A western Iowa woman who was injured during a crash earlier this month near Missouri Valley, has died. Harrison County Sheriff Patrick Sears says 54-year old Jennette McGrew, of Magnolia, died February 4th, three-days after her car was struck head-on by another vehicle on Highway 30, about two-miles east of Missouri Valley.

McGrew was traveling west on the highway when an eastbound vehicle driven by 31-year old Kerri Collier, of Woodbine, crossed the center line of the road and the vehicles collided Feb. 1st. McGrew died from her injuries at Creighton University Medical Center. Collier was treated for her injuries at the hospital in Missouri Valley, and released. No charges have been filed, but the accident remains under investigation.

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Officials with the Red Oak Police Department say two men were arrested Wednesday, on separate charges. Officers with the Red Oak P-D, assisted by Troopers with the Iowa State Patrol, deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and a K-9 unit, apprehended 33-year old Michael Edward Irvine, of Red Oak.  Irvine, who was wanted on a Page County warrant for Child Neglect,  was booked into the Page County jail, in Clarinda.

Red Oak Police also arrested 24-year-old Timothy James Stewart, of Red Oak, for allegedly violating the terms of his probation. Stewart was being held in the Montgomery County jail on a $10,000 bond.

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County didn’t have to go far to make an arrest Wednesday night. Authorities say they arrested 41-year old Jodie Hastings, of Corning, outside of the Sheriff’s Office in Corning, after Hastings crashed her vehicle into two vehicles on Davis Avenue, just after 10-p.m.  The vehicles were legally parked in front of the Sheriff’s Office.

One of the vehicles belonged to a magistrate, the other to an Adams County dispatcher. Hastings was taken into custody for Operating a motor vehicle While Intoxicated, and Operating a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license. She was booked into the Adams County Jail and held pending a court appearance.

The National Weather Service is changing how it measures the depths of Iowa’s waterways, which also means a change in how much water will be needed to prompt the issuing of flood warnings. Senior hydrologist Jeff Zogg says they’re shifting 44 of the 47 river forecast points across the state’s mid-section. “The reason we’re changing the flood stages and the flood categories across central Iowa is to give our flood warnings more meaning,” Zogg says. “We want to be sure that when we issue a river flood warning for a given location, that it actually means that something is going to occur.” The National Weather Service office in Johnston serves 51 counties in central Iowa. He says the changes will impact about 30 rivers and streams across that area. 

“Over the years, due to mitigation activities, locations that may have been affected at a given stage are no longer impacted,” Zogg says. “That requires us to raise the flood stage and the flood categories.” Almost all of the changes in river forecasting markers are being moved upward, meaning, a warning won’t be issued now until floodwaters reach a higher point.  “Many people have probably become used to us issuing river flood warnings for levels that don’t have much impact,” Zogg says. “Going forward, the flood warnings we do issue will definitely have more impact. They’re keyed in to impacts to life and property in the locations we do flood warnings for, so, they definitely need to pay attention to these flood warnings.” Zogg anticipates the changes will mean a 50-percent reduction in the number of flood warnings the office issues this next year, versus previous years. The National Weather Service is scheduled to release its annual flood forecast for Iowa next Thursday, February 16th. Learn more about the changes at www.weather.gov/dmx.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CRESTON – The city of Creston discovered untreated wastewater bypassing to Hurley Creek on the southwest side of town late Wednesday afternoon. The Union County city is working to determine the cause of the wastewater discharge and to fix the problem. A plugged sewer line is the suspected cause, but the discharge is at least one-fourth mile north of Adams Road, hampering the city’s repairs. The city is cutting trees to provide access to the location.

The Creston Wastewater Superintendent asks city residents to avoid hiking the south end of the popular trail near McKinley Lake until repairs are completed. The city estimates about 20 gallons per minute are being released, but it’s unknown when the discharge began or how much wastewater has been released. The DNR will check McKinley Lake Thursday morning for effects of the discharge.

Two men suffered non-life threatening injuries after the pickup truck they were in rolled over early this morning, in Council Bluffs. Authorities say charges are pending completion of a blood-alcohol test on the driver of the truck, 18-year old Kyle Danick, of Red Oak. Danick, and his passenger, 22-year old Tyall Thompson, of Bellevue, NE, were traveling in a 1982 Chevy S-10 pickup when the vehicle went out of control on South Main Street, at around 2-a.m. Witnesses told police the vehicle was traveling south at a high rate of speed when it crossed 16th Avenue and drove through the snow into the Iowa Interstate Railroad yard.

The truck hit the railroad tracks, vaulted into the air and landed on the driver’s side, before flipping onto its roof. Danick and Thompson were able to extricate themselves from the vehicle. The men were transported to Alegent Health/Mercy Hospital for treatment.