Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The opioid crisis has hit virtually every pocket of the U.S., from rural towns in deeply conservative states to big cities in liberal-leaning ones. But a curious divide has opened up. The nation’s Republican state attorneys general have, for the most part, lined up in support of a tentative multibillion-dollar settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, while their Democratic counterparts have mostly come out against it, decrying it as woefully inadequate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say an officer shot a homeless man who tried to evade police and then threatening one of them with a knife. The shooting happened early Friday afternoon near the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway Bridge over the Raccoon River. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says officers responding to complaints about the homeless camp encountered a 26-year-old man who jumped into the river and later armed himself with a knife. Police say he was threatening an officer with the knife when he was shot.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water to be released into the lower Missouri River will change in the coming days to accommodate recent heavy rains in the Upper Plains. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release Friday that water releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will be reduced to 65,000 cubic feet per second on Saturday and down to 60,000 cubic feet per second on Sunday. Soon thereafter, releases will be incrementally increased to up to 80,000 cfs.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A man has testified that he saw a woman burn bloody clothes at her eastern Iowa home a day or two after prosecutors allege that she beat her ex-boyfriend to death with a baseball bat in 1992. Scott Payne told a jury Thursday that Annette Cahill said the clothes were covered with red paint, but that he knew it was blood because of his days slaughtering pigs. Cahill was charged last year with first-degree murder in the beating death Corey Wieneke.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Missouri was arrested Thursday night on numerous charges following an incident in Tabor. 25-year old Brandon Yost, of Tarkio, MO., faces charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance, Methamphetamine, Violation of a Protection Order, False Imprisonment, Domestic Abuse with intent to inflict serious injury, and Criminal mischief. Yost is being held on a $6,000 10% cash/surety bond after his initial appearance with a Magistrate.

Brandon Yost

Yost was also arrested on a valid Fremont County warrant for Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Methamphetamine and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and on a valid Page County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. His bond on those charges amounts to $2,100.

Authorities say that at around 8:17-p.m., Thursday, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office took several reports of a female in a vehicle yelling that someone was trying to kill her, in Tabor. Callers followed the vehicle to the 2800 block of Waubonsie Avenue in rural Tabor. During the altercation, the male, identified as Brandon Yost, exited the vehicle, climbed onto the hood and began breaking the windshield. Upon law enforcement arrival, Yost fled a short distance and was apprehended quickly.

Yost was also arrested after a search warrant involving a Fremont County K9, was conducted on a vehicle belonging him, and not connected with the other cases. He was arrested in that matter at the Fremont County Jail and is being held on $1,000 cash bond in that case for Possession of Marijuana. Yost is awaiting his initial appearance with a Magistrate in this case. Yost was also out of jail on bond, in connection to a previous burglary arrest in Page County.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and the Tabor Police Department investigated separate incidents in this case. They were assisted by the Mills County Sheriff’s Office and Tabor Rescue.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The opioid crisis has hit virtually every pocket of the U.S., from rural towns in deeply conservative states to big cities in liberal-leaning ones. But a curious divide has opened up. The nation’s Republican state attorneys general have, for the most part, lined up in support of a tentative multibillion-dollar settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, while their Democratic counterparts have mostly come out against it, decrying it as woefully inadequate.

Exactly why this is so is unclear, and some of those involved suggested it can’t necessarily be explained by the way the Republican Party is considered more friendly to big business. Some of the attention has focused on the role played by Luther Strange, a Republican former Alabama attorney general who has been working for members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma.

People familiar with the negotiations say he was at a meeting of the Republican Attorneys General Association over the summer, sounding out members about a settlement months before a tentative deal was struck this week. Purdue has been generous in recent years to RAGA, contributing more than $680,000 to its campaign operation from 2014 through 2018. The company also gave to the organization’s Democratic counterpart, the Democratic Attorneys General Association, over the same five-year period, but far less: about $210,000.

Nearly half the states and lawyers representing some 2,000 local governments have tentatively accepted the settlement deal, according to people familiar with the talks. Under the deal, the company would declare bankruptcy and remake itself as “public benefit trust,” with its profits going toward the settlement. An Associated Press survey of attorney general offices shows 25 states and the District of Columbia have rejected the current offer.

The only states with Democratic attorneys general to sign on are Mississippi and Michigan, which is one of the few states that haven’t actually sued Purdue. “I don’t think you should read a whole lot into it,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat, said of the partisan divide. “My view is it’s a pretty close call to join or not. There are good arguments on both sides. All my colleagues who have made their decisions have made them in good faith.”

Miller said he expects a bipartisan group of states to keep working together on possible settlements with other defendants in the opioid cases. Paul Nolette, a Marquette University political scientist, said in an email that the GOP attorneys general and local governments “don’t see this as a bad deal under the circumstances.” But he said Democrats have been stung by a backlash over settlements over foreclosures years ago, and they “see political risks for not pushing for more.”

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports an Atlantic man was arrested this (Friday) afternoon. 32-year old Jacky Ray Walters was taken into custody at around 2-p.m. on outstanding warrants for Violation of a No Contact Order and Tampering with a Witness. Walters was being held at the Audubon County Jail without bond,until he’s been seen by Magistrate.

On Thursday, Audubon County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 41-year old Christopher Paul Gurley, of Audubon. Gurley was arrested and charged with 10 counts of Forgery, Unauthorized Use of a Credit Card, Identity Theft, and Theft 4th. He was brought before the Magistrate and was being held in the Audubon County Jail on a $10,000 bond. (Update: All charges were dismissed on Oct. 18th in Audubon County  District Court)

On Wednesday, 38-year old Bobby Lee Stevens, of Audubon, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for Violation of Probation – Original Charge Domestic. He was being held on a $5,000 cash only bond.

And, on August 25th, 29-year old Desiray Michelle Elliott, of Linden, was charged with OWI – 3rd or Subsequent offense, while she was being held in the Audubon County Jail on unrelated charges. The charge stems from toxicology results after a traffic stop that occurred on June 11th, 2019.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water to be released into the lower Missouri River will change in the coming days to accommodate recent heavy rains in the Upper Plains.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release Friday that water releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will be reduced to 65,000 cubic feet per second on Saturday and down to 60,000 cubic feet per second on Sunday.

The Corps says that reduction will last no longer than three days before releases are incrementally increased by 5,000 cubic feet per second, per a day going up to 80,000 cubic feet per second.

The Corps says it hopes that briefly lowering releases may curtail possible flooding on the Missouri River between Sioux City, Iowa and Omaha.

(Radio Iowa) — Sunday marks one month since sports gambling was legalized in the state of Iowa, and the administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission says things seem to be running smoothly at the state’s casinos. Brian Ohorilko says the commission is happy with the way the casinos have handled things.

“There have been a few bugs here and there with regard to the online apps, things that are more cosmetic, nothing operationally, and so from that standpoint we’ve been very pleased,” Ohorilko says. He says casino operators have happy with the additional traffic they’re seeing with sports betting. “As we sit here today, things have appeared to go pretty smoothly,” He says, “I think the operators that have launched already are pleased with the numbers and the attendance. At least at this point, things seem to be going well.”

Ohorilko says people should be patient with their local casino as sports gambling is still in the early stages of being implemented in the state.  “I still caution people that we are early on in the process, and one of the reasons why it was beneficial to launch in mid-August for those companies that were ready was to try to work out some of the bugs prior to the busiest season for sports wagering, and that’s what started last weekend with N-F-L season,” according to Ohorilko. “And so we’ll start really getting a good handle as to what could be potential issues that come up.”

One of the big weekends for sports gambling in the state could be this weekend’s matchup between Iowa and Iowa State on the football field. Ohorilko says it is also one of the reason casinos wanted to try to have their sportsbook operations going in anticipation of some friendly wagers for this weekend’s game. ”N-F-L season is important, but this game this weekend, a lot of people are interested in it, and I think a lot of people just to have a legal, friendly wager on the game, I think there’s something that people are excited about. So we’ll see how the numbers go,” according to Ohorilko.”I will say that until the market has settled, and all 18 and of the casinos that have applied for a sports wagering license are up and running, I don’t think we’ll have the true numbers, that true feeling for what it will look like, but I do think that this weekend will likely be the busiest to this point in time for the state.”

Sports betting operations are open for business in 14 of the 19 state licensed casinos. The Diamond Jo Worth casino near Northwood opened their sportsbook operation two weeks ago, with plans to introduce their online and betting apps by the end of the year.

(Radio Iowa) — A second county is now reporting its courthouse was burglarized by men hired to test the security of the court system. The spokesman for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office says the Polk County Courthouse was burglarized at midnight on Monday. The burglary is described as similar to the one reported by Dallas County Wednesday. Dallas County deputies arrested Justin Wynn, of Naples, Florida, and Gary Demercurio of Seattle, Washington inside the courthouse.

The two men said they had been hired to test the courthouse alarm system and security. The Iowa Judicial Branch confirmed the men had been hired to test the electronic court system’s vulnerability — but says they did not ask the men to break into courthouses. The Polk and Dallas County Sheriff departments are working together on the investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a man at a Des Moines homeless encampment has been shot after trying to evade officers and then threatening one of them with a knife. The shooting happened early Friday afternoon near the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway Bridge over the Raccoon River.

Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says officers were responding to complaints about the homeless camp when a 26-year-old man there refused to cooperate with officers, then jumped into the river. Police say he later emerged from the river, ran back to the camp and armed himself first with a shovel, then a machete-style knife.

Police say he advanced on an officer, refusing commands to drop the knife, and was shot in the upper torso. Police have not released the man’s name, but say he underwent surgery and is expected to survive. Police also have not released the names of the officers involved.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating an explosion that destroyed a Des Moines house and damaged others early Friday, injuring some neighbors. The blast occurred at around 3:15 a.m. a few blocks northeast of Birdland Park. A few minor injuries have been reported at neighboring homes but no deaths, authorities said. Investigators have yet to report what caused the explosion and fire, but a natural gas buildup is suspected. MidAmerican Energy has cut off service to neighboring properties and conducted leak tests and inspected gas lines. The company said the system components checked are functioning normally.

Brandon Linn told station KCCI that the boom caused his window air-conditioning unit to fly across a room in his house. Teresa Trettin, 56, told The Des Moines Register that she heard a bang “loud enough to wake someone up in a deep sleep.” Debris landed in trees, the street and on nearby properties, and several windows in the neighborhood were shattered. “It’s going to be a mess to clean up, but it sure beats being in that house,” Trettin said. Neighbors reported that no one had been living in the house for at least a couple of years because the former residents had health problems.