(Radio Iowa) – Iowa motorists will need to be especially careful this afternoon as tens of thousands of youngsters will be making their way home from their first day of school. Brian Ortner, at AAA-Iowa, says being safe is as easy as ABC:

“You’ve got to, A), Avoid the distractions. Stay focused on the road, don’t text, don’t eat, don’t multitask while you’re driving, especially in the school drop-off lines,” Ortner says, “B), Break for safety, slow down, stay alert, especially in those school zones, and be ready to stop in a moment’s notice. And C), Check for pedestrians and bicyclists because not everybody’s getting dropped off at school. They may be riding the bus so there’ll be walkers, there’ll be riders.”

He says the young pedestrians have as much responsibility as motorists to be safety-minded. “For walkers, just like if you’re driving, stay alert, be aware of your surroundings,” Ortner says. “I know you want to have that motivation of the music playing in your headphones or listening to that podcast as you’re walking, but when you get near those school zones, take the headphones out, look up at traffic, not down. Use sidewalks where they’re available. If not, walk against the direction of traffic so you can see those oncoming vehicles.”

Nationwide, Ortner says nearly one out of every five children who are killed in traffic crashes are pedestrians. “For bicyclists and scooters, especially with the increase in e-bikes along with regular bikes, always wear that helmet. It’s such an important safety device and such a simple thing to do,” Ortner says. “Ride with traffic, don’t wear the headphones, and cross streets at intersections, not from between parked cars. It’s going to be safer for you and the drivers.”

According to a recent AAA survey, more than half of Iowans regularly drive through school zones or past school bus stops during their daily routes.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports nine arrests took place over the past week.

On Sunday (8/24), 49-year-old Lonnie Lynn Cambell, of Malvern, was arrested in Malvern, for Public Intoxication.

Saturday morning, 39-year-old Adrienne Joanne Hamlin, of Nebraska City, NE, was arrested on I-29 in Mills County on two-counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS), Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Drug Tax Stamp Violations.

Friday morning, 23-year-old Kaine Logan Baird, of Essex, was arrested for OWI/1st offense.

Thursday night, 37-year-old Aaron Wade Opdyke, of Sidney, was arrested in Glenwood on two counts of Probation Violation.

Wednesday morning, Deputies in Mills County arrested 26-year-old Justin Delee Holland, of Omaha, for PCS 3rd or subsequent offense, and Driving Under Suspension.

On Aug. 19th, 24-year-old Alexis Esai Zamora, of Omaha, was arrested in Glenwood for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense, Domestic Assault/choking-bodily injury, and Obstruction of Emergency Communications.

On Aug. 18th, Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 47-year-old Adrian Charles Bauer, of Emerson, for Public Intox.; Bauer was arrested on a separate charge later that morning, of Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree; and, 30-year-old Steven Alexander Mattly, of Glenwood, was arrested for Domestic Assault- Bodily Injury/1st offense.

(Radio Iowa) – The first human case of a dangerous, flesh-eating parasite has been confirmed in the United States, in someone who recently traveled to El Salvador, and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warns the “New World Screwworm” could devastate cattle herds if it reaches the U.S. “The New World Screwworm is a real threat to America…The last time it really hit our shores was in the ’50s and ’60s. It took 30 years for our cattle industry to recover,” Rollins said at a press conference during the Iowa State Fair. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is building a facility in Texas, near the southern border, to produce and release hundreds of millions of sterile flies in hopes of eradicating the pest in Mexico before it reaches the U.S. “The last case of the screwworm that was an isolated case, but nevertheless a case, was found about 370 miles south of the Texas border,” Rollins said.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins spoke at a news conference before participating in the Governor’s Charity Steer Show at the 2025 Iowa State Fair. (RI photo)

In July, the Mexican government announced it was building a $51 million facility that will also produce and release sterile flies in hopes of pushing the screwworm population further south to the border between Panama and Colombia. Rollins said teams of USDA employees will be dispatched to Mexico, too. “We are staffing up in the hundreds to get down into Mexico so we can trust, but verify the data they’re giving us,” Rollins said. “That’s part of the problem. We’re relying on Mexico which has some significant cartel issues, significant funding issues, so we’re really grateful for their partnership, but we’re going to trust, but verify with our own teams down there.”

