(Update 10″10-a.m.) The Iowa Department of Transportations website 511ia.org, reports some roads in and around Cass County are partially covered with ice, and bridges are icy. The roads include

• Highway 71 north of Highway 34, to Highway 141 (South of Templeton)
• Highway 6, from I-80 west to Highway 48 (To Griswold)
• Highway 48 from Highway 6, south to Red Oak.
• Highway 92 from Cumberland, west to Griswold.
• I-80 between Stuart and the Olive Street exit to Atlantic.
• Highway 173 from Highway 6 north, to Kimballton.

Numerous accidents have been reported in the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro area this morning, resulting in travel delays on parts of I-29.

(Radio Iowa) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was in southwest Iowa on Thursday afternoon to announce more than six-point-four million dollars in grants and loans to expand broadband service in rural Iowa. Stanton-based Farmers Mutual Telephone Company has a goal of 100-percent fiber optic coverage for Montgomery County. Perdue says F-M-T-C, coupled with funding allocated by Congress, is a partnership designed to benefit regional communications. “It makes a big difference in today’s world whether you’re connected or not,” Perdue says. “You know that and we know that. We’ve talked about some of the benefits — telemedicine, e-commerce, connecting to the world way out there, being able to provide and design things that can be sold across the world through the beauty of e-commerce.”

Through the U-S-D-A’s ReConnect program, F-M-T-C plans to expand broadband services through 214 square miles in Montgomery County and surrounding areas, serving 11-hundred customers. Perdue says high-speed internet is also a must for long-distance learning. “Why should kids in rural areas have to drive into somewhere in town into a parking lot to do their homework today?” he said. “Anybody use Google in here? You can’t do that without connectivity, right? And, you know how important that is.” Perdue says rural broadband expansion is necessary in order for small communities to survive.

“It literally is not a luxury any longer, but a necessity,” Perdue says, “if communities want to grow and to thrive and to have economic development.” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds joined Perdue in Stanton. Reynolds praised F-M-T-C for the company’s “innovative, can-do attitude” in connecting the region. The governor says positioning Iowa to lead in the “information economy” is one of her administration’s goals. “From being able to connect our students in the classrooms to cutting edge careers,” Reynolds says, “to farmers checking crop conditions and precision farming, to small businesses processing credit card payments, to being able to sell our products abroad, connectivity is the expectation, no matter where you live.”

FMTC’s general manager and CEO Kevin Cabbage says expanding broadband to territory beyond its existing coverage area involves laying 185 miles of fiber optic cable. Federal regulations require the company to have the project completed in five years, though Cabbage boasts it’ll be done in two. The money awarded the company was part of Round 1 of the ReConnect funding process, made possible through $600 million awarded to the USDA by Congress in 2018. Cabbage says his company will apply for additional dollars in Round 2, which runs January 31st through March 16th.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman wanted on a Probation Violation warrant, has turned herself-in. 48-year old Keri Ann Harris appeared at the Pott. County Courthouse. After being taken into custody, Harris was transported to the Pottawattamie County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) — The amount of money bet on sports in Iowa increased again in November. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission reports 59-point-three million dollars was spent on sports betting in November — nearly 13 million dollars more than October. Racing and Gaming Administrator Brian Ohorilko said he expected revenue to continue increasing as more casinos got their operations up and running. Betters have put down nearly 153-million dollars since sports wagering became legal in mid August. Fifty-six percent of the money was bet on-line. The state has taken in one-point-one million dollars in sports betting taxes.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man accused of fatally injuring his girlfriend’s 19-month-old daughter has pleaded not guilty. Tayvon Davis entered written pleas Thursday to charges of first-degree murder, child endangerment resulting in death and child endangerment, according to Woodbury County court records. The records don’t show a trial starting date.

Davis was living with his girlfriend from July 1 through Aug. 22 last year and frequently provided child care for her daughter, the records say. He took the little girl to a local hospital on Aug. 22, and she was transferred to an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital. She was 19 months old when she died on Aug. 25, 2018. An autopsy showed the girl had several blunt force injuries to her head and a kidney and had suffered fractures to her vertebrae and ribs. Davis told investigators he had dropped the girl while giving her a bath.

