DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Police in Davenport are investigating after an 80-year-old woman fell victim to a scam artist who claimed he was checking water meters. KCRG-TV reports that Velma Holmes answered a knock on her door Thursday from a man claiming he was with Iowa American Water Co. She took him to the basement to show him her meter. The next day she realized money and valuables worth $20,000 were missing, including her wedding ring.

Experts encourage residents to make sure a company name is on the car of anyone who comes to the home. Iowa American Water Co. says their employees always carry a company-issued photo identification and will never enter a customer’s home demanding access or a payment to avoid shutting off water.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — If you bought a Powerball ticket in Pennsylvania for Saturday’s drawing, you may be holding a piece of paper worth $457 million.
Powerball officials say a single winning ticket was sold in Pennsylvania that matches all of the winning numbers: 22-57-59-60-66 and Powerball 7. The jackpot from Saturday’s drawing is the eighth-largest ever for the Powerball game.

The specific location where the winning ticket was sold has not been announced.
Powerball is played in 44 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The largest jackpot in Powerball history was $1.6 billion. Three winning tickets were sold in that Jan. 13, 2016, drawing.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A member of the Iowa Legislature has reunited with the daughter she released for adoption 47 years ago. On a Saturday morning this year, State Rep. Marti Anderson’s phone rang, and her daughter, Shellie Price Wardlaw, was on the other line. “I was having breakfast with my dad and my husband and I got a phone call out of the blue,” Anderson said. “And this woman said, ‘This is Shellie Wardlaw, and I think you’re my mother.'”

Wardlaw told the Des Moines Register that she found Anderson after taking a DNA test through Ancestry.com in January, which identified a maternal match. Anderson had taken the same test in December.

“Once I went to my matches and saw there was a maternal match, it just sent a flood of emotions through me, and I just wanted to find out more,” Wardlaw said. Anderson said she’d been waiting for that phone call for four decades. Anderson then met up with her daughter at her home just across town in Des Moines. “I had absolutely no idea where she was, and for her to be here all my life, never to have left, on the other side of town,” said Wardlaw.

Anderson said she was “a 19-year-old single girl” when she was pregnant with Wardlaw. “Nobody was happy or excited for me, not just because she was out of wedlock — which was pretty important back then — but because she was part African-American,” said Anderson. She said her mother kicked her out of the house, and she decided “to release her daughter for adoption so she could have a family.”
Wardlaw said she doesn’t hold any grudges against Anderson.

“It’s kind of hard for me to compartmentalize my emotions right now,” Wardlaw said. “Because I still think that while this was great, the times that she lived in and the pressure that she was under and the racism that was out there makes me angry. I find myself getting angry at society because someone’s color of their skin can make somebody feel less than. And that bothers me.” Wardlaw said she’s reached out to her birth father too. Anderson said she hopes to start making up for lost time.

“I was just getting ready to send her flowers that say, ‘With love and celebration for all the events I missed,'” Anderson said. “I want to send her something today that tells her it was real, and I am here.”

Red Oak Police report the arrest at around 11:45-p.m., Saturday, of 25-year old Dustin James Danick, of Red Oak. Danick was taken into custody for Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree, an aggravated misdemeanor. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash bond.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports three people were arrested and one person was cited, late Saturday. Just before 5-p.m., Deputies cited James W. Wynn, of Omaha, for possessing an open container of alcohol as a passenger in a vehicle. At around 6:45-p.m., 21-year old Gary Anthony Brenden, of Bellevue, NE., was arrested on a Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. Brenden was cited into court and then released at the scene near Highway 34 and A Avenue.

