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The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following a single-vehicle accident this (Monday) morning, three-miles east of Griswold. Officials say a 2007 Chevy Cobalt driven by 25-year old Jessica Ann Tye, of Griswold, was traveling east on Tucson Road at around 7:20-a.m., when the vehicle dropped off onto the shoulder and crossed back over the road, before coming to rest in the north ditch. The car sustained about $3,700 damage.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A trial date has been set for three men charged in a Council Bluffs shooting that left one man dead and another injured. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 22-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty, 19-year-old Ben Lein and 30-year-old Markis Davis are scheduled to go to court May 24th. The men face charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and first-degree robbery for their alleged roles in the fatal shooting of Anthony Walker earlier this month. The shooting also injured Patrick Schutz.

A Pottawattamie County attorney says the three men will be tried together.  Court documents say the March 7th shooting happened while the suspects attempted to rob money and drugs from Walker.

ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – About 400 Onawa-area residents have attended a community event in order to learn more about a proposed drag racing strip that would be built on the site of the former Onawa Municipal Airport. The Sioux City Journal reports that the session at the Onawa Community Center offered information about the potential Onawa Racing and Entertainment Complex.

The City Council’s Alternate Airport Use Committee has proposed turning the old runway into a foundation for a new parking lot/pit area, as well as a 3,400-foot drag strip. The Onawa City Council closed the airport last July, citing a lack of use and revenue. By the end of the racing season this fall, the drag strip could support races in three categories: 1/8-mile, 1,000 feet or 1/4-mile.

The protection that keeps utilities from disconnecting customers in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) ends on Friday. Numbers from the Iowa Utilities Board show around 31-thousand (31,049) customers who are signed up for LIHEAP  had past-due utility bills in February. I-U-B spokesman, Don Tormey, says some of those customers went into the winter season behind on bills from the summer.

“The Utilities Board always encourages those customers to work closely with their utility company, or possibly their community action agency to arrange payment agreements with their utility or to continue to apply for energy assistance payments through April 30th,” Tormey says. The I-U-B numbers show around 212-thousand customers who were not in the LIHEAP program who were behind on their utility bills at the end of February. Tormey says it’s important for customers to communicate with utility companies any time they get behind on bills.

“Utilities want to work with customers. It costs money to go out there and disconnect… to post the property to give proper notice to the customer prior to any disconnection — they are required to do that,” Tormey says. “So, it takes time and effort and money to do that, they want to keep those customers.” If you have talked with your utility company and can’t work something out, Tormey says the I-U-B can help.

“Customers can always call the Iowa Utilities Board customer service staff, and we will assist them with issues that are not resolved directly with their utility,” according to Tormey. He says you can call toll free 1-877-565-4450. He says you can also find out more on their website. “There is information posted on the home page Iowa Utilities Board website at I-U-B-dot-Iowa-dot-gov (iub.iowa.gov). And we also have a LIHEAP informational page, and there is link to that in our website as well,” Tormey says. “But we encourage customers who still think they can apply for energy assistance to do so through their local community action agency through April 30th of this year.

I-U-B information shows customers owe more than 39 million dollars from overdue utility bills, and that includes about nine million from customers in the energy assistance program. The overall number of past-due accounts was down about four percent this year compared to February of 2015. The amount owed is down about four million dollars compared to last year.

(Radio Iowa)

(In an update to our earlier reports) The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says eight children, two adults, and a teenager were injured during a collision this (Monday) morning, between an SUV and a SWITA Bus. The accident happened at around 7:46-a.m. on Fairview Road, just west of Buck Creek Road, as the bus, driven by 58-year old Virgil Koontz, of Lewis, was traveling westbound.

The bus was struck head-on by a 1998 Chevy Blazer, driven by 15-year old Charity Lynn Williams, of Atlantic, as she was traveling east on Fairview Road. Cass County Sheriff Darby McLaren told KJAN News Koontz saw the SUV approaching and had stopped just before the collision, a move which likely reduced the number of injuries.

Photo courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County EMA

Williams, Koontz, and a second adult and eight children who were aboard the SWITA bus, were all transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital by Medivac Ambulance, where they received a medical evaluation.

Damage to the SWITA bus was estimated at $2,000, while the SUV sustained $4,000 damage. Williams was cited for Operating on Wrong Side of Roadway.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer says no injuries were reported following a single-vehicle accident Saturday morning, near College Springs. Palmer says 37-year old Casey Devlin Greenwell, of Albany, MO., was traveling south on Page County Road J-52 at around 7:50-a.m., when his 1997 Geo Tracker went into the west ditch and came to rest on the driver’s side. No citations have been issued at this time.