Three women suffered unknown injuries during a rollover accident late this (Sunday) morning in Montgomery County. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the driver of the vehicle, 73-year old Goldie Ann Adams, and two passengers in her vehicle, 81-year old Mamie Cathern Forward, and 58-year old Cathern Marie Forward, all of Red Oak, were injured in the crash and transported to the Montgomery County Hospital.

The accident happened just before Noon, Sunday, on Highway 34, about one-half mile west of Red Oak. Officials say a Adams’ 2008 Mercury Milan was traveling west on the highway and crossing the East Nishnabotna River bridge, when the car hit a patch of ice. Adams lost control of the vehicle, which slid into the south ditch and flipped once, before coming to rest on its wheels.

The injured were transported to the hospital by Red Oak Rescue. The extent of their injuries was not known at the time of the press release.

The first major snowstorm of the season left motorists trying to remember their Winter driving skills. Here in the Atlantic area, the snow started falling late in the afternoon, but we only picked up three-tenths of an inch of snowfall. Heavier amounts were reported off to the north of Interstate 80 and points west and northwest, including Vail, in Crawford County, which had received 6.5-inches of snow by 6-p.m., Saturday. Late Saturday afternoon, a weather spotter in Carroll had reported 3.5-inches to 4-inches of snow on the ground.

The story in our immediate listening area, was the amount of rain. We picked up a total of 1.04-inches of precipitation from 7-a.m. Saturday through early this morning, including the melted snowfall. Other locations around the state reported record rainfall for December 3rd, including Ottumwa, which received 1.09-inches. The National Weather Service says Des Moines received 1.38-inches of precipitation, which broke the previous record of 0.92-inches in 1990. It was the wettest December day in Des Moines since 1994, and the fourth wettest December on record for that date, since records began in 1878.

Rain that fell during the day Saturday left roads in slippery condition, as the temperature slipped to 32 degrees and below by 8-p.m. Accidents were reported on Interstate 80 last night, but none resulted in any serious injuries.  Meteorologist Dave Eastlack with the National Weather Service in Valley, Neb., said a wintry mix quickly becoming snow Saturday morning in parts of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. In all, about 3 to 6 inches of snow fell throughout the day, depending on where you were. The snow began to pile up, and so did the accident reports.

According to the Omaha World Herald, a wreck on Highway 92 in Pottawattamie County, near 270th Street, west of Treynor, led to another accident. While Sheriff’s Deputies responded to one accident scene, at another location, a passing vehicle struck a tow-truck driver who’d arrived to help with vehicle removals.  Sgt. Chris Weber with the Sheriff’s Office confirmed rescue personnel transported the tow-truck driver to Alegent Health Mercy Hospital. The man was conscious and breathing when transported. The incident occurred around 3 p.m. Weber didn’t have the man’s name or any further information.

The Carroll County Attorney says a Carroll woman was sentenced to prison this past week, nearly 14 months after bringing her 9-month-old infant to a local hospital with several bone fractures in multiple stages of healing.  Attorney John Werden told the Omaha World-Herald 21-year old Jasmine T. Scott faces up to 10 years in prison on two counts of child endangerment causing serious injury to which she had previously pleaded guilty.

Werden says Scott was pregnant with her third child when she brought the infant, her second, to the hospital. He wouldn’t specify the two children’s genders or other information, but he added they have since been placed in foster care. Werden said they waited until she had the baby before charging the woman, and took her newborn into foster care.

According to court documents, Scott’s first child died “in circumstances of inadequate medical care.”

It’s possible slick roads were responsible for a rollover accident reported just after 6-p.m. (Saturday), northwest of Atlantic. According to the Cass County Communications Center, a vehicle rolled over off the I-80 eastbound off ramp to Highway 173, at Exit 54. No word on if there were any injuries.

For the latest road condition report: www.511ia.org. , call 511 in Iowa, 1-800-288-1047 outside of Iowa.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A kindergartener at a Council Bluffs school has tested positive for meningitis. Longfellow Elementary spokeswoman Diane Ostrowksi says that the girl felt ill when she came to school Wednesday and was soon sent home.

Council Bluffs Health Department director Donn Dierks says families of students in the girl’s class were notified Friday by letter after tests confirmed she had meningitis. Dierks says the illness isn’t highly contagious but parents were urged to seek antibiotics from their doctors.

Symptoms of meningitis include high fever, headaches, vomiting and stiff neck. If untreated, it can cause death.

The school has since been cleaned to limit further illnesses.

