WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced the father of one of the cousins abducted in Evansdale to prison on drug charges. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports Judge David Staudt sentenced 37-year-old Daniel Eugene Morrissey, of Waterloo, on Friday to up to 90 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 30 years.

Morrissey had earlier pleaded guilty and agreed to Alford pleas, which acknowledges evidence needed for a conviction, to charges involving the manufacture of methamphetamine and other drug offenses. The charges stem from incidents before and after the cousins disappeared.

Morrissey is the father of Lyric Cook, who disappeared with her cousin, Elizabeth Collins, while riding bikes in Evansdale in July, 2012. Their bodies were found in a remote, wooded area 25 miles away last December.

The Atlantic City Council will enter into a closed session near the end of their regularly scheduled meeting next Wednesday, to discuss legal matters pertaining to the POET, LLC Ethanol Transfer Station. According to the Council’s agenda, Mayor Dave Jones requested the session with City Attorney Dave Wiederstein, to discuss possible litigation relative to the transfer station.

This past Tuesday evening, the Atlantic Planning and Zoning Commission met in a regular session and discussed the POET situation. Zoning Administrator John Lund and members of the commission were not at all happy with POET for beginning work on the ethanol transfer station without first having consulted with the City. The issues of contention boiled down to public safety and wear and tear on City streets.

The only communication the company had, which was nearly a year ago, was with Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees, and that was with regard to the safety precautions the company said it would have in-place. Those precautions included four spill pits underneath the rail cars as they were being loaded with fuel from tractor trailers which will be coming to Atlantic from POET’s production facility in Coon Rapids.

Dave Wiederstein has indicated there isn’t much the City can do to stop or prevent work from continuing on the project, but Mayor Jones said at the P-and-Z meeting, that the City wasn’t done exploring its options on how to deal with the issue. Now it appears the track may lead to a legal resolution. The Atlantic City Council meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., on Sept. 18th.

In an update to a story we told you about earlier this week, the Iowa Dept. of Transportation has revised the date for closing the Iowa Highway 92 near Massena. The road was originally set to close at midnight on Sept. 18th for a bridge replacement project, but the DOT’s construction office in Creston says that will now take place for nine-days beginning at 7-a.m. Sept.27th.

The Iowa 92 closure is necessary as work crews remove the existing bridge and slide the new bridge into place. Traffic will be detoured around the construction zone. As previously announced, eastbound Iowa 92 traffic will be detoured on Cass County Road N-28 north to Cass County Road G-48, east to Iowa 148, and then back south to Iowa 92.

Westbound Iowa 92 traffic will be detoured north on Iowa 148, west on Cass County Road G-48, and then south on CassCounty Road N-28 to Iowa 92.

DOW CITY, Iowa (AP) — A bag of bones found in a warehouse in the small western Iowa community of Dow City two years ago are very old and will not prompt a criminal investigation. The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office was called to investigate two bags of bones found in May 2011 inside an old warehouse in the town of about 500 people. The sheriff called the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation which had the bones examined by the state medical examiner’s office.

Forensic archeologists determined the bones were from a man and a woman and at least 75 to 100 years old. The Center for Human Identification will attempt to identify DNA and the profiles will be uploaded to the Unidentified Human Remains Index and other databases of missing individuals.

ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa (AP) – Officials say a police officer in the small northern Iowa community of Rockwell City has been shot to death after responding to a standoff.  Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Michael Motsinger said at a news conference Friday morning that Officer Jamie Buenting was hit by a single gunshot and died in the early morning standoff. Officers had responded to a home after receiving a report Thursday night.

Officers arrested 32-year-old Corey Trott and charged him with first-degree murder. He was held in the Sac County Jail and information about upcoming court appearances weren’t available.

Buenting was 37. He was married with two young children.

