(Algona, Iowa) – A collision between a car and an SUV Saturday evening, west of Algona, resulted in three people being transported to the hospital. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2012 Ford Edge was traveling south on 90th Avenue at around 7:32-p.m., when the driver failed to stop at the posted intersection with 210th Street.

The SUV was struck by a 2011  Chrysler 300 that was traveling west on 210th. The driver of the SUV, 64-year-old Timothy Coffelt, of Ravenwood, MO, and his passenger, 61-year old Ruth Coffelt, also of Ravenwood, and the driver of the car, 18-year-old Chase Opheim, of Algona, were transported to the hospital in Algona, by Algona EMS. The Coffelt’s were wearing seat belts, but Opheim was not.

The accident remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Department, Algona Police Dept., Algona EMS & Fire, and Whittemore Fire and Ambulance.

(Brayton, Iowa) – A man on a motorcycle was injured during a crash on eastbound Interstate 80 this (Saturday) morning, in Cass County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 26-year-old Carlos Alberto Espinoza Herrera (address unknown) was on the outside shoulder of I-80, riding a 2012 Honda CBR-250 motorcycle near the 59.6-mile marker (two-miles west of the Brayton/Atlantic Exit) at around 6-a.m., when he merged onto the outside lane.

As he was merging, Herrera’s cycle was struck from behind by an eastbound 2017 GMC Sierra pickup, driven by 36-year-old Shayne C. Songer, of La Vista, Nebraska. Following the collision, the pickup entered the inside lane and struck a 1993 Mack semi driven by 52-year-old James E. Noyes, of Craig, NE.

Herrera was thrown from his motorcycle and came to rest on the outside shoulder of I-80. He was transported by LifeFlight helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha. His cycle came to rest in the south ditch. The pickup came to rest on the outside shoulder. No other injuries were reported.

Cass EMS, Atlantic Fire and Rescue, Atlantic Police and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies were among those agencies assisting at the scene. The road was blocked for at least three-hours.  A second accident happened at about the same time, on I-80 westbound, near Stuart, where emergency personnel responded to a vehicle on fire. The incident took place between Exit 93: County Road P28 and Exit 88: County Road P20 (Stuart).

No information is currently available on that situation. Video taken by passing motorists showed heavy black smoke and towering flames coming from a vehicle that was apparently in the median.

Des Moines, Iowa — A judge, on Friday, denied a request by a Des Moines man charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, to have his trial moved to Iowa. The judge also denied Doug Jensen’s request to drop a charge of Obstruction against him.  Jensen will stand trial in Washington, D.C., for his alleged role in the riots.

The court will also allow prosecutors to show the jury publicly available video beyond what was captured by police and security cameras. Jensen’s trial starts Sept. 19th.

Douglas Jensen (2021 Polk County Jail photo)

(Glenwood, Iowa —The Glenwood Resource Center faces state fines for the death of a second resident this year. KCCI says officials with the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals say a staff member failed to notify a doctor when a 62-year-old woman’s heart rate dropped back in May. The woman died soon after.

The center was also cited for failing to implement COVID-19 mitigations when an outbreak infected 90 residents and staff members. Glenwood agreed to pay about $4,900 for both violations.

The center is set to close in 2024.

(Radio Iowa) – As fall approaches, there are already reports of people finding bats in their homes. The Deputy Director of Siouxland Health, Tyler Brock, says bats can be scary to some and they also bring a worry about rabies. “There is an occasional bat that does have rabies, but rabies is an illness it’s very serious — it’s rare to have in humans — but it is very serious. It’s usually fatal when a human being gets rabies if we don’t prevent that,” he says.

Brock says you won’t get rabies by just being in the same room as the bat. “You usually get it from the saliva of another animal. It usually happens through a bite, could happen through a scratch,” he says. ” just a bat flying past you is not an exposure. You’ve got to actually have a bite in most cases again and usually the skin has to be broken in some way shape or form for rabies to be passed.” Brock says if you are bitten it is important to have the animal tested.

“When we test bats and if they come to us alive we do have to euthanize them because the laboratory actually has to look at the brain material,” Brock says. “Not every bat that you find in your house is going to be tested — only bats where there’s a bite there’s a scratch.” He says there is a series of vaccines, and it takes one or two days to get the test results.

“You want to get treatment as soon as possible, and because the rabies testing of that animal doesn’t take that long. You almost always have time to wait for those test results so that we don’t have to do unnecessary shots on a negative animal,” Brock says. Brock says if you think your pet has been exposed to rabies, you should take it to the vet for treatment.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest on Friday night of 29-year-old Isaias Guerra of Red Oak for violation of probation. Guerra was arrested at 6:45 p.m. in the 1800 block of East Summit Street. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,500 bond.