Waterloo is assembling a task force to create sustainable solutions for the Cedar Valley’s homeless population. The first step for the group is to identify and catalog Waterloo’s available homeless resources, which range from transportation to shelter and rehab services. Mayor Quentin Hart says the task force will look at solutions both inside and outside the city. The task force is made up of philanthropists, city officials and other community leaders, while Hart says voices from the homeless population itself will be key to the group’s success. The task force expects to start its work in May.

(Radio Iowa)

The Archbishop of the Dubuque Catholic Diocese says a priest has been charged with sexual abuse that allegedly occurred during his time in Iowa. A statement from Archbishop Thomas Zinkula says Father Leo Riley has been charged in Florida with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse from allegations of abuse committed in Dubuque from 1985 to 1986. An allegation was first made in May of 2023, and a second allegation was made after the Archdiocese asked anyone with information to come forward. The Archdiocese statement says an allegation of abuse had been made against Riley in December of 2014, but it is their understanding the Dubuque County Attorney’s Office chose not to investigate because the statute of limitations had expired. Riley had moved to Venice, Florida in 2002 and was most recently assigned to Port Charlotte, Florida.

(Radio Iowa)

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is moving forward with plans to construct a new hydraulic modeling facility for the College of Engineering. U-I Vice President Rod Lenhertz in a presentation to the Regents, says the facility will provide space for future growth. “To consolidate a lot of their work around the research related to as the as the docket item suggests and indicates canal, large rivers, dams, spillways and other projects they do,” he says. Lenhertz says the Hydroscience & Engineering program is a world-renowned center for education, research, and public service focusing on fluids. He says it requires a specific facility for the work.

“Generally large volumes of space with the equipment and water that are needed to model different bodies of water at the project sites that they’re working on. We would start the planning immediately and would come back to the Board of Regents with a with a budget and design,” he says. The budget right now is estimated at 32 to 40 million dollars. The Board of Regents also gave Iowa State University permission to expand the existing two wards at the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Large Animal Hospital. I-S-U vice president, Heather Paris says they would also add a new third ward.

“This project would expand the facility by over 17-thousand square feet to include expansion of current large animal reproductive services as well as enhancement of our professional student and resident training opportunities,” Paris says. She says they would expand in multiple phases. “With the first focused on the equine I-C-U stall, reproductive services, feed and bedding storage and shared storage space,” Paris says. “The total proposed budget of nine-point-two million would be funded by College of Veterinary Medicine funds, with construction scheduled to begin in spring of 2025.”

The Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Large Animal Hospital was built in 1976. The Board of Regents approved the two projects at their meeting last week in Ames.

(Radio Iowa) – Farmers made a lot of progress planting corn and beans last week. The U-S-D-A report says the amount of corn planted reached 39 percent complete — up from 13 percent the week before. That is four days ahead of last year and three days ahead of the five-year average.

Two percent of the expected corn crop has emerged. Twenty-five percent of the expected soybean crop has been planted — up from just eight percent last week. The bean planting is now four days ahead of last year and five days ahead of the average.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County, Monday, arrested 28-year-old Rebecca Sue Warren, of Council Bluffs. Warren was taken into custody on Pottawattamie County warrants, Possession of Methamphetamine/4th Offense, and for being a person ineligible to carry weapons. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The National Weather Service office in Des Moines, in it’s latest update on Monday, said based on preliminary reports and completed storm surveys, severe storms that lifted northeast across western into central Iowa late in the afternoon into the evening of Friday, April 26, 2024, numbered at least 19. Damage to trees and homes has been reported in multiple counties from Crawford to Union and Ringgold up to around Polk and Jasper Counties.

Teams continue to evaluate damage. Additional tornado tracks and rating will be added in the coming days. A final tornado count will take days to a few weeks as we review radar data, examine hi-res satellite imagery, and look at videos.

• A tornado affecting parts of Shelby & Crawford Counties was rated EF-2, with winds of up to 112-mph and a width of 200-yard. It tracked 9..24-miles. A second tornado was rated EF-1, with winds of 107-mph, a track of 12.32-miles, and a width of 200-yards.
• One tornado hit part of Creston just before 7-p.m., Friday. It was rated an EF-2, with 125-mph winds. It traveled nearly 8.5-miles and was 350-yards wide. A second tornado near Creston was an EF-1 w/100-mph winds, and a width of 80-yards. It tracked for nearly 3-miles.
• Another tornado formed west of Afton and traveled 6.23-miles, with an estimated width of 150-yards and winds as high as 125-mph. EF-2 rating.
• A tornado that formed east of Afton was EF-2 that whipped across Union and into Madison County (13.91-miles), with winds of up to 130-mph. It was 150-yards wide.
• A Ringgold County tornado, near Tingley, was an EF-2 that was 100-yards wide, and traveled 10.31-miles.
• A second tornado near Mount Ayr was rated EF-1, with 100-mph winds, a track of 11.74-miles, and a width of 300-yards.

