STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) – Storm Lake police have arrested a woman who they say played a game with her children that deprived them of oxygen. The Storm Lake Pilot Tribune reports 31-year-old Jennifer Cordova was charged with two counts of child endangerment on Thursday. Police say she played a “pass out game” with her 13- and 7-year-old sons. They say she pushed on the 13-year-old’s chest until he passed out. The 7-year-old wasn’t injured.

It’s unclear if the older child was hospitalized.  Cordova was released from the Buena Vista County Jail on $2,000 bond.

The latest report of a major retailer being hacked has prompted warnings for customers to keep an eye on their credit and debit card accounts. The spokesman for Iowa’s Attorney General, Geoff Greenwood, says the Home Depot announcement shows why you should make it a habit to track you accounts. “We urge consumers, regardless if there has been a report of data breach, to monitor their bills,” Greenwood says. “That is sometimes not just your best, but your only defense in detecting when someone has compromised your card.”

Greenwood says you can take all the right steps and still have your data stolen. “These are likely eastern European, perhaps Russian hackers who have infiltrated a system according to media reports, and have sold credit cards on the black market, in what they call the Dark Web. And so, you may’ve done everything right and you may’ve been compromised, and the best way to figure that out is to look at your bills, look at your account statements. Keep on top of your accounts,” Greenwood says.

Another way to keep up with your accounts is through a credit report. “Credit reports are available for free. There are three credit reporting agencies, and you are entitled to one free credit report every year and you can get many more if you want to pay for them,” Greenwood says. “What some consumers do, is they will spread it out over several months. They will get a report from one agency and then three or four months later get one from another agency.”

He says there are some specific instructions for Home Depot customers. “Any customer who used a credit card or debit card at Home Depot in the last six months should act accordingly and look at their account activity,” according to Greenwood. You can go to the Attorney General’s website to find out more. He says there is information on the website about what you can do. Right now you can call Home Depot directly if you have more questions, as Greenwood says Home Depot has not released specific information yet on the time frame involved in the hacking.

The latest retailer hack comes after Target reported having its data stolen near the end of last year.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa officials say the number of fatal heroin overdoses more than doubled in the state last year. The Des Moines Register reports the Iowa Department of Public Health says 20 people died in 2013. That’s up from eight in 2012. There were about one to four heroin deaths a year prior to 2008.

An Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement director says Iowa’s heroin problem seems to be worse in the eastern part of the state. He says those areas are closer to Chicago suppliers. The department didn’t say who the victims were or where they died.

An addiction-treatment specialist says the national increase in heroin use correlates to a rise in the abuse of prescription painkillers.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A food distribution company has agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit that claims it conspired with others over several years to restrain the bidding process for selling food at schools across Iowa. The lawsuit says Martin Brothers Distributing Company conspired with Iowa Educators Corporation and its successor, the Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing, to monopolize the business of food distribution at hundreds of schools over a 14-year period.

Martin Brothers and the others deny they did anything wrong. They say the process was fair, and the agreement was reached to avoid litigation costs. An eligible individual can file a claim to receive up to $3.50 per student per year, for a maximum of $50 per student.

For a list of school districts, years covered by the settlement, and a claim form, go to: http://iowaschoolfoodsettlement.com/

(Updated 6-a.m.) A-P/Radio Iowa

A doctor who became infected with Ebola while working in Liberia has arrived at a Nebraska hospital for treatment. Dr. Rick Sacra (SAY-kruh) was driven by ambulance to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha after landing a little after 6 a.m. Friday at Offutt Air Force Base just south of Omaha. His ambulance went into a hospital receiving bay and vanished from public view at around 6:40-a.. He will begin treatment in the hospital’s 10-bed special isolation unit. Dr. Mark Rupp is medical director of infectious control at the hospital in Omaha where Dr. Rick Sacra will be treated. “I am very confident that we can care for this patient safely,” Rupp said during a news conference in Omaha on Thursday. “This is a specially designed unit. It’s locked. It’s secured. It’s separated physically.”

Dr. Sacra, the patient, is a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He went on a mission trip to Liberia in August to work in a hospital there and was diagnosed with Ebola early this week. He will be treated in what’s called the “Biocontainment Patient Care Unit” at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Jeffery Gold, the chancellor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, says the unit is one of the few in the country that’s equipped to deal with a patient suffering from an infectious disease like Ebola.

“We have been preparing for this type of event for a very long time,” Gold said during a Thursday news conference. “This is not a surprise that we’re being called to serve in this way.” Gold says not only will Sacra receive “world-class care” but all other patients, staff, faculty and visitors at the hospital will be “completely protected and safe.” Sacra’s wife told reporters in Boston yesterday (Thursday) that her husband is very ill, but was able to walk onto the plane that carried him out of Africa.

