Cold Frigid Temperatures Are Hard On Vehicles and Homes
(Le Mars) — The cold temperatures may mean trouble for your
vehicle if proper preparations have not been taken. Brian Hessenius with Quality Lube of Le Mars says you should have your battery and anti-freeze checked during this cold spell.
Hessenius says once you are able to start your vehicle, it is a good idea to allow it to run for a few minutes.
The auto mechanic suggests you use a fuel additive, such as HEET, even if you use ethanol-blended gasoline.
Hessenius suggests during these cold days that you maintain a full tank of gas.
Hessenius says engine heating blocks are popular, and some of the new vehicles have heating blocks already equipped on the engine.
The Quality Lube official suggest people have a survivor’s kit inside their vehicle just in case they do become stranded. He says that survivor’s kit should include blankets, a pair of overalls, extra gloves or mittens, socks, and hats.
Extreme Cold Temperatures Often Means Frozen Water Pipes
(Le Mars) — Another problem associated with these extreme frigid below zero temperatures are having water pipes freeze, and furnaces quit. Derek Langel of Langel’s Plumbing and Heating and Air Conditioning says his crews have responded to several reports of frozen water pipes.
Langel offers some suggestions as to what residents can do to help prevent water pipes from freezing.
Langel also has some tips to keeping your furnace in good operating condition.
Langel says you may also want to check your furnace filter to make certain it is clean and working properly.
No U-S Mail Service Today, But State Government Offices Remain Open
(Des Moines) — The U.S. Postal Service will not be delivering the mail today. Schools, churches and even many Iowa businesses are closed on this frigid Wednesday, but state government is open.
Governor Kim Reynolds says there was very similar weather in 2014 and state government did not close then either.
Reynolds spoke with reporters yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon and read through a list tips for surviving when the “feels like” temperatures reach minus 40, minus 50 or even more frigid depths.
The governor’s schedule calls for her to be on the road today (Wednesday), visiting businesses in four eastern Iowa cities.
Reynolds plans to be in Albion by 9 a.m, followed by mid-day tours of companies in Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids, plus a late afternoon stop in Tipton.
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Woman Leaves Two Young Children In Cold Car While She Is Shopping
COUNCIL BLUFF, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have arrested a western Iowa woman who left her 2- and 4-year-old children in a cold car while she went shopping.
Council Bluffs police say in a news release that a passer-by spotted the kids and car around 10:40 a.m. Tuesday in a store parking lot. She put them in her vehicle to warm them up while she called police.
Police say the unlocked car wasn’t running, one window was partially open and the kids were wearing only light clothing. Officers estimate the kids were alone in the car for about 45 minutes while the air temperature outside was 5 degrees (negative 15 Celsius) and the wind child around minus
15 (negative 26 Celsius).
Police say the children were unhurt and soon placed in protective
custody.
Their mother was taken into custody after she came out of the store.
Police say 25-year-old Stephany Moses is charged with two counts of child endangerment. Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.
Arctic Cold Temperatures Hit Entire Midwest Region
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A deadly arctic deep freeze has enveloped the Midwest, forcing widespread closure of schools, businesses, government offices, and prompting the U.S. Postal Service to take the rare step of suspending mail delivery to a wide swath of the region.
Many normal activities are shutting down and residents are huddled inside as the National Weather Service forecast plunging temperatures from one of the coldest air masses in years. The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to plunge much further south in North America than normal.
Officials throughout the region are focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold, including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing.
At least four deaths have been linked to the weather system.
Sioux City Man Charged With Strangling His Girl Friend And Setting Her On Fire
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a man strangled his former girlfriend before setting at fire in a Sioux City hotel room. Court records say Jordan Henry was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder. The records don’t list an attorney for him. Police say an autopsy showed 40-year-old Elizabeth Bockholt, of Hinton, was strangled. Firefighters found her unresponsive Thursday night in the damaged Wingate Hotel room, and she was pronounced dead later at a hospital.
Man Already In Prison For Other Crimes Is Convicted For Murder For Hire
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa man with a lengthy criminal record who is already in prison for other crimes has been convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill two northeastern Iowa people.
Federal prosecutors say 44-year-old Jason Harriman was convicted Tuesday of two counts of murder-for-hire. Prosecutors say Harriman began serving a 15-year federal sentence in 2011 on gun charges and made multiple phone and email contacts from prison with someone he thought was a hired
killer. The person was actually an undercover federal agent.
Investigators say Harriman agreed to pay the “hitman” $21,000 for the murder of two people.
Harriman faces up to 20 more years in prison when she’s sentenced at a later date.
Police Arrest Man In Prison For Missing Person
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Police have arrested a man already serving a 25-year federal prison sentence for the 2017 death of a central Iowa man whose body was found weeks after he went missing.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety says 28-year-old Armando Adame III was arrested Tuesday at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility on charges of first-degree murder and a weapons count in the death of 28-year-old Michael Bruce Johns.
Johns was reported missing Oct. 26, 2017, from Grundy Center. His body was found Dec. 1 that year at a rural intersection about 10 miles south of Charles City. Authorities say he’d been shot to death.
Adame was sentenced to 25 years last October after pleading guilty to three Federal firearms charges in a separate case.
