Tornadoes Strike Nebraska and Iowa
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Four tornadoes have been confirmed in the storms that hit eastern Nebraska on Friday, and thousands of people may remain without power for days.
The National Weather Service said two tornadoes caused damage in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue Friday evening before the storm moved into western Iowa. Two other tornadoes were confirmed in northeast Nebraska near Madison and Hoskins.
Residents of areas hit by the storm spent much of the weekend cleaning up debris.
Omaha Public Power District crews continued working to restore power on Sunday, but the utility said power might not be restored to everyone until sometime Wednesday because of the extensive damage.
On Sunday morning, more than 24,000 utility customers lacked power. That’s down from a peak outage of 76,000 after the storms.
FBI Agent Tells People To Be Careful Of Scams
(Le Mars) — Last week, American Bank of Le Mars hosted a seminar focusing on computer and telephone scam and fraud incidents. More than 50 people, mostly senior citizens, attended the seminar. F-B-I agent Jon Moeller from the Sioux City office informed the group there has recently been an increase in the number of scams reported to law enforcement agencies. Moeller told the group different methods to use to keep your identity and money safe from fraud schemes.
Moeller says often times, scammers need only a little more information in order to get access to your identity or money.
The F-B-I agent says people should ask the question, “Who is contacting who? He says there isn’t ever a need for a bank, utility company, or even the Internal Revenue Service to ask questions that they should already have the information.
Moeller says we have a tendency not to be rude, but he says when it involves your identity or pertinent information, it is not rude to end the conversation.
Motorcyclist Dies From Accident
KLEMME, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a motorcyclist was killed in a collision with a car in northern Iowa.
Mason City television station KIMT reports (https://bit.ly/2srBrzU ) that the accident occurred around noon Sunday on U.S. Highway 69, just south of Klemme in Hancock County. The Iowa State Patrol says the driver of a southbound car tried to pass another vehicle but collided with the northbound motorcycle.
The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. He was identified as 31 -year-old Nathan Wadsley, who lived in Belmond. The car driver flown to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City and then transferred to another facility. The driver was identified as 33-year-old Shannon Gamble, of Garner.
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Grimes Man Drowns Over Weekend
GUTHRIE COUNTY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa authorities are investigating the weekend drowning death of a 19-year-old man.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says Ashton Maier of Grimes, Iowa, drowned Saturday.
Authorities say Maier was kayaking with friends at Lake Panorama when he went underwater and didn’t surface for some time.
Bystanders found Maier and performed CPR. He was taken to a Des Moines hospital where he died Saturday night.
Maier wasn’t wearing a life jacket at the time he went under.
Judge Involved With Lottery Scam
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A 2006 inquiry by the FBI into a lottery won by a Texas judge failed to uncover a jackpot rigging conspiracy that would continue for years.
The FBI opened an inquiry into Fayette County Justice of the Peace Tommy Tipton after an informant reported that Tipton had $450,000 in consecutively marked bills that he was trying to exchange.
Tommy Tipton told the FBI that his odd behavior was legal: He had won the Colorado lottery but was trying to hide the winnings from his wife.
The FBI believed him and closed its case. But investigators failed to uncover that Tipton’s older brother, Eddie, was a lottery programmer who had built the computer that picked the winning combination.
Eddie Tipton has been linked to rigged jackpots in four more states.
Ag Economist Predicts Pork Producers To Have A Good Year
(Des Moines) — Iowa is the top pork producing state in the U.S. and a livestock market analyst says all signs point to a good year for the industry. Steve Meyer, with E-M-I Analytics, says if pork producers have managed their risk well – it could be another year of positive margins.
In addition, the pork industry is positioned to grow, according to Meyer.
But, Meyer doesn’t anticipate pressure on slaughter capacity like the pork industry saw in the fourth quarter of 2016.
