BAGLEY, Iowa (AP) — Blood may be thicker than water, but it’ll still flood your basement. Nick Lestina found this out the hard way two weeks ago when he discovered 5 inches of blood, fat and other animal tissue flooding his family’s basement in Bagley, which is about 45 miles northwest of Des Moines. He told the Des Moines Register that he hasn’t been able to clean it up because it’s still seeping in.

The waste is coming from a neighboring meat locker, where blood and tissue from slaughtered animals was washed down a drain. Officials say a clog or break in the pipe sent the waste into Lestina’s basement through a floor drain.

A state environmental specialist traced the waste to Dahl’s Custom Meat Locker and says the company is now pumping its into a large tank. The Lestina family has temporarily moved in with a relative.

Two people were arrested Tuesday on separate charges, in Mills County. The Sheriff’s Dept. reports 50-year old Cindy Lou Hammermeister, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. Her bond was set at $10,000. And 32-year old Danielle Jean Frazier, of Glenwood, was arrested on a warrant for Failure To Appear. Her bond was set at $500.

(In an update to our earlier reports) The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office today (Wednesday), said deputies and emergency crews were dispatched at around 7:34-a.m.,to the area of Highway 6 and Sunnydale Road for a motor vehicle accident involving a concrete truck and a Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) transport vehicle. When deputies arrived, they determined three vehicles were involved in the accident.

An investigation determined that 66-year old Bernard Morrison, of Crescent, was westbound on Highway 6 near the intersection of Sunnydale Road, in a 2018 Champion Defender transport vehicle with eight passengers. The vehicle was registered to the Southwest Iowa Planning Council, based in Atlantic.

40-year old Luke Andrle of Omaha, NE., was eastbound on Highway 6 near the intersection of Sunnydale Road in a 2015 Kenworth cement truck owned by Consolidated Concrete LLC, of Omaha, NE. 58-year old Scott Peterson, of Eden Prairie, MN. was eastbound on Highway 6 near the intersection of Sunnydale Road in a 2017 Ford Fusion.

A preliminary investigation indicates that SWIPCO bus crossed the center line and struck the cement truck, which in-turn, hit the SUV. As a result of the collision, six passengers in the bus were transported to area hospitals. Luke Andrle was transported to the hospital as well. None of the injuries are believed to be life threatening. The motor vehicle accident remains under investigation.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The number of known cases of sexual harassment committed by employees in Iowa’s executive branch spiked last year after responsibility for conducting  investigations was shifted to a central agency. The increase may be welcome news for advocates for sexual harassment victims, who had expressed disappointment at the state’s handling of the issue in the past. Department of Administrative Services spokeswoman Tami Wiencek said the agency concluded there were 10 founded complaints of sexual harassment in the last fiscal year that ended June 30. The agency told lawmakers earlier this year that it knew of only three founded sexual harassment complaints in the prior three fiscal years combined.

The department now has responsibility for the investigation of all sexual harassment complaints involving the executive branch’s roughly 16,000 full-time employees. Before last year, it only assisted in investigations if other agencies requested help. The recent investigations confirmed allegations of unwanted touching of co-workers, sexual comments and jokes and other inappropriate behaviors. Multiple employees, including workers from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Revenue, were dismissed as a result.

Multi-million-dollar settlements of earlier cases prompted calls for the state to overhaul its procedures for handling complaints and investigations. The state paid $4.15 million earlier this year to two women who had been sexually harassed by the director of the Iowa Finance Authority, Dave Jamison. An investigation found that for years nobody reported his behavior , in part because it was unclear who would investigate an agency director. The case was politically sensitive for Gov. Kim Reynolds, a longtime friend, who abruptly fired Jamison after one of the women complained to her office. The governor has pursued a zero-tolerance approach toward workplace sexual harassment and the new rules make clear that supervisors who are aware of misconduct but don’t report it can also be fired.

Details of complaints and investigations are confidential under the rules to protect the privacy of complainants. But some of the cases have become public after fired employees appealed their terminations to the Public Employment Relations Board. At least four have argued that the state’s crackdown has gone too far, complaining that investigations were not conducted fairly and the punishments were too harsh. Among those fired was a Department of Revenue agent accused of unwanted touching and asking co-workers a “question of the week” that often had sexual overtones, and a prison worker accused of improperly grabbing colleagues.

The board will consider their requests to be reinstated with back pay. In July, the board ordered the reinstatement of a Department of Human Services worker fired for texting an unwanted photo of a penis to a female state vendor, ruling that a suspension was a more appropriate punishment. State lawyers are appealing that ruling in court.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Two men who had earlier pleaded guilty, were sentenced on child pornography charges today (Wednesday), in Pottawattamie County U-S District Court. 39-year old Brian Lee Rhodes and 46-year old Jeremy Eugene Jameson, were sentenced to 30-years in prison, on each of three counts of Coercion and Enticement of a Minor, and 20 years in prison for one count of Distribution of Child Pornography. The sentences will run concurrently.

