DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says an insurance company does not have to pay the city of West Liberty for damage to property caused by a squirrel that climbed onto an electrical transformer and created an electrical arc. The court says in a decision released Friday that the policy held by the city from EMC insurance excluded damage caused by electrical arcs that were not related to lightning. The city filed a lawsuit in January 2016 after EMC refused to pay the more than $213,000 in damage.

The city claimed the squirrel caused the damage but a district court judge and the Iowa Court of Appeals concluded the damage was caused by the electrical arc generated when the squirrel touched a 7,000-volt clamp and a grounded metal frame. The lower courts concluded the arc policy exclusion applied and the Supreme Court justices agreed.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa-based researchers have concluded there’s little scientific evidence that sound from wind turbines poses a public health risk. Instead, the authors say reported symptoms of hearing loss or poor sleep are more likely related to people’s attitudes about wind development. The findings by the Iowa Policy Project and the Iowa Environmental Council are based on an overview of peer-reviewed studies. Co-author David Osterberg says reports of symptoms are associated with annoyance at developers rather than the actual sound of the turbines.

“Maybe you ought to think about how you treat people so they feel like they have more control over the whole process,” Osterberg says. “That would probably do more than trying to address the sound because we don’t think it’s the sound.” Wind turbines produce sound pressure, but Osterberg and his research associations concluded it’s not at a level that affects humans.

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

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Vanessa Strazdas – Newly appointed Cass County Attorney.

(Updated 9:50-a.m.) The Cass County Board of Supervisors, today (Friday), announced the appointment of Vanessa Strazdas, an attorney with the Strazdas Law Firm in Omaha, to fill a vacancy position for the Cass County Attorney’s Office. Strazdas has accepted the job to succeed Michael Hooper, who was appointed Jan. 11th as 4th District Judge, by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.

Board Chair Steve Baier thanked Mr. Hooper for his work in seeking applicants for the position and for his service to the County.

Supervisor John Hartkopf said of Strazdas, she wasn’t only the unanimous choice of the board

(He said she was highly recommended by law enforcement and judges.)

He said also, the County is spending a lot of money on law enforcement, and it’s not because they’re out there issuing tickets.

(He said it is because of the “Underground war on methamphetamine,” and the Board feels they are supporting law enforcement in making their decision to hire Strazdas.)

Strazdas brought her family with her to the appointment hearing and swearing-in, and promised to uphold the law and serve the citizens of Cass County.

Strazdas grew up in Omaha, NE, where she attended Central High School.  She is a National Merit Scholar and has a degree in Computer Science from the University of NE at Omaha.  She graduated with honors from Creighton Law School, where she concentrated her studies in Litigation and Criminal Law.  Strazdas is a member of the Iowa Bar. Iowa Code says a special election may be requested within 14 days of official notice from the time an appointment is made. The petition must have no less than 582 signatures. In addition to Strazdas, three candidates were interviewed for the County’s top position. They included Robert Engler (With the Cambridge Law Firm, in Atlantic); Anne Rohling, a lawyer from Council Bluffs who owns her own law firm and Marti Sleister, an experienced trial attorney in criminal and juvenile law, with the Sleister Law firm in Fremont, NE.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors also approved the appointment of Administrative Assistants to the Cass County Attorney. Bev Groves and Eva Jensen will continue with the roles they served as Hooper’s Assistants under the new County Attorney.  The Board tabled a decision to fill a vacancy term of a Cass Township Trustee (an appointed position), because they are no current applicants for the job.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque woman tied to two drug overdose deaths has been imprisoned. Federal court records say 25-year-old Brianna Martin was sentenced last week to 27 months. She’d pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to distribution of heroin. She must serve three years of supervised release after she leaves prison and pay $12,500 in restitution.

The records say Martin helped one person who died buy heroin and sold prescribed methadone to other people, including one who died from an overdose.

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

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KNOXVILLE, Iowa (AP) — A March trial has been scheduled for a south-central Iowa man accused of killing his mother. Marion County District Court records say a judge on Tuesday ordered the trial of 46-year-old Jason Carter to start March 4 in Pottawattamie County. The change of venue had been granted because of pretrial publicity .

In December 2017 Carter was charged with first-degree murder, accused of fatally shooting 68-year-old Shirley Carter in June 2015 in the kitchen of her rural Knoxville home. The charges were filed two days after a jury found him civilly liable and ordered him to pay $10 million to his mother’s estate.

Bill Carter had sued his son for wrongful death. The elder man said his son was financially strapped and killed Shirley Carter to gain access to his parents’ $10 million in assets. Jason Carter has denied that.

(Radio Iowa) — The clock continues to tick on the time to come to a budget agreement. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says President Donald Trump has tried to work with Democrats. “He has given on all sorts of areas — a matter of fact in just reopening the government this last weekend — he gave some great concessions in order to allow Democrats and Republicans to come together for an additional three weeks to work this out,” Ernst says. She says the effort to reach a compromise has been one-sided. “What we have seen so far, especially in the conference committee that is dealing specifically with Homeland Security, is a multitude of suggestions coming forward from the G-O-P, but an absolute refusal to budge at all from our Democratic colleagues,” according to Ernst.

Ernst says they need to work together to find a way forward to solve the issue and keep the government running. “I don’t want to see it shut down again. The president I don’t think wants to see it shut down again — but let’s not push him — lets make sure that we as Congress are stepping up and providing a pathway forward,” Ernst says.

Ernst says there have been a lot of proposals to keep the government from shutting down. She says they need to figure out a workable plan and move on it.”The president has made it very clear that he wants to see funding for border security,” Ernst says. “A lot of friends on the left have continually said ‘there’s no plan, there’s no plan.’ There is a plan folks — let’s make it very clear — that Customs and Border Patrol has a 33-point plan that they have outlined. They have had this on the table for a very long time.” Ernst says they can go through that plan point-by-point and come up with a solution that would take care of the issue.

(Coralville) — One person died, another was injured, during a multi-vehicle collision on a 100% ice and snow covered I-80 westbound Thursday afternoon, near Coralville. The Iowa State Patrol reports the collision involved seven passenger vehicles and four semi tractor-trailers. Diminished or reduced visibility was also a factor in the crash. The names of the victims has not yet been released. The patrol says both were wearing their seat belts. One person died at the scene, the other was transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics by Johnson County Ambulance.

The victims were in a 2004 Hyundai Sante Fe and a 2017 Ford Transit Connect van. The accident, which happened at around 3:30-p.m. near the 242.5-mile marker, remains under investigation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new report says a January survey of business supply managers is signaling solid economic growth over the next three to six months for nine Midwest and Plains states. The report issued Friday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index rose to 56.0 last month from 55.2 in December. The November figure was 54.1.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the shortages of skilled workers and international trade tensions remain an impediment to even stronger growth. The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.