It appears technology giant Apple will join the list of companies with data centers in Iowa. The Iowa Economic Development Authority board has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday morning to review an application for Apple, Inc. It’s believed Apple officials plan to build a data center in the Des Moines suburb of Waukee.

The IEDA board will consider incentives for the project. Details about the incentives and potential jobs are not being released prior to meeting. Other tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft already have data centers in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

The Page County Sheriff’s Office released details on an accident that occurred on Monday, August 14th.  At 11:51am that day an accident was reported at the intersection of 314th Street and Teak Avenue about 1 mile east of Braddyville.

The investigation indicated that 29-year-old Mathew G. Herzberg of Clarinda was the driver and only occupant of a 1997 Ford F-150 pickup traveling north on Teak Avenue south of the intersection. 73-year-old Edward H. Burch of rural Braddyville was traveling west on 314th Street in a 2005 Chevy K2500 pickup. Burch was following the long 90 degree curve to the south while Herzberg was crossing the curve and failed to yield when crossing the center line of the curve. Burch’s Chevy struck Herzberg’s Ford in the passenger side. Herzberg then ended up in the west ditch and flipped onto the driver’s side of the truck. Burch’s Chevy remained in the traveled portion of the curve.

Burch refused treatment at the scene of the accident but Herzberg was transported to a hospital in St. Joseph, MO by LifeNet Helicopter Ambulance Service with unknown injuries.

Herzberg’s vehicle sustained an estimated $7000.00 in damage. Burch’s vehicle sustained an estimated $10,000.00 in damage. Both vehicles were towed from the scene. At this time no citations have been issued.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by Braddyville Fire and Rescue, Clarinda Fire Department, Clarinda Ambulance Service, Page County Secondary Roads Department, & LifeNet Helicopter Ambulance service.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday discussed the process of finding a new County Attorney at the end of their meeting. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman informed the board that there are two options to fill the vacancy.

If the board decides to appoint a replacement to fill out the term until the next election, they won’t be able to officially appoint that person until the office is vacated January 1, 2018. Current County Attorney Dave Wiederstein submitted his resignation effective on that date in response to the county changing the position to full-time. The board plans to get an official signed resignation from Wiederstein to approve at their meeting next Thursday.

If appointment is the route the board takes, then the public would have a 14-day window after appointment to submit a petition for a special election to fill the position.

The other issue that will need to be dealt with if they do appoint a replacement will be to change their status to full-time once they begin. When the decision was made to change the position to full-time the effective date was January 1, 2019 because that would line up with the next election cycle.  Auditor Sunderman said he believes an effective date would have to be agreed on with the new Attorney and officially changed by the board.

Board Chair Gaylord Schelling said they do intend to take up decision on appointment or special election at their next meeting on August 31st.

A woman from Cass County was arrested Monday night on a burglary charge. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports 22-year old Marin Dawn Karns, of Anita, was taken into custody at around 8:50-p.m., for Burglary in the 1st Degree. The woman was arrested after a Deputy was dispatched to the Motel 6, near Avoca, for a reported incident of assault. The victim of the assault was a 50-year old woman from Avoca. Karns was taken into custody without incident. The report said Karns suffered an apparent minor injury during the incident.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors held their regular meeting on Wednesday in the board room at the Cass County Courthouse. Among the items the board discussed was contract bids for the gray water transmission project for the Elite Octane Ethanol Plant site. Dave Sturm of Snyder and Associates informed the board that out of six bids taken on the project the low bid came from Crow River Construction out of New London, MN. Their bid came in at $884,020 which was under engineers’ estimates of $900,000.  Board member Mark Wedemeyer questioned if they would be able to go with the next bid because it came from a company in Iowa and was just $6,000 more. Sturm stated didn’t see any reason to not go with the low bid.

He said they haven’t worked with Crow River before but his discussions with other communities brought nothing but positive comments on them. The board eventually all agreed and later unanimously approved a resolution awarding the contract to Crow River Construction. A timeline for the project will be determined soon.

The board also approved changes to the Glacier Road paving project that is currently underway. Sturm stated that the road culverts that they were intending to salvage or extend are not in proper condition to be saved. During work it was discovered that a number of them were cracked and don’t match up properly with the intended extensions. The board unanimously agreed to approve the changes to order new culverts for the project which will increase the cost by $20,188.

In other business the board agreed to change the speed limit on the county’s portion of Troy Road and Cass Street south of Griswold city limits to 25mph. The City of Griswold already approved the change on their portion of the road and the board had agreed to follow suit with their decision on their portion.

The board also approved plans for a bridge replacement for bridge #433 on north Olive Street over a tributary to Buck Creek, about a mile south of I-80. The project hasn’t been put on the DOT’s short list for bid letting but Cass County Engineer Technician Dennis Vogl said the county wants to have the plans shelf ready for whenever that happens.  He said they hope to have the project completed before they do an overlay project.

w/ Chris Parks

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A Red Oak woman was arrested Tuesday night on a Page County warrant. At 7:18pm Red Oak Police arrested 38-year-old Becky Jo Hegarty in the 200 block of East Nuckolls Street. Hegarty was arrested on a valid Page County warrant for Violation of Probation. She was taken to the Page County Jail and held on $5,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced a lottery computer programmer to up to 25 years in prison for rigging a computer program to enable him to pick winning numbers in several lottery games over six years. Eddie Tipton pleaded guilty earlier this summer to ongoing criminal conduct, and on Tuesday he received the prison sentence. Judge Brad McCall also ordered Tipton to repay more than $2 million that the scheme paid Tipton and others.

Tipton’s brother, Tommy Tipton, is serving a 75-day jail sentence on a theft charge. A friend of Eddie Tipton’s, Robert Rhodes, of Sugar Land, Texas, will be sentenced Aug. 25 on a computer crime charge.

Tipton worked for the Multi-State Lottery Association in Iowa. He fixed lottery games in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma between 2005 and 2011.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state official says Iowa’s individual health insurance market under the Affordable Care Act will collapse if the federal government doesn’t approve a short-term proposal aimed at stabilizing premium costs.

Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen told reporters Tuesday the state has communicated with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to finalize a proposed stopgap measure. The state submitted its final proposal on the measure Monday.

About 72,000 Iowans have individual ACA-compliant health plans. Ommen estimates up to 22,000 of them will drop coverage in 2018 if no action is taken to offset growing premium costs. The last insurance carrier to offer individual plans expects additional premium increases.

The stopgap measure reallocates federal money to help individuals priced out of subsidies that currently help pay for coverage.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Des Moines police officer who quit last year after being accused of planting drug evidence has been has been criminally charged in the case. The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday that 30-year-old Tyson Teut has been charged with felonious misconduct in office and perjury.

Teut resigned in December amid the allegations. Polk County Attorney John Sarcone says Teut turned himself in and was booked into Polk County Jail on Tuesday morning. Teut and another officer resigned in December, accused of planting evidence on New Year’s Day 2015 to implicate a then-21-year-old man in a drug case. The man was charged and convicted of possessing methamphetamine, but was later exonerated.

Authorities have not said how they learned that case was tainted.