No injuries were reported following an accident Sunday evening on Interstate 29 in Fremont County. Sheriff’s officials say 19-year old Samuel Reinhardt, of Omaha, was traveling north on I-29 near mile marker 16 at around 5:45-p.m., when a front tire blew out on his 1998 Honda Civic. The car left the road to the left and hit the mile marker sign before entering a culvert. The vehicle was declared a total loss.

Sheriff’s officials in Fremont County report three people have been arrested in connection with a May 28th burglary at the Admiral Inn, in Farragut. Acting on a tip, deputies conducted two simultaneous search warrants at 905 Tecumseh Street and 1111Essex Street, both in Farragut. 17-year old Cody Lynn Powell, and 15-year old Seth Michael Lewis, both of Farragut, were arrested on felony charges of burglary in the 3rd degree and Theft in the 2nd degree, and aggravated misdemeanor charges of Criminal Mischief in the 3rd degree. 43-year old Brian Dennis Kelley, of Farragut, faces felony charges that include Aiding and Abetting Burglary in the 3rd degree, Aiding and Abetting Theft in the 2nd degree, and Conspiracy. Kelley also faces an aggravated misdemeanor charge of Aiding and Abetting Criminal Mischief in the 3rd degree.

Authorities say Powell and Lewis were being held in the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs. Kelley was being held in the Fremont County Jail on $17,000 cash bond.

The National Weather Service in Des Moines says will be the potential for more severe weather today, including tornadoes, strong thunderstorm winds and large hail. There will also be the potential for locally heavy rainfall. Today may also bring a widespread significant wind event to the area in the late morning or afternoon. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for the entire KJAN listening area until Noon today. And, a Flash Flood Watch is in effect until 2-p.m. for the Monona, Harrison, Shelby and Pottawattamie Counties. A Flash Flood Watch is in effect until 6-p.m. for the rest of the KJAN listening area.

Be prepared for dangerous storms that approach your area…stay alert to changing conditions and monitor your NOAA weather radio for forecast updates and possible watches and warnings. Review your severe weather safety procedures and move promptly to a place of safety if a warning is issued for your area.

Storms that developed Sunday afternoon in eastern Nebraska crossed into western Iowa’s Harrison County before spreading east through Shelby and Audubon Counties late into the evening, and then into central Iowa. The storms affecting our area dropped hail ranging in size from quarters in most locations, to baseball-sized hail near Magnolia.

There were also reports of funnel clouds in and around the Harlan and Elk Horn areas late Sunday evening, and one possible touchdown of a tornado in a rural area northwest of Harlan, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Authorities in Fremont County are asking for your help in solving numerous burglaries that occurred in the Hamburg area early Sunday morning. The Fremont County Sheriffs’ Office says it received nearly a dozen reports of vehicles being broken into. Officials say it appears in each case, those vehicles were not locked.

The Sheriff’s Office reminds citizens to lock their vehicles and not leave valuable items in plain view inside. If you see any suspicious activity, report it to law enforcement. Persons with information about the incidents in Hamburg are asked to call the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, or Crime Stoppers at 712-374-2424.

Two Oregon residents were injured during a single-vehicle accident Saturday evening on Interstate 29 in Fremont County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2006 Acura driven by 30-year old Tuffy Kin Leung, of Portland, OR, was traveling south in the left lane of I-29 at around 6:55-p.m., when Leung became fatigued and closed his eyes.

After his car crossed the right lane and entered the right ditch, Leung tried to correct the vehicles’ course but lost control. The car rolled over and came to rest on its top, partially blocking the right lane of I-29. Leung, and his passenger, 29-year old Lisa Kim Chan, also from Portland, were able to get out of the vehicle on their own. They were transported by Hamburg and Percival Rescue to Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg.

The discovery that a fugitive from North Carolina was living in Iowa came after software used by the Iowa Department of Transportation found the man had applied for two driver’s licenses. D-O-T director of Investigations and Identity theft, Paul Steier, says the software has been one of the best tools available to help prevent identity theft from Iowans. “We investigate an average of 125 to probably 175 cases a year that were based on our facial recognition results,” Steier says. “From there we have to actually work and investigation — we just don’t take those results and go to the court with them.”

While the recent case turned up a man who had been fleeing the law for 41 years, Steier says most cases are people trying to steal somebody’s identity for financial gain.  “When we issue a license, that image is stored, so if somebody else would try come in some day and try to obtain a license under your name or my name, that system should catch the fact that it’s not a match — it doesn’t match what’s on file, it’s not the same,” Steier says. “And hopefully it stops a fraud from occurring or somebody from getting an official state-issued document showing them as being somebody else than they really are.”

The system is one of the reasons why the D-O-T asks you not to give a big wide smile when they take your driver’s license picture. Neutral facial expression, that gives us the best result. So, in order to protect our identities, the best thing that we can have people do is give us a neutral facial expression — a minimal smile — and that way the system will have better results,” Steier says. The system was upgraded last fall and now gives investigators like Steier more options in dealing with the pictures.

“If we have a photograph of someone that’s not maybe the best photograph, we can actually take software and enhance that image and make it a better quality photograph. Because the better the quality of the image,the better the results of the facial recognition inquiry, and the better possibility for either a no match or a positive match,” Steier says. The D-O-T started using the facial recognition system in 2008, but has photos going back 13 years that the system can check.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak report one person was arrested Sunday evening on an assault charge. 22-year old Cody Dean Johnson, of Red Oak, was arrested for Simple Assault at around 4:45-p.m at 106 W. Coolbaugh Street. Johnson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular weekly meeting Monday morning, here in Atlantic.

During their session, which begins at 8:30, the Board will: Review FY2014 budget expense appropriations and amend as necessary; Receive certifications from county officers for base salaries of their deputies and certify base salaries of deputies to the county auditor;  Determine the compensation of ‘other employees’ [other than those under bargaining unit or other employment contracts]; and, act on GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Department changes, including… Agreements for GIS services with  Schneider Corp., Atlantic Municipal Utilities and others.

TORNADO WATCH 367 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100 PM CDT FOR THE
FOLLOWING LOCATION
. IOWA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE:
ADAIR ADAMS AUDUBON
BOONE CARROLL CASS
CLARKE CRAWFORD DALLAS
DECATUR FREMONT GREENE
GUTHRIE HARRISON LUCAS
MADISON MILLS MONONA
MONTGOMERY PAGE POLK
POTTAWATTAMIE RINGGOLD SHELBY
STORY TAYLOR UNION
WARREN WAYNE