DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After nearly three months without a winner, the Mega Millions lottery game has climbed to an estimated $654 million jackpot. Unfortunately, even as the big prize for Tuesday night’s drawing rises to the fourth-largest in U.S. history, the odds of matching all six numbers and winning the game don’t improve. They’re stuck at a miserable one in 302.5 million.

The last time anyone won the jackpot was July 24, when a group from California claimed a $543 million prize. The estimated $654 million jackpot refers to the annuity option, paid out over 29 years. The cash option, which is favored by nearly all winners, is $372 million. Mega Millions is played in 44 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Iowa State Patrol has released additional details about a school bus-versus-car accident that occurred Sunday afternoon on Interstate 80, in Cass County. Authorities say a 2005 Buick Lacrosse driven by 16-year old Natalie Caroline Gutschenritter, of Farragut, was westbound on I-80 at around 2:38-p.m., just east of the Highway 71 exit, when she lost control of the vehicle while changing lanes. The car slid through the median and came to rest in the middle of the eastbound lanes. A Harlan Community School District bus driven by 69-year old Neal August Gaul, of Earling, was traveling eastbound and unable to avoid hitting the car.

Following the collision, the Buick came to rest in the middle of the eastbound lanes, while the Thomas bus slid off the south shoulder, coming to rest with the right rear portion of the bus on top of a solid metal guardrail. Gutschenritter was transported by Atlantic Medivac Ambulance to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. She was later cited for Failure to Maintain Control. None of the 17 persons reported to have been on the bus were injured. A Harlan Community School District bus was dispatched to transported occupants of the first bus.

Atlantic Fire and Rescue, the Iowa State Patrol and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies all responded to the scene, along with Medivac.

(Radio Iowa) — We’re not even a month into fall and already wintry weather is hitting Iowa. Meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff, at the National Weather Service, says the Sunday afternoon snowfall took some north-central Iowans by surprise. “The highest amounts we got were around Iowa Falls where they got around two-and-a-half inches,” Hagenhoff says. “There were two inches in the Emmet County-Estherville area, but Iowa Falls generally got the most yesterday while other places saw an inch to maybe just a dusting.”

Anyone in the region who’d hoped to build a snowman or go sledding had better act fast as the snow won’t last. “No, definitely not,” Hagenhoff says. “We’re expected to warm up gradually throughout the week. By Thursday to Friday, we should be in the upper 50s to right around 60.” Some social media chatter makes it sound like this taste of winter weather is closer to the end of the world, but she says a light snow during October is relatively typical. “Our average high for this time of year is right around 60 to 65 degrees, but looking back at our records all the way back to 1885, the average first trace of snow and first measurable snow both occur in October,” Hagenhoff says. “So, while it tends to catch people off guard, it’s not completely rare.”

In some areas, the snow fell on trees that were still fully leafed out and limbs snapped under the weight, dropping on power lines. In the Omaha-Council Bluffs area, as many as 50-thousand customers lost electricity on Sunday due to falling, snow-covered limbs.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, today (Monday), said a Mills County woman was arrested Friday afternoon, on a Fugitive from Justice warrant out of Douglas County, NE. 35-year old Misty Bea Petterson, of Glenwood, was already being held in the Pott. County Jail on a Probation Violation warrant. She continues to be held without bond on the NE warrant.

Saturday night, a woman from Oakland was arrested following a traffic stop. During a records check, 19-year old Jacqueline Claire Pilling was found to have had warrants out of Pott. County for Driving Under the Influence, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense. Pilling was being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail over the weekend, on a $2,325 bond.

And, 23-year old Brandon Scott Chrisman, of Omaha, was arrested at around 3-a.m. today (Monday), after he was involved in an accident on I-29 at mile marker 46. Chrisman’s information was run through the NCIC (National Crime Information Center database), which revealed a warrant was issued for his arrested through Douglas Co. Nebraska. Dispatch verified the warrant and advised that it was extraditable. Chrisman was taken into custody and transported to the Pottawattamie Co. Jail, where he was booked in on a Fugitive from Justice charge and held without bond, before being turned over to correction staff.

The Iowa Board of Chiropractic said in an order filed Oct. 10th, that the Board and local practitioner Melissa Sternberg, Doctor of Chiropractic, have entered into a Settlement Agreement and Final Order, to settle a contested case currently pending before the Board. Sternberg, of Carson, was with Zook’s Family Chiropractic in Atlantic at the time of the Board’s original actions against her.

