DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Geological Service says it will shut down three stream gauges in Iowa due to federal budget cuts. The agency announced Wednesday it would shut down the gauges on the West Fork Cedar River at Finchford, the Des Moines River at Humboldt and the East Fork 102 River at Bedford. The move was prompted by automatic federal spending cuts that have required reductions by most federal agencies.

The monitors are used to measure stream flows and warn of possible flooding. The USGS says the three gauges were chosen because their shutdown would have limited impacts on other organizations and were least likely to affect public safety.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports investigating a hit and run accident Wednesday (today) that occurred at Highway 34 and G Avenue west of Red Oak. The victim, Keyla McDougall was in her vehicle which was stationary at the northbound stop sign behind a semi tractor when the tractor and trailer began to back up, making contact with McDougall’s vehicle. The semi then went east bound on Highway 34. Damage to McDougall’s vehicle was estimated at $1,000. No injuries were reported.

SAC CITY, Iowa (AP) — The trial of a northwest Iowa man accused of killing his mother and kidnapping another woman has been moved to a courtroom nearly 50 miles away. A judge on Tuesday granted a change of venue request for 21-year-old Kirk Levin’s trial. It will be moved from Sac City in Sac County to Fort Dodge in Webster County. Levin’s attorney requested the change based on extensive media coverage in the county and surrounding counties.

The Sioux City Journal reports Levin’s trial is scheduled to begin on June 3. He is charged with first-degree murder and third-degree kidnapping. Prosecutors say Levin repeatedly stabbed Marilyn Schmitt in Early on Jan. 3, then kidnapped a 21-year-old woman. She later escaped. Levin had been released from prison days earlier after serving time for burglary.

Officials with Harlan Municipal Utilities say hot weather and high winds were responsible for the cause of electrical blinks and outages in Harlan on Tuesday. In a press release, HMU said a transmission line in the southern part of Harlan had excessive sag and the high winds caused the line to strike an adjacent line. The two hot lines kept touching causing the blinks.

HMU crews diagnosed the problem, isolated the line and rerouted power to avoid outages. HMU says crews made permanent repairs today to prevent the incident from happening again.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

A man and woman from Glenwood were arrested Tuesday in Mills County, on drug charges. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says 59-year old Carl Folke Herrick and 44-year old Julie Darlene Hughes face charges that include Manufacturing marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and failure to affix a drug tax stamp. The duo were taken into custody on Kane Avenue at around 9:15-a.m., Tuesday. Their bond was set at $10,300 each.

The sheriff’s office reports also, no one was injured during a single vehicle accident Monday morning about two-miles southwest of Glenwood. A 2002 Dodge driven by Damian Hoose, of Glenwood, was traveling on Highway 34 and negotiating a right turn onto Ingrum Avenue at around 7:15-a.m., when the vehicle, which was traveling too fast, began to skid. It went off the road and came to rest in a ditch. No citations were issued.