Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are investigating two separate hunting incidents. One happened in Warren County on December 22nd, at around 10:30-a.m.. Authorities say Austin Pontier, of St. Charles, was shot by a member of his hunting party while participating in a deer drive south of St. Charles. Pontier was taken to a local hospital and treated and released. His wound was non-life threatening.

The second incident happened Dec. 21st in Marion County. The DNR says at around 9-a.m., Andrew Strahl, of Des Moines, shot at deer as they crossed a road. While shooting, he hit a house north of Pleasantville in rural Marion County. DNR conservation officers are continuing to investigate both hunting incidents at this time.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Trial is set for Feb. 3 for an Iowa woman accused of a hate crimes, including intentionally running over a girl she thought was Mexican. Nicole Marie Poole has pleaded not guilty to the hate crime charge that stems from an incident at a convenience store in a Des Moines suburb. Police have said she went to the store after a hit-and-run in another suburb. Police say she drove onto a sidewalk to hit a 14-year-old girl, telling officers she did it because the girl “is Mexican.”

(Radio Iowa) — The number of fire deaths for 2019 is expected to end up above last year’s total. The spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s office, Ron Humphrey says the number will end up around 50. “It’s going to be up about ten from last year — but it’s also down six from the year before in 2017,” Humphrey says. “The trend over the last 15 years or so has been slightly up. Back in 2006 our average was just over 30.” He says there is not one factor he can link to the increase. “It’s really hard to say. I know in 2017 when we were at 56 — which was the highest we had been in a long time — we had several multiple fatality fires where we lost three, four, five people in one incident and that threw our numbers way up. I can’t put my finger on one thing,” Humphrey says.

He does say newer types of building materials with composite wood and other products do tend to burn faster. “You do get a fire going and they burn through a lot quicker and they’ve got the glues in them that add to the combustibility and the spread of the fire. And add to the toxic fumes in the structure,” Humphrey says. “So, the lightweight building materials do have something to do with it — but again you can’t really put your finger on it and say that causes X amount of additional fatalities a year.” He says one thing they are trying to do is continue to push everyone to install and maintain smoke detectors. “It seems like over 50 percent of our fires — either the structure didn’t have smoke detectors in it — or had smoke detectors that weren’t working properly,” he says.

Humphrey says the smoke detectors can provide the extra seconds needed to get people safely out of a burning structure. “Still find when we have fatality fires that they either don’t have them or they weren’t properly maintained,” Humphrey says. He says the final number could change in the last days of the year. He says a fire death is not added to the list until there is confirmation from the state medical examiner that fire was the official cause.

NORTHWOOD, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman is accused of faking cancer to collect donations. Jennifer Hope Mikesell, of Northwood, is charged with ongoing criminal conduct, theft, fraudulent practices and forgery. The Worth County Sheriff’s Office says Mikesell had said she was diagnosed with cancer and was receiving cancer treatments at Mayo Clinic Health System in Rochester, Minnesota. Iowa court records say Mayo has no record of Mikesell being diagnosed or treated there. The court records say Mikesell received multiple donations of money, food and other supplies, as well as a bedroom makeover.

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

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former school district official in northern Iowa has been settled. Mason City Schools’ former human resources director Jodie Anderson filed the lawsuit in July 2018, alleging that men employed by the district were being paid more than women for the same categories of work. The district said in a news release Monday that its insurer wanted to settle in order to “avoid the cost and disruption protracted litigation can cause.” A trial had been scheduled to begin Jan. 7. Officials have not disclosed how much money, if any, will go to Anderson in the settlement.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Pork Producers are urging lawmakers to continue taxpayer support of facilities and programs designed to respond to an outbreak of African swine fever here. The association’s Drew Mogler testified at a public hearing in the governor’s office this week. “Iowa Pork is very appreciative of the communication and collaboration that’s existing between pork producers and our partners in state government as we continue to be vigilant and prepare in the unfortunate event that something like this would reach our border,” he said.

African Swine Fever has killed swine herds in Asia and eastern Europe. It has wiped out about one-quarter of all the pigs in the world — but it has NOT reached the United States. Mogler says construction of the new, 75 MILLION dollar Veterinary Diagnostic Lab at Iowa State University is a priority for Pork Producers. “It cannot be overstated the critical role that the Vet Diagnostic Lab plays in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak in the not only in the state of Iowa, but really the Midwest and the entire country,” Mogler said.

In addition, the Pork Producers are calling for an increase in state funding to help the Iowa Department of Agriculture prepare for an outbreak of disease among the state’s livestock herds. According to Mogler, one-out-of-12 jobs in the state are connected to pork production and he says 25 percent of the grain grown in Iowa is consumed by Iowa pigs. State officials estimate the entire livestock industry will generate about 13-and-a-half BILLION dollars in the Iowa economy this year.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a 21-year-old man who drowned after falling into a pond near Cedar Rapids’ Mohawk Park. The Linn County medical examiner identified the man as Talon Williams, who lived in Cedar Rapids. Rescue workers were sent to the park around 5:45 p.m. Sunday following a report that three people had fallen into the water. A city news release says a 14-year-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy got themselves out but were unable to get the third person out. They went to shore and called 911. Williams’ body was found in the water about 120 yards from shore.

Presidential candidate/Democrat Congressman John Delaney will be crisscrossing Iowa for the entire month of January on a small town blitz of 40 stops, a journey he’s dubbed the Send A Message Tour. Cruising in the campaign RV, “Big Blue,” Delaney and his field staff will be hosting meet and greets, knocking on doors, making supporter calls, and meeting with caucus-goers and precinct captains around the state.

Delaney is an American attorney, businessman, and politician. He was the United States Representative for Maryland’s 6th congressional district from 2013 to 2019.

His schedule (locally) includes, on Jan. 13th:

• 10-a.m. – Defiance:  Delaney & team door knocking
• 2-p.m.  – Lyman: Delaney & team door knocking
• 5-pm. – Griswold: Dusty’s Place (402 Main St.)

And on January 17th, Delaney will be:

• in Carroll at 2-p.m.: Brothers on Main (529 N Main St.)
• and in Templeton at 4-p.m.: for a tour of Templeton Whisky

Delaney will also be in Panora on Jan. 21st at the Owl’s Nest (124 W. Main St.), at 5-p.m.