Heat can be a tremendous threat in Iowa and it’s one of the country’s top weather-related killers. Last year, 94 people died from the extreme heat, more than twice the 45 deaths the previous year. Today (Thursday) is Heat Awareness Day. Meteorologist Kelsey Angle, at the National Weather Service, says it’s vital to stay aware of the forecast and take precautions for a heat wave just as you would for an approaching blizzard.

Angle says, “One of the reasons why we’re holding a Heat Awareness Day is so people can plan and prepare as we start to go through the heart of the summer season and the impacts associated with heat as well as humidity.”

Iowans need to take care of themselves if they plan to be outside for any period of time during a heat wave, especially if they’re exerting themselves. “Pay attention to what their body is telling them because often when the heat index gets above 105, people can get in some serious health danger if they don’t take appropriate precautions,” Angle says. “Take a break, maintain hydration, drink lots and lots of water.”

Every summer, children and animals die or are hospitalized from being left unattended in a hot car. “You can have temperatures in the 80s and if you’ve got kids or pets inside a vehicle without air conditioning, temperatures can rapidly rise to well over 120 degrees just in a matter of a few minutes,” Angle says. “It’s important that you don’t leave children or pets inside a vehicle.”

On warmer days, temps inside the vehicle can quickly reach 160 degrees. Children are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion, heat stroke and even death because their bodies generate more heat due to their size. Their ability to sweat to cool themselves down isn’t as fully developed as adults. Animals, too, can quickly suffer brain damage or die from heatstroke or suffocation from being left in a hot vehicle. During extreme heat, check in on your neighbors, make sure your pets and livestock have adequate shade and water, and keep up with the changing forecast.

“Any time the heat index is expected to get above 105 degrees, we’ll issue advisories for that,” Angle says. “If we expect heat index values to be significantly higher, we’ll issue an Excessive Heat Warning.”

For more information, visit www.weather.gov/dmx.

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police arrested three people on separate charges, Wednesday. At around 8-p.m., 23-year old Dillon Makenzie Terry, of Red Oak, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. He was also cited for careless driving, a registration violation, and failure to provide proof of insurance. His bond was set at $1,000. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted in conducting the arrest.

Red Oak Police arrested 47-year old Shelby Joann Olivares for Domestic Abuse Assault and Violation of a No Contact Order. She was being held at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center without bond on the Assault charge, and $300 bond for No Contact Order violation.

And, at around 3:15-p.m. Wednesday, Red Oak Police arrested 18-year old Justin Leroy Newman, of Red Oak, for Theft in the 4th Degree. Newman, who worked as an employee of Shopko, was accused of Theft from the store, the value of which was greater than $200 but less than $500. His bond was set at $1,000.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:06 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A state Education Department review has found that the Iowa City school district occasionally sent students to padded seclusion rooms for minor infractions such as stepping out of line. The rooms are intended to be used to prevent students from harming themselves or others. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that after a complaint filed last year, the department reviewed 455 incidents of seclusion from Dec. 22, 2015, to Dec. 21, 2016. The padded, wooden rooms are roughly 6-by-6-foot.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs mother who admitted to police that she shoved her 1-year-old’s arm into hot coffee, causing severe burns, has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to five years in prison. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 36-year-old Rebecca Brahier pleaded guilty Tuesday to child endangerment resulting in injury. Hospital medical staff called police after the boy was brought in for treatment. Doctors say the boy suffered blistering and that his skin was sloughing off on his left hand and arm.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating the death of a person in Davenport after officers were called for reports of shots fired. Davenport television station KWQC reports that the shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. Officers say they found 34-year-old Cainnan Gates, of Davenport. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests have been reported.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — American Packaging Corporation is expanding in upstate New York. State officials say the company has broken ground on a new 350,000-square-foot (32515 sq. meter) plant in the suburbs of Rochester. It’s expected to create more than 260 full-time jobs over the next five years.