A U.S. doctor and an American nurse who contracted Ebola while on mission trips to Africa were flown to Emory University’s hospital in Atlanta last month for treatment. Dr. Sacra, the third American to be diagnosed with the disease, is a 51-year-old family doctor who has made many trips to Liberia in the past 20 years. He was not treating Ebola patients during his most recent trip, but was working in another part of the hospital. He got a fever last Friday and put himself in isolation while tests were done to confirm the Ebola diagnosis.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa has expelled a second student for sexual misconduct as part of a campus crackdown on perpetrators. UI President Sally Mason said yesterday the student was expelled during the summer term. No other details were immediately released Thursday.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Dubuque officials are making homeowners liable for most cases in which people are injured on sidewalks. The Dubuque City Council has approved an amendment to a city ordinance, allowing officials to delegate financial responsibility for sidewalk repairs to property owners. The Telegraph Herald reports the move is aimed at encouraging homeowners to keep sidewalks in better condition.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A federal agency is reviewing whether it would be appropriate for Iowa City to use $1 million in affordable housing funds to buy five condominiums at a luxury high-rise development. The Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed the review in a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley, who raised questions about the arrangement.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A food distribution company has agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit that claims it conspired with others over several years to restrain the bidding process for selling food at schools across Iowa. The lawsuit says Martin Brothers Distributing Company conspired with Iowa Educators Corporation and its successor, the Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing, to monopolize the business of food distribution at hundreds of schools over a 14-year period. Martin Brothers and the other defendants deny any wrongdoing.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department reports a Stanton man was arrested this week following an investigation that began in July with regard to incidents of thefts from multiple jurisdictions within Iowa and Missouri. Authorities say 48 year old Thayne Alvin Kinnison, of Stanton, was arrested on a warrant out of Council Bluffs for 4th degree theft as well as felony possession of stolen property and for being a felon in possession of a firearm/offensive weapon. Kinnison also faces possible charges from the Shenandoah Police Department and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

During their investigation, officers executed a search warrant Wednesday at 2569 O Avenue, south of Stanton. Officials recovered various stolen items related to the investigation as well as a weapon and items related to Department of Natural Resources violations.

CLARION, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors and defense attorneys have rested their cases in the trial of a man charged with killing a Rockwell City police officer last year. Both sides rested their cases Thursday in the trial of 33-year-old Corey Trott. Closing arguments will be delivered Friday morning. Trott is charged with first-degree murder in the September 2013 death of 37-year-old officer Jamie Buenting. He has pleaded not guilty.

Authorities say Trott shot Buenting during a standoff at Trott’s house. Officers were trying to arrest Trott after an alleged assault on his mother. He later surrendered. The Fort Dodge Messenger reports Prosecutors rested their case in the morning. The defense did not call any witnesses, and Trott did not testify.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The state auditor says 13 private attorneys working as public defenders overbilled the state by roughly $310,000 during a three-year period. Auditor Mary Mosiman released the report Thursday. Her office reviewed data from July 1, 2009, through Aug. 31, 2013, at the request of the State Public Defender’s Office. The report says 11 of the attorneys billed for work days that were longer than 12 hours. In some cases, they claimed to work more than 24 hours in a day.

A total of 13 attorneys filed improper mileage claims. State Public Defender Sam Langholz says contracts have been canceled with eight attorneys. Another attorney voluntarily terminated his contract. Langholz says the office has adopted new oversight rules.

A Department of Public Safety spokesman says the matter is under investigation.

A Judge in Pottawattamie County has issued a continuance in the trial of an Oakland man charged with first-degree murder. Judge James Richardson ruled Wednesday the trial for 63-year old Robert A. Reynolds will be held October 14th instead of Sept. 30th. Reynolds’ attorney has until Sept. 26th to file pre-trial papers. It’s the fifth time the trial date has been changed since the original date of July 1st. Reynolds has plead not guilty to the murder charge.

Authorities say during the early morning hours of April 9th, 2014, Reynolds allegedly shot to death in his Oakland home, 64-year old Patricia Kinkade-Dorsey, a resident of rural Cass County.

During an interview with law enforcement, Reynolds allegedly admitted he and Kinkade-Dorsey had a verbal dispute inside his residence, and that he then left the area to locate a firearm which he allegedly used to fatally shoot Kinkade-Dorsey.

Three other people in the home at the time the incident occurred were not injured