(Radio Iowa) — Teen drivers who will be turning 21 now have another option for getting a driver’s license that reflects that milestone. Department of Transportation spokesperson, Darcy Doty, says state law now allows drivers to update their license on the D-O-T website.

“The law allows the person to go online and request that replacement card to come in the mail — and that way they will have that horizontal license,” Doty says. Teen drivers all have a license that has the information lined up vertically. The different orientation in licenses was created to help casinos, bars and other organizations which need to verify ages.

“Which we have been told that makes it easier for those establishments that require that additional verification that the person is 21 when they are entering that facility. And it makes it a lot easier to see that on a horizontal card versus a vertical card and then reviewing that date of birth to make sure that person really is 21,” according to Doty.

She says the online option was not available until the recent law change. “Our goal is to be able to provide a lot of options for customers, and that option is they can come into our service center, they can request that option online and they can also utilize our kiosk options as well,” Doty says. The law also requires the D-O-T to send out a notice to drivers who will turn 21 that they can make a change in their license.

“We are sending the information out about 90 days before the person is eligible to receive that horizontal care,” Doty says. “And the it’s really a reminder to says ‘don’t come in before that 21st birthday’ — you really need to be 21 in order for that vertical card to change into a horizontal card.” Doty says regular licenses are issued when someone is 17 or 18 and won’t expire for eight years — and making the change in your license when you turn 21 is not required. It does cost ten dollars to get the replacement license.

WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018 even as she lost 15 of her district’s 16 counties. Axne won by offsetting her losses in rural counties with an overwhelming victory in urban Polk County. Despite that urban strength, Axne has returned again and again to those rural counties she lost.

Axne says that’s because people who supported her opponent deserve representation in Washington. That could be true, but her effort also could help answer the question of whether rural residents will vote for a Democrat who lavishes attention on their issues and repeatedly visits their communities. As one voter put it, “If you come personally, I’ll consider voting for you.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — President Donald Trump likes to joke that America’s farmers have a nice problem on their hands: They’re going to need bigger tractors to keep up with surging Chinese demand for their soybeans and other agricultural goods under a preliminary deal between the world’s two largest economies.

Yet skeptics are questioning how much China has committed to buy — and whether American farmers would be able anytime soon to export goods to China in the quantity Trump has promised: $40 billion a year, according to Trump’s trade representative, Robert Lighthizer. For perspective, U.S. farm exports to China have never topped $26 billion in any year.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Omaha, Nebraska, man will face attempted murder charges after allegedly firing shots at an Iowa State Patrol trooper in Sioux City, Iowa. The incident happened Thursday morning when a trooper pulled over a vehicle and found a 27-year-old passenger had a warrant for his arrest. The man resisted arrest and as they struggled, the trooper used a stun gun.

The man ran away and during a chase he allegedly fired two shots at the pursuing trooper. The shots missed. After a search, officers found and arrested the man. The state patrol says it’s unclear what charges the man will face but that one will be attempted murder. The driver wasn’t arrested.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports three arrests. On Monday, 41-year old Rafael Partida, of Omaha, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear. Partida was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $1,000 bond. Last Sunday, 21-year old Kolby Austin Fulk, of Walnut, was arrested on a charge of Driving While Barred (Aggravated). Fulk was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on his own recognizance. And, on Dec. 17th, 38-year old Jeremiah David Sims, of Atlantic, turned himself in at the Cass County Jail on a District Court for Failure To Appear. Sims was booked at the Cass County Jail and released upon time served.

(Noon News)

A crash in eastern Iowa’s Henry County Christmas evening resulted in one person dead and two injured. The Iowa State Patrol said the driver of a 2015 Buick Encore, 66-year old Craig Meyocks, of Dammeron Valley, UT, died in the crash that also caused his passenger, 64-year old Brenda Meyocks, of UT, to be injured. The driver of a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica, 65-year old Robert Lee Sykes II, of Iowa City, was also injured. All three were transported to the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City. All three crash victims were wearing their seat belts. The accident happened at around 6:15-p.m.

The Patrol says the Chrysler was traveling westbound on Highway 218 at the crossover and attempting to cross the southbound lanes. The Buick was southbound in the right lane. Authorities say when Sykes failed to yield and entered the southbound lanes, his vehicle was struck broadside by Meyocks’ Buick. Afterward, the Chrysler came to rest in the southbound lanes. The Buick came to rest in the west ditch.

The accident remains under investigation.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a Creston man reported Tuesday afternoon, that someone had stolen 34 100-pound John Deere tractor weights from two of his tractors. The weights have an estimated value of $4,900.

Authorities in Harlan say one person suffered unknown/possible injuries during a rollover accident Christmas Day. Harlan Police were called at around 2-p.m. Wednesday, to 7th Street and Victoria Avenue, where a 2004 Ford Taurus was found on its top.

Photo courtesy KNOD

Officials say 75-year old Larry Leo Kruse, of Harlan, was turning south onto 7th Street from Victoria Avenue, when he made the turn too wide and over-corrected to the left, just missing a tree. Kruse then turned sharply to the right, causing the vehicle to flip upside down.

Kruse was assisted from the vehicle by Medivac and the Harlan Fire Department personnel.  Although he initially said he wasn’t injured,  Kruse was transported to Myrtue Medical Center by Medivac Ambulance, as a precaution and to be checked out.

(Courtesy KNOD)

(By The Associated Press) – The deadline is less than a year away for people to obtain updated driver’s licenses or ID cards so they can fly commercially and enter federal facilities. An Iowa or Nebraska license that complies with the federal Real ID program has a small white star in a gold circle background on the upper right-hand corner. The star shows licensees already have undergone additional ID verification steps as required by the program. The deadline is Oct. 1, 2020. Travelers also can use military IDs or passports to access flights and federal facilities.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Des Moines police patrol car was hit by gunfire as it traveled on a street just north of the city’s downtown. The gunfire Wednesday night hit a window, causing the glass to break and slightly injuring one of the two officers inside. The officer was treated by medics. The car was traveling along University Avenue, a major east-west thoroughfare. Investigators were talking with witnesses and trying to determine if the officers were the intended target.