An observant Police Officer in Red Oak, today (Friday), arrested a woman known to have been driving with a revoked license. Authorities say 69-year old Karen Jean Tuntas, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:50-a.m. in the 500 block of North Broad Street. Tuntas’ license had been revoked for a previous OWI offense. She was taken into custody and brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where Tuntas was charged with Driving While Revoked/OWI related. Her bond was set at $1,000.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Barring a surprise storm this fall, 2013 will be a record low year for tornadoes in Iowa, with the fewest storms since comprehensive tracking began 33 years ago.  The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports 15 tornadoes tore through Iowa this year. The National Weather Service says that’s one less than the previous low of 16 set in 2012.

The weather service says Iowa’s tornado season also was the shortest on record, stretching over 38 days from a May 19 storm near Adel to a June 26 twister near Vincent.  Since comprehensive tracking began in 1980, a report by meteorologist Craig Cogil says Iowa has averaged 47 tornadoes a year.

Tornadoes in the fall are unlikely but possible. Since 1980, there have been 92 tornadoes in September, October, November and December.

Drought conditions are worsening across Iowa with 98-percent of the state now in some form of drought and 42-percent in severe drought. Joel De Jong, an agronomist with the Iowa State University Extension, says crop conditions are actually in good shape in northwest Iowa, as the region’s gotten some moisture. De Jong says given the late planting this spring, some plants are being forced to mature faster.

“That doesn’t give us as much time to fill those kernels and fill those bean pods,” he says. “Yet, I still think we’re tolerating the drought reasonably well. We had some rainfall in August and it’s helping us out.” De Jong says further east, crop conditions drop off dramatically. He says to the south, in the Denison and Carroll areas where corn silage harvest has begun, some of that is being combined. He says one more good rain would help carry northwest Iowa crops through.

“We are still filling bean pods in a lot of fields and we’re filling kernels in a lot of fields,” he says. “A little more moisture helps get us a little more dry matter and moderating these temperatures is going to do some of the same thing.” While highs last week were in the hundreds in parts of Iowa, highs now are back in the 60s and 70s.

Few problems are reported with plant diseases, although there have been signs of sudden death syndrome and white mold as well as soybean cyst nematode. He says there have also been some spots of Goss’s Wilt along the Iowa-Minnesota border.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa’s weather has cooled off significantly in the past few days, but conditions are still extremely dry. Bans on open burning are now in effect in seven Iowa counties. Dan Wood, with the Iowa Fire Prevention Bureau, is urging residents to be extremely careful with fire, even in places where there isn’t a ban. Fire chiefs and emergency managers get together and assess the threat, he says, especially with crops drying and the danger from people intentionally setting fire to weeds in ditches or fields.

Looking at the forecast, which only calls for a few scattered showers, Wood says it’s likely more counties will ask the Fire Prevention Bureau to approve more burn bans. “When conditions are drier than normal and things are dry, fire tends to move faster and it’s easier to catch things on fire simply because there’s no moisture in the ground and there’s no moisture in the leaves and grass,” Wood says. “It’s easier for things to catch on fire and it moves quicker and can really get away from you.” Wood says each individual county and fire protection district will decide when to end their bans on open burning. The current list includes: Audubon, Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Muscatine, Scott, and Webster.

(Radio Iowa)

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports one person was transported to the Clarinda Regional Health Center following a collision this (Friday) morning, in Clarinda. 50-year old Bernard Bergen, of Shenandoah, suffered possible/unknown injuries during a collision between his motorcycle and a car. Authorities say he was wearing a helmet and protective clothing.

The accident happened at around 5:35-a.m. at the intersection of the Highway 2 bypass and State Street. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says a 2007 Dodge Caliber driven by 59-year old Joyce Larson, of New Market, had stopped at the stop sign and was pulling out onto Highway 2 westbound. An unknown pickup pulling a trailer was turning south from Highway 2 onto the Hwy 2 bypass around Clarinda. Bergen’s 2007 BMW motorcycle was west of the pickup/trailer traveling east onto State Street.

Palmer says Larson didn’t see the cycle due to the obstruction created by the pickup & trailer. When her car hit the motorcycle, Bergen was thrown from the machine onto the pavement. Larson was cited for Failure to Yield upon entering a through Highway.