A camper trailer exploded Sunday afternoon in Crawford County, seriously injuring a man. According to KETV in Omaha, Deputies were called to the scene near Cedar Street and Oak Avenue in Schlewsig. At around 2-p.m., Sunday. Officials said 28-year old Brett Nuzu, of Kiron, had just opened the door to his camper to go outside to light a cigarette when the camper exploded. Nuzu was transported to Crawford County Hospital for treatment of burns to his face and hands. Authorities said he was later flown by medical helicopter to another medical facility for additional treatments.

Officials said the camper was parked behind three buildings, all of which had minor damage to their exterior walls. The camper was destroyed in the blast.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — Several hundred runners gathered in the hometown of slain Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts over the weekend to honor her memory with a run. The Des Moines Register reports the run on Sunday in the east-central Iowa town of Brooklyn helped raise more than $20,000 for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Mollie Tibbett’s older brother, Jake Tibbetts, encouraged participants to enjoy the run the way his sister would have.

Twenty-year-old Mollie Tibbettts vanished while out for a run in Brooklyn on July 18. Her body was found in a cornfield more than a month later. A 24-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ stabbing death.

(Radio Iowa) — Several media organizations reported late last (Sunday) night that negotiations between the U.S. and Canada have resulted in a new-fangled NAFTA — and President Trump will rebrand the trade deal as the U-S-M-C-A. Midnight on September 30th was the deadline President Trump set for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico’s president agreed to renegotiated terms in late August, but talks between Canada and the U.S. stalled. The U.S. demanded a reduction in Canada’s tariffs on American dairy products. Canada insisted on keeping a system in place for resolving future trade disputes. President Trump is expected to approve the new pact with Canada’s prime minister and Mexico’s president before he leaves office December 1st. Congress would then have 60 days to review and vote on the new agreement.

Canada is IOWA’S largest export market. Mexico is number two.

(Radio Iowa) — State Auditor Mary Mosiman says she cannot say when a review of the state’s Medicaid program will be released to the public. In June, Mosiman announced her office would examine the data to determine if Medicaid costs have been reduced since private companies assumed management of patient care. The move to privatize the system has become a political issue in the governor’s race. Mosiman, a Republican who is also seeking re-election, says she cannot answer specifics about a work in progress, but Mosiman says the final report from her office will provide “financial clarity” about Medicaid costs. “It will be issued. I just can’t give you an actual date or I would also be behaving politically,” Mosiman says. “…Everything we do in the office is important.”

Rob Sand, the Democrat challenging Mosiman, says he agrees the examination shouldn’t be political, but Sand says the auditor’s office needs to equip voters with the facts about what’s happened since Medicaid was privatized in 2016.  “This is the office that’s supposed to be a watchdog for Iowa taxpayers and I think one thing that a watchdog should be doing is as soon as there’s a major change, you ought to be sniffing around,” Sand says. “We are in a state of upheaval with this issue.”

Sand and Mosiman made their comments this weekend during an appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. About 680-thousand low income, disabled and elderly Iowans are enrolled in Medicaid. Former Governor Terry Branstad predicted taxpayers would have saved more than 200-million dollars by now due to switching the system to private management. However, a recent report showed per patient costs increased six-and-a-half percent this past year and are projected to jump another 11 percent this year.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests over the past couple of weeks. Yesterday (Sunday), Adams County Deputies arrested Warren Davis, of Winterset, on an Adams County warrant for Failure to Appear. And, at around 10:40-p.m. Sunday, Adams County Deputies conducted a traffic stop near the intersection of Highway 25 and 272nd Street. Upon further investigation, Galen White, of Lenox, was placed under arrest for Operating While Intoxicated 2nd Offense.

At around 8-p.m. last Thursday, Adams County Deputies were notified of a suspicious person at Dollar General. Upon further investigation, Donald Gay, of Corning, was placed under arrest for Public Intoxication.

At around 8:40-p.m. Sept. 22nd, Adams County Deputies conducted a traffic stop, and upon further investigation, Crystal Schwartz, of Nebraska was placed under arrest for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. On Sept. 21st, Adams County Deputies conducted a traffic stop near the intersection of 6th and Davis Avenue, in Corning. Upon further investigation, Arvid Hiley, of California, was placed under arrest for Operating While Intoxicated. Hiley was also cited for Open Container-Driver.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating a fatal shooting in Des Moines over the weekend. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek told the Des Moines Register that a man died Sunday afternoon after he was shot several times.

