A Fremont County man injured during a crash Wednesday night in Mills County, started a fire to alert rescuers to the accident. The Iowa State Patrol says a 1993 Honda Accord driven by 38-year old Timothy McCollum, of Thurman, was traveling south on 310th Street at around 7:40-p.m., when the car left the road, entered the east ditch and went into a creek bed before coming to rest under a bridge, out of sight from passing motorists.

McCollum freed himself from the wreckage and crawled up an embankment, but due to his injuries, was unable to make it to the road. He started a fire which was seen by a motorist, who found McCollum on the embankment and notified authorities. McCollum, who was wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash, was  flown by LifeNet to Creighton University Hospital. A report on his condition is not currently available.

The accident remains under investigation.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad says he is “energized” and ready to run for an unprecedented sixth term in office. The 67-year-old Republican governor announced his bid for re-election last night before several hundred supporters at a conference center in West Des Moines. He will embark on a statewide tour later today. Longtime state Senator Jack Hatch, a Des Moines Democrat, is the leading candidate to oppose Branstad.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a small private plane that reported a problem with its landing gear made it safely to a Sioux City airport. The Sioux City Journal reports the single-engine turboprop plane carrying two people landed at Sioux Gateway Airport around 8 a.m. yesterday. No injuries were reported.

PRESCOTT, Iowa (AP) — A boil advisory has been issued for the city of Prescott in southwest Iowa. The state Department of Natural Resources and utility group Southern Iowa Rural Water issued the advisory yesterday morning. The line was expected to be fixed later on Wednesday.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Linda Stepney scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and West Virginia used a 13-point first-half lead to knock off Number 13 Iowa State 73-59 last night. It’s the second straight year the Mountaineers have beaten a ranked Cyclones squad at Ames. Hallie Christofferson had 21 points to lead the Cyclones, which lost its second straight game. Jadda Buckley added another 15.

Officials with the Iowa College Student Aid Commission (Iowa College Aid), says recent changes have been made to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that take effect with the 2015-2015 form. The changes to the FAFSA for the 2014-15 academic year have to do with the financial information that dependent students are required to provide for their parent(s).

Most traditional-aged, college-bound students are considered dependent and must include financial information for both themselves as well as their parents when completing the FAFSA. Beginning with the 2014-15 FAFSA, dependent students are now required to include income and other financial information from their legal parents (biological or adoptive) regardless of the parents’ marital status or gender, if those parents live together. Additionally, the FAFSA will now use terms like “Parent 1 (father/mother/stepparent)” and “Parent 2 (father/mother/stepparent)” instead of gender-specific terms. Previously, the FAFSA was constructed to collect information about both of adependent student’s parents only if the parents were married.

The FAFSA is a standardized application used to determine eligibility for federal grants, loans and work-study funds from the federal government. In addition, many colleges and states, including Iowa, use FAFSA information when determining eligibility for institutional and state financial aid programs.

Iowa College Aid urges all college-bound students to complete the FAFSA regardless of their financial situations. The collection of FAFSA information for both of a dependent student’s unmarried parents when both parents are living together will not impact the majority of federal student aid applicants. Almost 60 percent of FAFSA filers are independent, and therefore, not impacted by these changes. Another 20 percent, while dependent are not impacted as their parents are married. A portion of the remainder will also not be impacted because the parent with whom the student resides does not live with the student’s other legal parent.

Students and families who have questions about applying for financial aid, or are interested in learning more about the resources available for college and career planning can contact Iowa College Aid at 877-272-4456. Additional resources for Iowa families as they plan, prepare and pay for college are available on Iowa College Aid’s website, www.IowaCollegeAid.gov.

PRESCOTT, Iowa (AP) — A boil advisory has been issued for the city of Prescott in southwest Iowa. The state Department of Natural Resources and utility group Southern Iowa Rural Water issued the advisory this (Wednesday) morning. Officials say a contractor hit a water main, causing the city to lose water pressure. That can allow bacteria to enter the drinking water.

The line is expected to be fixed later in the day on Wednesday. Officials are warning residents to boil their water for drinking or cooking. They recommend using bottled water until testing shows the water is clean.

Cass County Conservation Director Micah Lee provided the County Board of Supervisor’s with a quarterly update on the department’s activities during his report Wednesday morning. Lee said with the Winter months comes a decrease in the amount of work they can accomplish, but prior to the season setting in, Cold Springs State Park was winterized and closed for the season. The preparation included tree trimming along the roadways, and the off-season assembly of new picnic tables.

