(Radio Iowa) – Cedar Rapids leaders are raising concerns tens of millions of dollars in federal funds for a key new bridge over the Cedar River may be in jeopardy due to the -name- of the bridge. Originally dubbed the Arc of Justice Bridge, it’s now just being called the Eighth Avenue Bridge. Some believe the change was due to the Trump Administration’s D-E-I rollbacks. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says she’s not aware of any threat to the bridge’s funding.

“We are working directly with the city of Cedar Rapids and with the administration and all that I know right now is that everything is still moving forward with that project,” Hinson says. “We’ve been working hard to make sure that that grant is delivered for the city.” The flood of 2008 cut off many routes through Cedar Rapids and it’s hoped the new Eighth Avenue Bridge will be high enough to allow for safe passage of traffic should there be a repeat flood of that magnitude. The city has already secured 56-million federal dollars for the project.

Cong. Ashley Hinson (File photo from Iowa PBS)

“I understand how important that bridge is, and you get back to the flood of 2008 and what happened there and the access over the Cedar River and how important that is,” Hinson says. “That’s why I’ve been continuing to fight for infrastructure and targeted infrastructure investments in the district like the 8th Avenue Bridge project.” Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said Wednesday in a Facebook post: “I wish I could merely worry about the bridge’s name. Instead, I’m worried about making sure those in our most vulnerable communities on either side of the bridge have a safe way to cross in good times and in, God forbid, bad times. Without a federal grant, we wait.”

Reports say construction on the bridge is supposed to start in 2027, with completion in 2030.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says a woman from Polk County was arrested on drug charges, Thursday evening. 41-year-old Jessica Jo England, of West Des Moines, was arrested at around 6:40-p.m., at the intersection of Maple and Adams Streets.

England was charged with possession of a controlled substance, criminal mischief, and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was taken to the Union County Jail and later released on a $3,300 bond.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa [KETV] — Council Bluffs police arrested a woman for allegedly not calling for help before a man died. KETV says according to court documents, 53-year-old Laura Timberlake-Sweeney spoke to the victim Rodney Campbell about a ride to a doctor’s appointment.

The affidavit said when she went out to his car he was slumped over in the driver’s seat. Prosecutors said she tried to wake him up and checked his pulse. Police said after that she went back inside the residence and did not call 911 until more than 24 hours later. Officers said when they got there, she had the victim’s keys and wallet in her possession.According to the affidavit, Timberlake-Sweeney said the reason she didn’t call for help was because her phone wasn’t working, despite it working later when she did call.

Timberlake-Sweeney faces a charge of failure to assist resulting in death and fifth-degree theft.

(Radio Iowa) – A gathering will take place in front of the Mason City T-V station where Jodi Huisentruit worked when she disappeared 30 years ago today (Friday, June 27). Former Minneapolis crime reporter Caroline Lowe is with the group Find-Jodi, which helped organize the event. “So, striking to me preparing for this anniversary is how raw and traumatized the feelings are of the people who are affected most directly that day,” she says, “her co-workers, her close friends, they, her family, you know, it doesn’t go away.” Omaha news anchor Brian Mastre worked with Huisentruit at K-I-M-T in Mason City. “She was focused and driven. And then it all ended,” he says.

Jodi Huisentruit (image via findjodi.com)

Mastre was one of the first to read the reports on the air about his 27-year-old colleague’s disappearance. “It’s hard to believe that not a lot has changed from what I said that day to today,” Mastre says. So far, there have been no arrests. However, authorities say one of Huisentruit’s neighbors, a person of interest, died last year. “Some people out there think the case ended there, too, but in the same breath. I mean, you’d think that if that individual had something to do with it, that he would have slipped up and investigators would have been on to it,” Mastre says.

Mason’s City Police Chief says officers continue to work on the case in the hope that they can provide answers to the family and the community. The Find-Jodi group has put up billboards and posters to ask anyone who may have information to come forward in hopes of finding a clue that could lead to finding out what happened. You can see more about the case at findjodi.com.

(Radio Iowa) – Many space scientists in Iowa are thrilled after seeing the first high-resolution images being released this week from the mountaintop Rubin Observatory in Chile, taken by the largest digital camera ever built. University of Iowa astronomy professor David Nataf says the large, detailed photos may deepen our understanding of the cosmos, helping us to comprehend things like how fast the universe is expanding. “Maybe our understanding of the universe, and by extension our understanding of physics, has small errors in it or potentially large errors in it,” Nataf says. “What the Rubin Observatory can allow us to do, it can allow us to probe several of these questions to much greater accuracy and precision.”

The observatory’s telescope is enormous, with a mirror more than 26 feet in diameter. Scientists are using it to launch a ten-year project to image 20 billion galaxies, 17 billion stars, and many millions of asteroids. Nataf says the observatory is already yielding impressive results. “It’s located at a very good site in Chile, which is probably one of the best sites in the world. The skies are very clear, rain is very rare,” Nataf says. “The telescope can move from one location to the next really, really quickly. And finally, it has a very, very big camera. I think it’s 3,000 megapixels.”

The Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula (Image from NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory)

Nataf compares the observatory’s camera to the one onboard the celebrated Webb Space Telescope, which was placed in orbit in 2021.”Webb’s primary camera is about 8 megapixels,” he says, “so you would have to spend a very long time making a mosaic of all the individual images to match the wide field of view of the 3,000-megapixel camera from the Rubin Observatory.” It’s expected the Rubin facility will capture more data about the universe than has been gathered by all optical telescopes throughout history combined.

The observatory venture in Chile is being funded by the National Science Foundation and the U-S Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

DELOIT, Iowa (KCRG) – A medical examiner’s office collaborated with a DNA lab in Texas to identify a missing western Iowa man. Shirlee Lewis Henkel, a 1987 John Doe, was identified by Othram, a DNA lab in Texas, along with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. He was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons system in 2008 after investigators were unable to figure out his identity.

Henkel was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who was born in Deloit, Iowa, in 1942. In 1994, his family held a funeral for him with a gravestone in Saint Clair Cemetery in Ute, Iowa.

Shirlee Lewis Henkel

Othram received forensic evidence and an extensive DNA profile was created for him, leading to a follow-up investigation. Potential relatives of the man were found by investigators.

Kristin Mittelman, Chief Development Officer for Othram, tells KCRG-TV that the family did everything possible to find the missing man and resolve the case. Now, nearly 40-years later, through advanced DNA technology and law enforcement diligence, they are finally able to do that.

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI-TV] — Iowa Falls native Cpl. Melvin Huff was escorted home Thursday night after his remains were returned by an airplane that landed at Des Moines International Airport. Huff was just 19 when the Army lost contact with his plane in Papua New Guinea in January 1945.

The wreckage was not discovered until 2011. His remains were confirmed to be his just last year. His remains were brought home on a flight from Dallas Thursday evening that landed around 7:30 p.m. Waiting at the airport for him were family members, including Barbara and Larry Walters.

CPL. Melvin Huff

Leading the motorcade on the one-and-a-half-hour journey to Huff’s final resting place is the Patriot Guard Riders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring dignity and respect at memorial services.

Huff will be laid to rest at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Union Cemetery in Iowa Falls. Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Saturday to honor Huff.

(Radio Iowa) – Starting Tuesday, July 1st, it will be illegal for Iowa motorists to hold a cell phone, scroll through it or watch videos on it while driving. Sergeant Alex Dinkla is the spokesman for the Iowa State Patrol. “This new ‘hands free’ law says exactly that. Get that phone out of that hand. Find another place for it,” Dinkla says. “From July 1 to December 31 the Iowa State Patrol and many other law enforcement folks throughout the state of Iowa will be using that as a six-month educational period to educate both drivers and the public of what this new law means.”

A 2017 Iowa law has banned texting while driving, but Dinkla says it’s been hard to enforce because drivers were allowed to handle their phones to make calls or fiddle with digital maps for navigation. That changes July 1st.  “We know that there’s a rising trend with people using technology and these devices going down the road rather than paying attention and focusing,” Dinkla says. “We need to all remember we’ve got to get back to the basics. We need to retrain our mind to put that phone down and eliminate those distractions.” If a vehicle doesn’t have “hands-free” techology, Dinkla says there are ways to adapt.

“We don’t need people to run out and buy the latest, greatest, most expensive vehicle just so that they can comply with this law,” Dinkla says. “There are simple low cost or even no cost ways to comply with this.” There are small Bluetooth transmitters that can be installed in vehicles that don’t have the technology. The law allows for one-touch activation, so Dinkla says you could buy a cell phone holder and answer calls in speaker mode. However, Dinkla says the best option is having the phone in “do not disturb” mode while driving.

“Take away that distraction, take away that temptation,” Dinkla says, “so that when you get to your safe location and you’re able to pull over, out of the way of traffic, check those notifications and respond at that time.” Starting January 1st, the fine for handling a cell phone while driving will be 100 dollars.

Fines escalate if there’s an accident causing serious injury or death. There are some exemptions in the bill for people like bus drivers, emergency responders and people driving farm machinery.

Atlantic, IA – Cass Health is paying the tab for all admissions to Sunnyside Pool every Friday in July.

Free swim days will be held on July 4, 11, 18, and 25. The pool is located at 1000 Sunnyside Lane in Atlantic. Open swimming is from 11 am to 6 pm Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 6 pm on Sundays. Free sunscreen will be available during free swim days as well, while supplies last.

The sunscreen is made possible by the Iowa Cancer Consortium, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, and the Melanoma Program at the University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The number of lifeguards available each day may impact the pool capacity. Make sure to follow Sunnyside Pool to stay up to date on pool hours or closures.