Home News Thursday Afternoon News, April 11th

Thursday Afternoon News, April 11th

SPRING FLOODING-THE LATEST
The Latest: Blizzard knocks out power to tens of thousands
A blizzard has knocked out electricity to tens of thousands of people in the Northern Plains as a powerful storm system sweeps across the central U.S.According to PowerOutage.us, 14,000 people and businesses are without
power in Minnesota and the same number in South Dakota. Another 8,500 are in the dark in Iowa.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy spokesman Matt Lindstrom says the main culprit of Thursday’s outages is snow and ice accumulating on power lines, combined with strong winds.
Blizzard conditions in the region are expected to linger into early
Friday. Lindstrom says crews are out working to restore power, and they’re used to dealing with bad weather conditions.
The blizzard is part of a storm system known as a “bomb cyclone” that’s slowly churning through the central U.S. for the second time in a month.

 

 

Man To Be Sentenced For Fraud For Turning Back Odometers

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Nebraska man has been given three years of probation for tampering with odometers sold at his vehicle dealership in northwest Iowa.
The Sioux City Journal reports that 38-year-old Francisco Hurtado also was sentenced Wednesday to a suspended prison sentence of five years, fined $1,500 and ordered to pay more than $19,000 to seven victims. He’d pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent practice.
Authorities say Hurtado lives in South Sioux City, Nebraska, and owns Siouxland Auto Sales in Sioux City. Iowa investigators say they found odometers in high-mileage vehicles had been rolled down to increase the vehicles’ value.
Court records say Hurtado acknowledged replacing odometer clusters on some vehicles. The records say, however, that Hurtado had not followed Iowa law in resetting the replaced odometers to zero or to the original mileage, nor placing notices on the dashboards noting that the odometer clusters had
been replaced.

 

 

Woman Initially Charged With Kidnapping Takes Lesser Charge

ELDORA, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa woman charged with kidnapping for confining her boyfriend’s 8-year-old son under basement stairs has been convicted of a lesser charge.
A judge on Wednesday found Traci Tyler guilty of misdemeanor false imprisonment.
Prosecutors say she and the boy’s father, Alex Shadlow, locked the boy in the basement of their Ackley home for at least nine hours a day in the summer of 2017. The boy told authorities he had to sleep on concrete.
Hardin County District Court records show that Judge James Ellefson didn’t find that Tyler meant to inflict serious injury on the boy, a key component for a kidnapping conviction. Her sentencing is scheduled for April 26.
Ellefson oversaw Tyler’s nonjury trial in Eldora. Shadlow’s trial is
set to begin Sept. 30.

 

 

Democratic California Senator Picks Up Important Iowa Endorsement

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – White House hopeful Kamala Harris has nabbed her first Iowa endorsement from a major state Democratic activist.
Jean Hessburg is a former Iowa Democratic Party executive director and the current chair of the party’s Women’s Caucus.
She tells The Associated Press that she’s endorsing Harris because “she’s tough, she’s got heart. She’s quick on her feet, she’s sharp as they come and great on all the issues.”
The California senator said in a statement that she was proud of the endorsement.
Harris says, “Women will be a deciding voice in the 2020 Iowa Caucuses and I will do all I can to earn their support.”
Hessburg will appear with Harris at a house party Thursday afternoon hosted by Emerge Iowa, a group focused on electing Democratic women.