DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Tonight’s (Friday’s) Mega Millions drawing will give lottery players a shot at the 10th largest jackpot in U.S. history. Because no one has won a Mega Millions jackpot since March 8, the prize has steadily grown to an estimated $415 million. That makes it the largest jackpot since a $430 million Powerball prize won by a New Jersey family May 7th. The record prize was a $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot won in January by players in three states.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Council Bluffs couple faces child neglect charges after their three children tested positive for methamphetamine. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Craig and Crystal McConnell were arrested Wednesday and charged Thursday with three counts of abandonment of a dependent person. Crystal McConnell is also charged with third-degree burglary and possession of a controlled substance.

Court documents say the children’s hair follicles tested positive for meth. Craig and Crystal McConnell also tested positive for the drug on May 12th. Assistant Pottawattamie County Attorney Dawn Landon says the children have been removed from the home and are safe.

The couple remains in the Pottawattamie County Jail. Bail is set at $10,000 for Craig McConnell and $15,000 for Crystal McConnell. They have a court date scheduled for July 8th.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:40 a.m. CDT

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Council Bluffs couple faces child neglect charges after their three children tested positive for methamphetamine. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Craig and Crystal McConnell were arrested Wednesday and charged Thursday with three counts of abandonment of a dependent person. Crystal McConnell is also charged with third-degree burglary and possession of a controlled substance. Court documents say the children’s hair follicles tested positive for meth.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — For years, critics have regarded Iowa’s policy of disenfranchising felons as an outrage in a state known for landmark civil rights rulings on slavery, gender equality and gay marriage. Now the practice of stripping felons of their voting rights looks likely to remain in place, probably for years. The Iowa Supreme Court upheld it Thursday as constitutional.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The owner of six Iowa cosmetology schools will forgive some student debt, pay a fine and submit to outside oversight to settle a lawsuit filed by the Iowa attorney general’s office. The Des Moines Register reports La’ James International Colleges agreed to forgive $2.1 million in student debt and pay a $550,000 fine. The settlement also requires former U.S. Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt to serve at least three years as an independent settlement administrator overseeing the company’s compliance.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Tonight’s (Friday) Mega Millions drawing will give lottery players a shot at the 10th largest jackpot in U.S. history. Because no one has won a Mega Millions jackpot since March 8, the prize has steadily grown to an estimated $415 million. That makes it the largest jackpot since a $430 million Powerball prize won in May.

An escapee from the Ft. Madison Correctional Facility was captured Thursday afternoon, in Stuart. Stuart Police said in a Press Release, that a Stuart Police Officer was investigating the reported sighting of escaped fugitive, 31-year old Joseph Leclair, Jr., at around noon, in the 300 block of N. Main St. A female resident in the area answered the door when the officer knocked but refused to cooperate with the officer.

Joseph LeClair, Jr.

The woman then left the property. The same female is suspected of then making a false 911 call reporting the fugitive at a different location. The officer called in assistance from Guthrie County, Adair County and the State Patrol to surround the house, while he prepared a search warrant. At approximately 3:30-pm officers entered the house with a search warrant and found the fugitive hiding inside.

LeClaire was arrested and transported to the Guthrie County Jail. The female involved is facing charges in the incident as well. LeClaire was involved in a similar incident last year when he escaped from work release for over a two month period from May-July. He was subsequently arrested in Polk County following that incident.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man has been ordered to serve five years’ probation for having sex with a 12-year-old girl. The Sioux City Journal reports that 25-year-old Willie Williams pleaded guilty Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court to lascivious acts with a child and failure to appear for an earlier court hearing.

As part of a plea agreement, Williams received a 15-year prison sentence, which was suspended, and was placed on probation for five years. Williams must register as a sex offender and serve lifetime parole. If he were to violate terms of the special sentence, he could be sent to prison. Prosecutors say Williams had sex with the girl at a house in 2011, when he was 20.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The owner of six cosmetology schools in Iowa will forgive some student debt, pay a fine and submit to outside oversight to settle a lawsuit filed by the Iowa attorney general’s office. The Des Moines Register reports La’ James International Colleges agreed to forgive $2.1 million in student debt and pay a $550,000 fine. The settlement also requires former U.S. Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt to serve at least three years as an independent settlement administrator who can oversee the company’s compliance.