The U.S. government has stopped imports of live cattle from Mexico and the USDA is training dogs that will be able to detect screwworm infestations in animals at U.S. border crossings.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Council Bluffs man was sentenced on August 21, 2025, to 42 months in federal prison for possession of a firearm as a felon.

According to public court documents, on October 28, 2024, Ronald Lee Behee, Jr., 51, a convicted felon and drug user, took a loaded pistol to work at Tyson’s Foods. After receiving a tip, law enforcement located a loaded Ruger, LCP .380 caliber pistol with an obliterated and unreadable serial number, in Behee’s locker. Behee was also found in possession of approximately 8 grams of methamphetamine and 4.4 grams of marijuana. Behee’s criminal history includes theft-related, controlled substance and domestic violence convictions.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Behee will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Behee was also ordered to forfeit the firearm and pay a $100 special assessment.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated this case.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from central Iowa was arrested, cited and then released, Friday night, following an incident of alleged Trespassing, in Bridgewater. The sheriff’s report says 58-year-old Lee John Wiggins, of Cumming, Iowa, was seen by a property owner’s surveillance camera at around 2:25-p.m. Friday, looking at the back of the property owner’s home in the 100 block of W. 4th Street, in Bridgewater.

Wiggins claimed he was on the property picking up branches that had fallen from a neighbor’s tree and were in the complainant’s yard. Wiggins was issued a citation for Trespass/1st Offense and ordered to appear in court on August 28th.

(Radio Iowa) – As the 2025 school year gets underway, each of Iowa’s public school district must enforce a new state law that calls for restricting students’ access to cell phones while they’re in class. “Schools have had policies related to cell phones and other technology for many years,” said Matt Carver, legal services director of the School Administrators of Iowa, “but this is probably the most significant legislative change that will be impacting those policies.”

RI file photo

The Iowa Department of Education’s website posted a model policy on its website this spring, as well as recommendations for school districts that have not had cell phone limitations before this school year. Carver said he fielded questions from administrators about when exceptions may be allowed. “There are very specific exceptions that of course need to be made not only under Iowa law, but federal law relating to students with disabilities,” Carver said. “…Also, while it’s not required, schools are permitted as well to have an exception for English learners, so those students may have an exception, potentially, to have an exception in the classroom if it’s beneficial in their learning process.”

There’s another exception that would give teachers some authority to incorporate cell phone use in their lesson plans. “Let’s say they’re teaching students about A.I. or they’re doing something else that is key to the work that they’re doing in the classroom,” he said, “perhaps it’s doing research and they want the students not just to use their laptops, but perhaps to use their phones for research.”

In January, Governor Kim Reynolds called on legislators to pass a policy for all public schools that would reduce the distraction of cell phones during instructional time. She signed the law at the end of April, so school boards had over three months to adopt guidelines. Sixteen states have an outright ban on cell phone use during the entire school day. Iowa and six other states have laws that restrict cell phone use during class time, although Iowa’s law lets school districts adopt stricter policies.

(An article from the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – An online sportsbook that voided an Iowa man’s golf-tournament wagers, denying him $14.2 million in purported winnings, says it retains the right to void any bets due to errors. Nicholas Bavas, a resident of Dallas County, is suing DraftKings Inc., a sports gambling website, and its subsidiary Crown IA Gaming, which is licensed by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to conduct sports wagering within the state. Bavas claims DraftKings unfairly voided the five bets he placed on the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament as rain threatened to cut short play after 54 holes. Aware there was a good chance of the final round being canceled, and with DraftKings still accepting bets on the tournament’s outcome, bettors around the country, Bavas included, put their money on all of the competitors who were then in the lead.

