A slick, snow-covered road surface was said to be the cause of a single-vehicle, non-injury accident Thursday morning, in Montgomery County. Sheriff’s officials say Deputies and crews from Villisca Fire and Rescue responded at around 8:20-a.m., to a report of a car in the ditch on 260th Street, just west of Willow Avenue. The 1998 Toyota Camry owned by Niko Hensley, of Villisca, was driven by Bailey Hensley, also of Villisca.

The vehicle was found in the north ditch, next to a sheared-off power pole owned by MidAmerican Energy. Hensley told authorities she was traveling east on 260th when the car skidded off the road due to slick conditions caused by snow on the road surface. The car entered the ditch and struck the power pole, causing $1,800 damage to the Toyota and $1,200 damage to the pole.

There were no citations issued.

Several of Iowa’s labor unions staged a statehouse news conference late Thursday to send a message to Republican lawmakers considering changes to Iowa’s collective bargaining law. Kindergarten teacher Katie McMahon, of Cedar Rapids, is a member of the Iowa State Education Association. “Politicians who make our unions and our professions targets for political attacks and want to cut budgets on our backs…do so at the peril of the safety and well-being of our citizens of the state.”

Adam Choat, of Altoona, is a policeman and a member of the Teamsters Union. He worries lawmakers will no longer allow contract negotiations to cover things like whether the city or the policeman pays for on-going training safety equipment like bullet-proof vests. “Eroding our voices on the job and cutting the profession will have a drain for the Iowa police officers,” Choat said, “just like it has in other states around us that chose to cut the voice that the police officers have in their profession.”

Sean Passick — a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union — works for the D-O-T and he drives a snow plow this time of year. “Before doing this job, I took for granted how the roads I traveled every day got cleared in the harsh Iowa winters and how transportation infrastructure remains safe for me and my family,” Passick said. “As we head into the legislative session next week, please remember who the AFSCME members are who work on your behalf to make Iowa happen.”

Governor Branstad has proposed taking health care off the list of topics covered in negotiations with the unions that represent state workers. Branstad suggests it would be cheaper to have one massive agreement on health care coverage for all bargaining units in Iowa. That means it would cover city, county and school districts as well as state government.

Iowa’s current law outlining union rights for public sector workers was approved in 1974 by Republican Governor Robert Ray. It set up the system for contract negotiations and, in return, union workers at all levels of government — including teachers, do not go on strike.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa will require voters to show identification at the polls under a bill announced Thursday by the state’s top election official, and Republicans in the new GOP-controlled Legislature have indicated a willingness to pass it. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate told reporters Thursday that a voter ID bill was needed to ensure integrity to Iowa’s election system. There is little evidence of fraudulent voting in Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the illegal gun possession conviction of a Des Moines man that was largely based on selfie he posted on Facebook showing him with a gun in his waistband. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed with prosecutors that the photo of Christopher Payne-Owens and his Facebook posts about being involved with guns and gangs was sufficient enough evidence to convict him. Payne-Owens argued that the gun in the photo was fake.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A sheriff says the death of an inmate from Iowa in a Wisconsin prison cell appears to have been self-inflicted. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt says his office is investigating the death of 26-year-old Justin Kestner at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin. But he says “there’s no foul play involved” by any other inmates and the death “seems that it was self-inflicted.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Crews have begun work on flood protections in an area of Cedar Rapids that has seen devastating flooding along the Cedar River. KCRG-TV reports that the work is the first large-scale project connected with a permanent flood protection system of flood walls, berms and levees to begin on the west side of the Cedar River. In a few years, the Czech Village Levee will protect that area before the entire system is finished on both sides of the Cedar River.