(Radio Iowa) — Leaders in northwest Iowa’s Great Lakes area are enlisting the help of a University of Iowa scientist to study ways to manage flooding. Heavy rains this past summer caused shoreline erosion and temporarily shut down the region’s lakes. Bill Van Orsdel, with the Iowa Great Lakes Association, says closing the lakes causes serious economic damage to a community that thrives on recreation. “It’s devastating to the homeowners, to the residents and to the vacationers,” Van Orsdel says.

Scientists project that over time, these rains will get heavier and the risk of flooding will increase, so the association wants to do something about it. Larry Weber, a U-I Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is working with a team using computer models to estimate how much the Lower Gar Lake will rise with different amounts of rainfall. Flood control measures include adding more channel structures called culverts, or using a bridge or dam that could handle water flow differently. “We want to make sure we design something that has the utility and lifespan of many decades,” Weber says. “So we want to make sure we think of increasing intensity of rainfall in the future.”

Weber and his team plan to continue to look at different rainfall conditions and will share results with Iowa Great Lakes officials and residents in early 2019.

(Thanks to Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

A man from Madison County was hospitalized Sunday after he was accidentally shot while hunting. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting that a hunter had been shot near Macksburg. Deputies identified the hunter as Ronald Butler, of Macksburg. Investigators said Butler was with two other adults when the shooting happened. They say he apparently dropped his shotgun as he got out of a vehicle, causing it to discharge.

Butler was taken to the Madison County Hospital, then flown to a Des Moines hospital for additional treatment for his injuries. He was conscious at the time of the shooting, though his condition was unclear as of Sunday night.

And, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a fatal hunting incident in eastern Iowa’s Marion County. The incident happened late Sunday afternoon, just north of Lake Red Rock. One person died, but their name and the circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear. No other details were immediately available.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:00 a.m. CST

ELDRIDGE, Iowa (AP) — A 12-year-old Iowa boy accused of unsuccessfully trying to shoot his teacher will be tried in adult court as a youthful offender. The Quad-City Times reports that a judge made that ruling Friday just before the boy made his first appearance on charges of attempted murder and weapons counts. If convicted, the boy would remain under juvenile court supervision until he’s 18. The case would then return to adult court, where a judge could dismiss it or sentence the offender to adult prison.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted of killing a woman in her Cedar Rapids garage and setting it on fire has been sentenced to life in prison. Television station KCRG reports that 39-year-old Timothy Evans pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the April death of 38-year-old Gina Frederiksen. Prosecutors say Evans broke into the detached garage of a Cedar Rapids home on April 29 and violently assaulting Frederiksen. Police say he then set fire to the garage.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has reported the state’s first flu-related deaths of the current flu season. The department said Friday that two people, both over 65, have died from flu-related causes. One was from an area covered by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and the other was from the North Central District Health Department region that includes the cities of Valentine, O’Neill and Neligh.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa says she will run for a second term in 2020. The Des Moines Register reports that Ernst told reporters Friday that she would seek re-election. The 48-year-old military veteran from Red Oak was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014 after serving four years in the Iowa Senate.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:20 a.m. CST

ELDRIDGE, Iowa (AP) — A 12-year-old Iowa boy accused of unsuccessfully trying to shoot his teacher will be tried in adult court as a youthful offender. The Quad-City Times reports that a judge made that ruling Friday just before the boy made his first appearance on charges of attempted murder and weapons counts. If convicted, the boy would remain under juvenile court supervision until he’s 18. The case would then return to adult court, where a judge could dismiss it or sentence the offender to adult prison.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted of killing a woman in her Cedar Rapids garage and setting it on fire has been sentenced to life in prison. Television station KCRG reports that 39-year-old Timothy Evans pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the April death of 38-year-old Gina Frederiksen. Prosecutors say Evans broke into the detached garage of a Cedar Rapids home on April 29 and violently assaulting Frederiksen. Police say he then set fire to the garage.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has reported the state’s first flu-related deaths of the current flu season. The department said Friday that two people, both over 65, have died from flu-related causes. One was from an area covered by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and the other was from the North Central District Health Department region that includes the cities of Valentine, O’Neill and Neligh.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa says she will run for a second term in 2020. The Des Moines Register reports that Ernst told reporters Friday that she would seek re-election. The 48-year-old military veteran from Red Oak was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014 after serving four years in the Iowa Senate.

(CEDAR RAPIDS) – Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Corrections said Saturday afternoon, 22-year old Eldra Scott Jennings Jr., who was convicted of Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon) in Johnson County, failed to report back to the Larry A. Nelson Residential Center as required Saturday morning.

Jennings, Jr.

Jennings Jr. is a black male, 5-feet 6-inches tall, who weighs 164 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on November 13, 2018.  Persons with information on Jennings Jr.’s whereabouts should contact local police.

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Songs composed by imprisoned musicians in a World War II concentration camp will be performed by University of Iowa professors at Michigan’s Holocaust Memorial Center . The Sunday concert in Farmington Hills is called Songs of the Holocaust. Soprano Rachel Joselson and pianist Rene Lecuona will perform pieces from the Theresienstadt (thuh-REEZ’-ee-ehn-stadt) camp in occupied Czechoslovakia.

A release says Joselson used resources from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and help from colleagues in Israel and Germany to find scans of unpublished or out-of-print music. She, Lecuona and others recorded an album.

Tickets, which are $10 for the general public, are expected to be available at the door. Separately, a University of Michigan ensemble recently performed an arrangement not heard since being played by Auschwitz prisoners. The manuscript for “The Most Beautiful Time of Life” was discovered by music theory professor Patricia Hall.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted of killing a woman in her Cedar Rapids garage and setting it on fire has been sentenced to life in prison. Television station KCRG reports that 39-year-old Timothy Evans pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the April death of 38-year-old Gina Frederiksen. In exchange for his plea, charges of robbery, burglary and arson were dropped.

Prosecutors say Evans broke into the detached garage of a Cedar Rapids home on April 29 and violently assaulting Frederiksen. Police say he then set fire to the garage. Frederiksen was pulled from the burning garage, but died at a hospital.

Evans, who was homeless, had been released from jail just two days before the violent break-in. He was being held on car burglary charges when he was released.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has reported the state’s first flu-related deaths of the current flu season. The department said Friday that two people, both over 65, have died from flu-related causes. One was from an area covered by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and the other was from the North Central District Health Department region that includes the cities of Valentine, O’Neill and Neligh.

Last season, 90 people died of the flu in Nebraska. Iowa state health officials say no flu-related deaths have been reported in Iowa yet this season. Health officials say the very young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are at greater risk of complications from the respiratory illness.

ELDRIDGE, Iowa (AP) — A 12-year-old Iowa boy accused of unsuccessfully trying to shoot his teacher will be tried in adult court as a youthful offender. The Quad-City Times reports that a judge made that ruling Friday just before the boy made his first appearance on charges of attempted murder and weapons counts. The boy remains in a youth detention center on $50,000 bond.

If convicted as a youthful offender in adult court, the boy would remain under juvenile court supervision until he’s 18. The case would then return to adult court, where a judge could dismiss it or sentence the offender to adult prison.

Police say the boy entered a North Scott Junior High classroom on Aug. 31 with a .22-caliber handgun and tried to shoot the teacher. Investigators say when the loaded gun jammed, the teacher wrestled it away from him.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest of a Red Oak man on Friday on a Nebraska warrant. At 2:35pm Officers arrested 37-year-old Quinton Scott Swanberg of Red Oak on a valid Dodge County, NE warrant for Probation Violation. Swanberg was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on no bond.