A man from eastern Iowa’s Linn County was injured during an ATV rollover accident in Guthrie County, Saturday night. According to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, 48-year-old Jeffery Allen Barth, of Marion, was riding a Polaris ATV northbound in the 260th block of Lost Trail at around 8:50-p.m. and traversing a left hand curve. Barth was traveling too fast. The ATV lost traction on the gravel and entered the east ditch at a high rate of speed.

When it launched off the roadway into a ditch and overturned, Barth was ejected. He suffered possible severe internal injuries due to blunt force trauma. The ATV came to rest facing west in the ditch, with Barth lying next to it, near the fence line. Authorities say the vehicle had traveled 182-feet in the ditch after it left the roadway.

Barth was transported by Panora EMS to the Guthrie County Hospital. He was cooperative and submitted to a breath test. His BAC (Breath Alcohol Content) approximately 30-minutes after law enforcement arrived at the hospital, or about one-hour after the accident, measured 0.55 (nearly seven-times over the legal limit of .08).

Officials say Barth was revoked for a prior OWI and had no insurance for the ATV. An ignition interlock device was required but not present. Criminal charges will follow. Authorities cited Jeffery Barth for Failure to Maintain a reasonable and proper speed, Careless Driving, and Violations of his Restricted License. The ATV sustained about $500 damage. Authorities say Barth was apparently participating in an organized ATV event when the accident occurred, and was found shortly after the wreck.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies executed two search warrants over the weekend, and arrested three people on drug charges. The first warrant was executed at around 11:34-p.m. Saturday, at 305 E. Nuckols Street, in Red Oak. As a result of the investigation, 23-year-old Dawson Squires and 35-year-old Ashley Farmer, both of Red Oak, were arrested on two Class-D felony counts each, of Delivery of Marijuana.

And, at around 6:50-p.m. Sunday, a search warrant was executed at a residence in the 300 block of E. Elm Street in Red Oak. As a result, 25-year-old Andrew Brammer, of Red Oak, was arrested on three Class-D felony counts of Delivery of Marijuana. All three subjects were transported to the Montgomery County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – An eastern Iowa man was given a suspended sentence for insurance fraud. The Iowa Insurance Division says 59-year-old William Michael Velky of Hiawatha, recently pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false insurance claim The investigation found Velky was involved in a two-car accident in Cedar Rapids in October of 2020 that involved property damage and injury.

The Insurance Division says Velky called and to get an automobile insurance policy by telephone after the accident — and then claimed the wreck had occurred after he started the insurance policy. He received the suspended five-year jail sentence and was ordered to pay a one-thousand dollar fine.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who’ve filed for unemployment benefits are no longer receiving an extra 300 dollars per week in federal unemployment payments. Governor Reynolds ordered the change, which took effect Sunday. Iowa State University economist Peter Orazem says since Iowa is one of the first four states ending these payments early, it’s a bit of a national experiment on unemployment benefits. “It will be a relatively unusual opportunity for us to see the extent to which those unemployment benefits actually matter for whether or not people are interested in accepting employment,” Orazem says.

Governor Reynolds and other Republicans have argued the 300 dollar federal bonus — on top of the regular state unemployment benefits — has discouraged people from returning to work. Orazem says there’s been some research on what happened when the extra FEDERAL pandemic-related unemployment benefits dropped from 600 to 300 dollars a week last summer.

Peter Orazem

“The change in labor supply behavior at that time was relatively modest,” Orazem says, “but of course that was in the middle of the surge in pandemic cases around the United States, so there were multiple things going on.”

Orazem says the question in 2021 is why the labor market hasn’t expanded as Covid vaccines became available. “So this is going to provide us some indication as to what is the importance of the vaccine versus what is the importance of the unemployment benefit,” Orazem says. Iowa’s unemployment rate for April was three-point-eight percent. The other change that took effect Sunday deals with the taxes Iowa businesses pay into the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund. Businesses that had pandemic-related layoffs were not being assessed a higher tax rate. That tax break ended yesterday.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Three juveniles suffered only minor injures after they lead authorities in central Iowa on a pursuit Monday morning. The vehicle they were in was reported stolen from the Waverly area. The teens, including the 15-year-old driver and two 16-year-old passengers, were taken into custody. Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla told KCCI the incident started around 7:20 a.m. on Interstate 80 east of Des Moines when an Iowa Department of Transportation officer located the stolen vehicle occupied by the three teens.

