An Amber Alert that was issued late Friday night for two Polk County boys who were allegedly abducted by their biological mother, was cancelled Saturday, after authorities say the boys were found unharmed. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said at around 4 p.m. Saturday, detectives made contact the suspect, 32-year old Mary Andrea Purcell, who was taken into custody without incident, for violating a custodial order. She was being held in the Polk County Jail. The children were turned over to care of the Department of Human Services.

The boys, 12-year old Morgan, and 11-year old Landon Griffin, were allegedly taken by Purcell at around 11-p.m. on Dec. 28th. Mary Purcell’s parental rights had been terminated prior to the incident. The trio were believed to have been on their way to Minnesota or Oregon. One of the boys was known to have ongoing medical issues.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service’s Fugitive Task Force are investigating the incident.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – School districts in Iowa and Nebraska are among the 88 across the country to receive federal funding to replace or modify school buses to reduce exhaust emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency says it is providing $7.7 million to replace or retrofit 401 diesel engine buses to reduce pollutants the agency says are linked to health problems such as asthma and lung damage.

In Iowa, the Bondurant-Farrar district gets $70,000 for three buses, Lawton-Bronson district gets $80,000 for four and Sioux City schools will get $20,000 for one bus. In Nebraska, Arlington Public Schools and Wahoo Public Schools each get $20,000 for a bus.

Applicants replacing buses with engine model years of 2006 and older will receive rebates between $15,000 and $25,000, depending on the size of the bus.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Senators from Nebraska and Iowa have re-introduced a bill requiring immigration officials to hold in custody anyone who has entered the country illegally and charged with a crime resulting in injury or death of another person. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Deb Fisher and Ben Sasse of Nebraska introduced Sarah’s Law in June but it failed to advance.

The law is named after 21-year-old Sarah Root, of Council Bluffs, who died after the SUV she was driving was struck in Omaha by a pickup driven by Eswin Mejia in early February. Prosecutors say he was in the United States illegally and driving drunk.

He’s charged with motor vehicle homicide. Immigration officials declined to keep him in custody. He bonded out of jail and fled. The bill was introduced again Thursday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The sister of an Iowa man says he was among the five people killed in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, airport shooting. Elizabeth Oehme-Miller told The Associated Press by phone Saturday that her brother, 57-year-old Michael Oehme, of Council Bluffs, was killed in Friday’s attack and that her brother’s wife, Kari Oehme, was shot in the shoulder and is expected to recover.

Oehme-Miller says the couple was in Fort Lauderdale getting ready for a Caribbean cruise that was supposed to start Saturday. She says they were frequent travelers who loved cruises and were happy to be headed on another one. Oehme-Miller says another family member is flying to Fort Lauderdale to help Kari Oehme return home to Council Bluffs.

No official list of the victims has been released, but loved ones have started to talk about them to news outlets.

The names of the inductees into the 2017 class of the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are being released. The Arnolds Park-based music association pays tribute to those groups and people who have influenced Iowa’s rock-and-roll music scene. The hall’s John Senn says six Iowa bands are on the list of honorees.

“Jeff Brandt and Galaxy out of the central region by Des Moines, Lavender Lace Band from the same area,” Senn says. “We have a group called High Heel and the Sneakers from the southwest part of the state. From the southeastern part of the state, we have The Night People. From the northeast, we have Hampton Road, and from the northwest, Prince and The Paupers.”

Senn says many of the bands will be performing at the annual Hall of Fame concert at the Roof Garden Ballroom in Arnolds Park from September 1st through 3rd. That concert series has run two decades now. “It started in 1997 and every year, it’s amazing,” Senn says. “We have people come from all over the state, all over the United States and even from foreign countries that are from Iowa and played within the state with groups.”

Individual performers being inducted include: Angelo Doud and Craig Erickson, while Spirit Awards are going to: Surf Zombies, Merle and Jan Wiese, Greg Miksich and Bruce Cameron. Tickets for the reunion concert go on sale June 1st. For details, visit: www.iowarocknroll.com.

(Radio Iowa)

A man who was fleeing from police in eastern Iowa late Friday night has died in a crash that also killed another motorist. The Iowa State Patrol reports 31-year old Troy C. Marvin, of Cedar Rapids, was driving a 2007 Chevy Silverado pickup being pursued by Tama Police, when the pickup t-boned the driver’s side door of a 2007 Chevy Impala at the intersection of 4th and Beautiful Street, in Tama.

After the impact, both vehicles left the road and struck a utility pole before rolling several times. The accident happened just before midnight. Neither Marvin nor the driver of the Impala, 25-year old Ian L. Halverson, of Tama, were wearing their seat belts. Both men died at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation.