Officials with the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau, report a man from northwest Iowa was recently charged with three felony counts of Insurance Fraud – Presenting False Information, and three felony counts of Forgery (all Class-D Felonies).  64-year old Jay Wickey, of Sergeant Bluff, was charged following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau that began in February 2019.  It is alleged that Wickey submitted multiple fraudulent insurance claims to different insurance companies seeking payments he was not entitled to.

Jay Wickey (Woodbury Co. S/O photo)

On December 18, 2019, a warrant was issued for Wickey’s arrest.  On December 21, 2019, Wickey was arrested by the Sergeant Bluff Police Department and booked into the Woodbury County Jail.  He later posted a $5,000 bond and was released.  Trial will be set at a future date.

Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-242-5304.

(Radio Iowa) — The first confirmed cases of influenza are already being reported in Iowa, and it’s a reminder for people to use good hygiene habits as we head into the busy holiday week. Jeni Stiles, a disease prevention manager at Cerro Gordo County Public Health, says proper hand washing will help prevent the spread of the flu and other viruses.  “Make sure you’re washing your hands after you’ve been out in the community, when you get home,” Stiles says. “Wash your hands with soap and water before you’re going to eat, if you’re going to prepare food for anybody else. Just pick up that good hand hygiene habit throughout the season. That’s going to be your best way to protect yourself from spreading germs to other people and picking up germs.”

Stiles says if you have a holiday event planned and you’re not quite up to it, don’t force yourself. “If you are sick or not feeling well, don’t go, stay home. Keep the germs contained to one place,” Stiles says. “You can always meet up with family and friends later on, but we don’t want to go to a holiday event when we’re not feeling well and get everybody else sick.”

The latest figures from the Iowa Department of Public Health say influenza activity is -below- the typical numbers for this time of the year, but that activity has been increasing over the past few weeks.

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman who told police she intentionally ran over a 14-year-old girl because she believed the girl was Mexican has been charged with a hate crime for a second incident. Nicole Franklin was charged Sunday with assault in violation of individual rights. She is also known as Nicole Poole. Franklin was charged with attempted murder following the Dec. 9 attack in the Des Moines suburb of Clive.

West Des Moines police say Franklin also went to a convenience store where she threw items at a clerk and directed racial epithets at him and customers. Her attorney hasn’t returned a call Monday.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The beer brewing movement continues to grow in the state. Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division spokesman, Tyler Ackerson, says it shows in yearly sales figures. “Iowa-made beer actually saw a 16-point-three percent increase in total gallons sold — which is a very strong increase,” Ackerson says. “Liquor and wine gallons sold — those also increased by three-point-five percent and point-six-five percent, respectively.”

The gallons sold of non-Iowa brewed beers dropped one-point-one percent. He says the double digit jump in sales of Iowa brewed suds makes sense with the way the industry has expanded. “That kind of coincides with us seeing over 100 breweries and brew pubs that are now open in the state,” Ackerson says.  “Iowans seem to like Iowa-made beer quite a bit.” Ackerson says there haven’t been any big law changes to spark the increase. “There have been some changes for Iowa distilleries to be able to sell at the distillery location. But nothing has really changed for breweries and brew pubs,” according to Ackerson, “I think it’s just that Iowans are demonstrating a preference for Iowa-made beer — so more breweries and brew pubs are opening to meet that demand — and it’s being reflected in the total gallons we see sold.”

Ackerson says the licensing numbers indicate more events that might feature Iowa products. “What we’re seeing is we’ve crossed over 18-thousand licenses and permits being issued and we’re seeing a large increase in temporary licenses. Five day licenses, and those are usually involved in fairs and festivals. So, a lot of these special events are wanting to incorporate alcohol, and that’s being in our licensing numbers,” Ackerson explains.

While the Iowa beers are getting more popular — they still are only a small drop in the keg compared to the other brands sold. There were nearly 71 million gallons of non-native beer sold in the state in the last fiscal year — compared to 795-thousand gallons of Iowa brewed beer. Iowans bought nearly five million gallons of wine produced outside the state — compared to nearly four-point-seven million gallons of in-state wine.

(Radio Iowa) — Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren says Democrats won’t be able to effectively counter Donald Trump’s “drain the swamp” message if their 2020 presidential nominee uses a conventional fundraising model. “Folks in Iowa have a real opportunity this year to say: ‘Where you get your money matters,'” Warren said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “‘And, no, we don’t think billionaires ought to be able to buy their way onto the stage and we don’t think people who have to go suck up to billionaires ought to be able to buy their way onto the stage.'”