The DOT officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver took off, leading the officer on a chase on Interstate 80, then southbound on Highway 65. Dinkla said the pursuit was called off due to the volume of traffic in the area and other safety concerns. At 7:44 a.m., emergency crews responded to a single-vehicle rollover crash at the Highway 5 exit at Fleur Drive. Dinkla said the driver attempted to exit there and crashed. He said the vehicle involved matched the description of the stolen vehicle.

The juveniles have not been identified.

(Radio Iowa) – A northern Iowa man and his son, who lives in southern Minnesota, are charged with being involved in the storming of the U-S Capitol. The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Omaha says they arrested Daryl Johnson of St. Ansgar on Friday on charges related to the events at the Capitol on January 6th. The FBI says they received a tip that Johnson and his son, Daniel Johnson of Austin, were both inside the Capitol during the riot. Daryl Johnson’s Facebook page allegedly had several references in comments to being present in the building at the time, with both Johnsons later being identified through video and photos.

The FBI also received tips that Daniel Johnson had posted video on Snapchat while being inside the Capitol. Daniel Johnson was arrested on Friday by FBI Minneapolis special agents. Both have been charged with: entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

**UPDATE 5:22-p.m. 6/14/21**  Council Bluffs Police Officers were able to locate and arrest Lindsy Maves without further incident, Monday. Maves was charged with Attempted Murder, Arson 1^st and Willful Injury. Maves was booked into Pottawattamie County Corrections on these listed charges.

Police in Council Bluffs are looking for a woman who faces an Attempted Murder charge. Officers were called at around 4:34-a.m. to 1435 North 15^th Street, to investigate a female that was found in-front of the location with severe burns on her body. Officers, along with medics from the Council Bluffs Fire Department, arrived on scene and the victim was immediately transported to UNMC for treatment. She was identified as 37-year-old Christine Weilage, of Council Bluffs.

Officers determined that the original incident occurred in-front of 1413 Ave. K.  Detectives and Crime Lab techs gathered evidence at the scene. Their initial investigation indicates Weilage was involved in a disturbance with the suspect, 28-year-old Lindsy Maves, of Council Bluffs.

Lindsy Maves

At some time during this incident Maves allegedly sprayed a flammable substance on Weilage and then lit her on fire. A witness to the incident attempted to put the fire out and while doing so Maves again attacked Weilage by hitting her in the face with an unknown object. Maves then left the area before officer’s arrival. As of the latest information, officers were unable to locate Maves.

The incident remains under investigation. If you have any information about the incident, or the possible whereabouts of the suspect, Lindsy Maves. please contact the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4728 or Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867, thank you for your assistance.

Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Insurance Division report 54-year-old Billy Joe Sams, of Bellevue, NE (& formerly Council Bluffs, IA), has pled guilty to one count of Theft Third Degree (Aggravated Misdemeanor) following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau. As a result of the plea agreement, Sams will serve up to two years in prison and is required to pay restitution in the amount of $17,195.23 along with a suspended fine of $855.

The charges against Sams stem from an investigation which began in 2020. According to criminal complaints filed by the Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau in September of 2020, Sams submitted a claim to his insurer involving a motorcycle accident. Sams provided fictitious information regarding the date of the accident and injuries sustained in order to obtain insurance benefits he would not otherwise have been entitled to.

Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.

The IID says no additional information will be provided at this time.

(Radio Iowa) – High temperatures in the southwestern U-S are forecast to climb as high as 118 degrees over the next few days and there are fears that extreme heat could expand into the Midwest. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says he’s concerned Iowa’s drought conditions will continue to worsen. “The Southwest right now, because of the dry conditions, that tends to reinforce that dome of high pressure,” Todey says. “There are hints in the models about it sticking that way but the models aren’t consistent of saying that’s going to be the case and it’s definitely going to move over you folks.”

Forecasters are calling for warmer-than-normal highs this week across Iowa, again, in the 80s and 90s with little chance for rain. Summer starts this coming weekend so we’re heading into the hot months. “By the time we reach mid-June, we’re worried about average precipitation and precipitation starts to fall off, climatologically,” Todey says. “We still have warm periods ahead of us, so it still has me concerned.”

Dennis Todey

The computer forecast models are still not providing a clear picture of what may lie ahead.  “Does it kind of break down a little bit and as we say warmer-than-average and cooler-than-average bouncing back and forth or does it lock in?” Todey says. “Right now, we haven’t seen it lock in just yet so we’re being optimistic but there’s not good indicators on this overall, other than what we can see in the six- to ten- to 14-day outlooks.”

The latest drought monitor shows about 90-percent of Iowa is in abnormally dry or drought conditions, with more than half the state under moderate to severe drought.