HULL, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux County deputy and a suspect have been treated for minor injuries following an altercation.  The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office says 34-year-old Florencio Ortigoza-Victoriano, of Hull, got into a scuffle with Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Haverdink Wednesday following a domestic disturbance call.  Ortigoza-Victoriano is accused of trying to remove Haverdink’s firearm from its holster. Other deputies helped take Ortigoza-Victoriano into custody.

The Sioux City Journal reports Ortigoza-Victoriano was taken to Sioux Center Community Hospital with minor injuries. He was released a short time later. Haverdink was treated for minor injuries and released from Orange City Hospital. Ortigoza-Victoriano was arrested and faces charges of domestic assault, interference with official acts, assault on a peace officer and attempting to disarm a peace officer.

Officials with the Project Restore Foundation say their annual Holiday String Quartet Concert will take place Sunday, December 8th beginning at 3-pm, at the Saints Center (320 N. Fremont Street), in Stuart. The public is invited to the free concert with refreshments served afterwards.

According to event organizers, the featured musicians are from the Des Moines area and play a variety of Christmas songs. This special holiday tradition began as a way to give back to the community for all their support during restoration and the Project Restore Foundation plans to continue the tradition.

For more information on this free public event as well as the Saints Center for Culture and the Arts, please visit www.saintscenter.com.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa State University professor has a plan for saving humanity from a devastating asteroid collision, and he’ll soon meet with officials at NASA to discuss his proposal. Engineering professor Bong Wie says one way to stop an asteroid from hurtling toward earth is to break up the rock with a nuclear device. He will meet Tuesday with NASA officials to talk about his research, which is being hashed out at the Asteroid Deflection Research Center in Ames.

The Des Moines Register says Wie plans to request a five-year, $5 million grant to put the research into action and launch a practice satellite. A NASA spokesman says there’s no grant request scheduled in the Tuesday meeting. Wie says developing the project will take more than a decade.

w/ Ric Hanson

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Copper siding has been stolen from a museum in Council Bluffs.  The Daily Nonpareil says police reported the theft on Wednesday. The siding is valued at $1,000. It apparently was taken early Saturday morning from the Western Historic Trails Center.  The museum is owned by the state of Iowa.

In an update to our story last hour about a reported hoop barn fire near Harlan, Harlan Fire Chief Roger Bissen (Bee’sun) told KJAN News the fire was actually in about a half-dozen bales of corn stored inside the barn, and not so much the structure, contrary to earlier information we received. Tractors were removing the bales from inside the structure, prior to the bales being extinguished. The hoop barn sustained some damage to the canvass-style fabric covering structure.

Several fire departments were dispatched to the scene east of Harlan, including those from Harlan, Irwin, Kimballton, Kirkman and Defiance. The blaze occurred at a farm near the intersection of Highway 44 and Shelby County Road M-47, just before 6-a.m.

No injuries have been reported. Bissen said crews would remain on the scene for another couple of hours.

Several fire departments have been dispatched to a fire east of Harlan this (Friday) morning. Firefighters from Harlan, Irwin, Kimballton, Kirkman and Defiance were called to the scene of the blaze near the intersection of Highway 44 and Shelby County Road M-47, just before 6-a.m.

A Shelby County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher said a hoop barn was on fire at that location, but no other details are currently available.

An extremely dangerous homemade narcotic which is being called “the worst drug in the world” is suspected in recent cases in several states and will likely make it to Iowa in the coming weeks. It’s called “krokodil” (crock-ah-dial) and the toxic mix often results in amputations and can dissolve jawbones and teeth, much like methamphetamine, according to registered nurse Tammy Noble at the Iowa Poison Control Center.

“It causes the skin to become kind of scaly, almost like what you’d think of with a crocodile, similar to that, and oftentimes a green appearance,” Noble says, “because it’s eating the body from the inside out where this drug comes into contact with the tissues.” One key ingredient is over-the-counter codeine-based headache pills mixed with iodine, gasoline, paint thinner or alcohol. Krokodil is believed to be behind several recent cases in Arizona, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Noble, the poison center’s education coordinator, fears it will eventually reach Iowa, likely sooner than later.

“It used to be it would take months before we would start seeing it in the Midwest but because of the media, social media, now we are starting to see these drugs of abuse appear much quicker in the Midwest,” Noble says. “It’s only a matter of time before we’re going to start seeing it in our area.” Reports say the drug first appeared in Russia about a decade ago but has quickly gained popularity in the past three years.

“It’s cheaper than people using heroin so some of the users are former heroin users who are now using this as an alternative,” Noble says. “What happens is, when people are using it, it ends up rotting the skin from the inside out.” Krokodil may cost three times less heroin and the high is similar — though much shorter — usually around 90 minutes. Reports say the average life expectancy among krokodil addicts in Russia is two to three years. Noble says anyone with concerns about this drug and other poisons can call the Sioux City-based Iowa Poison Control Center around-the-clock at 800-222-1222.

(Radio Iowa)

The non-profit Easter Seals Iowa organization has named a 50-year old Villisca man as its “Farmer of the Year.” The Daily NonPareil reports Russell Boseck received the honor Nov. 19th during the Easter Seals Iowa annual meeting at Camp Sunnyside, in Des Moines. Easter Seals is a group that ensures people with disabilities and special needs have equal opportunities. Russell has farmed for 20 years and utilizes a wheelchair.

Boseck said he overcame a lot of things because of his disability. He was still motivated to do hard work on his father’s farm, which he took over about six years ago. Boseck started a bottle calf program for day-old calves. He cares for about 200 calves each year. He then transports, raises and sells them. A new calf barn also was designed with a steel structure, which allowed small pens to be placed for wheelchair accessibility.

Boseck sells his cattle mostly through Internet sales and livestock auctions. His customers have included those from western Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas City, Mo.

The Iowa Department of Transportation has spent more money on road construction in 2013 than in past years. Mark Bortle, with the D-O-T, says the department typically spends 400 to 500 million dollars annually, but this year’s projects are a bit bigger. “As of the end of October, we’ve spent $523 million,” Bortle said. Much of the money is being spent on major projects in western Iowa. “Probably the biggest ones are in the Council Bluffs and Sioux City areas as we continue to rebuild and rehabilitate the interstate system in those two areas,” Bortle said. Those two projects are far from being completed.

“Those are multi-year, multi-faceted projects,” Bortle said. “We’re going to be out there for a long time to get that work completed.” The D-O-T will have road crews and equipment off the roads before the first major snowfall, according to Bortle. He said motorists can expect a few delays in their holiday travels due to construction. Details of those projects are available at www.511ia.org.

(Radio Iowa)