In an update to our earlier reports, authorities say two young girls died, and two adults, a male and female, were injured, one of them critically, during a house fire in Guthrie Center early Monday morning. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says the Guthrie Center Fire Department was called to a fire at a house on main street at 12:27 a-m.

The person who suffered critical injuries was flown to a hospital in Omaha for treatment. The D-C-I says autopsies will be used to identify the two young people who died. No names have been officially released. The State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Rep. Todd Prichard is joining the race for governor.
Prichard, a 42-year-old Democrat who grew up in Davenport, says he’ll seek higher wages and help the middle class to expand. He says: “I know that we can do better.”
Prichard says he’ll also focus on improving educational opportunities in the state.

He won the seat for House District 52 in a special election in 2013. The district includes Floyd and Chickasaw counties. The Democratic field for governor has grown in recent weeks. It includes former party chairwoman Andy McGuire and state Sen. Nate Boulton. Polk County Conservation Director Rich Leopold and party activist Jon Neiderbach also say they’re running. Businessman Fred Hubbell says he’s considering a run as well.

SPENCER, Iowa (AP) – A former pastor in northwest Iowa had been given five years in prison for having sex with people he was counseling.

Former DaySpring Assembly of God pastor Kevin Grimes was sentenced Monday in Clay County District Court. He’d pleaded guilty to two felony and one misdemeanor count of sexual exploitation by a counselor. Prosecutors dropped three other counts in exchange for Grimes’ pleas. The 52-year-old also must register as a sex offender.

Grimes had worked as chief executive officer of the Spencer Dream Center, which provides social services to the community. Prosecutors allege Grimes engaged in sexual conduct with some clients while providing mental health services to them.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports two Pottawattamie County men have been sentenced to 10-years each in prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release each, for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine.

On January 4th, 31-year old Frank Moises Torres and 40-year old Brandon Wayne Moore, both of Council Bluffs, pled guilty to the distributing meth in the southern district of Iowa, beginning as early as August, 2016. A drug trafficking investigation led to the charges in Council Bluffs and southwest Iowa. The investigation was conducted by the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Fore, Council Bluffs Police, and the Iowa DCI.

Torres and Moore were sentenced last Friday in Council Bluffs Federal Court. Their cases were prosecuted by the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

(9-a.m. News)

The Creston Police Department reports a northwest Iowa woman faces a charge of  OWI/2nd offense following an accident early Saturday morning on N. Cherry Street. Officials say 27-year old Lindsey Jean Veitz, of Storm Lake, was traveling north on N. Cherry Street at around 2:20-a.m., when her 2016 Hyundai Tucson SUV drifted over and struck a legally parked 2004 VW Bug. Damage from the collision amounted to $10,000. There were no injuries reported.

Creston Police said also, 34-year old Heather Davis, of Creston, was arrested last Friday afternoon at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Davis was taken into custody for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Theft in the 4th Degree. She was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.