Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hopes by small aviation museum in southwestern Iowa that a stamp in its possession was rare enough to parlay a potential fortune crashed Friday when experts told them it wasn’t real, and likely not even worth the paper it was glued upon. The Iowa Aviation Museum in Greenfield, Iowa, had what it thought was an “Inverted Jenny” stamp on display for some 20 years. After bringing it to Omaha, they learned it wasn’t authentic.

LYNNVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in central Iowa have confirmed the death of a 19-year-old man in a grain bin. Television station KCCI reports that Mahaska County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the grain bin in Lynnville before 8 a.m. Friday. Officials say Benjamin Raymond Van Wyk died at the scene after becoming entangled in the grain bin’s auger.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A board has ordered the reinstatement of an Iowa employee who was fired in 2017 after sending sexual text messages, including a photo of a penis, to a saleswoman for a state vendor. The decision puts taxpayers on the hook for nearly two years of back pay and benefits for Nicholas Carnes, a power plant engineer at the Glenwood Resource Center. The Public Employment Relations Board agreed with a judge that Carnes’ misconduct didn’t warrant termination but a 10-day suspension instead.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A Bettendorf man charged in connection with the overdose death of another man has been given three years of probation. The Quad-City Times reports that Michael Spencer also was granted a deferred judgment. A deferred judgment allows Spencer’s conviction to be removed from court records if he fulfills his probation terms. Prosecutors say 23-year-old Tyler Ekstrand overdosed on heroin that Spencer provided him.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it’s concerned about a report that the U.S. military is using high-altitude balloons to conduct surveillance tests in six Midwestern states.

The Guardian reports that up to 25 balloons are being launched from South Dakota, and will drift through parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri and Illinois. The Guardian examined filings with the Federal Communications Commission, which say the balloons are meant to provide persistent surveillance to locate drug trafficking and homeland security threats.

According to KELO, the ACLU says this kind of constant surveillance violates the privacy of citizens, creating what’s a pervasive checkpoint over cities. The ACLU says the military needs to be clear about information it’s collecting.

A spokesman with the U.S. military didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press.

LYNNVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in central Iowa have confirmed the death of a 19-year-old man in a grain bin. Television station KCCI reports that Mahaska County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the grain bin in Lynnville before 8 a.m. Friday.

Officials say Benjamin Raymond Van Wyk died at the scene after becoming entangled in the grain bin’s auger. An autopsy has been ordered. The death remains under investigation.

Hy-Vee, Inc., in partnership with Variety – the Children’s Charity, a national charitable organization that improves the lives of children in need, announced today that proceeds from its Petals for Pedals fundraising event will provide a bike to a local child in need.

During Hy-Vee’s Petals for Pedals event, which took place July 17-30, a portion of the proceeds from every dozen rose bouquet sold went toward purchasing a bike to benefit children who experience various life challenges, including those who are at-risk, critically ill or live with special needs.

“Whether these bikes provide joy and entertainment during difficult times, improve mobility and well-being or foster healthy recreational hobbies, we know they will serve as a practical gift for each recipient,” said Sheri McMichael, Executive Director for Variety.

At Noon on Monday, August 5th, the Atlantic Hy-Vee and Variety will award a local child with a bike, helmet and bike lock. Variety is one of Hy-Vee’s longest-standing charitable partners. Throughout its 37-year relationship, the two organizations have remained committed to raising money, delivering goods and providing services to children in need. In 2018 alone, Hy-Vee raised more than $550,000 for Variety.

A Creston man suffered suspected serious/unknown injuries following a rollover accident in Union County at around 11:50-p.m., Wednesday. The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Friday, 28-year old Quinton Lee Kimball was driving a 2015 Buick Enclave SUV eastbound on 140th Street, near the Green Valley Lake Dam, when he swerved to miss a deer on the road.

The SUV went out of control and entered the south ditch and eventually traversed a walking trail before hitting a power pole and rolling onto its top. Kimball was found by an Alliant Energy worker, who transported him to the Greater Regional Medical Center, in Creston.

Damage to the SUV was estimated at $16,500, while damage to the power pole was estimated at $1,500. Kimball was cited for having no insurance.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a Creston man reported on Monday that his 2014 camouflage colored Yamaha 450 ATV had been stolen. The ATV was taken from the man’s property in Afton. It was valued at $3,500.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Representatives of a small aviation museum in southwestern Iowa hoped they had stumbled upon a rare postage stamp potentially worth a fortune. But experts at a national stamp convention in Omaha have delivered the sad truth: it isn’t the real thing, after all.

The Iowa Aviation Museum in Greenfield, Iowa, has had what it thought was an “Inverted Jenny” stamp on display for some 20 years and brought it to the Omaha gathering.

