Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports a lengthy bridge replacement project on the U.S. Highway 71 bridge over Lone Tree Creek…about three-miles south of Atlantic, or one-tenth of a mile south of Cass County Road G-35…is now complete, and the road is open to normal traffic.

That section of the highway has been closed since April 23. It was re-opened late Sunday evening, according to some social media posts.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — Library officials in northwest Iowa are deciding how to respond after a religious activist burned four LGBTQ children’s books. Orange City library director Amanda Vazquez tells The Sioux City Journal that officials aren’t sure if they’ll replace the destroyed books, which include David Levithan’s “Two Boys Kissing.” Paul Dorr released a video earlier this month on Facebook Live where he denounced the library for having the LGBTQ books and threw them in a burning barrel.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa election officials in each of the state’s 99 counties will hand count votes in one randomly selected precinct for the general election as an added security measure. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says the manual vote count process was added to Iowa’s election security process in a 2017 law and will be used for the first time in Iowa this year.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — A judge has rejected a challenge to a jury pool for a man charged in the death of his infant son. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports Judge Richard Stochl ruled Monday there weren’t systematic problems with how the pool was assembled and that it was a representative cross-section of Henry County. Lawyers had objected to the potential makeup of the jury for Zachary Koehn, who is charged with murder and child endangerment in the death of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A woman accused of stealing from her mother has pleaded not guilty in eastern Iowa. The Telegraph Herald reports that 50-year-old Corenna Marshall, of Sherrill, was arraigned last week on charges of fraudulent practices and of dependent adult abuse-exploitation. Her trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 18. Investigators say bank records show that more than $21,000 was transferred to Corenna Marshall’s account from her mother’s account.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a Page County man was arrested Saturday night on a Willful Injury causing Serious Injury charge. 45-year old Jody Lee Michaelsen, of Clarinda, was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $10,000 bond following his arrest at around 10-p.m. Saturday.

Early Sunday morning, 31-year old Kyle Clifford Weber, of Red Oak, was arrested by Mills County Deputies, for OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

And, early Sunday afternoon, 32-year old Claire Ashly Thalken, of Emerson, was arrested on a Montgomery County warrant for Probation Violation. Her bond was set at $2,500.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — A judge has rejected a challenge to a jury pool for a man charged in the death of his infant son. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports Judge Richard Stochl ruled Monday there weren’t systematic problems with how the pool was assembled and that it was a representative cross-section of Henry County.

Lawyers had objected to the potential makeup of the jury for Zachary Koehn, who is charged with murder and child endangerment. Police say officers found the maggot-infested body of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn in an infant swing on Aug. 30 last year at the couple’s Alta Vista apartment. The baby’s mother, Cheyanne Harris, is having a separate trial.

Koehn’s trial was moved to Mount Pleasant in Henry County because of pretrial publicity in Chickasaw County. Defense attorney Steven Drahozal asked the court last week to reconsider the jury pool because of an under-representation of Hispanic people. Drahozal says Koehn has a Hispanic background and is entitled to a jury drawn from a cross-section of the community.

Firefighters in Atlantic were busy late Monday evening. Just after 5-p.m., they were called to the Pizza Ranch in the Atlantic Shopping Plaza for a reported grease fire. Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees said a broaster in the kitchen caught fire after a drain apparently didn’t connect after being cleaned and replaced, while the broaster was in operation.

McNees said the grease apparently flowed out by the burner and caught the inside on fire. The restaurant was quickly evacuated and the fire knocked down using a new product the fire department uses, called F-500, which can be used on a variety of fires and renders a fuel non-flammable or ignitable. The building was ventilated and the restaurant closed for the night until cleanup and repairs could be made.Firefighters were on the scene for about 25 minutes.

Not long after they left, Atlantic and Marne Fire were called to a field fire near a combine west of town near 59504 Marne Road (The Scott Robinson farm). Fire fighters were on the scene for about 40-minutes.

Photo courtesy Cass County Emergency Mgmt. Coordinator Mike Kennon

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa election officials in each of the state’s 99 counties will hand count votes in one randomly selected precinct for the general election as an added security measure.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says the manual vote count process was added to Iowa’s election security process in a 2017 law and will be used for the first time in Iowa this year.

Pate says his office will select a precinct in each county and officials will hand count votes to be sure the totals match the electronic counter that scanned and counted ballots. Iowa uses paper ballots counted by machines.

Pate said Monday personnel from homeland security, public safety, Iowa National Guard, and the Iowa chief information office will oversee an election day security operations center to respond if any problems develop.

The Iowa State Patrol says a man from Prairie City died during a collision between his van and a pickup pulling a piece of ag equipment. 50-year old Rex Lynn Chickering was driving a 2015 Chevy van eastbound on Highway 163 in Jasper County, when he ran into the back of an implement being pulled by a slow-moving pickup truck. The accident happened at around 8-a.m. today (Monday).

Chickering died at the scene. The driver of the pickup, 53-year old Curtis Wayne Kaisand, of Monroe, was injured and transported by ambulance to the hospital in Pella. The accident remains under investigation. Earlier reports indicated Chickering may have been blinded by the sun prior to the collision.