FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified a man killed after exchanging gunfire with officers in Webster County as a resident of Wall Lake. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation identified the man as 45-year-old Matthew Hurley.

Hurley died Monday night after engaging in a gunfight while driving away from officers who had been called to a disturbance just outside Fort Dodge. Hurley’s vehicle eventually stopped in a field, and he was found dead inside.

The officers who fired at Hurley were identified as Sgt. Aaron Schmidt, of the Iowa State Patrol, and deputy Chase Goodman, of the Calhoun County sheriff’s office. Investigators are still awaiting autopsy, toxicology and laboratory tests.

BOSTON (AP) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is preparing to bring a populist message to Iowa voters just days after taking her first major step toward launching a campaign for president. The Massachusetts Democrat told reporters on Wednesday that she’s planning to visit the state with the nation’s first presidential caucuses after being sworn in on Thursday to a second Senate term. She plans to start her swing through Iowa on Friday with a stop at an organizing event in Council Bluffs followed by similar events on Saturday in Sioux City and Des Moines and a roundtable discussion in Storm Lake.

Doors open 5-p.m. Friday for Warren’s 6-p.m. event at The Gathering Room (1900 Madison Avenue), in Council Bluffs. The event is open to the public on a first-come, first served basis. The event’s Facebook page says that signing up does not guarantee entry into the event. For more information or to RSVP here: https://my.elizabethwarren.com/page/s/join-elizabeth-in-council-bluffs-?source=20190101facebook

Warren said that Washington “works great for the wealthy and the well-connected” but that it needs to work for everybody else. Warren on Monday announced she’s launching an exploratory committee for president. She is the most prominent Democrat yet in what is expected to be a crowded field of fellow contenders hoping to retake the White House from Republican President Donald Trump in 2020. The former Harvard law professor made a name for herself a decade ago with calls for greater consumer protections, which led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under former Democratic President Barack Obama. Warren said she plans to run on many of those same basic economic issues, which she said have been made even more precarious by Washington politics.

Warren was been a favorite target of Trump, who frequently calls her “Pocahontas” — a reference to Warren’s claims of Native American heritage. Warren in October released a DNA test meant to bolster those claims, but the test seemed only to generate more controversy for Warren. The test indicated that Warren likely had Native American in her bloodline, though the ancestor probably lived six to 10 generations ago. Some critics complained that the genetic analysis cheapened the identities of tribal members with deeper ties.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has a new state auditor, and for just the second time in more than 100 years a Democrat is serving in the job. Rob Sand, a former assistant state attorney general who specialized in prosecuting financial crimes, took the oath of office Wednesday at the Iowa Capitol. Sand, who defeated Republican Mary Mosiman in November, says his priority is holding those who work in government accountable and doing it in a nonpartisan way. He emphasized that there a Democrat, Republican and independent are among three of his top hires, including chief of staff and two deputy auditors.

He says he intends to include efficiency recommendations that detail ways to save taxpayer money in every audit and will develop a plan for reviewing the state’s privatized Medicaid program. Records show the last Democrat to serve as state auditor was Charles Storms, who was elected in 1932. Democrats also were elected as auditors in 1846 and 1850. Also sworn in Wednesday were Attorney General Tom Miller and Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald. Secretary of State Paul Pate and Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig also will be sworn in.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds will take the oath of office on Jan. 18.

QUIMBY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a woman died after her sport utility vehicle struck a deer Sunday, in northwest Iowa. The accident occurred around 6:10-p.m.,  about 2 miles east of Quimby on Iowa Highway 31. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office says investigators think 21-year old Christina Martin, of Quimby, was injured when the deer penetrated the SUV windshield. Her vehicle then ran into a roadside ditch.
The sheriff’s office says Martin died after being flown to a Sioux City hospital.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report five-recent arrests. On Tuesday (Jan. 1st), 18-year old Ethan Blake Nelson, of Creston, was arrested arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, following a traffic stop on Highway 34. Bond was set at $300. Sunday (Dec. 30), 23-year old D’Angelo Thomas Monson, of Glenwood, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for Probation Violation (bond $5,000).  23-year old Lisa Mae Dueling, of Omaha, was arrested for two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance (Bond $2,000). At the same place and nearly the same time (Main/Park Streets), 33-year old Nicholas John Horgdal, of Glenwood, was arrested for Driving While Barred (Bond $2,000).

