A three-vehicle crash in northwest Iowa’s Cherokee County, Thursday morning, resulted in a death and two injuries. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Cherokee County Secondary Roads Department grader was traveling westbound on county road C-63 at around 10:18-a.m., dressing the road shoulder gravel, when a 2018 GMC SUVn driven by 76-year-old Denise Betts, of Alta, rear-ended the grader.

A 2013 Kawasaki motorcycle operated by 74-year-old Everett Paeper, of Aurelia, rear-ended the SUV. A passenger in the SUV, 97-year-old Naomi Benna, of Storm Lake, died from her injuries, at the Cherokee Regional Medical Center. Betts and Paeper were injured in the crash, and transported to the same hospital. The Patrol says Paeper was wearing a helmet. Benna and Betts were wearing their seat belts.

The driver of the grader, 46-year-old Kelly Ebel, of Cherokee, was not injured. The accident remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – A Republican state senator from Sioux City who’s running for the U-S Senate says if there’s a cyberattack against the nation’s energy supply, the U-S Department of Justice and F-B-I should take over immediately. Jim Carlin says letting a private company negotiate and pay a ransom puts the company’s profits ahead of national security. Carlin’s comments come after the C-E-O of an east coast pipeline revealed the company paid hackers five MILLION dollars after a ransomware attack shut the pipeline down.

Carlin campaigned in Carroll, Crawford, Shelby, Cass and Audubon Counties earlier this week.

(DES MOINES, Iowa) – Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) officials have used the state’s safe haven procedure for the 48th time since the law went into effect. A baby boy, born April 23, was released to the custody of DHS. Specific details are withheld in order to protect the identity of the parents and the children. Through Iowa’s Safe Haven law, parents, or their authorized representative, can leave infants age 30 days or younger at a hospital or health care facility without fear of prosecution for abandonment.

“The purpose of this law is to protect the lives of newborns who are in danger of abandonment,” said Janee Harvey, DHS Division Administrator of Adult, Children and Family Services. “We want to ensure Iowans know that Safe Haven is an available option if they cannot care for their newborn safely. We recognize that these decisions are often made in the midst of crisis and the protocols are built accordingly.” Safe Haven prioritizes the health and physical safety of the infant(s), as well as the anonymity of the parent or authorized individual who relinquishes custody of the child.

The Safe Haven law was approved in the wake of a high-profile case in 2001 involving a teen mother in eastern Iowa who killed her home-delivered newborn. Infants who are safe haven babies are placed with currently-approved foster or adoptive families. All states have Safe Haven laws, although provisions differ.

If you are interested in becoming a foster or adoptive parent, please visit
www.iowafosterandadoption.org.

For more information on the Safe Haven procedure: http://dhs.iowa.gov/safe-haven.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s governor is asking for a congressional investigation after unaccompanied migrant children were flown into Iowa without her office being notified. Governor Kim Reynolds and Tennessee’s governor are asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a public hearing about the movement of migrant children into states.

Reynolds says a plane carrying unaccompanied minor children landed overnight at the Des Moines Airport in late April, but her office was not notified and it was 20 days before federal officials confirmed 19 children from Long Beach, California were flown to Des Moines and then transported on buses to unite with relatives or local sponsors.

A similar scenario unfolded in Knoxville, Tennessee last month. Reynolds and Tennessee’s governor say their experience sows seeds of mistrust and intentionally subverts the will of people for a secure border.  Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn says Governor Reynolds is using a fake crisis to divide and distract Iowans from her own record. Third District Democrat Representative Cindy Axne echoed the Governor’s statement, Thursday.

Axne issued the following statement:

“The lack of transparency and accountability from our federal immigration officials regarding the April 22 flight from Long Beach to Des Moines is totally unacceptable. As a mom, I was disturbed to see reports of a flight transporting unaccompanied children, and more than a month ago I sought clarification from HHS and ICE – but received no confirmation of the flight like the one provided to Senator Grassley a few weeks ago. 

As this new administration tries to rebuild trust and fix our broken immigration system, denying the existence of a taxpayer-funded flight carrying migrant children into our community will only undermine the integrity of that mission, and will unfortunately provide fodder to those who would use this episode only to feed the disinformation and conspiracies related to our current immigration policies. 

I join Governor Reynolds in demanding further investigation and disclosure from HHS to determine why this flight was kept secret and why its existence was denied to both the public and to the public officials seeking to learn the whole truth.”

Atlantic Municipal Utilities is asking customers to conserve energy today during this heat wave to help reduce demand on the power grid. This request comes from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which operates the energy market and controls electrical reliability for our region.

MISO issued a Level 2 Energy Emergency from 2-p.m. through 6:00 p.m. today. Please turn up your thermostat, delay the use of large appliances and shut off all unnecessary lights and equipment. Thank you for your cooperation!

(Radio Iowa) – The three Iowa Republicans serving in the U-S House are criticizing the E-P-A’s move to repeal Trump-era water quality rules and write new ones. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion says the rules that became final during the last year of Trump’s presidency protect farmers from government overreach. “The Navigable Water Protection rules provided some certainty to our farmers and producers here in Iowa and across the US,” Hinson says. “I firmly believe that bureaucrats who’ve never set foot in Iowa should not be able to regulate our ditches and ponds on our farms.”

President Biden’s E-P-A administrator has said the agency intends to write new rules that protect water quality, but don’t overly burden small farmers. Hinson and Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa are co-sponsoring a House Resolution that would prevent the E-P-A from adopting Obama-era water quality rules. “The Waters of the US rule that was so harmful to Iowa’s farmers,” Hinson says.

Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull is also a co-sponsor of that resolution Feenstra says a return to the Obama Administration’s water quality rules would result in unnecessary and costly government regulations for Iowa farmers. Critics of the Trump Administration’s water quality rule say it removed a quarter of U-S waterways and wetlands from federal oversight and endangered public drinking water supplies.

The Glenwood Police Department reports two arrests. On Wednesday, 38-year-old Jeremiah King, of Glenwood,was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Harassment in the 1st Degree. He was also charged with Possession of Controlled Substances and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His total cash or surety bond was set at $3,300.

And, on Tuesday, 41-year-old Michael Rupe, of Glenwood, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000.