(Bellevue, Iowa) – A head-on collision this (Sunday) morning in eastern Iowa’s Jackson County left one person dead and another injured. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2019 Ford SUV was traveling north on Highway 52 north of Bellevue, at around 3:30-a.m., when it crossed the center line and collided with a 2001 Chevy passenger car that was traveling southbound.

The names of both crash victims was being withheld by the Patrol, pending notification of family. Multiple agencies assisted at the crash scene.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Drake University and CBS News will work together to provide educational lessons on having good character to teachers free-of-charge through a new partnership. The collaboration will bring together CBS News’ “Kindness 101” series and the Character Counts program, housed within the Robert D. and Billy Ray Center at Drake, according to a news release. Both are centered around teaching about good choices and character.

Developed in 1992 by the Josephson Institute, Character Counts is aimed at instilling six pillars of good character — caring, citizenship, fairness, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness. Character Counts moved to Drake in 2019.

CBS News Correspondent Steve Hartman will work with Drake University to create educational programming centered around good character. (Photo courtesy of Drake University)

In a news release, Drake University President Marty Martin said “We are proud to partner with CBS News to bring new, inspiring resources to educators through Kindness 101. We seek to transform lives and strengthen communities, and our Kindness 101 partnership provides a unique and powerful platform to achieve those goals.”

The programs will develop short videos containing lesson plans and activities surrounding pillars of good character for K-12 teachers. They will be available and free for K-12 teachers to utilize at Kindness101.com starting in August.

“Kindness 101” is a video series created by CBS News Correspondent Steve Hartman and his children during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the news release stated, covering stories of people demonstrating kindness and character and featuring sections from Hartman’s “On the Road” series. It is now a weekly series that airs as part of “CBS Mornings.”

“This has been a dream of mine for a very long time,” Hartman said in the release. “The people I’ve met ‘On the Road’ have given me so many important life lessons. I’m beyond grateful to now have this opportunity to share those lessons with school children across the country.”

GREENFIELD, Iowa [WHO-TV] – When an EF-4 tornado rolled into Greenfield Iowa, it carved a swath of destruction, taking out some 153 homes. Cheryl Ringer, of Greenfield was watching the news coverage, warning of the tornado, when she heard the sirens sound. She headed for the basement. Ringer told WHO-TV in Des Moines, she grabbed most of her cats when the storm hit and headed for the basement. When the tornado hit, she was struck on the back and trapped in the rubble.

After about 15-minutes, she saw daylight and stuck her hand out through the debris, which allowed her to be spotted and rescued.

She was pulled out of the debris, and was ok, but one of her 5 cats, “Danny,” a seven-year member of her family, was missing. A wildlife trail cam got a picture of Danny in the ruins of the house. So Amy Heinz, with AHeinz57 Animal Rescue, who worked to keep demolition crews from hauling the debris of the house, so the injured animal could be located.

Danny the cat was eventually found, and Cheryl has relocated to an apartment.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are seeking Chronic Wasting Disease Ambassadors in southern Iowa, for a collaborative education program between the agency and Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach, that seeks to help Iowans address the challenge of chronic wasting disease.

Hunters, landowners, and conservationists interested in learning more about chronic wasting disease are encouraged to attend a course offering June 11, 18, and 25 at the Rathbun Fish Hatchery, in Appanoose County.

The course will cover best practices for preventing spread of the disease, how to collect tissue samples for testing, and how to educate others within their community, all in an effort to better educate Iowans on how to manage a healthy deer herd and slow the spread of the disease. The goal of the program is to develop a small, connected, and well-educated network of local leaders to effectively communicate about the management and mitigation of chronic wasting disease.

“Partnerships are key to the effective management of chronic wasting disease,” said Tyler Harms, biometrician for the Iowa DNR and co-organizer of the course. “We need hunters, landowners, and interested conservationists working together to slow the spread of this disease.”

The course includes three in-person meetings from 6-9 p.m. and two online lessons completed between the in-person sessions. In-person sessions will include instruction and hands-on exercises related to the ecology of chronic wasting disease, sampling for the disease, and effective communication strategies. Participants will also have the opportunity to network with area wildlife biologists. Graduates of the course will be given resources to help spread the word regarding effective chronic wasting disease management in their communities.

