DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A new Iowa website offers advice on how people can prevent or report sexual or other abuse or neglect of children. The Des Moines Register says the site was launched by a private group, Prevent Child Abuse Iowa.

The site includes advice and provides links to groups with counselors. The site also has advice for community groups in preventing abuse of children involved with the groups.  The group’s website address is http://www.pcaiowa.org/.

Authorities in Monona County say two people were arrested following a robbery and assault at a residence in Onawa. Officials with the Onawa Police Department say 20-year old Nicholas Conyers and 19-year old Trae Carter were arrested Wednesday after police found evidence of the robbery in Conyers’ home, following the execution of a search warrant. According to the police report, Conyers and Carter allegedly forced their way into the home of a 75-year-old woman, assaulted her with a stun gun and stole her money.

Conyers and Carter face several felony including robbery, burglary, assault while participating in a felony and going armed with intent. They were being held at the Monona County Jail in Onawa.

Authorities in southwest Iowa’s Fremont County and the surrounding area, are asking for the public’s help in finding a teenager from Tabor, who was officially reported missing this morning, in a state-wide report issued by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Officials say 16-year-old Devon C. Powers.  It’s believed that Powers, who was reported missing to local authorities on Tuesday, was last seen two days ago at Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs, where  he had sought treatment for an injury he suffered in an auto accident.

Powers was described as being a white male, about 5-feet 9-inches tall, with red hair and blue eyes. The DPS was not able to provide of photo of the teen. Anyone with information concerning his location, should call the Fremont County Sheriff’s office or the missing person’s clearinghouse at 800-346-5507.

Cases of the flu continue to climb in Iowa as spot shortages of the flu vaccine are being reported around the state. Iowa Department of Public Health medical director Patricia Quinlisk confirms the availability is dwindling, but it’s not too late to get a flu shot.  “If you get the shot today, you’ll have a little bit of immunity and tomorrow, a little more,” Quinlisk said. “Depending on how your system responds, you could have full immunity in a week to two weeks.” Last year’s mild flu season prompted some hospitals and other flu vaccine vendors to order less this year and now those locations may be out or have limited supply. But, the vaccine is available.

“People always have to try and predict how many people are going to come in and want the flu shot. In general, there is plenty of vaccine out there, it may just be the one place you try – they may not have it,” Quinlisk said. “There should still be plenty available in the community, you may have to try a couple of places, but you should be able to find the flu shot.” Many Iowa hospitals are busy because of the flu outbreak.

In Des Moines, a group of hospitals issued a press release urging residents to avoid visiting emergency rooms for non-emergent medical care. The release states the hospitals are experiencing “heavy volumes of patients and long wait times due to a large number of flu cases.”

(Radio Iowa)

Several important agricultural reports will be released today (Friday) that will impact producers in Iowa. USDA Outlook Board Chairman Gerry Bange says the final production numbers report for 2012 will be issued at 11 a.m. Those numbers will be crunched to make new grain and livestock forecasts for supplies and prices. Bange says the reports include information gathered from around the globe.

“We’ll look very closely at the situation in Argentina, where people know there have been excessive rains there,” Bange said. “We’ll also look what’s going on in Brazil, Australia and South Africa. We’ll be looking at some of the final numbers coming out of China with regard to cotton production or whatever the issues are, we’ll be looking at all of those things.”

(Karla James/Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

A new partnership involving farm groups, veterinarians, animal welfare groups and Iowa State University has formed to field complaints about animal care in Iowa. Denny Harding is executive director of the new Iowa Farm Animal Care Coalition. “We do have times where there are some concerns that area raised by the general public about how farmers raise their animals,” Harding says. “We wanted to answer some of those questions and also offer a service where people can call in if they do have a concern they’d like to pass on regarding a specific farm, so they would have someone to go to, so we can follow up with that concern and see what the situation is.”

Harding, a farmer who used to raise livestock, admits he may have to a bit of an arbitrator sometimes, but he expects he’ll mostly be an educator. “If there is a need for some type of help…we would have a team at Iowa State that would be called that would go visit with that farmer,” Harding says. This new Iowa organization is based on a group that’s been operating in Alberta, Canada for about 20 years.

“Ninety-nine percent of what’s going on in the livestock industry is very positive and we feel that the farmers are doing a great job,” Harding says. “Every once in a while there might be something that needs some examination and we think this is a way to have some input and education and management at the farm level and improve the care of the animals.” The group kicked off their effort this morning (Thursday) with a news conference in Des Moines. Find the Iowa Farm Animal Care Coalition’s website at www.iowafarmanimalcare.org, or call, 1-800-252-0577 for more information.

(Radio Iowa)

The Mills County Sheriff’s Department Thursday (Today) issued a report on recent arrests, incidents and accidents. Officials say 45-year old Andrew Peter Smith, of Omaha, was arrested Wednesday, on a charge of OWI/1st offense. Smith was taken into custody on Interstate 29 near the 42-mile marker, at around 1:20-a.m. His bond was set at $1,000.

On Tuesday, Mills County deputies arrested 40-year old Michael Scott Jones, of Hastings, on a charge of Public Intoxication, and, 41-year old Kenneth Benjamin McDonald, of Glenwood, for Violating the terms of his probation. McDonald was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail Tuesday night, and held on $10,000 bond. Jones was arrested just before 8-p.m. Tuesday in Hastings. His bond was set at $300.

Authorities in Mills County said also, they were investigating two burglaries.  A burglary was reported by a Glenwood resident, whose property was located along Garfield Lane. And a burglary and theft was reported to have occurred at a property along 190th Street. The report was submitted by a person in Pacific Junction.

There were also two accidents in Mills County. Both happened Wednesday morning, and were attributed to frosty or slick roads. One of the accidents happened on 221st Street, at around 7:15-a.m., Wednesday, when a 2002 Ford driven by Kari Dykstra, of Glenwood, went out of control after hitting an icy spot on the road, about 8-miles northwest of Glenwood. The vehicle spun off the road and hit a power pole. Dykstra was transported to Mercy Hospital, by Glenwood Rescue.

The other accident also happened on 221st Street, about one-mile northwest of Glenwood, just after 8-a.m. Wednesday. Sheriff’s officials say a 1998 Ford driven by Sharon Sullivan, of Glenwood, was traveling south on 221st when her vehicle went out of control and hit an embankment. No injuries were reported.