Three people were injured during a collision Friday afternoon on Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa, including two from western Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2019 Kenworth semi tractor was traveling east on I-80 in Johnson County, and had slowed for traffic ahead that had stopped due to a previous accident. A 2000 Ford Windstar van also traveling eastbound on I-80, rear-ended the semi’s trailer. The crash occurred at around 2:35-p.m., Friday.

Following the collision, both vehicles came to rest in the lane of traffic. The Patrol said two of the crash victims, a 52-year old and a 16-year old in the van, were from Carroll. They were transported by ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospitals/Clinics in Iowa City, with the 52-year old flown by helicopter to the facility. The third victim was the 46-year old truck driver, from Baltimore, Maryland. He was transported by an Iowa DOT Enforcement Officer to the hospital. All three crash victims were wearing their seat belts.

Their names were being withheld, pending completion of the accident investigation.

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

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An agricultural economist says the Trump administration’s decision to base new handouts to farmers hit by the trade war with China on how many acres they’ve planted might be a fairer way to distribute the cash. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Thursday that the government will pay another $16 billion in aid to farmers affected by the president’s trade war with China. Scott Irwin, a University of Illinois agricultural economist says per acre payments are fairer than per bushel.

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Nebraska, says repair work on a levee breach near Hamburg, Iowa, has been completed. The agency said in a news release Friday that the breach was one of four priority breaches to be closed in the wake of historic flooding along the Missouri River in March. The Corps says the work was completed Thursday after work began in early May.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The execution date for a notorious Iowa drug kingpin who killed witnesses and children in 1993 has been scheduled for Jan. 15. Dustin Honken is among five federal death row inmates whose execution dates were announced Thursday by the Justice Department. The announcement came as Attorney General Bill Barr directed federal capital punishment to resume for the first time in nearly two decades.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in eastern Iowa say a kayaker has been rescued from the Mississippi River at a dam at Clinton. Television station KWQC reports that the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office was called Friday to Lock and Dam 13 for a water rescue. Officials with the Clinton Fire Department reported sometime before 3 p.m. Friday that a male kayaker had been safely rescued.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Health said Friday, preliminary data for 2019 indicate a continued increase in two of the most commonly reported conditions in Iowa, chlamydia and gonorrhea. For the period of January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019, there were 7,730 cases of chlamydia reported to IDPH.

This represents a 9.6 percent increase from the same time period in 2018. Gonorrhea cases for this time period in 2019 are at 2,572. This represents a 14.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2018.

IDPH encourages adherence to CDC screening and treatment guidelines to ensure that individuals who are infected are diagnosed and properly treated. https://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/default.htm

(Radio Iowa) — New Jersey Senator Cory Booker says President Trump is “engaging in moral vandalism” — but Booker continues to warn Democrats to choose a 2020 presidential candidate who will do more than just beat Trump.  “We need a healer,” Booker said. “We need a coalition builder.” Booker told a crowd in Greenfield this (Friday) afternoon that tribalism is endangering the American experiment. “There is a civic gospel in this country that we need to start talking from,” Booker said, “because it’s what unites us.”

Booker made no mention of the signals he’s been sending that he’ll challenge former Vice President Joe Biden’s record in next week’s debate. Booker instead directed all his rhetorical hits at President Trump. “It bothers me that we have more animosity for each other in this country than we do for the Russians who are trying to undermine our democracy,” Booker said, to applause.”

Mary Williamson of Panora supported Bernie Sanders in 2016 and is looking for a new candidate for 2020. She has one criteria. “Any of them would be better than Trump, but we just have to look at whoever can win,” she said.

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Nebraska, says repair work on a levee breach near Hamburg, Iowa, has been completed. The agency said in a news release Friday that the breach was one of four priority breaches to be closed in the wake of historic flooding along the Missouri River in March. The Corps says the work, which began in early May, was completed Thursday.

Newt Marine Service of Dubuque, Iowa, was awarded the $12 million contract for the repair work. The Corps says more than 500 miles of levees on the Missouri, Platte and Elkhorn rivers, as well as other tributaries, experienced significant flood damage this year.

The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department reports an expert with the company providing playground equipment for the Schildberg Recreation Area is scheduled to be on the site next week. Volunteers are needed to help put the equipment together. Crews will be working on the west side of the park from 8-a.m. to 5-p.m., July 31st and August 1st. Lunch will be provided. You can work for any length of time you have available during those hours, on those two days. Just show up with your gloves and any tools you think might be helpful (wrenches, etc.).

Two arrests took place Thursday, in Mills County. The Sheriff’s Office reports 28-year old Erik Jeffrey White, of Papillion, NE., was arrested at around 11-p.m. on Highway 34. White was charged with OWI/ 1st offense, with bond set at $1,000.

And, at around 8:20-p.m. Thursday, Mills County Deputies arrested 35-year old Bradley Kenneth Porter, of Braddyville, on a Page County warrant for Harassment in the 1st Degree. Porter was being held without bond, in the Mills County Jail.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer, today (Friday), advises it’s that time of the year where residents find door to door out-of-the-area sales / contractors knocking on their doors. Palmer says also, “This is a reminder that you should ALWAYS check with the better business bureau or similar agencies PRIOR to agreeing to or signing any contracts with these people.”

He adds, “Make sure the work is EXACTLY what you believe it will be. Every year residents have work done by these traveling persons / companies and don’t get the work, or quality of work that they think they will get. Once these people / companies have completed the work and are gone,” he says “it is almost impossible to recoup any losses for services performed or not performed. In the past false identifications / company names have been used.”

The Sheriff stresses once again, to “ask for references and check them out. Do not fall for pressure sales because they are usually too good to be true.”

(Radio Iowa) — An eastern Iowa state trooper is glad he’s kept a little used piece of equipment ready to go after it was needed to save the life of a rider on RAGBRAI, Wednesday. Trooper Bob Conrad told K-C-R-G- T-V he was doing traffic control when riders told him they saw someone who was struggling. “Myself and another trooper responded to that area. As I was just climbing into the car I heard someone saying ‘they are doing C-P-R,” Conrad says. Conrad pulled out his portable defibrillator (AED) that he always carries with him. “Started doing the shock with the A-E-D. Gave him one shock, continued on with C-P-R and then it advised for another shock,” according to Conrad.

Trooper Bob Conrad (Photo courtesy KCRG via Radio IA)

The man’s heart started beating again after the second shock and trooper Conrad says he was taken to the hospital. Conrad told K-C-R-G T-V that he ordered a special batter for the device last month. He says he wanted it to be fresh and ready to go. “I have that in my car for years and not had a need for it,” Conrad says.

Conrad said it’s great to be able to save a life rather than tell a family member someone has lost theirs. The rider has been identified as 62-year-old Greg Abbey from Washington state. He is currently hospitalized in serious condition.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) — An Iowa man police say came to Rhode Island with a backpack full of burglary tools to visit singer Taylor Swift has been held without bail pending a competency hearing. 32-year-old David Page Liddle was held at a court hearing Thursday, after authorities said there were concerns he was a flight risk and had previously been accused of stalking Swift. He had been held on $10,000 bail after his arrest July 19 not far from Swift’s beachfront mansion.

The Des Moines man is charged with possession of burglary tools and possession of a weapon other than a firearm. Police Chief Shawn Lacey says Liddle told officers he was looking to “catch up” with Swift and knew her personally. Liddle’s public defender had no comment.