The agreement settles a lawsuit filed in 2014 that had contended La’ James engaged in deceptive and unfair practices in its marketing, enrollment and instruction. La’ James has schools in Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Fort Dodge, Iowa City and Johnston. The company didn’t admit wrongdoing in the settlement.

The Adair County Auditor’s Office will close at noon on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 through Friday, July 15, 2016 for extensive training in Elections, Human Resources, and Budget and Finance. The office will re-open at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, July 18, 2016.

If there is an emergency and you need to talked to the Auditor’s office during that time, please call 641-202-1146 to leave a message and someone will respond at the first opportunity. County Auditor Mindy Schaefer sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause and thanks you for your patience.

The National Weather Service sent a team into southwest Iowa this morning (Thursday) to look for any damage to trees, crops and buildings from last night’s two possible tornadoes. Meteorologist Van DeWald, in the weather service’s Omaha office, says the severe weather rumbled through both Harrison and Pottawattamie counties.

“We had a pretty strong storm that developed near Persia, Iowa, and then moved southwest toward Underwood,” DeWald says. “We do have reports of a couple of tornado touchdowns. We are sending out a survey crew to look at that to see if it’s one tornado or two and to find the beginning and ending points.” Persia and Underwood are about 16 miles apart and he says the area was pelted with large hail during the storm which struck about 6 P-M.

“I don’t believe there’s any injuries and there is some damage out there but it seems to be mostly to trees,” DeWald says. “I haven’t heard of a lot of structural damage at this time.” Iowans will need to keep an eye to the sky as more severe weather is possible within a matter of several hours.

“We do have a cold front coming down into the area,” DeWald says. “That could trigger some thunderstorms throughout the day today. Some of them could be strong, especially this afternoon into early evening.”

(Radio Iowa)

Some relatively cool conditions have settled over Iowa to end the month of June, similar to the way the month started. But, State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says it was extremely hot nearly every other day. “Overall, it’ll probably end up being just a little bit shy of being four degrees warmer than a typical June, which may not sound like a lot, but we’d probably have to go back to 1988 to find a June that averaged warmer than this one did,” Hillaker says.

The average High in Atlantic thru the 29^th, was 87.4-degrees, which was 4.7-degrees warmer than normal. Statewide, the average temperature for June will wind up being close to 74 degrees, also about 4 degrees warmer than normal.

Statewide, the average temperature for June will wind up being close to 74 degrees. Hillaker expects this will likely be the 11th-hottest June in Iowa in 144 years of records. In Des Moines, temperatures reached the 90s on 13 of June’s 30 days. “We had only one location in the state that managed to get to triple digits during June and that was the town of Little Sioux, between Council Bluffs and Sioux City on the Nebraska border. They hit an even 100 degrees on June 11,” Hillaker says.

The average low for the month of June in Atlantic (through June 29^th, was 61.5-degrees, which is 2.7-degrees warmer than normal. Rainfall amounts over the month varied widely, with the heaviest totals in northeast Iowa.

“Some areas up there had well above normal precipitation for the month. A few places are over 10 inches of rainfall for June, which would be roughly about double the usual amount,” Hillaker says. Other areas of the state received very little rain in June. “The west-central and southeast corners of the state saw less than an inch of rain for the full month,” Hillaker says. “June is usually the most reliable month of the year for rainfall, so to get less than an inch is quite unusual,” Hillaker said.

In Atlantic, thru June 29^th, we received just eight-tenths of an inch of rain. Normally, we would have received 4.98-inches. The U.S. Drought Monitor indicates “moderate drought conditions” exist over southeast Iowa and most of southern Iowa is abnormally dry.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN weather data)

A couple of months ago, KJAN News told you Rex Pharmacy in downtown Atlantic had been nominated for a Health Mart Pharmacy of the Year, award. Now we can let the cat out of the bag. It’s official: Rex Pharmacy is the winner. The establishment has been serving Atlantic and Cass County for more than 75-years. Owner Josh Borer, who purchased the business a few years ago, and his family were present to receive the award June 27^th during a banquet and awards program held in Chicago.

4,600 independent, individually-owned Health Mart pharmacies nationwide were in the running for the top award. Jeff Aden, McKesson (Health Mart parent company) retail sales manager/representative, nominated Rex Pharmacy and owner Josh Borer, for the award.