(Radio Iowa) – An Ohio-based company that makes plastic drainage pipe is closing its facility in Waterloo. Advanced Drainage Systems has notified the State of Iowa that 71 employees in Waterloo will be laid off on August 17th. Employees were told of the closure last week. The company’s pipes are used to drain fields, parking lots and freeways and to hold storm water and control erosion.

The Waterloo facility was one of three A-D-S plants recycling plastic. According to a publication called “Plastics News,” A-D-S is shifting recycling to a facility in southern Georgia.

(Radio Iowa) – A coalition of business groups, labor unions and a major Iowa clinic is seeking to overturn a law that puts restrictions on companies called Pharmacy Benefit Managers that set the price of medications for people with insurance. Supporters of the law say it will ensure pharmacies are properly reimbursed for filling prescriptions and patients aren’t forced to use certain pharmacies. The Iowa Association of Business and Industry is leading a lawsuit that argues the law is unconstitutional because it forbids employers from telling employees how to save money on prescriptions.

The groups also argue the new regulations outlined in the Iowa law are pre-empted by federal law. Iowa Association of Business and Industry president Nicole Crain says the law will raise health care costs for businesses of all sizes by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Backers of the law say a required, nearly 11 dollar dispensing fee to small, independent pharmacies for each prescription filled will stop an avalanche of pharmacy closures. The coalition challenge the law says that fee will drive up costs and the law prevents insurance plans from directing patients to Iowa or online pharmacies that will not be required to charge that fee. The Iowa Bankers Benefit Plan, the Iowa Laborers District Council Health and Welfare Fund, Des Moines Orthopedic Surgeons and Adel-based Iowa Spring Manufacturing are also parties to the lawsuit.

(Treynor, Iowa) – A pursuit at around 3:15-a.m. Sunday in Pottawattamie County ended with the suspect vehicle crashing, and a man from Nebraska suffering fatal injuries. According to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, a Deputy saw a 2021 Mercedes Benz passenger car crossing the center line of Highway 92 east of Council Bluffs, and initiated a traffic stop, activating his emergency lights and siren. The vehicle continued eastbound until it left the road just east of Treynor and entered the south ditch. The car sustained severe damage in the crash.

Deputies discovered 44-year-old David Hawkins, of Omaha, inside the car. He suffered serious injuries and request emergency medical services (EMS). Treynor Fire and Rescue arrived on the scene and began life saving measures, but Hawkins died from his injuries.

Due to the seriousness of the crash, the Traffic Investigators responded to the scene. The crash and incident remain under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Two West Des Moines companies are expanding with the help of state tax incentives. Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson Kannan Kappleman says I-T-A group helps businesses with marketing and other services. “After launching a new, larger headquarters last year, the company plans an additional expansion of just over 15-thousand square foot feet at the same location,” Kappleman says. They were award benefits with the promise of creating new jobs.

“Which is equivalent to approximately 119-thousand dollars in tax benefits. The project is expected to create 33 jobs,” she says. Merchants Bonding Company is planning to spend 22 million dollars and will also receive state job incentives. “They are a property and casualty mutual insurance company providing fidelity surety and other liability coverage. The company plans to expand its location by 34-thousand square feet and they’re going to match its current space with both office and conference spaces. The project is expected to create 34 jobs,” she says.

Kappleman says the company will receive around 800-thousand dollars in tax benefits.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Madison County was arrested last week on an Adair County warrant. 49-year-old Tommy Duane Watters, of Macksburg, was taken into custody at the Clarke County Jail, on the warrant for Failure to Appear in Adair County District Court Dec. 20, 2024, on a charge of Driving While Barred. His cash-only bond was set at $2,000.

Watters was booked into the Adair County Jail on June 19th and released the following day for time served.

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports Waloa Peter Chamdual, convicted of Robbery 1st Degree in Polk County, failed to report back to the Fort Des Moines – Bldg. 70 as required on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

Waloa Peter Chamdual

Chamdual is a 23-year-old, 5’10”, 156-pound Black male. He was admitted to the work release facility on May 13, 2025.

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

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak cited the driver of a pickup Sunday, following a property damage accident. Authorities say 45-year-old Justin Archer, of Red Oak, was cited for unsafe backing on a highway, in the collision that caused $2,000 damage, but no injuries. According to the police report, a 2001 Ford F-150 pickup driven by Archer, was traveling westbound on E. Washington Street at around 2:30-p.m., when someone walking down the street yelled out to him. Archer stopped, and began to back his vehicle up, at about the same time a 2018 Ford Focus driven by 36-year-old Brett Bourlon, of Red Oak, was backing out of his driveway.

Bourlon saw the pickup pass his driveway, but didn’t realize Archer had stopped and was backing-up. Likewise, Archer didn’t notice the car backing out onto the street, because his attention was focused via a side-view mirror, on the man the street who yelled at him.

Archer’s pickup backed into the rear of the car, causing $2,000 damage to he vehicle. The pickup sustained no visible damage, because a trailer hitch was extending from the back of the vehicle.

(Creston, Iowa) – A woman from Colorado was arrested on a drug-related charge early today (Monday), in Creston. According to Creston Police, 56-year-old Susan Rae White, of Canon City, Colorado, was arrested a little after 12-a.m. at the intersection of Chestnut and Clark. She was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance – Second Offense. White was taken to the Union County Jail and released on a $2,000 cash or surety bond

(Le Mars, Iowa) – The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office says the body of a swimmer who went missing Saturday evening was recovered soon thereafter from a lake in northwest Iowa. Authorities had received a call about a missing person and a possible drowning at Kellen’s Ponderosa – a swimming lake south of LeMars – at around 7-p.m, Saturday, June 21st. According to the sheriff’s report, a 27-year-old man was swimming with friends when he disappeared.

The 27-year-old’s body was recovered by authorities and ruled as drowning by the local medical examiner.The name of the victim was not immediately released.

The Le Mars Police Department, Le Mars Fire and Rescue, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Sioux County Dive Team assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development merged its system for filing unemployment claims into the IowaWorks system used to train and find people new jobs at the start of the month. I-W-D director Beth Townsend says they made the merge without major technical issues. “When you’re converting from one system that you’ve been on for over 50 years to a brand new system, there are moments when you’re just thinking, ‘oh, good Lord, I hope this works.’ And it did, it exceeded our expectations in terms of how smoothly it went,” Townsend says. There were a few things that popped up that they had to adjust.

“What happens when you do these kind of large scale stand ups of new systems — it’s those unique situations that only affect a few 100 people that that pop up that maybe either didn’t get considered or the process you had and planned for those didn’t work exactly the way you hoped that it would. So there’s been a little stops and starts,” she says. Townsend says they added extra people to answer the phones as they get the system up and running. “The first couple of days, obviously they were significantly higher than we’d like them to be, but by the end of the week, they were back down to no wait times,” Townsend says. “…So that was a good indication that as we worked through the week, people were able to get their claims filed and and didn’t need assistance.”

Townsend says the the goal with the upgrade was to make things easier. “We’ve been getting good feedback that they people that are using the system say it’s easier to use. So, they like that it’s more accessible and people are getting paid, their claims got paid. So at the end of the day, it’s been a really smooth transition as from our perspective,” she says.

You can go to Iowaworks.com to file for unemployment or look for a new job.