And, on Dec. 28th, 51-year old Darren Keith Brooks, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office for Violation of Probation (bond $5,000).

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests over the past week. At around 10:15-p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 1^st), 44-year old Jason Ludwig Reents, of rural Page County, was arrested about three-miles north of Yorktown, on a Page County Warrant for Probation Violation. Reents was being held in the Page County Jail on $25,000 bond. That same day, at around 11:15-a.m., Page County Deputies arrested 30-year old Michael Dean Wilson, of Shenandoah. Wilson was arrested at the Page County Jail on a Page County warrant for Probation violation. Wilson remains held on a $2,000 bond.

Authorities said also, on Dec. 29^th, Page County Deputies arrested 30-year old Robert Andrew Hall, of rural Page County. He was taken into custody at the Page County Sheriff’s Office on a Page County Warrant for Sex Offender Registration Violation. Hall posted a $5,000 bond and was released pending future court proceedings prior to being booked into the Page County Jail. And, on Dec. 27^th, 25-year old Joseph Ray Azevedo-Williams, of Clarinda, was arrested at a residence in Coin, on a Page County Warrant for Unauthorized use of a credit card. Azevedo-Williams later posted a $2,000 bond, and was released pending future court proceedings. On December 27th also, 42-year old Jason Charles Allison, of Coin, was arrested at a residence in Coin, for violation of a no contact / protection order. Allison was transported to the Page County jail and held without bond.

Page County authorities are asking for your help in solving a theft. A woman reported Tuesday, that sometime between Dec. 22^nd and Dec. 29^th, someone took power tools, a cutting torch and impact wrenches from a building at 1672 A Avenue. A value of the tools is currently not available. Anyone with information about the burglary / theft is asked to contact the Page County Sheriff’s Office at 712-542-5193.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a truck driver from Missouri was injured Friday morning, when the 2005 International semi he was driving, went out of control on Highway 34, due to icy conditions. The semi, owned by Metal Culverts, Inc., of Jefferson City, MO., and driven by 48-year old Brian Dean Keever, of Skidmore, MO., entered the west ditch and rolled onto its side. The accident happened a little after 5-a.m., Friday. Keever was transported by ambulance to the hospital in Creston, for treatment of suspected minor, non-incapacitating injuries.

The semi sustained $10,000 damage during the rollover.

(Corrects Vice-Chair election vote) The Cass County Board of Supervisors met this (Wednesday) morning, in the Board Room at the Courthouse in Atlantic. Board Vice-Chair Frank Waters called the meeting to order and recognized the two newest members of the board, John Hartkopf and Mark T. O’Brien, who were elected in November and take the place of Gaylord Schelling and Mark Wedemeyer, who did not run for re-election. When the 2018 session was officially declared closed by Waters, that portion of the meeting was adjourned, and the new board meeting opened.

The reorganized Board then voted to name Steve Baier as Board Chair, and Steve Green as Vice-Chair. They also voted voted 3-to 1, with Waters opposed, to move the weekly meetings to Tuesday’s, at 9-a.m., beginning January 15th, with the same exceptions as before (if the final business day falls at the end of the week, then that will be on that day). Their next meeting will be on January 9th, but at 9-a.m. instead of 8:30-a.m., as was previously the case.

They also voted 4-to 1, with O’Brien voting no, to increase the mileage reimbursement for County employees using their personal vehicle on County business, at 45-cents per mile, which is an increase of a nickel., and, a nickel increase for Sheriff’s Civil Processing transportation costs,  from 54-cents per mile to 59-cents per mile.