The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, passed an Amendment to the Fiscal Year 2017 budget that incorporated changes in the areas revenue, interest revenue and expenditures. In the end, the result is an increase in revenues amounting to $34,500 and an increase in expenditures of $25,700, or an increase of $8,800 in excess revenue and other sources over the expenditures/transfers out in the fiscal year. The total budget as amended is $14,416, 608., leaving the City with an ending fund balance on June 30th, 2017 of $5,332,130, as opposed to the certified budget of $5,323,300.

The Council also approved an amendment to the City’s Code of Ordinances with regard to the sale and use of fireworks, the specifics of which we’ve previously mentioned on KJAN. Fire Chief Mark McNees expressed concerns however, that a provision was removed in the Ordinance regarding gross weight limits for the amount of fireworks at any given location, where permanent and temporary structures are used to sell the devices.

City Administrator John Lund said the State Fire Marshal’s Office never returned calls from the City with regard to guidance on the matter, and other Cities have given-up trying to further regulate the sale of fireworks until they have better guidance.

McNees said there is guidance available from the National Fire Protection Association, in the form of NFPA 101, a Life Safety Code used as a consensus standard and widely adopted in the United States and used in the State of Iowa. The State bases their inspections on NFPA 1124. The same goes for the checklist McNees will be required to use for inspections. He said the requirements don’t apply to vendors who have less than 500 pounds in a building not covered by sprinklers, or less than 1,000 pounds for a building equipped with sprinklers. McNees said “We have very few sprinkled buildings, in Atlantic. We have a whole lot of unsprinkled ones.”

He suggested the City leave the weight limits as they were, using the 500 and 1,000 pound limits as a safety factor. He said “Our problem is, if something happens with one of these, we do not have the equipment, we don’t have the manpower. If it goes up, most likely we’re going to sit there and watch it from a distance. But to try to protect buildings, and/or people, and/or roadways…that initial fire/explosion…is the problem.”

City Clerk Barb Barrick says she’s received at least six inquires from fireworks vendors, and one transient merchant application, which was sent back to be corrected. In other business, City Administrator John Lund said on the first day of three City Clean-up Days, 3 loads of junk left by the curbs was removed and sent to the landfill. There would have been more, but one of the City workers had a family emergency. It’s estimated 25% of the City was covered, Wednesday.

Mayor Dave Jones reminds residents, if the neighbors along your street have had their junk picked up and yours was not, you will be responsible for putting it back on your property in accordance with the Ordinance.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs mother who admitted to police that she shoved her 1-year-old child’s arm into hot coffee, causing severe burns, has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to five years in prison. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 36-year-old Rebecca Brahier pleaded guilty Tuesday to child endangerment resulting in injury. She received credit for time already served in jail since her November arrest.

Hospital medical staff called police after the boy was brought in for treatment. Doctors say the boy suffered blistering and that his skin was sloughing off on his left hand and arm. Police say Braheir told officers the baby kept reaching for her coffee cup, so she intentionally submerged the baby’s arm in the hot coffee to “teach him a lesson.”

The Cass County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday morning (June 7th) in a regular session. During the meeting, the Board discussed the position on the Cass County veteran affairs commission which ends June 30th. The Veteran Affairs commissioners had recommend the re-appointment of Terry Duggan, of Griswold, and the Supervisors concurred. Duggan was unanimously re-appointed to the Cass County Commission of Veteran Affairs for a three-year term that begins July 1st, 2017.

The Board also discussed the positions on the Cass County Compensation Board which end June 30th. The discussion was followed by action on re-appointing Maynard Hansen and Phyllis Nichols as members on the Cass County compensation board for four-year terms that begin July 1st.