DraftKings has denied any wrongdoing in the matter and recently asserted 19 separate affirmative defenses in the case, including a claim that Bavas “knowingly accepted the risk that circumstances may arise related to the odds associated with any wager.” The company argues that this risk was disclosed in the “house rues” to which Bavas agreed, including rules that expressly warn that errors may occur and DraftKings has the right to void wagers due to any such errors. Attorneys for Bavas argue DraftKings applies a “dizzying array of interlocking sets of rules that may or may not govern each bet depending on the type of wager placed, the specific event, and the particular sport … However, when DraftKings makes an error or accepts a bet it should not have, or when unforeseen events occur that require an unanticipated large pay out by DraftKings, then it seems different rules apply.”

image from shutterstock.com

A trial in the case is scheduled for Sept. 28, 2026. The lawsuit alleges, DraftKings “unilaterally voided” all five of his bets and refunded the wagered amounts, citing rules that say “futures bets” placed after the last shot of what is later determined to be the final round are voided. Bavas’ lawsuit alleges the cited rule doesn’t appear to apply to bets on multiple players, as was the case with Bavas’ parlay wagers. The lawsuit seeks damages for breach of contract and violations of consumer-protection laws.

Bavas wasn’t the only person who guessed that weather would result in a rain-shortened pro-am. DraftKings sparked outrage on social media when it retroactively voided all bets placed after the close of play on Feb. 3, 2024.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – No injuries were reported following a chain-reaction collision Friday afternoon, in Guthrie County. According to the Sheriff’s Department, the accident happened at around 4:25-p.m. on Iowa Highway 141 at 120th Street. Authorities say a Chevy pickup driven by 17-year-old Mason Kinsey, of Jefferson, was westbound approaching three vehicles that were stopped on Highway 141, as the driver of a non-contact vehicle was waiting to turn off the highway and onto 120th.

The teen failed to see a Ford pickup driven by 22-year-old Jack Tiefenthaler, of Breda, a Dodge pickup driven by 43-year-old Jammy Thornock, of Carroll, as well as the non-contact vehicle had stopped in front of him. He told deputies that he looked at his cell phone GPS for directions as it was sitting in the center console of the pickup. The Chevy pickup he was driving struck the rear of the Ford pickup, which then rear-ended the Dodge pickup truck. Thornock was able to stop before his vehicle could strike the vehicle in front of him, which was turning.

Damage from the collision amounted to $20,000 altogether. Mason Kinsey was cited for Failure to Stop in an assured clear distance.

(Radio Iowa) – Even the recent chilly morning lows in the 40s weren’t cold enough to kill mosquitoes, so Iowans are being warning to take more precautions after the state’s first reported case of West Nile virus this year. State medical director Robert Kruse says as Iowa enters peak mosquito season, people should watch for the symptoms and seek immediate medical attention if they’re showing signs. “Stiff neck or weakness beyond what they may typically experience,” Kruse says, “confusion, any sort of severe headache or high fevers or any kind of new neurological symptoms.”

Mosquito-USDA-photo

Kruse says just about one in five people will experience symptoms, but certain groups are more likely to have severe complications. “For those individuals that are older age, or certainly have immunocompromised systems where their immunity is not as great,” he says, “they’re more likely they have complications related to the infection.” Speaking on the Iowa Public Radio show, “River to River,” Kruse says Iowans should use mosquito repellent with DEET and avoid standing water to lower their risk of getting the virus.

The state confirmed its first West Nile case of the year in northern Iowa last week. There were 21 cases confirmed statewide in 2024, with one death.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports a man convicted in Polk County on Burglary, Theft, Eluding and Escape, failed to report back to the Fort Des Moines Work Release Facility, as required, Saturday. 27-year-old Ra’Shaun Dontier McGee is a Black male who stands five-feet inches tall, and weighs about 185-pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on July 2, 2025.

Ra’Shaun Dontier McGee

Persons with information on McGee’s whereabouts should contact local police.