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Accident in Creston Wed. afternoon

News

June 6th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Creston, Iowa) – A collision Wednesday afternoon in Creston caused an estimated total of $13,000 damage, but no one was hurt. According to the Creston Police Department, 41-year-old Melvin E. Leathers, of Creston, was driving a 2017 Chevy Tahoe northbound on Sumner Avenue at around 4:30-p.m. He signaled, and was slowing to turn left at the intersection with Russell Street, when his vehicle was hit from behind by a 2022 Chevy pickup truck driven by 62-year-old Jeffery L. McKinney, of Kent (IA).

The Police report said McKinney was not paying attention prior to the collision taking place. The pickup was disabled in the crash and towed away. The Tahoe was driven away from the scene. No citations were issued.

Posted in News |

2 arrested on separate charges Wednesday, in Creston

News

June 6th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says two men were arrested on separate charges Wednesday evening. A little before 8-p.m., 33-year-old Quinton Lee Kimball, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston Motel (301 W. Adams St.), for Violation of Parole. Kimball was being held in the Union County Jail.

And, at around 6-p.m., Wednesday, Creston Police arrested 39-year-old Kevin Wayne Rauch, of Creston, at the Greater Regional Health Center (1700 W. Townline St.), for Assault on persons in Certain Occupations, with the intent to cause injury. Rauch was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

Posted in News |

Arrest made in 3 eastern Iowa deaths

News

June 6th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Cedar Rapids, Iowa) [updated 11:15-a.m.] – A call about multiple persons injured at a home in rural Marion, Wednesday afternoon, resulted in the arrest of a man on Attempted Murder and other charges. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says when emergency personnel arrived at the scene, they found four adult victims with severe injuries. Three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene. One adult was flown to an area hospital for treatment of what were believed to be life-threatening injuries.

According to the sheriff’s office, the three victims who died have been identified as:

  • Romondus Lamar Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids
  • Keonna Victoria Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids
  • Amanda Sue Parker, 33, of Vinton

Additionally, Brent Anthony Brown, 34, of Marion, is in critical condition. An investigation indicated the victims sustained blunt force trauma injuries to the head, delivered by a metal pipe. Officials say a possible motive was the possibility of the crime being made into a movie. 34-year-old Luke Truesdell, of Marion, was arrested and charged with one-count of Attempted Murder, with additional charges pending.

No additional arrests are expected.

Posted in News |

Stein Places 7th in NCAA Championships Debut

Sports

June 6th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

EUGENE, Ore. – University of Iowa track and field opened the men’s portion of the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday at Hayward Field.

Sophomore Mike Stein made his NCAA Championships debut and took home first-team All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the javelin. Out of six attempts, Stein’s best mark came on his third throw at 72.81 meters (238’ 10”). The Milford, Iowa, native concludes his breakthrough season as an All-American and Big Ten champion.

Junior Rivaldo Marshall earned second-team All-America honors, finishing 14th in 1:48.36 in the semifinals of the 800 meters. The native of Kingston, Jamaica, finishes his first season as a Hawkeye as the school-record holder in the indoor and outdoor 800 meters, anchor of the Big Ten champion 4×400 relay team and indoor 800-meter NCAA champion.

Senior Austin West is in third place at the halfway point of the decathlon. A two-time first-team All-American in the event, West finished within the top five in four events. His day was highlighted by a personal best in the shot put, while also matching his lifetime best in the high jump. West began with a fifth-place time of 10.68 in the 100 meters. After a 7.29-meter mark in the long jump, the veteran from Iowa City clinched a personal record of 14.56 meters in the shot put.

West climbed into third in the overall standings after battling through the high jump and matching his career best of 1.98 meters to take fourth. He concluded his night with a fifth-place 48.02 in the 400 meters. The decathlon resumes on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. (CT) with the 110-meter hurdles.

