast Iowa nursing home lauded by the governor’s office as among the best in the state was cited seven weeks earlier for unsanitary conditions in its kitchen. The Woodland Terrace facility in Waverly was cited but not fined on May 13 for problems that included a food-preparation area that was littered with dust, debris and discarded food. A spokeswoman says the home contracted a dietary management firm and is disappointed with its performance.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa securities agent has been extradited from Texas to face charges of stealing investment money. Fifty-five-year-old David William Johnson, of Keller, Texas, faces four counts of felony first-degree theft and one count of felony ongoing criminal conduct. Johnson is accused of misappropriating investment funds belonging to four Iowa residents. Documents say he engaged in theft for financial gain on a continuing basis, and each person lost more than $10,000.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic candidate for governor Jack Hatch is criticizing Gov. Terry Branstad for refusing to negotiate the number, location, and details for a series of debates. Hatch, a Democratic state senator from Des Moines, says Branstad has said he’ll do three debates with Hatch and won’t negotiate further. Hatch says the take-it-or-leave-it attitude cheats Iowans opportunities to see the candidates face to face.

The State of Iowa is responding after learning of Tyson’s decision to close its plant in Cherokee. Governor Terry Branstad says “Workforce Development will send a team up there to work with the community. Obviously this is a disappointment, as I understand it, this is a chicken processing facility owned by Tyson and one of three they are closing throughout the nation.” In fact, the plant produces deli meats, hams, Canadian bacon, and hot dogs…but NOT chickens. The plant has been producing processed meats since 1965 when it first opened as Wilson Foods. It employees 450 people and will close on September 27th.

“We want to do all we can to try and help the workers who are gonna be displaced and to try to help the community to try to find new employment opportunities for them,” Branstad says. He says Workforce Development has a variety of options for those who will lose their jobs. “Looking at retraining and other placement opportunities,” Branstad says. “but also, Economic Development will be actively marketing looking for businesses to replace the one that’s being lost.”

A prepared statement released by Tyson says the Cherokee plant is being closed along with one in New York and another in New Mexico. The statement said the plans “have been struggling financially” and “it no longer makes business sense to keep them open.”

(Radio Iowa)