DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials at Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo say the attraction’s youngest giraffe, Lizzy, has died, just weeks before what would’ve been her second birthday. The Des Moines Register reports that the zoo made the announcement Thursday; Lizzy died Tuesday. Officials say initial results from a necropsy showed the giraffe had ‘internal abnormalities” and had also recently suffered from a minor gastrointestinal illness that may have contributed to her death.

Lizzy was born at the zoo on Dec. 6, 2016, to Uzuri. Uruzi’s pregnancy was unexpected because she was older, at 19, and was thought to be unable to conceive. Blank Park Zoo spokesman Ryan Bickel says the zoo now has five giraffes: one male and four females.

A former accounting clerk for the City of Council Bluffs was sentenced to prison Wednesday in U-S District Court, for his role in the distribution and receipt of child pornography. 35-year old Jamin C. Fletcher, of Council Bluffs, appeared before United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger and was sentenced to 108 months (9-years) in prison, and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, $200 to the Crime Victims’ Fund, and serve ten years of supervised release to follow his prison term. Fletcher has served as Council Bluffs’ accounting clerk from 2008-to 2017.

On April 20, 2018, a jury found Fletcher guilty of Distribution and Receipt of Child Pornography. The charges were the result of an FBI investigation on BitTorrent, a file sharing program used on the Internet. FBI downloaded child pornography from a shared folder on BitTorent that identified an IP address subscribed to Jamin Fletcher of Council Bluffs. A search warrant was served on Fletcher’s residence where agents located a desktop computer, laptop computer, and cell phone that contained images of child pornography.

The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

A Red Oak woman was arrested on Thursday following a traffic stop on East Hammond Street in Red Oak. Red Oak Police witnessed 25-year-old Amanda LeeAnn Solt of Red Oak operating a 1995 Ford Explorer. A traffic stop was conducted and Solt was charged with Driving Under Suspension and Failure to Provide Proof of Insurance. Solt was also in possession of .082 grams of marijuana during the stop. Solt was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and booked in on $1,000 bond.

Interstate 80 westbound in Cass County was reduced to one-lane for about 2-hours today, as crews worked to clean-up a collision between a semi and a cement truck. The accident happened just before 11-a.m., about one-half mile west of the Highway 71 exit.

Atlantic Fire and Rescue, Medivac, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies and the Iowa State Patrol responded to the scene.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon said two people were hurt and transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital by ambulance. Additional details were not immediately available.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to $970 million, inching ever-closer to the $1 billion mark. Officials raised the estimated jackpot Thursday for the second time due to strong sales ahead of Friday night’s drawing. The prize is the second-largest jackpot in U.S. history, behind only a $1.6 billion Powerball prize won in 2016. No one has matched all six numbers and won the Mega Millions grand prize since July 24. That reflects the game’s long odds , at one in 302.5 million.

The $970 million refers to the annuity option, paid over 29 years. Most winners take the cash option, which would pay an immediate $513 million. About half of the jackpot winnings would go to taxes.
Mega Millions is played in 44 states, plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Judicial Branch has started tracking legal deadlines for judge appointments amid uncertainty over whether Gov. Kim Reynolds made two picks on time.
The governor has 30 days to appoint a judge once finalists have been submitted by a nominating commission. After that, the authority falls to the chief justice. The requirement has come into focus after the liberal blog Bleeding Heartland reported that Reynolds informed Judge Jason Besler of his appointment days after the deadline. An attorney has filed a complaint alleging Besler is unlawfully holding office.
Now questions are being raised about the June 21 appointment of Judge Michael Jacobsen.

A nominating commission signed a letter addressed to Reynolds 35 days earlier, on May 17, recommending Jacobsen and another attorney. But the letter apparently was never sent, and the commission chair waited until May 22 to email the names to the governor’s office. Jacobsen was appointed 30 days later. Davis says the court system is now formally tracking submission dates, which it didn’t do previously.

Emergency crews are on the scene late this morning, of a collision between a semi and cement truck. Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports one lane of Interstate 80 westbound was closed as of 11:24-a.m. The crash occurred about one-half mile west of the exit to Highway 71 (59.9 mile marker), in the north ditch.  Kennon says two people were hurt and transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital by ambulance. The accident was reported at 10:55-a.m.  We’ll have more information when it becomes available.

Ric Hanson photo

Mike Kennon photo

Atlantic Fire and Rescue and Medivac Ambulance have been called to the 60-mile marker of Interstate 80 westbound for an accident involving two semi’s. Unknown at this time if there are any injuries. The accident was reported at 10:55-a.m.  We’ll have more if information becomes available.

(Radio Iowa) — A rare disease that causes muscle weakness, loss of reflexes and even paralysis has appeared in Iowa — twice — in recent weeks and the experts are puzzled. State health officials confirm two cases of a rare polio-like illness which attacks the nervous system called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM. The first case is a three-year-old boy in Grimes, while the second is in a person under 18 in western Iowa. Minnesota reports seven cases of AFM since mid-September, while 62 are reported nationwide in 22 states.

There is no known cure and federal investigators haven’t been able to identify a common cause in the cases which usually start as a cold.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Department of Human Services figures show that the state’s family planning program is providing far fewer services like contraception a year after state lawmakers excluded Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving state funding. The Des Moines Register reports that the program covered 970 family planning services from April through June. That’s a 73 percent decrease from the roughly 3,600 services covered by the program during those months in 2017.

The department’s data show the number of patients enrolled in the program has dropped from almost 8,600 in June 2017 to less than 4,200 in June 2018. The program aims to help poor and moderate-income level residents obtain contraception. Legislators decided in 2017 to ban agencies that provide abortions from participating in the program. The state lost $3 million annually in federal Medicaid funds.