He said everything that needs to be replaced at Cold Springs should be completed by the time the park opens in the Spring. A new 40-foot driveway will also be installed and completed after loads of dirt is received. At the Nodaway Wildlife Area, trees were removed and parking lots posts were replaced, after someone yanked them out to gain vehicle access.

General clean-up and maintenance were conducted on the T-Bone Trail and at the Pellet  Memorial Woods, where a split-rail fence was replaced. Lee said the State Forester is looking into getting approval for the removal of some invasive tree species. At the West Nodaway Wildlife Area, native grasses and brome grasses were planted over a 15-acre area, which should help to bring pheasants and other wild life to the area.

They also planted 90 trees in the Outdoor Education Classroom area over the past Summer and wrapped cages around them to prevent damage from deer rubbing against the trees. Work is also nearly complete on the pit toilets. Other clean-up and maintenance work was conducted on the Hitchcock Recreation Area. Lee said Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning saw around 700 people during the last quarter through 35 programs held in the County.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors discussed at-length Wednesday morning, a recommendation by the County Compensation Board, to provide Sheriff Darby McLaren and County Attorney Dan Feistner, a seven-percent increase in compensation, and a 3.5-percent compensation increase for other elected officials in the courthouse (including the Treasurer, Recorder, and Board of Supervisors). Board member Mark Wedemeyer made a motion to decline that recommendation.

Wedemeyer’s motion was to reduce the recommendation by 100-percent and come back with a recommendation for a three-percent across the board increase, which he said would “Keep everything a lot smoother in the courthouse.” Wedemeyer said he could not vote for a seven-percent increase for the Sheriff and Attorney. Board Chair Frank Waters indicated he also was opposed to a seven-percent increase for the County’s top two law officers.

Supervisor Chuck Rieken agreed the Board could reduce the recommendation to zero, but does not have the authority to come back in and set the rate at three-percent. Rieken said Iowa Code says the Compensation Board will make the recommendation. Wedemeyer says there the Code doesn’t say it can’t be done.

Auditor Dale Sunderman also said the Board does have the authority to reduce the recommendation to zero, according to Code. But the Board also cannot exceed the compensation schedule recommended by the Compensation Board. At the end of discussion, the Board voted three-to-two against the motion, with Chairman Frank Waters and Wedemeyer voting in favor, Duane McFadden, Chuck Rieken and Gaylord Schelling voting against.

The vote does NOT mean the Board approved the Compensation Board’s recommendation. The final schedule of pay, which may be adjusted, will follow a public hearing on the budget at a later date. In the interim, the Board agreed to have County Attorney Dan Feistner research with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, an opinion on the validity of Wedemeyer’s argument that the Supervisors can respond with an alternate rate of compensation.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were arrested following the completion of a burglary investigation in Irwin.  As a result of the investigation 48-year-old Brian Hytrek and 27-year-old Jennifer Rains, both of Kirkman, were charged with Burglary in the 3rd Degree.   The suspects were brought to the Shelby County Jail, where Hytrek was being held on $2,000 bond. Rains was later released on her own recognizance.

Sheriff Mark Hervey says the burglary took place during the weekend of January 12th when a residence in Irwin was entered and several pieces of property stolen. Deputies later executed a search warrant at 1721 Peach Road in Shelby County the night of January 12th and recovered several stolen items.

Hervey says the investigation is still ongoing at this time.

The Atlantic Police Department reports an arrest on Tuesday ( Jan. 14th).  23-year-old Charles Mace Jr., of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Failure to Appear on a Traffic Violation.  Mace was taken to the Cass County Jail and booked in.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The American Red Cross held a successful blood drive Tuesday in Elk Horn, in honor of a young cancer survivor. The event was held at the Elk Horn Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall in honor of Noah Petersen, of Walnut. Noah is a cancer survivor and went through numerous blood transfusions while having chemotherapy treatments.

The goal for the drive was to inspire more people to come donate blood and become a regular blood donor. The American Red Cross placed a goal of 41 units for the blood drive and co-director of the drive Ann Nelsen said the drive collected 51 units.

Nelson said “It’s a very wonderful community. They care about each other tremendously. They were all so involved when Noah was sick and he is presently doing great and not sick. They had all kinds of fundraisers. His father is on the school board and his mom has a business in town. They are imbeded in the community. It’s been a great showing.”

Exira Elk Horn Kimballton Superintendent Dean Schnoes was one of the persons who showed-up, rolled up his sleeve, and donated blood.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)