Roll-over Accident Occurs Tuesday Afternoon
(Le Mars) — Authorities responded to a one vehicle roll-over accident yesterday afternoon at about 3:50 p.m. The accident occurred at the south end of town on 24th Street near Industrial Road and the south water tower. The Le Mars Ambulance transported one person to the Floyd Valley Healthcare, although
the extent of the injuries are unknown. Two other people were checked out by officials at the scene and either suffered minor injuries, or were not injured. Responding to the accident scene were the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department, Le Mars Ambulance Services, and the Le Mars Police Department. Le
Mars police are investigating the accident.
Iowa State Patrol Concerned With High Speeding Motorists
(Atlantic) — The Iowa State Patrol is reporting yet another case of a driver traveling in excess of 100-miles-an-hour on an interstate highway. Iowa State Patrol Trooper Ryan Devault, says the most recent case saw a trooper clocked a motorist on Interstate 29 in Fremont County traveling at 107 mph.
He says it’s not a case of losing track of your speed.
Devault says there’s a fine and possibly other costs to going so fast.
Trooper Devault says incidents of persons traveling in excess of 100 miles-an-hour began occurring in 2020 as COVID restrictions kept more people off the roads. He says as COVID cases are declining and people are feeling more confident about hitting the road, fewer people are speeding, but they are still seeing cases of excess speed. Motorists have been clocked speeding as
high as the low 140’s in some cases.
EPA Administrator Visits Iowa
(Des Moines) — The administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spent much of Tuesday in Iowa. It’s the first solo trip Administrator Michael Regan has taken since he was sworn into office. Regan toured an ethanol plant in Nevada and he told reporters the E-P-A’s announcement on biofuels production levels is coming.
The legal dispute over how the E-P-A previously awarded ethanol blending waivers to the oil industry has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. And the E-P-A just rescinded three ethanol waivers granted on President Trump’s last day in office.
Regan met privately with a group of Iowa farmers and he says they discussed the role agriculture can play in a national effort to reduce carbon emissions.
The group also briefed the E-P-A administrator on some of the projects that are part of the state’s voluntary strategy to reduce farm chemical run-off into Iowa waterways. Regan says what he heard about was innovative and cutting edge, but Regan told reporters he hasn’t examined the issue closely enough to
determine whether the voluntary approach is working.
Regan met with Governor Reynolds and visited a contaminated industrial site in Des Moines that the E-P-A will start cleaning up this year. Regan was North Carolina’s top environmental regulator before President Biden asked him to lead the E-P-A.
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Two Cases of India COVID-19 Variant Detected in Iowa
(Des Moines, IA) — The Iowa Department of Public Health is confirming the first two cases of the India COVID-19 variant in the state. The cases were detected in two adults from southeast Iowa’s Jefferson County. State health officials say there is no evidence this strain of the virus is more easily transmitted or more likely to cause severe illness. Cases of the U-K and
Brazilian Covid-19 variants were previously confirmed in the state. The Jefferson County Public Health Department is doing contract tracing and contacting people who may have been around the two adults who’ve tested positive for the India variant.
DNA Testing Fails To Exonerate Man Serving Time for 1976 Murder
(Anamosa, IA) — D-N-A testing on a cap worn by a suspected killer 45 years ago has failed to exonerate a prisoner who still says he is innocent. Lawyers are trying to prove Gentric Hicks was wrongfully convicted in 1976.
Investigators say the D-N-A test was inconclusive and Hicks couldn’t be ruled out. He’s serving a prison term of life without parole for the murder of 28-year-old Jerry Foster at a motel in Fort Madison. Hicks works in the infirmary at Anamosa State Penitentiary where two inmates killed a nurse and a
correctional officer last March. Hicks, now 74 years old, knew both victims and is said to be devastated by their deaths. Iowa is one of just 13 states that have never had a prisoner exonerated by D-N-A testing.
Charges Filed In Fatal Boat Accident On Mississippi River
(LeClaire, IA) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has filed charges against a Pleasant Valley man in connection with a fatal boat accident on the Mississippi River near LeClaire in August of 2020. Conservation officer, Travis Graves, says 44-year-old James Theil is charged with two felony counts of involuntary manslaughter — one for the death of Craig Verbeke, one for the death of Anita Pinc. Graves says he allowed a
minor to drive the boat, and the minor was driving when the accident happened – and that violates Iowa law.
Hamburg Takes Important Step In Flood Recovery
(Hamburg, IA) — The southwest Iowa town of Hamburg is taking an important step in the continuing recovery from the 2019 Missouri River flooding. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 11:00 a-m today (Wednesday) for a major levee rehabilitation project. Hamburg Mayor Cathy Crain says the
reinforced levee will be raised eight feet. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials and the city signed a project agreement in February to allow raising the levee, significantly increasing the flood risk management benefits the levee provides the city. The expansion is the first project in the nation to utilize the authority to raise the height of a federal levee system.
Floodwaters overtopped and severely damaged the levee two years ago, leading to significant flooding in Hamburg. In addition, Crain says the Iowa Department of Transportation is building another levee southwest of Interstate 29 to prevent water from swamping the interstate, as it did two years ago.
Congresswoman Miller-Meeks Encourages Hesitant People to Get COVID Shot
(Washington, DC) — Second District Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks is among 18 Republicans in the U-S House who are health care providers — and they’re urging Americans hesitant about the vaccine to get a Covid shot. The
“G-O-P Doctors” group posted a video online Tuesday and Miller-Meeks speaks first in the rotation. The freshman Republican says, “as a doctor, I made the decision to get vaccinated against Covid-19.” Miller-Meeks is an eye doctor and the former director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. She has been to several Covid vaccination clinics within her district, administering the shots herself.
Trial Set For Fort Dodge Prison Inmate Murder
(Fort Dodge, IA) — The trial of a Fort Dodge prisoner charged with killing a fellow inmate is set to begin May 17th. Forty-five-year-old Eric Hall is facing one count of first-degree murder for the June 2020 killing of 59-year-old Thomas Daleske. The medical examiner determined that Daleske died from
strangulation and a hit to the head. Surveillance video shows Hall going into his cell just before he was found dead. Hall was scheduled to be released in 2023 for a third-degree burglary sentence.