In other action the Cass County Supervisors approved requests from the Cities of Anita and Atlantic to abate penalty and interest on two parcels owned in each city by those respective cities. And, by a vote of 4-to 1, the Board approved a request for a Bible Reading Marathon on the courthouse grounds. The event, which was also held last year, will take place from June 26th through July 2nd. The lone Nay vote came from Supervisor Frank Waters.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Omaha authorities have released the name of a man whose body was found floating down the Missouri River. Boaters spotted the body around 2:15 p.m. Sunday. An Omaha Fire Department river rescue team recovered it near Eppley Airfield on the northeast corner of the city. Omaha police said Wednesday that the man’s been identified as 32-year-old Tyler Owen.

Police say no foul play is suspected in Owen’s death, but their investigation is continuing. It’s unclear whether an accident was involved.

A man who appealed his conviction of first-degree murder in Pottawattamie County has had his appeal for Post Conviction Relief (PCR) denied. The Iowa Court of Appeals heard the request from David Gonzales-Becerra, who was convicted in the fall 2003 beating death in Council Bluffs, of 35-year old Oscar Flores. The incident happened at a party. Becerra, who was 25-year old at the time, was one of three men convicted in the case. He had appealed his conviction to the Iowa Supreme Court, which denied further review. A district court determined Becerra’s claims were time-barred, and denied the application for relief.

In its opinion, the Appeals Court said Post Conviction Relief applications must be filed within three-years of the date of conviction. Becerra initiated his PCR on Dec. 5th, 2013, which fell outside the rules for timely application.

The Appeals Court said the district court was correct in its decision, based on the Statute of Limitations, and affirmed their decision to deny PCR.

The Iowa Court of Appeals has denied an appeal for a new trial in a Pottawattamie County murder case. The court heard an appeal from Jodie Marie Sherman with regard to her bench trial conviction on a charge of second-degree murder. She was convicted of the July 2014 stabbing in Council Bluffs, of Douglas Richt. Richt was stabbed in the neck with a 12-inch knife during an argument in a vehicle, he later died from massive blood loss.

Sherman was initially found incompetent to stand trial due to mental illness. In October 2014, she was sent to the Medical Classification Center in Oakdale for further evaluation. She was found competent to stand trial despite some reservations by a licensed psychologist. During trial, she used the insanity defense but the court but was found guilty. Sherman filed a motion for a new trial, but was denied and appealed the decision.

The Appeals Court affirmed the verdict, ruling that she did not prove her defense of insanity by a preponderance of the evidence, as required by statute. They said the verdict was supported by substantial evidence, and, that the trial court did not commit error by denying Sherman’s request for a new trial.

The Iowa Court of Appeals has reversed one conviction of a man in a Taylor County case and upheld another conviction in the same case. The ruling was with regard to an appeal from Charles Hall, of Chicago, who, in July 2015, was convicted of murder in the first degree and child endangerment causing serious injury.

Authorities on May 22nd, 2015, responded to a 911 call for a child not breathing at 806 Washington Street in Bedford.  Deputies found a 3-year-old girl, Janiya King, unresponsive. She was pronounced dead by the medical examiner. Court documents indicate Janiya had severe burns on her face and right shoulder. The girl had been staying with Hall’s girlfriend in Bedford. April Clair plead guilty to child endangerment resulting in bodily injury. She was charged because she had not sought medical help for the child when she first noticed the abuse.

In an appeal of his convictions, Hall maintained the district court abused its discretion when it denied his motion for mistrial after one of the State’s witnesses vomited outside of the courtroom following a 911 call that was played for the jury.  He also said there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for child endangerment resulting in serious injury.

After reviewing the record, the Appeals Court said they could not confirm the district court abused its discretion in denying Hall’s motion for mistrial. Therefore, they affirmed his conviction for murder in the first degree. However, the Court found there was insufficient evidence to support Hall’s conviction for child endangerment causing serious injury, and ordered that conviction reversed.

Because the jury necessarily found the State established all the elements of the lesser-included offense of child endangerment causing bodily injury and sufficient evidence supports that conviction, the Appeals Court instructed the district court to enter an amended judgment of conviction and to re-sentence Hall accordingly.