(Radio Iowa) – The jackpots for both the Powerball and Mega Millions drawings have moved beyond the 500 million dollar mark. Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says that’s a rare thing. “This is only the third time in the history of both Powerball and Mega Millions that both jackpots have been above the 500 million mark at the same time,” she says.
The Powerball drawing is an estimated 875 million dollars, while Mega Millions is estimated at 560 million. “The difference there is that extra drawing per week, a few years ago another drawing was added in the Powerball game so that Powerball has three drawings a week now, Mega Millons has two,” Neubauer says. “And that’s where that bump that Powerball is getting comes from because with another drawing per week you just have people buying more tickets and that drives sales faster.”

Around 90 percent of players let the computer pick their numbers. Neubauer says your chances are the same whether you do that or choose your own numbers. “Every ticket in the game has the same odds of winning it doesn’t matter if it’s an easy pick or you choose your own numbers there are just a lot more easy pick winners because that’s the vast majority of tickets that are purchased in the games,” she explains. The odds of winning are based on the amount of number combinations. “In Powerball for example, the odds of winning the jackpot are about one in 292-point-two-million because that’s how many different ways you can combine the numbers in the game to make a play,” she says.

The one thing that is the same for both games is the 8:59 p-m sales cut off for ticket purchases. “There have been people who waited right up until that moment and then were too late to buy a ticket and then they were arguing about the time that showed on their watch versus the time that showed on a lottery terminal. But truly, it’s an automatic cut off,” Neubauer says.

The next Mega Millions drawing is tonight (Friday) and the next Powerball draw is Saturday.

(Radio Iowa) – Two people are dead following separate house fires Thursday morning in Dickinson County. Lake Park Fire Chief Brandon Ehret says they received a report of a house fire around one o’clock with someone possibly trapped inside. “[When we] got on scene, there was heavy fire in the living room area of the house which was a converted from an old garage. We concentrated our efforts on getting the fire out at the same time we sent a crew in the main house if you will through the front door which will lead right into the victim’s bedroom,” Ehret says. “Found him just inside, and fortunately were able to get him out and we performed C-P-R on him as they got him into the ambulance and took him over to Lakes Regional Sioux Falls.”

That unidentified man later died from his injuries. Chief Ehret says the State Fire Marshal is helping them determine the cause. “The cause of the fire is undetermined right now. We have a general area of origin but we just can’t pinpoint what actually started it,” he says.

The second fire was reported around 7:30 a-m in Milford where crews there found smoke coming from multiple locations of the two-story home. The body of a female was discovered in the living room area. Her name has not been released, and the cause of that fire is still under investigation.

(Missouri Valley, Iowa) – Fire officials in Missouri Valley late Thursday night, issued a statement with regard to a fire in the downtown area that occurred early Thursday morning, as we reported to you on KJAN and kjan.com.

Harrison County EMA photo via Facebook

The statement is as follows:

(Radio Iowa) – Officials in an eastern Iowa city say complaints about aggressive dogs have increased and they’re considering an update to the city ordinance in Manchester that prohibits vicious dogs from running loose in city limits. Tim Vick is the city manager in Manchester. Vick says under the current ordinance, he — as the city manager — is the official who determines if a dog meets the criteria for being declared potentially vicious, but he’s also the person who hears any appeals of that decision.

“So right now we’re wanting to change that so the police chief or their designee makes the declaration the dog is potentially vicious and usually it’s followed up because it was a police complaint was filed,” Vick says, “and then if they appeal that declaration by the police chief or a designee, it goes to the city manager.” The Manchester City Council has directed city staff to draft rules for what happens if someone who owns a dog that’s already been declared vicious violates the ordinance.

“Staff is going back to the drawing board. We’re going to put some stuff in there about simple misdemeanors and potential charges that could be faced…We want to keep it on a case by case basis because if a six year old kid accidentally lets the dog out, the dog blots out the door, the property owner wasn’t necessarily letting the dog run at large, but it did happen,” Vick says. “Now, if this happens on a regular basis, then that’s another issue.”

The current Manchester ordinance states that a dog declared potentially vicious must be kept indoors or inside a fenced yard that children who don’t live in the home cannot get into. The ADULT owners of potentially dangerous dogs can walk their pet in Manchester, but the dog must be on a leash and muzzled.

Manchester’s ordinance defines a potentially vicious dog as an animal that — without provocation and outside of its owner’s property — has bitten or tried to attack a person or who has injured or killed another animal.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds plans to sign a bill into law at 2:15 this (Friday) afternoon that will ban most abortions in Iowa. There’ll be a court hearing less than an hour before that for a lawsuit that seeks to at least temporarily block the law from taking effect.

A very similar 2018 law never went in effect due to a court injunction. The governor’s request that the Iowa Supreme Court lift that injunction failed on a three-to-three tie among the justices. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says the state’s highest court has never ruled on whether a six week abortion ban is constitutional — and that’s why the legislature passed the same proposal, again, on Tuesday.

“They have ruled on procedural matters and other bills that we have passed. They have never answered this question,” Whitver says. “…I would expect it will go back to the Supreme Court and we will get a final answer on where the Supreme Court stands.” It’s unclear when the district court judge may rule on the request for an injunction to block the law from taking effect.

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says if the law goes into effect this (Friday) afternoon, even for a few hours or a few days, it will create chaos. “Doctors won’t know what to do, patients won’t know what to do,” Konfrst says. “There will be questions and — most importantly — there will be inconsistent care across the state because different doctors will interpret it differently.”

Konfrst and other Democrats say the bill fails to provide clear guidance to doctors about when they may and may not perform an abortion in medical emergencies.