The allegations contained in the Statement of Charges against Respondent (Sternberg) will be resolved without proceeding to hearing, as the Board and she stipulate the following as facts in the case, which include, but are not limited to:

• The Board filed a Notice of Hearing and Statement of Charges on July 11, 2018.
• Sternberg admits the allegations in the Statement of Charges and acknowledges that the allegations, if proven in a contested case proceeding, would constitute grounds for the discipline agreed to in the Order.
• Execution of the Order constitutes the resolution of a contested case. Sternberg has a right to hearing before the Board on the charges, but has indicated she will waive the right to hearing and all attendant rights, including the right to appeal or seek judicial review of the Board’s actions, by freely and voluntarily entering into the Order.

The Order requires Sternberg to be CITED for representing herself as a chiropractic physician when her license was suspended and WARNED that failure to comply with the laws governing the practice of chiropractic in the future could result in further discipline. Sternberg furthermore agreed that she will not practice chiropractic while her license is suspended and/or on inactive status, and the Order assessed a civil penalty in the amount of $750, to be paid within six months from the date the agreement is accepted by the Board.

On Dec. 2nd, 2014, the Board filed a Notice of Intent to Suspend Sternberg’s license. On Feb. 16th, 2015, they filed a notice of Indefinite Suspension. A Notice of Hearing and Statement of Charges was filed in her case on July 11, 2018, with the Settlement Agreement and Final Order filed Oct. 10, 2018. Read more at https://idph.iowa.gov/Licensure/Iowa-Board-of-Chiropractic/Discipline-and-Public-Actions?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A trial has been delayed until next year for a 19-year-old in northwest Iowa accused of stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend and another young man. Woodbury Country District Court records say prosecution and defense attorneys requested another delay in the trial of Tran Walker. The trial had been set to begin Tuesday . The new starting date is Feb. 19. The original starting date was July 24.

Walker’s pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He’s accused of killing 17-year-old Paiten Sullivan and 18-year-old Felipe Negron Jr., who both lived in Sioux City. Police say Walker was in a car with the other two on Jan. 28 when he began to stab Sullivan because he was upset that she had broken up with him. Police say that when Negron tried to intervene, Walker stabbed him, too.

The Creston Police Department reports five arrests took place over the past few days, and one incident of vandalism was reported. Sunday evening, 53-year old Richard Beam, of Ottumwa, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Union County warrant for Violation of Probation on an original Domestic Assault charge. Beam was being held in the jail while awaiting a bond hearing. Just before 1-a.m. Sunday, 19-year old Nicole L. Bendt, of Creston, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was later released on a $300 bond.

Friday night, 46-year old Jonathan Mandel, of Springfield, IL., was arrested in Creston for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. He was released on a $1,000 bond. Friday afternoon, 24-year old Austin Jones, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County LEC on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 2nd Degree. Jones was later released on a $5,000 bond. And, 27-year old Peter Larsen, III, of Decatur City, was arrested Friday afternoon in Creston, on a Union County warrant for Violation of Probation. Larsen was being held on a $1,000 bond.

A Creston resident reported to authorities late Sunday morning, that sometime between Oct. 11th and the 14th, someone entered a rental property he owns in the 200 block of N. Pine, and caused damage to the walls, doors, and miscellaneous items inside the home. The damage was estimated at $300.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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(Radio Iowa) — Many of Iowa’s rural communities are experiencing a doctor shortage but physician assistants, or P-As, are helping to fill the gap. Jonathan Sobel, president of the America Academy of Physician Assistants, says some Iowans may not know just how much a P-A can do versus an M-D — which is just about everything. “We’re medical professionals who diagnose illness and develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications and often serve as the patient’s health care provider,” Sobel says. “We work on health care teams with physicians and other providers in just about every medical setting and specialty you can think of and there’s more than 123,000 of us in the United States.”

In Iowa, there are more than 14-hundred P-As and they have a median base salary in the state of $108,000. The P-A profession was ranked #3 in U.S. News and World Report’s 2017 Best 100 Jobs List. Sobel says those interested in medicine should consider a P-A program. “It’s now currently at the masters degree level and we have 236 accredited programs across the country,” Sobel says. “We’re helping to fill the shortage in physicians and that gap that exists throughout the country in many areas.”

The programs run 27 months or 3 academic years and a bachelor’s degree is required for acceptance. The P-A concept was developed in the 1960s as there was a doctor shortage and experienced combat medics were returning from Vietnam. The program was developed to put their skills to civilian use.  “PAs increase access to care for patients and reduce wait times,” Sobel says. “PAs have been time-proven, we’re over 50 years old. A few years ago, a Harris Poll looked at satisfaction amongst patients with their PAs and it was well over 90%.”

With thousands of hours of medical training, he notes P-As are versatile and collaborative.