ADEL, Iowa (AP) — Two men arrested on suspicion of breaking into a central Iowa courthouse say they were hired to test the building’s alarm system. The Des Moines Register reports 29-year-old Justin Wynn of Naples, Florida, and 43-year-old Gary Demercurio of Seattle were found in the Dallas County Courthouse early Wednesday after an alarm was tripped. Both face burglary charges and are being held on $50,000 bond apiece.

The men told deputies they worked for the cybersecurity firm Coalfire and had been hired to test the courthouse alarm system. The state court administration acknowledged hiring the firm but only to test the security of electronic access to court records, not for “forced entry into a building.”

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Public defenders are seeking to stop representing an Iowa man charged with murder after revelations that their boss moonlights for a police department involved in the case. Lawyers with the special defense unit of the State Public Defender’s office said in a filing Wednesday that they now believe their representation of Jeffrey Stendrup is a conflict of interest. They have asked a judge for permission to withdraw.

Their supervisor, special defense unit director Mike Adams, works on the side as a reserve police officer with the Colfax Police Department. Its officers are prosecution witnesses against Stendrup, who is charged in the 2018 beating death of a man at a Colfax home.

The public defenders had disclosed the potential conflict at a hearing last month but indicated they planned to continue representing Stendrup. They said in Wednesday’s filing that they have learned additional information since then that changes their analysis. If approved, their withdrawal would likely delay Stendrup’s Oct. 23 trial date.

AMES, Iowa – Sept. 12, 2019 – The flyover bridge taking northbound traffic from Interstate 35 to westbound U.S. 30 opened this week, just in time for the big Iowa State/Iowa football game on Saturday. The exit for the new flyover bridge from northbound I-35 to westbound U.S. 30 has moved almost a mile south of the old cloverleaf exit and is combined with the eastbound U.S. 30 exit to Nevada. The old cloverleaf loop from northbound I-35 to westbound U.S. 30 is permanently closed. The change was made to improve safety in this area as 45 percent of the crashes recorded here were associated with the I-35 northbound to U.S. 30 westbound ramp.

If you miss the new flyover bridge exit at 111B, you can easily find your way to the game day festivities by taking the next exit onto 13^th Street in Ames and following the green signs to Jack Trice Stadium.

Motorists exiting from the new flyover bridge should use caution as they will be merging onto U.S. 30 with traffic heading west on from southbound I-35 and westbound from Nevada. (see map).

Fans traveling southbound on I-35 and non-game day travelers coming to Ames are encouraged to take Exit 113 to 13^th Street.

While football fans will be focused on the rivalry between two of the state’s major universities, the new bridge celebrates an earlier achievement for one of the universities, the development of the modern computer. Named the “John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry Memorial Bridge,” the structure recognizes the inventors of the modern computer which occurred at Iowa State University.

ATLANTIC, Iowa – Sept. 12, 2019 – The Iowa Dept. of Transportation’s District 4 Office in Atlantic reports mMotorists can expect delays on Iowa 2 between Interstate 29 and Nebraska City, NE, at 9:30 a.m. this Sunday, Sept. 15, weather permitting, as equipment is scheduled to be moved.  Traffic should be restored to a normal head-to-head traffic pattern by 10 a.m. Sunday morning.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

An elderly male was extricated by rope, today (Thursday) from the scene of a motor vehicle accident in Fremont County. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says at around 8:36-a.m., deputies were dispatched to a single-vehicle accident at the intersection of Knox Road and Grandview Road, west of Sidney.

Photo courtesy Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.

A 1998 Ford Explorer driven by 71-year old Darol Don Hankins, of Sidney, was traveling eastbound when for unknown reasons the vehicle left the roadway and entered a ravine on the south side of the road. The vehicle came to rest approximately 100 feet below the roadway in dense trees, partially in the waterway. The vehicle was not visible from the roadway.

Firefighters extracted Hankins from the vehicle and used a low angle rope rescue to extract him from the ravine. Hankins was transported to the Shenandoah Medical Center for treatment of undisclosed injuries.

Sidney Fire and Rescue and Hamburg Fire and Rescue assisted the Fremont Count Sheriff’s Office with the call.

