IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The bulk of Iowa’s jump in mumps cases has been reported at the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City. The state Public Health Department says 50 cases of mumps have been reported in Iowa this year – 30 of them on the University of Iowa campus.

The state usually has 10 to 20 reported cases a year, but there have been outbreaks, including hundreds of cases in 2006. Doctors say most of the current cases involve students who had met the university’s vaccination requirements. The viral infections symptoms include swollen salivary glands, fever and muscle aches. It spreads easily in confined spaces.

A distracted driver lost control of the tractor he was driving Thursday afternoon about four-miles south of Emerson, causing the machine to enter a ditch and hit a power pole. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says 32-year old Curtis Frazer, of Hastings, was driving a 2011 New Holland Tractor that was pulling a grain cart, when he reached for his cell phone that fell off the seat.

When Frazer reached down, the tractor veered toward the ditch, and by the time he tried to over-correct its path, it was too late. The tractor hit the power pole, causing it to snap-off, and continued into a corn field before coming to rest. The power lines laid down on the grain cart. A utility crew had to remove the lines before Frazer could be removed from the tractor and treated.

He suffered injuries to his right leg and ankle, and cuts from broken glass. Frazer was transported by Red Oak Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital. Damage to the tractor, owned by William Frazee, of Emerson, was estimated at $17,000.

Police in Red Oak, Thursday, arrested a teenager on Criminal Mischief in the 2nd Degree charges, following an investigation into an incident that happened Saturday evening in the parking lot of the Red Oak High School. 15-year old Christopher Owen Jones, of Stanton, allegedly caused $1,600 damage to a vehicle not owned by him. Jones was processed at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and released to the custody of his parent.

The Omaha metro area is losing one of its biggest employers, but it appears the plant in Council Bluffs will remain untouched. ConAgra is moving its corporate headquarters from Omaha to Chicago next summer. The Omaha office now employs about 25-hundred people. About 12-hundred positions, mostly management, will be kept in place and 300 people will be transferred. Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert says that means about one-thousand employees will be out of a job but there are lots of opportunities in town.

“We have a low unemployment rate and we are in a severe labor shortage,” the mayor says. “We have a lot of talent. We still have four Fortune 500 companies in Omaha. Our concentration should be focused on those whose jobs will be eliminated, helping them find comparable jobs in our marketplace.” ConAgra officials say the cuts are difficult but necessary. Mayor Stothert met with ConAgra C-E-O Sean Connolly on Wednesday and asked him direct questions.

“I said, ‘Is there anything that I as mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, the governor could do, if there’s anything in the form of incentives, anything that we could have done differently or that we could do now that would change the direction you’re going,’ and he said, ‘Absolutely, no. This is not about incentives. This is not about we need more money to stay here.'” Stothert says Connolly said the decision was all based on the industry, not the community. She was told the lay-offs will not take place immediately.

“This would take a good year to notify everybody, to notify who was going to be transferred, what roles they would play,” Stothert says. “They said this was a longer process about how they were going to notify employees, where they were going to go and what they were going to be doing.” ConAgra has been headquartered in Omaha since 1922. The company employs about 800 workers at the plant in Council Bluffs, another 100 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and no lay-offs are planned at those locations.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Council Bluffs report an arrest has been made in connection with an incident where a man was robbed of his cigarettes Thursday morning outside a Hy-Vee Store in Council Bluffs. 18-year old Tyler J. Moss, of Council Bluffs, was located Thursday evening by uniformed officers and taken into custody on a charge of Robbery in the 1st degree. Moss was booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail.

The Criminal Investigation Division continues to look into the incident which began with a call to police at around 2:40-a.m., Thursday, from near the Hy-Vee Store at 2323 West Broadway. 22-year old Dakota Casey, of Council Bluffs said as he was leaving the store after purchasing a pack of cigarettes, he was approached by a white male subject who asked for a cigarette. Casey said he would sell the other man (later identified as Moss), a cigarette for 25-cents.

Tyler J. Moss

Moss paid for the cigarette, and as Casey was leaving, he heard Moss demand the entire pack of cigarettes. Casey said Moss produced a knife as he demanded the cigarettes from him. Casey gave the pack to Moss, who, along with other two males he was with, then fled the area on foot.