Learn about the other tornadoes covered by the NWS office in Des Moines, HERE.

(Omaha, NE) – The National Weather Service in Omaha has released a preliminary report on the storms that passed through eastern Nebraska and parts of western Iowa on April 26th. Officials broke down the data as follows:

• A tornado developed to the southeast of the I-29 / U.S. 275 interchange and tracked north-northeast before dissipating at the Pony Creek Park, between 4:52 and 4:57-p.m., Friday. It was rated an EF-1, with winds of up to 100 mph. The twister’s path ran for 2.7-miles, at a maximum width of 80-yards.
• A tornado that formed at 4:58-p.m. developed at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and moved northeast to just east of Crescent, IA before dissipated 16. 1-miles later, just north of the Harrison-Pottawattamie County line at 5:27-p.m. It was an EF-3, with wind of up to 152-mph, and a width of 516 yards.
• Tornado  #3 developed at around 5:08-p.m. Friday, in rural southwestern Pottawattamie County and tracked north-northeast before dissipating 13.3-miles later to the northeast of McClelland. It was also rated EF-3, with winds topping out at 145-mph and a width of 800-yards.
• Tornado #4 formed east of McClelland at around 5:25-p.m., while the previous Treynor/McClelland tornado was in the process of dissipating. The tornado tracked 40.9-miles north-northeast through the eastern part of Minden, to the immediate east of Tennant, the west of Harlan, and the immediate east of Defiance before dissipating at around 6:30-p.m., just south of the Shelby-Crawford County line. It was an EF-3, with top wind speeds estimated at 160-mph, and a width of 1,700-yards (just under a mile wide). It was responsible for three injuries and one death.
• Tornado #5 in Shelby and Crawford Counties developed at around 6:28-p.m. over the V&W Petersen Wildlife Management Area and moved north to the immediate west of Manilla before dissipating at around 6:44-p.m. in rural Crawford County Iowa, east-southeast of Denison. It was rate an EF-2, with winds of up to 112-mph and a width of 200-yards. It’s path was estimated to be 9.2-miles long.
• Tornado #6 was an EF-1, with winds of up to 107-mph, a width of 100-yards, and a path of 12.3-miles. It developed to the immediate northeast of Defiance and tracked north-northeast into rural Crawford County east-southeast of Denison.
• Five other tornadoes have yet to be defined, according to the latest NWS data.

TRAER, Iowa – On April 29, 2024, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s (DCI) Major Crime Unit and the Tama County Sheriff’s Office arrested Huston Danker, 27, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Danker was arrested for his role in the shooting death of Ryan Cooper on June 18, 2021. Danker was transported to the Tama County Sheriff’s Office and was charged with Murder in the First Degree, a Class A Felony. Danker is being held at the Tama County Jail, bond to be determined.

Huston Danker

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information related to this investigation can contact the Tama County Sheriff’s Office at 641.484.4111, the DCI at 515.725.6010, or by email at dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us.

No further information will be released at this time.

DES MOINES – Today (Monday), Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for eight additional counties in response to severe weather that occurred on April 26. The governor’s proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of this severe weather and activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and Disaster Case Advocacy Program for the following counties: Clarke, Crawford, Harrison, Mills, Polk, Ringgold, Shelby, and Union. A disaster proclamation was previously issued for Pottawattamie County on April 26.  

The Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program provides grants of up to $5,000 for households with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Grants are available for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food, and temporary housing expenses. Original receipts are required for those seeking reimbursement for actual expenses related to storm recovery. The grant application and instructions are available on the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management website at homelandsecurity.iowa.gov/assistance. Potential applicants have 45 days from the date of the proclamation to submit a claim.   

The Disaster Case Advocacy Program addresses serious needs related to disaster-related hardship, injury, or adverse conditions. Disaster case advocates work with clients to create a disaster recovery plan and provide guidance, advice, and referrals to obtain a service or resource. There are no income eligibility requirements for this program; it closes 180 days from the date of the governor’s proclamation. For information on the Disaster Case Advocacy Program, contact your local community action agency or visit iowacommunityaction.org.    

The proclamation also temporarily suspends regulatory provisions of the Iowa Code that pertain to procurement of goods and services, hours of service for disaster repair crews, and various requirements for the transportation of loads related to disaster repairs.  

You can find a copy of the proclamation here.