GRETNA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man sleeping in a pickup truck attacked a Nebraska state trooper who awakened him. The Nebraska State Patrol says the 44-year-old man from Council Bluffs, Iowa, was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and other crimes. Court records don’t yet show that he’s been formally charged.

The patrol says the pickup was suspected of involvement in a hit-and-run crash in Omaha and then another in the parking lot at the Nebraska Crossing shopping center south of Gretna. The patrol says the trooper spotted the pickup in the lot.

The trooper knocked on a pickup window several times before the man woke up. He soon threw open a door, hitting the trooper in the chest, and then got out and attacked. Eventually the trooper deployed a stun gun to subdue the man. A gun was found in a backpack in the truck, as well as several containers of marijuana and some alcohol.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has allowed a lawsuit challenging Iowa’s management of fertilizer and hog farm pollution in rivers and streams to move forward, handing a significant  victory to environmental and community activist groups challenging the state’s voluntary farm pollution regulations. Judge Robert Hanson says in a ruling filed Wednesday that Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch may proceed to trial in their effort to prove the state isn’t doing enough to clean up the Raccoon River, a drinking water source for 500,000 central Iowa customers of Des Moines Water Works.

The lawsuit claims the state has violated the rights of citizens to clean water for recreational and drinking water uses. It asks the court to order mandatory limits on nitrogen and phosphorous pollution and for a moratorium on new and expanding hog confinement facilities. A spokesman for the Iowa attorney general’s office says the state is reviewing the ruling and considering next steps. A spokesman for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says she will not comment on the decision.

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged a day care provider who, police say, acknowledged shaking a 6-month-old girl. Clive Police Chief Michael Venema said in a news release Thursday that 55-year-old Tina Welch is charged with child endangerment causing serious injury. Venema says medics went to Welch’s in-home day care business in Clive on Aug. 21 to help the child, who was having breathing problems. The infant was soon taken to a hospital.

A medical examination showed the girl had suffered brain bleeding and a spinal fracture. Police say Welch told investigators Monday that she’d shaken the infant.

(Radio Iowa) — The long-delayed new flyover ramp at the intersection of Interstate 35 and Highway 30 on the edge of Ames finally opened today (Thursday). The D-O-T’s Jesse Tibodeau says construction started on the 23-million dollar project in December of 2016 and it was supposed to be done in two years. “In 2018 the contractor had some issues with the anchor bolt sleeves on the tops of the piers that connect the piers to the steel girders,” Tibodeau says. “But that’s all been addressed and the bridge is in great shape right now.”

The contractor had to pay to repair the mistakes made on the piers and the project completion was set back. The flyover replaces a clover leaf interchange that had traffic merging and exiting in the same area on I-35. Tibodeau says the new bridge will be safer. “The clover leaf loop there was built 55 years ago or so — and it work well for a long time — but traffic is just too high in this area. So the flyover bridge will handle traffic for another 55 years here,” according to Tibodeau.

The interchange sees some seven thousand cars a day and that increases when there are special events like football games in Ames. The bridge rises up and over the interstate. “The bridge itself is two lanes, the exit is two lanes, so that will be kind of intuitive movement,” Tibodeau says. “The thing we would like folks to look our for — the merge instead of happening on I-35 will happen down on westbound 30 — so you’ll have traffic coming from Nevada and merging from the north with this new flyover ramp.”

Wet weather this week threatened to delay the opening again — but workers were able to get it ready and open to traffic.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a Cass County man being held in the Pott. County Jail on drug and other charges, was served Wednesday afternoon with a Pott. County warrant for Violation of Parole. 32-year old Jessie Bruce Fitzwater, of Lewis, was presented with the warrant and then returned to the custody of Corrections staff. His bond on the other charges was set at $1,300.

Wednesday morning, 26-year old Cody Michael Doss, of Council Bluffs, was served at the Pott. County Jail, with a Fugitive from Justice warrant, out of Douglas County, Nebraska.

And, 36-year old Joshua R. Knappert was arrested at Old Town Park in Macedonia, Wednesday morning, after a deputy was called to investigate a suspicious vehicle. Knappert was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.