HEAR FROM DIRECTOR OF TRACK AND FIELD JOEY WOODY
“Mike competed extremely well today to finish seventh place in his first NCAA finals. He has made immense progress since missing this meet last year. Now he is a Big Ten champion and first-team All-American. He is excited to get back to work and see what he can do at the Olympic Trials in the next couple of weeks. Rivaldo’s race didn’t work out as planned, but he had a tremendous first collegiate season as a Hawkeye. He still has an opportunity to make the Jamaican Olympic team in the 800, which will be our focus over the next few weeks as he prepares for the Olympic Trials. Austin had a very good day one in the decathlon. He was very consistent all day and had a terrific high jump to match his PR. Although he didn’t have the best 400-meter race, he is in great position going into day two.”

HAWKEYE RESULTS
Men’s 800 Meters Semifinals
14. Rivaldo Marshall – 1:48.36

Men’s Javelin
7. Mike Stein – 72.81 meters (238’ 10”)

Men’s Decathlon
3. Austin West – 4,272 points
– 5. 100 Meters – 10.68
– 4. Long Jump – 7.29 meters (23’ 11”)
– 7. Shot Put – 14.56 meters (47’ 9.25”), PR
– 4. High Jump – 1.98 meters (6’ 6”), =PR
– 5. 400 Meters – 48.02

UP NEXT: Austin West concludes the final five events of the decathlon, beginning at 1:30 p.m. with the 110-meter hurdles. Paige Magee competes in the semifinals of the women’s 100-meter hurdles on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (CT). Competition will be streamed on ESPN+.

Posted in Sports |

Caretaker sentenced in scalding death of Webster City man with cerebral palsy

News

June 6th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Family and friends of a 43-year-old Webster City man who died in a group home offered emotional victim impact statements on Wednesday, before his caretaker was sentenced in the death. Pamara Garcia was an employee of the One Vision group home when she took care of Nicholas Brendan Seamonds. Seamonds was born with cerebral palsy died after being scalded in a shower on December 20, 2022.

Yesterday (Wednesday), Garcia was sentenced in Hamilton County District Court to 365 days in jail with credit for time served, which translates to a 180-day sentence. Garcia was also given a two-year probation and will be faced with a restitution requirement at a later date to be announced. Garcia pleaded guilty to a charge of wanton neglect of a dependent adult by a caretaker, the charge is a serious misdemeanor.

Garcia was arrested on September 19, 2023. The original charge she faced was neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, a class C felony.

Posted in News |

Bird Flu Found In O’Brien County Dairy Herd

Ag/Outdoor, News

June 6th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Agriculture says preliminary testing has found a case of Avian Influenza in a dairy herd in O’Brien County. Final testing is pending at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames. This is Iowa’s first reported case of Avian Influenza within a dairy. There have been 80 confirmed dairy cases in eight other states.

The Iowa Ag Department says it will soon be announcing additional response measures. Diary cows appear to recover from the disease, while birds who are infected have to be destroyed.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Hoover library in West Branch to close next year for major remodeling project

News

June 6th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The eastern Iowa facility honoring the only American president who was born in Iowa will close for all of next year and likely into 2026 for what’s billed as a full remodel and renovation. Aaron Scheinblum, spokesman for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, says the 20-million dollar make-over is scheduled to start early in 2025 and will take at least a year.”Twelve to 15 months is a good way to look at it,” Scheinblum says, “so that’s a really long time for us to have our doors closed, but when you look at it in the perspective of, we really haven’t had a museum renovation or museum remodel since the early 1990s.”

The museum’s current exhibits tell Hoover’s story — from his birth, to his life as an engineer, Secretary of Commerce, the 31st President of the United States, and his continued humanitarian work after leaving the White House. The re-invisioned museum will tell those same stories, but with more artifacts and sophisticated, user-friendly technology. Scheinblum says it’ll take time to make such dramatic and extensive changes to the museum, which opened in 1962. “For us to be able to essentially gut the galleries, start from scratch, add space and do something completely different,” he says, “that’s kind of our goal, to be able to tell the Hoover story in a completely redesigned way that will appeal to all generations.” It’s unclear just when the West Branch facility will be shutting down for the major renovation.