Rhodes’ imprisonment will be followed by a term of supervised release of 15 years for each count, also to run concurrently. Jameson was sentenced to 35 months in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release of five years for Access with Intent to View Child Pornography. In March of 2018, a concerned parent made a report to the Creston Police Department regarding an inappropriate conversation she found on her 11 year-old daughter’s Facebook account with Rhodes. During a search of Facebook accounts created by Rhodes, officers located conversations with other minors in which Rhodes asked the minors to send him inappropriate images and videos.

The Douglas County Nebraska Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation also received a tip from Facebook that Rhodes, through a fraudulent Facebook account, sent Jameson an image of child pornography. The case was investigated by the Creston Police Department, Atlantic Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation – Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and the Douglas County Nebraska Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

According to a report by KCCI-TV in Des Moines, a Pennsylvania law firm today (Wednesday), has filed a class-action lawsuit against Hy-Vee in the wake of a recent data breach. Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP said the lawsuit represents customers whose personal information was compromised in a security breach of Hy-Vee’s gas pumps, drive-through coffee shops and Market Grilles, Market Grille Expresses and Wahlburgers locations between Dec. 14, 2018, and July 29, 2019.

The lawsuit accuses Hy-Vee of providing little information to customers following the breach and failing to “implement adequate data security measures.” It alleges that the breach was a result of Hy-Vee’s inadequate data security measures and cavalier approach to data security. The suit contends that despite the well-publicized and ever-growing threat of security breaches, Hy-Vee failed to ensure that it maintained adequate data security measures causing card information to be stolen.

Hy-Vee has not confirmed the number of cards that were compromised, but a data security expert listed in the lawsuit alleges that the credit and debit card information of more than 5 million customers are for sale on the dark web. The company has not commented on the pending litigation.

Youth in 3rd-6th grade are invited to join Cass County Extension for a fun Day Camp to learn more about the science of food through hands-on experiments. Learn all about grilling methods, meat cuts and composition, cooking temperatures, how to incorporate rubs, marinades, seasonings and other techniques and Food Safety. Fun with the Science of Food Day Camp will be October 21 in Anita, October 24 in Atlantic and November 1 in Griswold from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. There is $10 cost to attend and cover materials. Lunch will be provided, along with snacks from the grill. Youth must register by October 18.

Registration forms are available at the Cass County Extension Office or online at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/. “The Cass County Extension staff has worked very hard to put this hands-on, fun-filled, interactive, science of food based camp together for the youth of the community, and we hope you will be able to join us!” says Shelby Van Horn, County Youth Coordinator.

Fun with the Science of Food Day Camp promises exciting, hands-on learning while meeting new friends. Join us for a day filled with fun, snacks, and hands-on learning! Don’t miss the fun-register today! Questions? Please call Cass County Extension at (712)243-1132.

Authorities say both lanes of Highway six just east of I-80 near Council Bluffs, have re-opened to traffic. The road was blocked in both directions due to an accident involving a SWITA bus and a concrete mixer truck that took place at around 7:30 a.m., near Sunnydale Road. First responders reported multiple injuries at the scene. Video from the scene showed the bus was upright in a ditch, while the cement mixed was on its passenger side, partially on the road.  No other details have been released.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County say a man reported last week that several of his father’s items were stolen from a farm on Pheasant Avenue. They include: A Sundowner Turn Bow horse trailer with eight 2×4’s, plywood, sheet rock, pipe wrenches, a jig saw, and a circular saw. The loss was estimate at $2,500. And a man from Thayer reported to authorities someone damaged a well on his property off 160th Street. The damage amounted to $500. The incident happened sometime Oct. 12th.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A security contractor says in the wake of a violent attack on a couple out on a date that providing safety for downtown Des Moines’ skywalk system has gotten tougher in recent years. Tom Conley is president of Conley Group, which has been providing security services for the skywalk since 2002. He told The Des Moines Register that thousands more people live downtown than did decades ago, and the system of bridges connecting downtown buildings is no longer almost exclusively for daytime commercial traffic.

Police say a 21-year-old man and his girlfriend were attacked by 20 to 30 teens or young men just before 9 p.m. Saturday in the skywalk near the downtown Wellmark YMCA. A witness told police the man was pinned to skywalk glass and kicked and punched. The woman fell to the floor after also being punched. Conley says the nonprofit organization that manages the skywalk has slashed the budget for security officers.