And, two people were arrested at around 11:45-p.m. in the 100 block of E. Coolbaugh Street, in Red Oak, Saturday. 25-year old Dustin James Danick, and 27-year old Kirstin Lynn Wilwerding, both of Red Oak, were charged with Public Intoxication. In addition, Danick faces an Interference with Official Acts charge. Danick and Wilwerding were transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond, each.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:15 a.m. CDT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A nonprofit overseeing Davenport’s Nahant Marsh wants to ensure it can protect and preserve the natural resources already under its watch before buying 40 more acres of adjoining land. Nahant Marsh has seen a sharp increase in the number of visitors within the past 10 years from about 2,500 annually to almost 18,000 this past year. Nonprofit Nahant Marsh board of trustees is considering purchasing 40 acres of adjacent land, including wetlands, to expand its property.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors say a man convicted of killing his girlfriend can’t use allegations of juror bullying as grounds for a new trial. The Telegraph Herald reports that assistant Dubuque County Attorney Brigit Barnes made the argument in his response to Fontae Buelow’s motion for a new trial. Buelow’s attorneys claim that a juror who did not believe Buelow was guilty of murder was bullied by two other jurors, and then was then improperly removed by the judge.

CENTERVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Officials in south-central Iowa say an elderly couple has been killed in a fire that tore through condominiums in Centerville. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the fire occurred late Thursday night at the Diamond View Condominiums. Centerville police officers had rescued two residents from one building, but two other residents couldn’t be reached.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa power company has sent help to restore power to the East Coast, which has been slammed by three powerful winter storms in the span of two weeks. MidAmerican Energy of Des Moines sent 78 employees to Rye, New York, late last week to help utility crews restore power after recent major winter storms left 200,000 people without electricity. MidAmerican Energy’s response followed New York-based energy company Con Edison’s mutual aid request.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors say a man convicted of killing his girlfriend can’t use allegations of juror bullying as grounds for a new trial. The Telegraph Herald reports that assistant Dubuque County Attorney Brigit Barnes made the argument in his response to Fontae Buelow’s motion for a new trial.

Buelow’s attorneys claim that a juror who did not believe Buelow was guilty of murder was bullied by two other jurors. They say the juror was then improperly removed by the judge during deliberations and replaced with an alternate.

But the two accused jurors reported to the judge that the removed juror had refused to participate in deliberations and that he had entered the jury room declaring his mind was made up.

Buelow was convicted in January of second-degree murder in the March 2017 death of 21-year-old Samantha Link. Prosecutors say Buelow stabbed Link multiple times, but Buelow maintained that Link stabbed herself.

CENTERVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Officials in south-central Iowa say an elderly couple has been killed in a fire that tore through condominiums in Centerville. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the fire occurred late Thursday night at the Diamond View Condominiums. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke and fire coming from two of the buildings.

Centerville police officers had rescued two residents from one building, but two other residents couldn’t be reached. Firefighters were able to control the blaze within three hours. They found an older couple dead in one of the buildings. Their bodies were taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for identification.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Centerville Fire Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports that at around 7-p.m. Friday, his officers were called to a local business to investigate a report of counterfeit money being used in a purchase. Pursuant to the investigation, 25-year old Alexander Sterling Potter Milledge, and 36-year old Katie Ann Milledge, both of Clarinda, were arrested and charged with felony forgery.

Officers seized a large amount of counterfeit United States currency and printers used in the operation at a residence in Clarinda where the Milledge’s reside. Alexander Milledge was also charged with possession of a substance believed to be methamphetamine. Alexander Milledge and Katie Milledge were arrested without incident at their home and are being held in the Page County Jail in lieu of bond in the amount of $11,300 for Alexander Milledge and $5,000 for Katie Milledge.

The investigation is on-going with the assistance of The United States Secret Service. Reports concerning the incident have been submitted to the Page County Attorney’s Office for review, regarding the filing of formal charges.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa power company has sent help to restore power to the East Coast, which has been slammed by three powerful winter storms in the span of two weeks. MidAmerican Energy of Des Moines sent 78 employees to Rye, New York, late last week to help utility crews restore power after recent major winter storms left 200,000 people without electricity.

MidAmerican Energy’s response followed New York-based energy company Con Edison’s mutual aid request. MidAmerican Energy sent caravans of 62 lineworkers and 16 support staff from across its service area to help repair infrastructure and restore electrical service.