Police in Creston report a the driver of an SUV and a 12-year old girl were injured during a collision Friday morning. Authorities say Mercedez Quinn, of Creston, was a passenger in a 2005 Chevy Equinox driven by 19-year old Mia Maxwell, of Creston. According to the report, the SUV was facing east on Townline Road, stopped in traffic at around 7:25-a.m., and waiting to turn into the Creston High School parking lot, when the vehicle was struck from behind by a 2002 Toyota Tundra. The Tundra was driven by 15-year old Luke Tebbenkamp, of Creston. The teen told police he didn’t see the SUV due to glare from the sun.

Quinn and Maxwell were transported by Union County Medics to the Greater Regional Medical Center, in Creston, for treatment of undisclosed injuries. Damage from the collision amounted to $6,000.

A judge today (Tuesday) sentenced 34-year old Toby McCunn, of Red Oak, to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, for a fatal shooting that took place in Shenandoah on April 22nd. Judge Jeffrey Larson also ordered McCunn to pay restitution in the amount of $150,000 to the family of the victim, 33-year old Joshua Jordan. McCunn was found guilty of 1st Degree Murder last month.

Nonresidents now have another option to purchase the annual vehicle permit for Lake Manawa and Waubonsie state parks. The Iowa DNR says starting September 18, 2019, customers will be able to go the state park reservation system at www.iowastateparks.reserveamerica.com and purchase the $40 annual vehicle permit. A $4 convenience fee will apply. The permit decal will be mailed to the customer the following business day. Customers may continue to purchase the annual permit and the second vehicle permit at Lake Manawa and Waubonsie state park offices.

For more information about the nonresident user fee, visit www.iowadnr.gov/parks or call Lake Manawa State Park at 712-366-0220 or Waubonsie State Park at 712-382-2786.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — The Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources reports that at around 7:30-p.m. Sunday, a collision occurred on Lake Manawa, between a boat and a personal watercraft (PWC). Both were leaving a 5 mph zone and gaining speed, going in the same direction, when the PWC made an abrupt right turn and collided with the front of the boat, according to witnesses. The PWC was driven by 20-year old Olum Sandel, of Offutt Air Force Base, and the boat was operated by 23-year old Rodney Smith, of Plattsmouth, Neb.

Smith was take to the Pottawattamie County Jail and charged with Boating While Intoxicated, first offense. Sandel was taken by the Council Bluffs Fire and Rescue to UNMC in Omaha where he is being treated for injuries sustained during the crash. The crash is under investigation by the Iowa DNR Law Enforcement Bureau, and was assisted by the DNR Parks Bureau and the Iowa State Patrol during the initial investigation.

ALLISON, Iowa (AP) — A man has been give five years of probation for the deaths of his 41-year-old brother and another man who were riding in his pickup truck when it crashed in north-central Iowa. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that 47-year-old Matthew DeWitt was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, suspended, and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution. He’d pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide-reckless driving. Prosecutors had reduced his charges in exchange.

Authorities say DeWitt’s blood showed the presence of alcohol and marijuana after the Oct. 27, 2016, crash near Clarksville. DeWitt was towing a trailer when his pickup veered off the roadway and hit a culvert. His brother, 41-year-old Jeffrey Joe DeWitt, of Shell Rock, and 28-year-old Andrew John Baker, of Waverly, were killed. Matthew DeWitt also was injured.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State is exploring construction of a multi-use “arts, culture and community district’ between Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium. The school announced the plan Tuesday, saying athletic director Jamie Pollard and Iowa State Research Park President Rick Sanders will lead a feasibility study on the area, which is mostly a series of parking lots.

Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen transferred oversight of the Iowa State Center, a series of buildings near the basketball coliseum and the football stadium, to the athletic department. The proposed plan would also look into relocating commuter and football game day parking to a new parking area east of the stadium.