Ken Martin is with the American Philatelic Society that’s holding its national convention in Omaha. He said Friday that experts knew immediately the stamp wasn’t authentic because “it wasn’t the right size.”

Had it been real, Martin says it would be worth between $300,000 and $400,000. There were only 100 of the stamps printed in 1918, with the image of a JN-4-H “Jenny” biplane accidentally displayed upside down on a 24-cent stamp.

(Radio Iowa) — The company that manufactures medical marijuana in Iowa is introducing a line of medical cannabis vapor products that will be soon be available. MedPharm Iowa’s Lucas Nelson says they give patients a new option.

MedPharm’s Lucas Nelson

The main focus for vaporization is that it will serve this underserved community right now of patients who are suffering from things like ulcerative colitis, chron’s disease and stomach cancers, where they really can’t absorb any of the canabanoids through their oral digestion,” Nelson says.

Vaping-devices-medpharm

He says the vaporization allows for a quicker release for those needing them.  “Our other products will take a little bit longer to work in our patients’ bodies,” he says. “This vaporization will be released in minutes to help with pain or with some of those seizures or other symptoms that we are trying to treat.” He says some of the people using the current pills and cremes may switch over to using the vaporized product.  “What we’ve seen in other states is up to 60 percent of the population will move over to a vaporization product. I think in this state at least a quarter if not half of our patients will move to the vaporization product,” according to Nelson. “It won’t for every person of course — but for a lot of them this will be a really, really important option.”

Vaping has gotten a lot of attention recently as a replacement for cigarette smoking. Nelson says the publicity vaping has received should help some in giving patients a little knowledge of how it works before they decide to try it.  “I think it’ll help, I sure will still have some confusion on how it works, or is it actually working for me. But with our formulations and with the devices we’ve chosen, I think it will become quite clear to most of our patients that yes it is indeed working, and hopefully offers them a lot of relief,” Nelson says.

They plan to begin offering one C-B-D vapor product this month that will come in the form of a 250 milligram disposable and a 500 milligram cartridge. The second line will be available later this year and utilize T-H-C-A along with C-B-D. He says another benefit of the vapor products is they will cost less compare to a monthly usage of the current products. “The vaporization devices that we’ve released today will be under 50 dollars. The disposable will be under 30 dollars. That compares to capsules that can range from 18 all the way up to 120. And tinctures that range are around 70 or 80 and above from there,” Nelson says.

Nelson says they have been collecting data in the eight months since they began selling the medical marijuana products and are trying to adjust to what they’ve heard. “It will be another option of kind of that lower price bracket for patients that I think will address some of their needs that we’ve heard from on pricing,” Nelson says. Nelson says they still are doing a lot of education on the medical products. “We’ve got an extreme confusion problem between just the C-B-D that you can find all over the state and our program. And then you’ve got another layer of confusion between our program and the recreational programs with the one going live soon in Illinois,” Nelson says. “Again, its kind of a learning process that we have to make sure we’re doing and the state has to make sure its doing.”

The vaporization products were approved by the state. Medpharm says it has shipped 22-thousand medical marijuana products to the five state dispensaries since December. The company says it has had six-thousand transactions with patients at the two dispensaries it owns in that same time.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a Pottawattamie County man, 31-year old Andrew Steven Newport, was sentenced Wednesday in Council Bluffs to 10-years in prison for Coercion and Enticement of a Minor. Following his prison term, Newport will serve 10-years of supervised release.

In September 2018, Council Bluffs Police received a call from a concerned parent who had received messages through Facebook from Newport and thought Newport was communicating with her thirteen year old daughter. The mother gave the Facebook information to the Council Bluffs Police and an undercover officer continued to communicate with Newport. Newport asked who he believed to be the minor girl to meet him at the Council Bluffs Library and offered her $200 to have sex. Council Bluffs Police Officers met Newport at the arranged meeting place and arrested him. Newport had his phone, a pocket knife, airsoft gun with light mount, and a fraudulent FBI investigator card.

Newport admitted he went to the library to meet a 13 year old girl for sex. He plead guilty to the charge in March 2019. The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

A man from Pottawattamie County was sentenced Wednesday in U-S District Court in Council Bluffs, for being a felon in possession of a firearm. A District Court judged sentenced 46-year old Kevin Lee Longo, to 46 months (Nearly 4-years) in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release for three years.

On September 20, 2018, Council Bluffs Police responded to a call about a man who had pointed a gun and fired a round into the air. An investigation revealed Longo and a victim had an exchange regarding a former girlfriend of Longo’s, after which Longo pulled out a firearm and threatened the victim. Officers received permission to search Longo’s vehicle and located a pellet gun, marijuana, methamphetamine, crushed pills, pipes, a scale, bb’s, CO2 cartridges, and .380 ammunition. A subsequent search yielded a loaded black and silver Walther PK380 firearm Longo had hidden in a shed.

The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa. The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.