DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game’s history and the world’s second largest lottery prize.  Lottery officials say the prize is growing quickly Friday because so many people have been purchasing the $2 tickets. The jackpot has grown by an estimated $236 million since the last drawing on Wednesday.

The last jackpot was won on March 30, so it’s been growing for about six weeks. The next drawing is Saturday night.  The largest jackpot ever was a $656 million Mega Millions prize won in March 2012. The prize was split three ways with winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.   Odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are about 1 in 175 million.

A Lenox Police officer enroute to a motorcycle accident early this (Friday) morning, escaped injury after his patrol cruiser was involved a collision with a deer. The Lenox P-D reports Officer Pitt was traveling to the scene of the cycle accident four-miles west of Lenox at around 5:10-a.m, on Taylor County Road J-20,  when his vehicle had a run-in with a deer. 

The Officer was able to continue to the accident scene. Officials say the victim of the accident was transported by air ambulance from the scene. The Taylor County Sheriffs office is conducting the investigation into the motorcycle accident. No other details were released.

A western Iowa woman who had been charged with 1st degree murder in connection with the drowning of her son in a bathtub, has instead been found guilty of lesser charges. According to KCAU-TV in Sioux City, Ashley Cameron, of Onawa, was found guilty by a jury in Monona County District Court, of Involuntary Manslaughter and Child Endangerment. Sentencing is set for June 28th.

Investigators testified during her trial, that Cameron told them 15-month old Markis Dahms had vomited in the bathtub, and that she held his head under a running faucet to clean him. She repeated that process as he vomited four or five more times.  Cameron testified that she’d left him in the tub to get some items and found him face down in the water when she returned. Her attorney suggested that Markis may have had a seizure.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office today (Friday) released the details about an accident which occurred at around 5:15-p.m., on May 9th. The two-vehicle accident happened on 670^th Street, as a 1994 Chevy pickup driven by 41-year old Jesse Lee Simmons,  of Atlantic, was traveling north on 670^th Street.

Officials say when the pickup crossed the center of the road, it hit a southbound 2012 Chevy Malibu owned and driven by52-year old Carl Eugene Dolch, of Wiota. Dolch was transported by Medivac ambulance to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, and later transferred to Creighton Medical Center in Omaha.

Damage from the crash amounted to $17,000. The Sheriff’s Dept. says  Simmons was cited for Driving While Suspended and for Driving on Wrong Side of the Road.

A Cumberland woman was arrested Wednesday on drug charges. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says 43-year old Tammy Darleen Flathers, faces charges of Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Methamphetamine, and OWI 1^st Offense. Flathers was taken to the Cass County Jail and released Thursday, on her own recognizance.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports an eastern Iowa man was arrested this week on a drug charge. 23-year old Malcom Marcus Taylor, of Waterloo, was arrested Wednesday night following a traffic stop on Highway 34. Taylor faces a Possession of Controlled Substance charge. His bond was set at $1,000. 20-year old DeCoby Christopher Kennedy, of Cedar Falls, was arrested during the same traffic stop, on a charge of Driving While Revoked and having no S-R 22 insurance.

And, on Thursday, 57-year old Kevin Dean Wolford, of Tabor, was arrested at around 2:20-a.m., on a charge of OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.