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

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The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office reports the driver of a Buick Lesabre was injured during a single-vehicle accident that occurred today (Saturday) at around 1:25-a.m. Authorities say Kevin Cruth, of Clearmont, MO, was southbound on Colt Avenue, when he failed to stop at the intersection with 300th Street. The car traveled through the intersection and came to rest in the south ditch. Cruth was transported to CRHC in Clarinda by New Market EMS, for possible serious injuries. The accident remains under investigation by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted at the scene by New Market First Responders and Clarinda EMS.

A man from Red Oak and formerly of Oakland, was arrested Friday night on drug charges. 30-year old Kirk Kencaid Kinser was picked up in Pottawattamie County by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies and transported to the Montgomery County Jail where he was held on a $2,000 cash only bond, on a Montgomery County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. A short time later, Red Oak Police arrested Kinser for Possession with the Intent to Deliver over 5 grams of Methamphetamine, a Class B Felony. Kinser was being held on the latter charge without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

A German Luftwaffe officer was in Iowa this week as part of a military reserve exchange program. Lieutenant Julia Renke, a personnel officer from Germany’s Air Force, visited Sioux City’s 185th Air Refueling Wing. “It’s a great opportunity to get to know American units, as kind of an ambassador between both countries,” Renke said. “It gives you an inside look, which you wouldn’t get in different ways. So, this exchange program between Germany and America is just a special experience.”

photo (courtesy Iowa National Guard) — 1st Lieutenant Josh Thomas, 185th Air Refueling Wing, Iowa Air National Guard & 1st Lieutenant Julia Renke, 73 Tactical Air Wing, Rostock Laage/German Air Forc

Renke took flights on aircraft housed at both the 185th in Sioux City and at the 132nd Wing in Des Moines. “I got to ride on a Black Hawk (helicopter) and I got to go on the KC-135 on a mission,” Renke said. “We saw some F-16s getting refueled, which was amazing for me to get to experience.”

As part of the Defense Military Reserve Exchange Program, 1st Lieutenant Joshua Thomas — Sustainment Services Flight Commander with the 185th — will visit German bases in September. It’ll be his first trip overseas. “I’m very excited to go to Germany for two weeks…and learn their military programs and how both the reserves and active duty units work over there,” Thomas said.

Another officer from Germany and the 132nd Guard unit in Des Moines are also been taking part in the exchange program.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Health insurance company Medica says it will offer insurance plans statewide in Iowa again next year through the Affordable Care Act exchange. The Minnesota-based company also says it will expand insurance offering for many Iowans.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Michigan man accused of ordering drugs online and having them shipped to a friend in Dubuque _ who then died of an overdose _ has pleaded guilty. Federal prosecutors for Iowa say 28-year-old Jay Rickert pleaded guilty Thursday in Cedar Rapids’ federal court to willfully causing the distribution of a controlled substance.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that workers under union contract with the state may sue for wrongful discharge if they’re fired for retaliation or other improper reasons. The decision came Friday in a lawsuit filed in 2015 by former Iowa Workforce Development judge Susan Ackerman. Her claims include that former IWD Director Teresa Wahlert and other agency leaders defamed her, caused her emotional distress and breached her contract.

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — The trial of an Iowa father charged in the death of his infant son will be moved from Chickasaw County to Henry County. The Courier reports that a judge on Thursday ordered the change of venue after defense attorneys for 28-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn argued he couldn’t get a fair trial in Chickasaw County because of pretrial publicity. The trial will be held in the Henry County Courthouse in Mount Pleasant, about 50 miles south of Iowa City. Koehn’s trial is set for Oct. 29.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Health insurance company Medica says it will offer insurance plans statewide in Iowa again next year through the Affordable Care Act exchange. The Minnesota-based company also says it will expand insurance offering for many Iowans.

Geoff Bartsch, the company’s general manager of family and individual business says the company is excited to stay in the market and to expand product choices.
Medica was the only statewide carrier in Iowa last year. Bartsch says this year the company will offer more choices and more network options in some areas of the state.

Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield has said it also plans to return to the Iowa individual market in 2019. Friday is the deadline for companies planning to offer ACA policies next year to file plans.

KOSCIUSKO, Miss. (AP) — A couple linked to a string of robberies and carjackings in Florida and other crimes in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois has been found in Mississippi after a car wreck. Kosciusko police thought they were responding to a simple accident Wednesday night but found it was more than that.

Chief Herbert Drew tells The Clarion Ledger there was no tag on the car. Further investigation found the car had been stolen in Arkansas. Then, Drew says, police began getting related alerts to look out for suspects Lessie Earl Proctor and Annastasia Coenen. Coenen was hurt in the wreck and taken to an area hospital.

Authorities found Proctor early Thursday. He faces charges including possession of stolen property and weapon possession by a felon. Drew says Coenen has not been charged.

A Holy Cross woman is facing charges for driving drunk with her children riding ON the car. Dubuque County Sheriff’s deputies went to a parking lot in Holy Cross on Monday night after witnesses reported a woman was driving in and out of the lot with children on the trunk of her car.

The arrest report shows 36-year-old Casey Keeley admitted to letting her kids ride on the trunk and a breath test placed her blood alcohol content at 0.121. She’s charged with second-offense OWI, two counts of child endangerment, and driving with a suspended license.

(Radio Iowa)

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — The trial of an Iowa father charged in the death of his infant son will be moved from Chickasaw County to Henry County. The Courier reports that a judge on Thursday ordered the change of venue after defense attorneys for 28-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn argued he couldn’t get a fair trial in Chickasaw County because of pretrial publicity.

The trial will be held in the Henry County Courthouse in Mount Pleasant, about 50 miles south of Iowa City. Koehn’s trial is set for Oct. 29. Police say officers found the maggot-infested body of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn in an infant swing.

Koehn and the baby’s mother, Cheyanne Harris, have pleaded not guilty to murder and related charges. They’re having separate trials.

(Updated) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s record-breaking astronaut, Peggy Whitson, retired Friday less than a year after returning from her last and longest spaceflight. She’s spent more time off the planet than any other American: 665 days over three space station missions. She’s also the world’s most experienced female spacewalker, with 10 under her spacesuit belt.

Whitson — a native of Beaconsfield in Ringgold County — was the first woman to command the International Space Station, holding the position twice, and the oldest woman ever to fly in space. She was also the only woman to have served as chief of NASA’s male-dominated astronaut corps. Fellow astronauts called her a “space ninja.”

“It’s been the greatest honor to live out my lifelong dream of being a @NASA Astronaut,” Whitson said via Twitter, thanking “all who have supported me along the way. As I reminisce on my many treasured memories, it’s safe to say my journey at NASA has been out of this world!”

The 58-year-old biochemist, who grew up on an Iowa hog farm, joined NASA as a researcher in 1986 and became an astronaut in 1996. Her last spaceflight, spanning 2016 and 2017, lasted close to 10 months. Only Russian men have spent more time in space: Gennady Padalka holds the record with 879 days over five missions.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called Whitson an inspiration, citing her determination and dedication to science, exploration and discovery. “She set the highest standards for human spaceflight operations,” Brian Kelly, director of flight operations at Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement, “as well as being an outstanding role model for women and men in America and across the globe.”

Before leaving the space station last September, Whitson said she would miss the orbiting outpost — an “awe-inspiring creation” — and the views from 250 miles up. “I will miss seeing the enchantingly peaceful limb of our Earth from this vantage point. Until the end of my days, my eyes will search the horizon to see that curve,” she said.