EARLHAM, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an employee was killed after a blast at a Madison County quarry. Madison County Sheriff Jason Barnes said in a news release that it appeared that debris struck 42-year-old Tracy Hockmeier, of Winterset, “following a routine blast” at the Martin Marietta Earlham Quarry Tuesday night.

Barnes said a 911 call was placed around 6:40 p.m., and Hockmeier was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

No injuries were reported following a vehicle fire Tuesday evening in northwestern Pottawattamie County. A pickup was fully engulfed in flames when authorities arrived on the scene at the Interstate 680 rest stop west of Beebeetown. A horse trailer was detached from the pickup before the flames began to spread.

No other details are currently available.

(Photo’s courtesy Jamie Elliott, of Marne)

Three people suffered critical injuries in a single-vehicle rollover accident Tuesday afternoon in Taylor County. The Sheriff’s Office says the accident happened at around 4:12-p.m. on 130th Street near Yellowstone Avenue, south of Lenox.

The vehicle was traveling west on 130th Street when it went out of control on the gravel, and rolled. Three occupants of the vehicle were ejected, one was trapped. Three accident victims were transported to area hospitals by helicopter, one was transported by ambulance.

Their names were being withheld until completion of the accident investigation and notification of family. The sheriff’s office was assisted by the Lenox and Bedford Ambulances and the Lenox and Clearfield Fire Departments.

Image from the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman says Gronewold, Bell, Kyhnn & Co. P.C. CPA’s have released an audit report on Cass County. The report shows the County had local tax revenue of $27,373,415 (just over $27.37-million) for the year ended June 30, 2015, which included $1,883,681 (in excess of $1.88-million) in tax credits from the state.

The County forwarded $19,742,372 (over $19.7-million) of the local tax revenue to the townships, school districts, cities and other taxing bodies in the County. The County retained $7,631,043 (a little more than $7.6-million) of the local tax revenue to finance County operations, a 10-percent increase from the prior year.

Other revenues included $5,998,610 (nearly $5.6-million) from the state, including indirect federal funding of $2,211,102, ($2.2-million) charges for service of $342,440, and $206,426 for the use of money and property. Expenditures for County operations totaled $14,886,048 (almost $14.89-million), a 2.9 percent increase from the prior year. Expenses included $4,287,370 (nearly $4.3-million) for roads and transportation, $1,692,259 ($1.69-million) for mental health, $2,411,136 ($2.41-million) for public safety and legal services, $1,166,542 (nearly $1.17-million) for capital projects, and $1,291,705 (slightly more than $1.29-million) for administrative services.

A copy of the audit report is available for review in the office of the Auditor of State and the County Auditor’s office.

ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — A 71-year-old inmate serving time at a maximum-security prison in Iowa has died of natural causes. The Iowa Department of Corrections says Carroll Duane Calhoun died Monday while in hospice care. Calhoun died of natural causes due to the final stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Hospice workers found that Calhoun had stopped breathing and officials with the Jones County Coroner’s Office later pronounced him dead.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections report an inmate who escaped from a Council Bluffs Work Release Facility over the weekend, was taken into custody today (Tuesday). 58-year-old Michael Rae was arrested in Carter Lake. He’d been reported missing on Saturday. Rae was brought to the Pottawattamie County Jail and held.

Rae was serving a 10-year sentence for second degree robbery when he absconded from work release.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lawmakers have reached a compromise over how much the state should spend on additional funding for K-12 education for the upcoming fiscal year. Lawmakers from the Democratic-majority Senate and Republican-controlled House voted in a special committee Tuesday for legislation that would increase spending for K-12 schools by 2.25 percent for the next academic year.

A man from Cass County was sentenced Monday to prison, for violating the terms of his probation associated with a guilty plea on a drug charge. 37-year old Joshua James Mullen, of Atlantic, will serve a term of imprisonment not to exceed 30-years, at the Iowa Medical Classification Center in Oakdale.

Mullen was originally sentenced to 30-years in prison in July, 2014, after he plead guilty to Manufacturing a Controlled Substance/2^nd or Subsequent Offense. He was subsequently placed on a formal probation for two-years, but that was later revoked after he repeatedly violated the terms of his probation. Mullen appealed, but lost. His original sentence was then reinstated.

One person was killed, two other were injured during a head-on collision Tuesday morning in Crawford County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a passenger in vehicles, 61-year old Asuncion Guzman Ramos, of Denison, who was not wearing a seat belt, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where she later died.

Two other women, 30-year old Naomi Rachelle Zavala, and 46-year old Michaela Sanchez, both of Denison, were injured and transported by ambulance to the Crawford County Hospital. The Patrol says both were wearing their seat belts.

The accident happened at around 6:15-a.m. on Highway 59, about one-third of a mile north of Highway 141 east, south of Denison. Officials say a 2003 Suzuki Vitara driven by 28-year old Ruben Ramirez, of Omaha, was traveling north on Highway 59, when the vehicle went off the road onto the east side gravel shoulder. The car came back onto the road and crossed the center line into oncoming traffic, hitting a 2003 Oldsmobile Alero, head-on. The driver of that vehicle was identified as 41-year old Marilu Nava, of Denison.

The Suzuki then rolled onto its passenger side and came to rest on the road. The Oldsmobile came to rest in the west ditch.