DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A Davenport day care operator has been accused of injuring two infants. Court records say 44-year-old Amy Smith is charged with child endangerment causing injury and four counts of child endangerment causing serious injury.

Her arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 5. An arrest affidavit says authorities opened an investigation in April when they were called about an infant who’d been hospitalized with several bone fractures. Officers also learned that another infant in Smith’s care was injured in November 2015. The affidavit says a doctor said the injuries were a result of child beating.

A large fire broke out this (Wednesday) morning in downtown Newell in northwest Iowa’s Buena Vista County. Bob Doonan is a longtime Newell resident who lives about a block away from the scene. “I took my golf cart down…my wife was on a walk and she came home and said there was a fire down there. Someone called it in at 6:30 this morning,” Doonan said.

Fire departments from several surrounding communities responded to the five-alarm fire. Doonan told Radio Iowa the three buildings that were burning were all unoccupied.
“They were all vacant. The plumber in town owned the building and he just built a new building,” Doonan said. “So, they were all vacant, nothing is in ’em.”

Photo courtesy Bob Doonan via Radio Iowa

According to Doonan, it appears firefighters were able to save the Newell Post Office from much damage. “Our post office is abutted right to (the buildings). So, I think that is going to be alright. There is some water inside, I guess,” Doonan said. “In a small town, you don’t want to lose your post office because you don’t get ’em back.”

There have been no reports of injuries and there’s no word yet on what may’ve sparked the fire. Newell is a community of roughly 900 residents located east of Storm Lake.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld a Page County man’s June 2016 conviction by jury, of burglary in the second and third degrees. 47-year old Clinton John Doiel had appealed the ruling following his April, 2016 arrest and trial, by claiming the trial court denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal and motion for new trial.

The Appeals Court ruled the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict.  Additionally, they said the weight of the evidence is not contrary to the guilty verdicts.

More on the ruling can be found here: http://www.iowacourts.gov/About_the_Courts/Court_of_Appeals/Court_of_Appeals_Opinions/Recent_Opinions/20170913/16-1487.pdf

Eerily reminiscent of a fire that occurred in Exira on July 14th, a large fire is affecting several adjoining buildings in the downtown of a northwest Iowa community. Fire departments from several area communities were requested this (Wednesday) morning to help the Newell Fire Department fight a major blaze in downtown Newell, in what’s described as a five-alarm fire.

Fire departments from Storm Lake, Fonda, Varina, Rembrandt and Albert City are assisting in efforts to control the fire, which is reported in several buildings on Main Street in downtown Newell, including a hardware store building and a bank.

(photos courtesy Bob Doonan via Radio Iowa)

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa prison officials don’t plan to reopen four prison facilities with room for hundreds of inmates that had been temporarily closed because of budget cuts. The Des Moines Register reports that the three satellite prison units in Harpers Ferry, Clarinda and Fort Madison as well as a community corrections facility in Sheldon won’t be considered for reopening in the state Department of Corrections’ 2018 budget request to the Legislature.

Corrections Director Jerry Bartruff ordered the closures in February to comply with a $5.5 million budget reduction. An Iowa prison spokesman says staff at those locations were offered positions elsewhere in the department.

Republican Sen. Michael Breitbach of Strawberry Point says the decision not to reopen was likely because of budget issues and a decrease in inmates in the prison system.

It didn’t happen yesterday (Tuesday), as originally planned, but it will happen today (Wednesday). The City of Audubon has approved the cutting of the T1 copper line that services the Audubon County Hospital at 3:00 PM today to complete a portion of the water and sewer project.

The copper line serves as the only phone line to the hospital, and the hospital will be operating under their “disaster protocol” while the phone line is disconnected, until splicing of the copper line has been completed. This time was chosen to limit the disruption to the critical functions of the hospital.

If you have an urgent need to contact the hospital during this time, please call the Audubon County Sheriff’s Dispatch at 712-563-2631 and they will relay the message to the hospital.  The Hospital will send out notification when the telephone service is operational again.

ATLANTIC – Calling all women in the Cass County area! A free Women’s Health Fair will be held on Saturday, September 16th from 8 to 10:30 am at Cass County Health System. Booths with information on mental health, heart health, breast health, nutrition, and more will be at the event. Women are also invited to tour in Diagnostic Imaging to see the new 3D mammography unit and our new DEXA scanner, which is used to detect osteoporosis.

In addition to the booths, women age 18 and over can also make an appointment for a low-cost blood draw. The blood draws are only $35 and include a lipid panel (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides), glucose, complete blood count (CBC), liver function, kidney function, and thyroid screening. To make an appointment, call 712-250-8091.

The Women’s Health Fair will be held in the Healing Garden and cafeteria, and attendees are encouraged to park in Parking Lot D on 10th Street. All attendees will receive a door prize, and each woman will take home a women’s health passport to keep track of their personal health information.

For more information about the event, please call Cass County Public Health at 712-243-7546.

(Updated w/corrected phone number)

CRESTON – Veterans are invited to attend a free bus tour of the Freedom Rock sites in Creston, Diagonal and Blockton on Friday, Sept. 22nd. Attendees should meet at noon at Creston’s Freedom Rock, 636 New York Ave., Hwy. 34 West. A light lunch and beverages will be provided. Spouses are encouraged to attend.

The IowaWORKS Center in Creston is sponsoring the event. Call IowaWORKS at 641-782-2119 ext. 42 to reserve a spot or for more information.