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum

“Around January is how I would describe it. The exact date is still uncertain, and we’re hoping to iron out those details as construction is officially finalized,” Scheinblum says, “but ultimately, Quarter One is really as early as possible for what we’re looking to try to accomplish for that project.” The current layout of the museum is focused, appropriately, on Hoover’s life before, during, and after his time in office, but Scheinblum says the new edition will elevate the status of the First Lady, also showing her accomplished life prior to meeting the future president. “Being able to really watch how their timelines intersect, and then continue for the rest of their lives,” he says. “It’s meant to be very immersive. It’s meant to be an experience that allows you to touch things, that allows you to see things in a completely different way, really put yourself in these moments in time and understand history in a way that otherwise hasn’t been told here.”

For the remainder of this year, the library and museum will be open every day, with the only exceptions being Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Posted in News |

Goldstar Museum features Iowans who were part of D-Day

News

June 6th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – It is the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Europe. Iowa Goldstar Museum curator Mike Vogt says Iowans participated in many different phases of what is the largest military amphibious landing in history. He says the war was the first time many of them had traveled out of the state, and they were very young with the average age of a World War Two soldier was about 21-22 years old. One of the soldiers, John Marshall, wasn’t in the fight long after parachuting into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne Division. Vogt says Marshall landed and looked up and there was a German soldier there. Marshall spent the rest of World War Two in a German prison camp. Vogt says D-Day was a major event in deciding the fate of the world.

“It was certainly the turning point once we had boots on the ground in Europe the invasion forces pushed inward and it was just a matter of time before Germany would be defeated,” he says.
The Goldstar Museum at Camp Dodge in Johnston has a special display on the Iowans who participated in D-Day. Vogt says some Iowans were in the very thick of combat. “Tech five Cecil Breeden from Council Bluffs, he served with company A 116th Regimental Combat Team of the 29th Infantry Division. He was wounded on Omaha Beach in the first wave on D-Day, and his unit suffered the highest losses of any U-S unit that day,” Vogt says. Another soldier from northeast Iowa took care of the wounded.

Iowa Gold Star Museum

“Captain Lawrence G Shafferly from Gladbrook, Iowa. He earned his medical degree in 1936. When the war started, he enlisted in the U-S Army, as all doctors were, he became a captain once accepted into the U-S Army,” he says. “And he went in with the first wave of D-Day at Omaha Beach, and as you can imagine as a surgeon had his hands full that day.” Other Iowans were in the air or climbing the cliffs.

“Lieutenant Blaine Swift from West Des Moines was a P-47 pilot, flew P-47 Thunderbolts. We have his log book on exhibit in our D-Day display. He has two entries for D-Day, the first says ‘first day of D-Day.’ The second line says ‘shot up trains in France.’,” Vogt says. “Another Iowan that served, first lieutenant Elmer H. Vermeer from Pella. His nickname was Dutch and he served with the Second Ranger Battalion that was assigned the daunting task of assaulting the 100 foot cliffs at Pointe du Hoc on the western edge of Omaha Beach. And we have on display his combat knife he strapped to his leg that day.”

The Goldstar Museum is free and open to the public.

Posted in News |

High School Softball Scores from Wednesday

Sports

June 6th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

Hawkeye Ten 

Bedford 5, Shenandoah 2
#5 Missouri Valley 9, St. Albert 6

Western Iowa Conference

Tri-Center 16, Southwest Valley 6
Riverside 11, Lenox 1

Rolling Valley Conference 

Coon Rapids-Bayard 2, Ar-We-Va 1
Woodbine 14, Boyer Valley 4

Pride of Iowa Conference 

#3 Wayne 4, #7 Interstate-35 1
#8 Earlham 15, Nodaway Valley 5
Southeast Warren 15, Murray 0

Posted in Sports |

High School Baseball Scores from Wednesday

Sports

June 6th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

Hawkeye Ten 

Glenwood 9, Sioux City West 0
Underwood 6, St. Albert 4

Western Iowa Conference

Tri-Center 3, Southwest Valley 2

Rolling Valley Conference 

CAM 11, Exira-EHK 2
Coon Rapids-Bayard 12, Ar-We-Va 2
Woodbine 5, Boyer Valley 4

Pride of Iowa Conference 

Wayne 17, Melcher-Dallas 5
Martensdale-St. Marys 8, Panorama 1
Southeast Warren 22, Murray 1
Mount Ayr 13, Central Decatur 0

West Central Activities Conference 

Earlham 11, Nodaway Valley 0

Posted in Sports |