Police in Council Bluffs were called to the Kwik Shop convenience store at 3632 Avenue G, a little after 4-a.m., today (Friday), with regard to a robbery. Upon officers arrival made contact with an employee who said an unknown black male entered the store and took him at gunpoint. The employee stated the suspect was wearing a black coat, black pants, black face mask and black gloves. The employee said also, the suspect forced him over to the cash register and had him open the drawer.

Kwik Shop still frame surveillance image

The employee handed the suspect an undetermined amount of cash. The suspect also grabbed an unknown amount of cigarettes from the shelf and placed them in a bag. He then left the store without incident.

This is an ongoing investigation and if anyone has any information with regard to the crime please call the Council Bluffs Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Memorial services have been scheduled for Jo Ann Zimmerman, Iowa’s first female lieutenant governor. Zimmerman died Tuesday night at a Des Moines hospice, surrounded by her family. She was 82. Her daughter Beth Boland says a visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 25 and a memorial service will be held starting at 11 a.m. Nov. 26. Both will be held at First Christian Church, 2500 University Ave. in Des Moines.

Zimmerman was elected lieutenant governor as a Democrat in 1986 and served alongside the Republican governor, Terry Branstad. She was defeated by Republican Joy Corning in 1990. Before the 1990 state election, the governor and the lieutenant governor ran separately.

Red Oak Police say a parking pin on an SUV’s transmission may have broken Thursday morning after the vehicle was hit, causing a strange, chain-reaction accident. Officials say Police were called to the Red Oak Depot at around 9:52-a.m. Upon arrival and investigation, officers found a 2009 Chevy HHR owned operated by 72-year old Winona C. Samuelson, of Red Oak, was in the drive at the Depot, and had struck a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the rear. The Jeep was parked and unoccupied. No injuries were reported.

After it was hit, the SUV started rolling eastbound down the depot drive, and struck a mailbox before hitting the curb. The vehicle then took a left turn and went down the hill to the north, where it ran into a chain link fence and finally a MidAmerican Energy-owned utility pole, before the SUV came to rest. Damage from the collisions amounted to an estimated $16,100. No citations were issued.

RUNNELLS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a body has been found in southeast Polk County. Deputies responded to a report Thursday afternoon that two hunters had found what they thought was a human body about 2 miles southwest of Runnells. The sex and age of the person is unclear because of the body’s condition. The discovery is being investigated.

(Radio Iowa) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working to release stored floodwaters in the upper Missouri River Basin to reduce the chances of flooding next spring. The Corps has about two-and-a-half months to get rid of a little more than five-million acre-feet of water from flood control reservoirs. The Corps’ John Remus says that’s doable with the amount of water they’re releasing from Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota. Remus says, “Our runoff forecasts, coupled with our reservoir studies, say that if we maintain the 80,000 cubic feet per second out of Gavins Point Dam and the associated releases out of Fort Peck, Garrison and Oahe, that we will reach that goal of 56.1 million acre-feet of storage by the next year’s runoff season.”

It’s been a wet year for the basin and Remus says if there’s a lot more rain and the Corps can’t evacuate enough storage, that could increase flood risks for everyone from Bismarck, North Dakota to St. Louis. National Weather Service hydrologist Mike Gillispie says there’s still a lot of uncertainty about flooding next spring. Right now, the soil is very wet and smaller lakes and ponds are full. Gillispie says it’s like putting a wet sponge in a freezer. “You start dumping water on top of that, all of that water is going to run off,” Gillispie says. “So we just don’t have that storage in the soils or in the ponds and lakes and streams and rivers that we’re starting at such a high level, it’s not going to take as much precipitation to start causing problems in the spring.”

He says the odds are slightly higher that the basin will see above-normal amounts of rain and snow through most of winter. The Missouri River Basin above Sioux City is predicted to tie for the highest amount of runoff in a single year in 121 years.

(Thanks to Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Joni Ernst says she’s pushing EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to fulfill the promises the president has made to blend a mandated 15 billion gallons of ethanol into the nation’s fuel supply. If it doesn’t happen Ernst says she’ll call for the president to fire Wheeler.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A hospital association spokesman has been fired after criticizing Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ handling of Medicaid privatization. The Des Moines Register reports that Thomas “Scott” McIntyre was dismissed from his post as vice president of communications for the Iowa Hospital Association after his personal, nonpublic Facebook post in March. He said at a state unemployment hearing that his post was satirical and intentionally over the top in what he described as “Donald Trump language.”

GRUNDY CENTER, Iowa (AP) — A man has died after being hit by a car in a convenience store parking lot in Grundy Center. KWWL-TV reports 29-year-old Anthony Guyer, of Aplington, was in a Casey’s General Store parking lot on Wednesday when he was hit by a car driven by 77-year-old Jean Newton, of Grundy Center. Police say Newton was backing out of a parking spot and abruptly accelerated backward, hitting Guyer and pinning him between the vehicle and a work trailer.

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — As Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s star rises in early states like Iowa, the scrutiny of him is increasing, too. So far, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has glided through the campaign, raising large sums of money and impressing voters with his calm demeanor. But since he pointedly challenged Elizabeth Warren and others in the last debate, he has been criticized for being too cozy with the tech industry and faced renewed questions about his ability to attract black voters.