AMES, Iowa – Dec. 3, 2011– The Iowa Department of Transportation is reminding commercial motor carriers that movement of permitted oversize loads is only allowed when the roadways are clear of ice and snow, and visibility is at least 1/4 mile.

Presently, roadways in the western part of the state are partially or completely covered with a mix of slush, snow and ice. A wintery mix of freezing rain, freezing drizzle and snow is possible across the northwest part of the state through the day and evening.

For the latest road conditions, visit: www.511ia.org or call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide).  For oversize, fuel and trip permit information, call: 515-237-3264.

Rural Iowans may hear the distant pop of shotgun blasts from the forests and fields this (Saturday) morning as the state’s shotgun deer hunting season opens. Iowa D-N-R deer biologist Tom Litchfield says he’s expecting about 60-thousand hunters for this first season. Litchfield says the two shotgun seasons on deer are Iowa’s most popular hunting seasons, when the most hunters are hunting and when the majority of deer are harvested. Up to 60-percent of the state’s deer are harvested in the two seasons. The first season runs today (Saturday) through December 7th and again from December 10th through the 18th. Litchfield says there will be plenty of targets.

He says the deer population was around 450-thousand pre-season while this spring, the numbers were around 290-thousand post-season. Litchfield says there will be no changes in hunting regulations for this deer season and he says the hunting will be good or more challenging, depending on where you go in the state.

He says hunters in northwest and north-central Iowa should see similar deer numbers compared to last year, though populations elsewhere may be down. Overall, Litchfield says the Iowa deer population has fallen about 12-percent compared to a year ago. Learn more at: “www.iowadnr.gov”.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new tool available to Nebraska and Iowa veterans will help speed communication with health care providers. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System says its “secure messaging” feature allows veterans to communicate electronically with their doctors. It can be used to ask about appointments, prescriptions and non-urgent health issues.

The VA Department says the tool will help veterans avoid long waits to speak with providers over the phone. The tool is available through an online account at http://www.myhealth.va.gov/

Detectives with the Council Bluffs Police Department are making routine checks of area scrap yards, looking for items of metal which were stolen and may have been unwittingly purchased by the scrap yard operators. Every Friday, Detective Joe Hothersall of the Council Bluffs Police Department stops by the yards and picks up a stack of cards with the identification information and fingerprints of those who that week sold metals to the scrap yard. Hothersall makes sure the cards are filled out correctly. The owners tell him if anyone has dropped off anything suspicious. Police on both sides of the Missouri River say most companies are eager to cooperate.

Most of the scrap yard owners don’t mind the checks, because they don’t want buy stolen scrap metal, a crime which has grown immensely over the past few years. Thefts of copper have been most prominent. A typical air conditioner, according to Hothersall, has about $60 worth of copper inside, that can be ripped out, and sold for scrap.

Omaha and Council Bluffs both have ordinances mandating that recyclers document those who sell them metals. There is interest in both the Iowa Legislature and on the Pottawattamie County Board to require the same thing.

Iowa Representative Clel Baudler, a Republican from Greenfield, said such a measure will likely be introduced early in the 2012 session. Baudler, a former State Trooper, told the Omaha World-Herald  “These thieves will absolutely steal anything. I assume there would be several sponsors, including myself.” Nebraska already has a statewide law, though it may be strengthened this year with a bill to specifically outlaw the sales of sewer grates and manhole covers.

Loren Knauss, member of the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors and former Bluffs police officer, said there is interest in passing a county ordinance similar to the city ordinance that requires the documentation of sellers. The board members have considered such a measure in the past.

A jury in Pottawattamie County deliberated for more than 10 hours Friday, but ultimately handed down a guilty verdict against a man accused of sexually abusing a child. The trial of 47-year Martin Hiatt, from Carter Lake, lasted only two-days. Hiatt was charged with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse and four counts of indecent contact with a child. He was found guilty on three of the second-degree sexual abuse counts and all four counts of indecent contact with a child. Second-degree sexual abuse is a Class B felony and carries a mandatory prison sentence of 25 years. Because the crime is a forcible felony, 70 percent of the sentence – or 17½ years – must be served before Hiatt will be eligible for parole. Hiatt is scheduled to be sentenced March 7, 2012.

Assistant Pottawattamie County Attorney Dan McGinn said the encounters occurred with the child over a four-year period between 2007 and February 2011. The child — who was not identified because of her age, testified that Hiatt “did bad things” to her, including touching her thigh, breasts and buttocks; the girl said that Hiatt touched her inappropriately on more than 50 occasions.