WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) – Rainstorm damage to U.S. Highway 169 has required its closure north of Winterset, the site of Madison County’s annual Covered Bridge Festival.

Iowa Transportation Department officials told Des Moines television station KCCI they hope to have the highway reopened before the end of the year, but that largely depends on the weather.

People headed to the Oct. 11-12 Covered Bridge Festival will have to use Iowa Highway 92 or approach Winterset from the south.

ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa authorities are trying to find out how illegal drugs got into the state prison in Rockwell City. Prison spokesman Fred Scaletta told Des Moines television station KCCI in an email, that “a large amount of what is believed to be illegal drugs were discovered” during a routine inspection last week.

Prison officials won’t comment on the quantity or type of drugs found until the investigation is finished.
Officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration are expected to be at the minimum-security prison on Wednesday to investigate and classify the drugs.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Nebraska, South Dakota, The Kansas Plains and Southwest Iowa is warning schools and school districts in the BBB’s service area, about possible fake invoices for educational supplies. In the past few weeks, there has been a rush of complaints filed against “Scholastic School Supply” claiming to have either a Nevada or New Jersey address. Both addresses have turned out to be mail drops.

BBB of Southern Nevada received its first complaint against “Scholastic School Supply” on August 20, 2014, and since then has received more than 70 complaints from schools across the country. So far there have been two from schools in Nebraska and one from a school in Kansas all stating that they received invoices for products they had not ordered.

The company’s online BBB Business Review at bbb.org/southern-nevada has also received more than 3,000 inquiries. An Alert is posted there so visitors, checking on this company, are able to confirm the suspicious nature of the invoice. The company maintains a mail drop in Sewell, New Jersey, as well as Las Vegas, and BBB New Jersey has received more than 20 complaints so far.

The bogus invoices have been for $647.50 for the bulk purchase of “English-Language Arts Practice Books” or $388.50 for math workbooks (although the amounts and products could change at any time). Complainants say they cannot reach the company to inquire about the products or amounts allegedly owed, and all have denied ever doing business with the company previously.

BBB President and CEO Jim Hegarty urges schools not to pay the invoices but to send them to the local Postal Inspector and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as their state’s attorney general or consumer protection agency. So far, none of the complainants have sent money; however, BBB has no way of knowing if any schools have unwittingly paid the invoice, since they would not have filed a complaint.

To date, BBB has received complaints from schools in 27 states, including Iowa. Scholastic, Inc. has issued the following statement regarding the fraudulent use of their name and trademarks. “Scholastic School Supply is not affiliated with Scholastic, Inc. It is a company that is illegally using Scholastic’s name and trademark. We only recently became aware of them, but our legal department has demanded that they cease and desist using Scholastic’s name and trademark, which they have agreed to do but have not done yet. In addition, we have been investigating this company and will continue to do so, and if we determine that this company is allegedly violating any other laws, rules or regulations, we will take prompt appropriate action.”

Schools and other organizations should remember the following tips to help avoid scams:
. Encourage your treasurer to watch for invoice scams.
. Make sure the invoice is coming from a valid source.
. Check out the company that is sending the invoice.
. Centralize purchasing and billing so that the person or persons paying the invoices know what was ordered and who the vendors are.
. Do a basic Internet search to see if other organizations have reported similar problems.

For More Information: To check on a business in your area or to report a scam, go to www.bbbinc.org.

Officials with the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn say two Brown Bag Lunch programs have been lined up to take place at the Museum. The first will be this Thursday, September 18th with “It Takes a Village to Raise a Hausbarn.” Freda Dammann is the director of the German Hausbarn, a 350-year-old structure moved from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany to Manning, Iowa. She will be speaking about the Hausbarn and her experiences with the project.

Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, IA.

Then, on September 25th, Tom Lundskær-Nielsen will present “Hans Christian Andersen: From the early fairy tales to the life parables.” Lundskær-Nielsen is a Senior Lecturer in Danish at University College London. He’ll discuss The Tinderbox, Little Claus and Big Claus, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, and The Fir Tree.

The programs begin at noon and are free and open to the public. As the name suggests, guests can bring a lunch to enjoy during the program. Programs are scheduled through the end of the year and can be found at danishmuseum.org.

Questions about the programs should be directed to Tova Brandt at 712-764-7001 or curator@danishmuseum.org.

Governor Terry Branstad says it’s time to give judges the authority to order electronic surveillance of some of the men and women who are accused of stalking or domestic abuse in Iowa.  “I think it makes sense to have GPS tracking of people that have a no-contact order,” Branstad says. The governor doesn’t envision putting an electronic bracelet on every Iowan who is the subject of a “no contact” order, but he says judges should have the discretion to order it in certain cases.

“One of the big tragedies that we’ve had occur is when somebody that’s had a no-contact order violates it and then murders their estranged spouse or partner or whatever,” Branstad says. “And this would be a way to make sure that you knew where they were and that they were not violating the no-contact order.” There have been 253 domestic abuse homicides in Iowa in the past 19 years. Advocates for domestic abuse victims say electronic monitoring isn’t effective enough and accused abuser who are deemed a threat should be kept behind bars until trial. In addition to electronic monitoring for accused abusers, Branstad says those CONVICTED of violent sexual crimes should be required to serve out their full prison sentence, too.

“If they fall in that category of being a violent sexual predator, they would not be eligible for ‘good time’ and ‘honor time,'” Branstad says. Branstad cites the 2013 case involving Michael Klunder of Stratford. Klunder had been released early from prison after serving about half his sentence for kidnapping two toddlers. Klunder kidnapped two girls in Dayton and one escaped, but Klunder killed 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard before hanging himself.

(Radio Iowa)