w/ Brett Johnson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

SIDNEY, Iowa (AP) — Officials say some overpasses and ramps along Interstate 29 in western Iowa need to be inspected for flood damage before they’re judged safe.

Iowa Transportation Department officials say that damage could take months to repair and hamper travel along the interstate and on the approaches to bridges across the Missouri River to Nebraska.

Near Sidney, river floodwater has washed away some of the dirt on the overpass where Iowa Highway 2 and Interstate 29 meet.

Department spokesman Jeff McQueen says the overpass and ramps will have to be inspected and repairs made before motorists can use them for travel north or south along I-29 or to exit for driving northeast into Sidney or west to Nebraska City, across the Missouri River.

Dowd Healthmart Drug in Guthrie Center has been broken into for the second time in two months.

Police say the most recent break-in occurred last Tuesday when a burglar tossed a brick through the front door of Dowd setting off the alarm. Police responded to the alarm immediately but the thief had already escaped. The burglar had managed to steal prescription medications before fleeing the scene. No cash or other merchandise was reported missing, and the building sustained no additional damage.

Surveillance video from the break-in shows a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt over a yellow ball cap. On top of the sweatshirt is a checkered or plaid shirt. He was also wearing gloves. Store owner Jim Vandevanter says additional security cameras had just been installed the night before.

The robbery was nearly identical to the one that occurred on May 26^th when prescription drugs were stolen after the store’s front door was broken. As the case with last Tuesday’s robbery, no cash was taken and no other property was damaged.

Anyone with information about the burglaries should call the Guthrie Center Police Department at (641) 747-2214.

Pottawattamie County authorities are still investigating a fatal collision on old Lincoln Highway north of Council Bluffs.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as 19-year-old Elizabeth Chadwick, of rural Crescent, and 18-year-old Jessica Weinfurtner, who lived in Council Bluffs.

Chadwick was driving when her car veered off the roadway around 11:15 p.m. Saturday. The sheriff’s office she overcorrected and veered into oncoming traffic, striking an airport shuttle vehicle. Chadwick and Weinfurtner were pronounced dead at the scene.

Six passengers in the van were taken to hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. The van driver didn’t want medical treatment.

Council Bluffs Community School District spokeswoman Diane

Ostrowski says Chadwick went to Thomas Jefferson High School and Weinfurtner attended Abraham Lincoln High School.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Forecasters say the heat wave gripping the central U.S. is “unrelenting” and sweaty residents shouldn’t expect any relief soon.

Heat advisories and warnings are in place in 17 states, from Texas to Michigan, as temperatures and humidity combine to make being outside uncomfortable for millions.

In Oklahoma City, forecasters expected another day of 100-degree heat Sunday, which would be the 27th day this year the city has reached 100 or above. The city’s record is 50 such days, set in 1980, and it’s on pace to break it this year.

National Weather Service forecaster Daryl Williams in Norman, Okla., says much of the central U.S. is under a so-called “heat dome” that isn’t moving much. He describes the heat as “unrelenting” and says the trend is for more hot weather.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A home invasion at Rep. Leonard Boswell’s Iowa farm ended when his 22-year-old grandson fetched a shotgun and aimed it at the intruder, according to a statement from the congressman’s office. No one was seriously injured.

The incident started about 10:45 p.m. Saturday when an armed man came in through the front door, attacked Boswell’s daughter, Cindy Brown, and demanded money, the statement said. Boswell, 77, heard his daughter’s screams, came into the entryway and attempted to disarm the intruder.

As they struggled, Boswell’s grandson, Mitchell Brown, got a shotgun from another room. When he pointed the shotgun at the intruder, the man fled into the fields around the house outside Lamoni.

Boswell’s wife, Dody Boswell, 75, also was home during the attack. His spokesman Grant Woodard said the whole family is safe and unhurt, aside from some scrapes and bruises.

The family is shaken up, but “they’re dealing with it pretty well,” Woodard said Sunday morning.

He deferred other questions to the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating along with the FBI and other agencies. Sheriff Herbert Muir wasn’t available for comment Sunday morning.

Boswell, a Democrat, has represented Iowa’s 3rd District for eight terms in Congress. He is expected to face a challenge next year from Republican Rep. Tom Latham, who is moving into the district to avoid running against Republican Rep. Steve King after their territories were merged during once-per-decade redistricting that follows each census.

Iowa is going from five to four congressional seats because its population growth hasn’t kept pace with the rest of the nation. The new 3rd District will include Des Moines and 16 counties in southwest Iowa.

The Elk Horn-Kimballton School Board is set to hold their regular meeting Monday evening, at the High School, in Elk Horn. Action items on their agenda include: the resignations of the band director, school nurse and assistant high school football coach.

During his report to the EHK Board, Superintendent Dean Schnoes will discuss the sharing of the Band Director’s position with Audubon, as well as school nurse. And, among other, administrative matters, the Board will: hear an update on the student parking lot project; and, action is expected with regard to approval of student handbooks…catastrophic accident insurance…a Rosetta Stone contract…revised Master Schedule, lease and other One-to-One computer agreements, with the Apple Computer Corporation.

The meeting will conclude with the administering of Oaths to the Board Secretary/Treasurer, and Business Manager.

The EHK School Board meeting begins at 7-p.m. Monday, in the Family and Consumer Science Room at the Elk Horn High School.

Day tours of the famous Villisca Ax Murder House will not be held this week, so that the staff, family and friends of the museum’s operator can mourn his death. Darwin Linn owned the house where eight people were killed on June 10^th, 1912. Linn died Friday. He’d purchased the home in 1994 and restored the building to its near original condition in 1912.

Joshua B. Moore, his wife Sarah, and their four children lived in the home nearly a century ago. The family and two neighbor girls who were staying with them were found bludgeoned to death with an ax. To this day, their deaths remain unresolved.

Darwin Linn also operated the Olson-Linn Museum in downtown, Villisca, which features pictures and artifacts about the town’s history. He offered tours of the museum and the Ax Murder House, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places, in 1998. He eventually opened the house to overnight stays.

A woman and child riding on a personal watercraft were injured Friday evening, when their vessel was hit by another PWC on Carter Lake. Authorities say a 5-year old boy and a 42-year old woman were struck as they were on the craft, at around 5-p.m.

A private boat brought the victims to the shore. The woman and child were then transported to the Nebraska Medical Center, where they were being treated for what were believed to be non-life threatening injuries.

No other injuries were reported, and additional details about the accident are not yet available.