Investigations of child deaths because of suspected abuse often take months because of the wait for medical records and test results and the need to interview several potential witnesses, police have said.

Police in Creston say two residents of the city living in the 400 block of New York Avenue, reported on Dec. 4th, that a home and garage had been broken into and items were taken. One resident said after someone broke into his house, his wallet was stolen, along with a few bills left out on a table. Another resident said several items were taken from his garage. Included among them was a caliper, Zippo lighters, and several firearms.  Combined, the losses amounted to nearly $2,100.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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CENTERVILLE, Iowa (AP) —   An atheist leader says his organization will fight to add displays of its own if a nativity scene is returned to a courthouse lawn in southern Iowa. The Daily Iowegian reports that the nativity scene was moved Monday from the Appanoose County Courthouse lawn in Centerville. Some residents had complained about a religious display on government property. Justin Scott is state director for the American Atheists organization, and he says it will demand equal access if officials reverse course and return the scene to the courthouse. The issue of religious displays on public property has arisen in several states, including neighboring Nebraska.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Red Oak Police have taken a pledge to keep tobacco out of the hands of Montgomery County youth.   Iowa Pledge (“I-Pledge” for short) is a partnership with the Iowa Alcoholic Beverage Division (ABD) to educate local retailers, and to enforce Iowa’s tobacco laws. Officials say the program has helped increase statewide tobacco compliance to a rate of 93-percent since it began in the year 2000. By partnering with the ABD, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says it will do its part to continue the upward trend.

Clerks who successfully complete an online training program and pass an exam, will be I-pledge certified, and the retail establishment will receive an affirmative defense against a civil penalty, of the certified clerk makes an illegal sale. Sheriff Joe Sampson and Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy say “The training [also] assists retailers to ensure they maintain a compliant and responsible establishment.” To take the training, or search I-Pledge certification records, go to http://ipocp.iowaabd.com:8080/portal.

Officials say the I-Pledge retailer program is a great way for clerks to prepare themselves to refuse illegal tobacco sales. As part of the I-Pledge program, deputies will be conducting compliance checks on local establishments. Criminal penalties resulting from the sale of tobacco to a minor during the unannounced checks using underage customers, include fines from $100 for the first offense, $250 for a second offense, and a $500 fine for third and subsequent offenses.

Sheriff Joe Sampson says handing out citations is not the intent of the I-Pledge program. He says the hope is to educate clerks and maintain a compliant retail environment in communities within Montgomery County. More importantly, according to Sampson, is the “Pledge to help keep tobacco out of the hands of Iowa youth.”

(Radio Iowa) — Medical researchers at the University of Iowa have landed a substantial grant to continue their work in unlocking a potential cure for Huntington’s disease. U-I neuroscientist Dr. Peg Nopoulos says they’re making significant progress in halting the deadly H-D from developing and are now in the third phase of a gene therapy clinical trial. “We know the gene that causes the disease, we have a drug that we think will prevent progression of the disease — that’s what the clinical trials are right now,” Nopoulos says. “The ultimate goal will be to deliver a gene before the disease starts.”

Symptoms of H-D usually begin appearing when a person is around 40 years old and they’ll typically die within 15 years of diagnosis. It diminishes thinking skills, affects emotions, and disrupts motor function. There is no known cure for Huntington’s and the grant will allow for the expansion of the U-I’s decade-long study on brain development in children at risk for contracting H-D. “This Huntington’s gene is actually really important for brain development, it guides brain development,” Nopoulos says. “The human brain develops very long. It takes at least 30 years for complete maturation of the brain.”

While the research shows promise in halting the progress of H-D, it’s still not clear at what stage in a person’s life it would be most effective to administer the drug. “The ultimate goal is to prevent the disease but our study will determine when do we give it,” Nopoulos says. “Do we give it at age 12? Do we give it at age 25? It all depends on how bad their gene mutation is and that’s what we’re studying.”

Huntington’s disease is rare and afflicts about one in every 7,000 people. If a parent has H-D, each child has a 50% chance of developing the disease. The U-I research team has won a five-year, 18-million dollar grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Nopoulos is a professor of psychiatry, neurology and pediatrics in the U-I Carver College of Medicine.