BUFFALO, Iowa (AP) — The longtime fire chief in the Iowa town of Buffalo died over the weekend. The Quad-City Times reports that Terry Adams died Saturday morning at age 67. Longtime friend Buffalo Police Cpl. Rich Aleksiejczyk says Adams died of natural causes.

BELVIDERE, Neb. (AP) — Headstones will be dedicated Sunday at the southern Nebraska graves of three Union veterans of the Civil War. The Hastings Tribune reports that the group Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will dedicate the new headstones at Belvidere Cemetery in Thayer County. The three served with infantry from Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Volunteer students will be helping plant trees in north-central Iowa’s Mason City next week. On Wednesday, fifth-grade students from Newman Catholic Schools will plant nearly 40 trees along Taft Avenue. On Thursday, students from Mason City Alternative High School will plant between 60 to 100 trees along streets a few blocks over.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating a fatal shooting in Des Moines over the weekend. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said a 28-year-old Des Moines man died Sunday afternoon after he was shot several times.

The man was found on the ground near a white car. A 25-year-old woman and two children younger than 10 were in the car at the time of the shooting. They were unhurt.

The man’s identity wasn’t immediately released Sunday. The death is the ninth homicide of the year in Des Moines.

BUFFALO, Iowa (AP) — The longtime fire chief in the Iowa town of Buffalo died over the weekend. The Quad-City Times reports that Terry Adams died Saturday morning at age 67. Longtime friend Buffalo Police Cpl. Rich Aleksiejczyk says Adams died of natural causes. Adams had been with the Buffalo Fire Department for 48 years and served a chief for 33 years.

Aleksiejczyk says Adams was a great community leader and was respected in town.
The fire department became a family affair for Adams. One of his sons retired from the fire department as a lieutenant and three of his grandsons are with the department now.

Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle reports Charlotte Hubbell, wife of gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell, spoke to 40 voters in Atlantic on Friday, September 28th. Mrs. Hubbell spoke about her husband’s top priorities for Iowa, which include: affordable health care coverage, increased funding for education, and developing good-paying jobs.

Charlotte Hubbell

Toelle says Hubbell has pledged to reverse the Iowa Legislature’s actions against worker’s compensation and collective bargaining. She said also, he is adamantly opposed to Iowa’s privatization of Medicaid and will take action on his first day in office to begin the transition to return privatized Medicaid back to the Iowa Department of Human Services. He also plans to place women’s health centers back into Iowa. Hubbell has also stated his intentions to recoup the more than $100 million in tax credits that are going to large corporations without proving Iowa with a return on those investments.

When asked what she would foresee happening in Iowa over the next few years if her husband were elected, Mrs. Hubbell remembered when the water and air were clean and when Iowa was among the top five states in education. Those restorations were part of her vision for Iowa. She drew spontaneous applause when she spoke of restoring collective bargaining rights to Iowa’s workforce and increasing family incomes. Environmental quality and support of veterans were also priorities for the Hubbell-Hart campaign.

(Press Release)

(Radio Iowa) — A group working to get more young voters to turn out for Democrats this year has bought more than 100-thousand dollars worth of ads on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter aimed at millennials and Generation Z in Iowa. Haley Hager is the state director for NextGen America, a group that’s spending 33 million dollars nationally on these kind of digital ads. “Eighteen to 35 years olds don’t watch a lot of cable,” Hager says. “They are on their phones, all the time.”

Unlike traditional campaign ads that run 30- and 60 seconds, these NextGen digital ads are short, 15 second messages. That’s designed to deliver the message before the viewer doesn’t click away. Hager says in Iowa, 18-to-24 year olds are the least active voting block. “Political ads don’t usually target 18 year olds,” Hager says. “We turn out at half the rate, which means that traditionally campaigns don’t talk to us.”

NextGen has nearly five dozen paid staff in Iowa as well, working to register young voters. NextGen is financed by a California billionaire who has held town hall meetings around the country and has run T-V ads calling for impeachment proceedings against President Trump.