(Radio Iowa) – Thousands are expected to hit the roadways to celebrate summer and our country’s independence this weekend. Iowa State Patrol spokesman, Sergeant Alex Dinkla, expects the predictions to be accurate. “The weather shows it’s not going to be too hot, not too cold. So I think we are going to have a lot of people who are traveling out to do recreational activities, as well as probably travel,” Dinkla says. Trooper Dinkla says one thing about the roadways hasn’t changed. “We continue here in Iowa to have a major problem with people speeding on our roadways. That’s something we’ve been pushing for months now — probably the last year and a half…we cant’ stress enough for people to slow down,” he says.

Iowa State Patrol spokesman, Sergeant Alex Dinkla

Dinkla says they don’t want to keep anyone from celebrating the holiday — but they do want to be sure you and everyone else is safe on the highway. “If you chose to go out and have some fun with some friends or some family this weekend — if you’ve had anything to drink…be responsible and find that designated driver. And just please don’t drive impaired. We want you to get home safe.” Dinkla says Troopers will be looking for signs of impaired driving. He says there have been five fatalities the last two years during the 4th, and four of them were alcohol-related.

Trooper Dinkla says wearing your seatbelt is important to keep you and your family safe if something were to happen on the roadways.

(Radio Iowa) – Some gas stations are having trouble getting their normal supply of fuel going into the holiday weekend. FUEL IOWA spokesman John Maynes says there is enough gas — it’s a matter of getting it delivered. “The issue isn’t the supply of gasoline or diesel fuel coming into the state of Iowa, it really is the issue of logistics and driver availability to shuttle the product to retail locations across the state,” Maynes says.

He says some outages happen as the demand picks up from holiday travel. He says it will be a temporary outage as distributors will be doing what the industry calls a “milk run” and dropping a partial load of gas at stations just to ensure they have some on hand.

He says those partial loads of gas can be enough in some cases and in others they aren’t. “You do run into situations — especially coming into a holiday weekend where demand is up — those smaller loads may not be sufficient until they can get a tanker back again,” according to Maynes.

Maynes says the gas shortage will most likely be the most visible during times of higher demand, but the actual shortage of truck drivers could be ongoing for some time as the industry looks to get younger workers learning the skill.

(COUNCIL BLUFFS) — Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Coordinator Doug Reed, late Friday night, reported  The Regional Water Rural Water Association had announced on their website, that affected customers would “very likely lose all water service entirely within the next few hours.”

Reed said also, the Shelby, Pottawattamie, and Harrison County Emergency Management Agencies have implemented emergency drinking water distribution plans for those who do lose water service and are unable to obtain drinking water. HyVee has donated over 100,000 bottles of water to the region that will be shipped in this evening.

Those customers impacted have Regional Water Customer Account Codes that begin with the following letters: A, C, CO, W, T, K, or P. Pottawattamie County residents with those customer account codes who have no access to drinking water should go to https://pcema-ia.org to register their need. The registry will ask for your contact information, address, customer code prefix identified above, and how many people are in your household. This information will help officials validate needs and estimate water quantities.

Impacted residents in Shelby or Harrison counties can contact their County Emergency Management Agency or monitor local media outlets for information on how to obtain drinking water in their area.

A boil order advisory remains in effect until further notice for impacted customers.

GREENFIELD, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) today (Friday), said an autopsy was conducted on a body found July 1st in rural, southeastern Adair County. The cause and manner of death for the adult male found near the intersection of 320th and York Streets are pending further investigation by the Office of the State Medical Examiner. Additionally, the identity of the man is pending further investigation by the Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory and notification of family members.

The Division of Criminal Investigation and the Adair County Sheriff’s Office continue the investigation into this suspicious death. Anyone with information as to the identity of the man or circumstances surrounding his death are asked to call Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater at 712-743-2148.

Additional information will be released when it is available.

(CORRECTION/Updated 5:15-p.m.) The Iowa State Patrol reports two people are dead and another was injured during a crash Friday morning, north of Massena. The crash happened at around 10:26-a.m. on Highway 148/750th Street. Authorities say a 2013 Fiat 500 driven by 69-year-old Juliana Krauth, of Massena, and a 2012 VW Jetta, driven by a minor under the age of 18 from Massena, were both northbound on Highway 148 just south of Oxford Road,  when for reasons unknown, the VW struck the Fiat in the rear, causing the Fiat to leave the road to the right. It rolled over and came to rest on the driver’s side within a creek.

The VW went off the road to the left and through a ditch before coming to rest on a fence. The driver – who was not wearing a seat belt – was transported to the Cass County Hospital by Cumberland Rescue, for treatment of minor injuries. Juliana Kauth and her passenger, 74-year-old David Krauth, also of Massena, died at the scene. Both were wearing their seat belts.

The accident remains under investigation.

(COUNCIL BLUFFS) — Regional Water Rural Water Association has implemented a BOIL WATER order for some regional water customers in northeast Pottawattamie County. Affected customers are also urged to conserve water at this time. A fire at Regional Water’s facility north of Avoca has disable their capability to pump water to some of their towers that supply areas of Pottawattamie, Shelby, and Harrison Counties.

Due to the loss of pumping capability there is a potential for interruption of service later this afternoon or this evening until pumping operations can be reestablished, according to estimates provided by Regional Water staff. The situation has also forced the issuance of a boil order for water used in consumption and food preparation. Doug Reed, Emergency Management Director for Pottawattamie County, said “Emergency Management officials in Shelby and Pottawattamie Counties are working closely together and communicating regularly with Regional Water in order to continually assess the situation and assist in providing public information or other assistance as may be needed.

Pott. County EMA

“Obviously the potential loss of water service to residents in this region is a concern; that concern is just amplified with the current drought conditions, forecast temperatures over the next 48 hours, and this being one of the largest holiday weekends of the year. We’ll monitor the situation closely and both county emergency management agencies are postured to provide whatever assistance may be required until pumping capability is restored.”

Impacted Regional Water customers can get more information by visiting Regional Water’s website and Facebook page. Residents of Pottawattamie County are also encouraged to register for Alert Iowa at https://pcema-ia.org in order to receive emergency notification for situations like this. The system has already been used for this event to notify over 500 area residents and businesses in the county of the potential impact.