Registration is available at https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ebL4dhDJanzAbFs or by contacting course facilitator, Adam Janke, at ajanke@iastate.edu or 515-294-7429 and is open until the week before the course starts, or until the class is filled (25 participants). There is no cost to participate. A light meal and refreshments will be served at each of the three sessions.

Chronic wasting disease is always fatal to deer and has been found in wild deer in 23 Iowa counties. To learn more about the disease and its management in Iowa, including ways to help slow the spread of the disease, go to www.iowadnr.gov/cwd.

(Washington, D.C) – Officials with the U-S Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) announced on Friday, the results of the most recent, National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. According to the report, this spring, DEA and law enforcement partners collected 670,136 pounds of unneeded medications at collection sites across the country. Since 2010, DEA, along with its partners, has collected nearly 18.6 million pounds of old, unwanted prescription drugs.

In Iowa, 66 law enforcement agencies participated in the event. There were 68 collection sites which gathered a total of 5,077-pounds of unwanted prescription drugs, for an All-Time Total of 207, 201-pounds.

National Details:

• Total Law Enforcement Participation: 4,607
• Total Collection Sites: 4,869
• Total Weight Collected:  670,136 lbs. (335 tons)
• Total Weight All Time: 18,570,487 lbs. (9,285 tons)

If you missed DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, don’t worry! You can drop off your old, unneeded, or unused medications at one of the 17,000 pharmacies, hospitals, and businesses working to help clean out medicine cabinets throughout the year. In addition, many police departments provide year-round drop boxes.

In southwest Iowa, the list of drop-off sites (within 50-miles of Atlantic) can be found HERE. Additional information can be found HERE.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 2:40-a.m. Sunday (Today, June 2nd) in Montgomery County resulted in the arrest of a man on an OWI charge. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 19-year-old Nathan Adam Vangelder, of Lenox, was taken into custody and booked into the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held on a $1,000 bond.

(Waterloo, Iowa) – A motorcycle accident Saturday night in Black Hawk County claimed the life of one person and resulted in injuries to another. The Iowa State Patrol says  a 2023 Harley Davidson motorcycle was traveling north on Interstate 380 in Waterloo at around 10:15-p.m., when the machine left the road and struck a barrier wall in the median.

The motorcycle then slid across the interstate onto the outside shoulder. The names of the accident victims were being withheld pending notification of family.

The crash remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Waterloo Police, along with Waterloo Fire and EMS.

The following is a news release on Saturday, June 1, 2024, from the Marshalltown Police Department:

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Preparations are well underway for the Cass County Relay For Life event on Sunday, June 30th, at the Nishna Valley YMCA, in Atlantic. Relay for life is a time for the community to come together in celebration of, and support for, cancer survivors and their caregivers. Cass County Relay for Life Coordinator Carole Schuler says there no differences in how the event plays out this year, as compared to years past.

Survivors, supporters, and community members are invited to join together from 11:30-a.m. Until 2-p.m. June 30th.

Register your Relay team at www.relayforlife.org/casscountyia. You can also call 1-800-227-2345 and have an expert at the American Cancer Society get you registered.

Schuler says volunteers are needed to help the day of the event.

To kick off Relay for Life summer activities, local supporters are invited to take part in the Relay for Life raffle to help raise funds for awareness and prevention.

The drawing will be held the day of the Relay. Organizers invite the community to enjoy a Kids Zone, Survivor Meal and other activities during this special time together. The 2024 Cass County Relay for Life will conclude with a Luminaria Ceremony.

Follow the Cass County Relay for Life Facebook group to keep up on current activities and challenges!

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ordered a new trial in a Black Hawk County case that involves the “stand your ground” law. Lasondra Johnson of Waterloo was charged with first-degree murder after a fight that led to Johnson shooting and killing Jada Young-Mills.

Johnson was acquitted of first-degree murder after claiming self defense, but was found guilty of a lesser charge of assault causing serious injury. Johnson appealed, saying the jury instructions were confusing.

The Supreme Court agreed, saying the jury instructions did fail to convey the “stand your ground” law in such a way that the jury had a clear understanding of Johnson’s self defense justification, and ordered a new trial.