Warren spoke with Radio Iowa during a campaign swing through eastern Iowa Saturday, extending her criticism of rival Pete Buttigieg she first made during last Thursday’s televised debate. Warren did not mention Buttigieg by name during Radio Iowa’s interview, but she suggested a candidate’s money-raising abilities shouldn’t be a concern for primary and caucus voters.  “If the 2020 November General Election is just a bunch of Donald Trump television advertising versus a bunch of Democratic television advertising, we have no comparative advantage. Everybody can do the slick TV ads — right? — and claim whatever they want to claim and hit the airwaves. And, frankly, there’s going to be plenty of money to do that once we have a Democratic nominee. That’s not going to be an issue,” Warren said. “What is going to be an issue is: Where do we build an advantage? And that’s a grassroots movement.”

A debate on this topic among partisans on Twitter has included references to an Associated Press account of a Warren fundraiser in 2018. Donors who gave at least a thousand dollars were given a bottle of wine as a souvenir of the evening. Warren was running for re-election to a second term at the time. “I was in a race against a Republican. It was not in the primary,” Warren said. “But it’s also I was new to politics and I had a chance to see what everybody else in this Democratic race has seen that rich people have different priorities than everyone else and they want a chance to be able to push their priorities.”

Warren is not meeting with high-dollar donors in small groups or at large events, a decision she often touts during campaign speeches. Warren told Radio Iowa the 2020 race gives Americans a chance to rewrite campaign finance laws and end the corrosive influence of money on the political system. “This question of how campaigns are funded and who you’re spending your time with is exactly about prosecuting the case against Donald Trump,” Warren aid. “Look, he was just impeached. And what’s really at the heart of both his impeachment and what’s been going on for three years? It’s corruption.”

During Thursday’s debate, Buttigieg suggested the party’s 2020 nominee cannot afford to give Trump a fundraising advantage by voluntarily limiting how they raise campaign contributions.

(Radio Iowa) — Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar started a bus tour of the state Friday, intending to stop in 27 counties by mid-morning today (Monday). “I went all the way from Hollywood Hills to Mount Pleasant,” Klobuchar announced in a video posted on Twitter. Klobuchar has been emphasizing her performance in last Thursday’s candidate debate in L-A. On Saturday, Klobuchar told an audience in southwest Iowa that she wants to debate Trump next fall and compare the trust money Trump inherited with her grandfather’s legacy as an iron ore miner in Minnesota. “He saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to a two-year community college,” Klobuchar said. “That was my family’s trust.”

Klobuchar’s bus logged about a thousand miles when it reached her last event Sunday night in Cherokee. With stops in towns as small as Diagonal, with a population of 324, Klobuchar says the trip illustrates that her party must go everywhere to seek support. “You meet people where they are, that you don’t abandon the rural parts of our country,” Klobuchar said, “…that you don’t suppose who they’re going to vote for.”

Klobuchar has emphasized a number of her policy positions during her weekend tour, like her call to boost federal spending on infrastructure and her support of importing less expensive prescription drugs from Canada. In Denison, Klobuchar also emphasizes the importance of “winning big” and ensuring Democratic candidates for the U.S. House and Senate win victories in 2020. “What I want to do is keep the House of Representatives strong, but also win back the Senate and send Mitch McConnell packing,” Klobuchar said, to applause.

Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell — the senate’s majority leader — is up for re-election in 2020. Klobuchar admits she’s racing to personally connect with as many Iowa voters as possible before the Senate reconvenes in January. She faces the prospect of sitting for days in the senate chamber — as a juror in President Trump’s impeachment trial.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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ST. ANSGAR, Iowa (AP) — Two people were flown to a Minnesota hospital for treatment after they were injured in a north-central Iowa snowmobile accident. Authorities say 26-year-old Damian Lapoint was driving the snowmobile early Sunday morning when it struck a creek bed northwest of St. Ansgar. He and his passenger, 20-year-old Briar Buechelle, were thrown off the vehicle. The two Northwood residents were flown to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

A Union County teen has died from injuries she suffered during a rollover accident in eastern Adair County, Sunday night. The Iowa State Patrol reports 17-year old Samantha Renea Long, of Creston, was driving a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer northbound on York Avenue at around 10:30-p.m., when she lost control of the SUV at 330th Street. The vehicle entered a farm field and rolled multiple times. Long – who was not wearing a seat belt — was ejected from the SUV as it rolled. She was transported by a family member to the hospital in Creston, where she died.