DECORAH, Iowa (AP) — A man has been accused of using an ax to kill two dogs belonging to a relative in northeast Iowa. Winneshiek County court records say 21-year-old Douglas Usgaard is charged with two counts of animal torture. The records say Usgaard killed a 14-year-old labradoodle and a 13-year-old Shi Tzu-bichon mix on Saturday at a Decorah home where he was living with family members. The records also show he’s pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a trial in November on a theft charge.

The Riverside Community School District is excited to get the playground equipment installed and have a great play space for their students at Carson Elementary. Superintendent Tim Mitchell says Madeline Gordon, a Girl Scout in the community, has been working on her Gold Award Project over the last two years to make the playground a reality.  Mitchell said she has been working to help raise money and to get the project completed.

All the playground pieces have now finally been delivered to Carson and Madeline is moving onto her next steps.  She has organized a group of people to come in and complete the install on Saturday, September 28, 2019 and Sunday, September 29, 2019 at 8:00 AM on both days.  With the supervision of Scott, the building coordinator, from Cunningham Recreation, she has volunteers ready to go.  Mitchell says Madeline and Jamie Meek, Grade PK-5 Principal, have also been working on getting together everything that is needed for the installation.

The Superintendent says “We know many of you would like to volunteer to help assemble the playground with us.  Right now, we have enough volunteers for the install, but please feel free to show up and be ready in case we need more help.  Everyone is welcome to come and watch the playground install.” If you have questions or would like to donate something for those days, please contact us at 712-484-2212.

Mitchell says “We are very excited to get this next phase done for the Carson Elementary.  If everything works out, on September 30, 2019 we will have a new playground to play on and then we can move to installing a basketball court.”

Two people were arrested in Harlan, last Friday. following separate traffic stops. The H-PD says 18-year old Masen James Schmitz, of Harlan, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. And, 20-year old Juan Carlos Lara Juarez, of Harlan, was arrested for driving while suspended.

(Radio Iowa) — Southwest Iowa officials are warning residents who’ve returned to areas that flooded this spring to be ready to evacuate as heavy rains upstream make their way down the Missouri River basin. Fremont County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Crecelius says “They should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice, just in case. Don’t wait ’til the last minute. Have stuff ready in case we have to tell you to get out again. I know people don’t want to hear that, but that’s the nature of what we’re dealing with here.”

Crecelius spoke yesterday (Monday) with the Army Corps of Engineers about repairs to local levees damaged by this spring’s flooding.  “They are fairly confident that the repairs that they have made to the levee will withstand the amount of water that we’re supposed to have down here by Friday,” Crecelius says. “My concern is…what happens if we have more rainfall in the local area or just north of us? Then that’s going to change things.” Crecelius says this latest flooding threat comes as the county is slowly recovering from previous events in March and late May. “Some of those people haven’t even been back in their because we’ve got to get the roads repaired for them to get back out there and in some places there’s still water,” Crecelius says.

Areas west of Hamburg and the Bartlett-McPaul vicinity have the greatest risk for additional flooding, as they are still mostly underwater. Mills County is also on high alert because of flooding. Mills County Emergency Management says elevated Missouri River levels will cause increased flood risk for the southwest portion of the county. Officials say exact effects of the river’s level are hard to determine, so extreme caution is advised. Some residents in the northwest portion of Pottawattamie County have been warned to watch the rising Missouri River.  “Unfortunately this isn’t anybody’s first rodeo. We’ve been dealing with this since March. Many of these folks who live along the river had to deal with this back in 2011.”

That’s Pottawattamie County Emergency Management director Doug Reed. He says Interstates 29 and 680 could be impacted. “We anticipate losing some of our secondary road systems up in the northwest part of the county along with our threat to the interstate,” Reed says. “So, as always, that means you might not be able to get back to your property it or if you stay too long you might not be able to get out of it or we might not be able to get to you in a timely fashion should there be an issue.”

More than 10 inches of rain fell last week in areas of South Dakota and National Weather Service forecasters say there hasn’t been a day this month that rain hasn’t fallen somewhere in the Missouri River basin