(Radio Iowa) — Eight people accused of distributing more than six pounds of ice meth in eastern Iowa will spend a total of 97 years in prison. The eight admitted to distributing the drug in Dubuque after it was brought in from a Mexican drug cartel. Thirty-six-year-old Keith Ellis, 40 -year-old Brenda Harker and 41-year-old Samuel Oliver Taylor the third — are from Dubuque, while the remaining five are from Arizona, Wisconsin and California. Ellis will serve more than 13 years in prison, Harker more than six years — and Taylor will serve 15 years. Taylor’s sentence is the longest of the eight people involved as he also pleaded guilty to money laundering and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The others involved in the case include:

• Joshua Allen Carter, age 33, from Tucson, Arizona, was sentenced to 124 month’s imprisonment and 5 years’ supervised release following his May 21, 2018 guilty plea to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.
• Michael Scott Boen, age 26, from Potosi, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 42 months’ imprisonment and 4 years’ supervised release following his July 11, 2018 guilty plea to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.
• Melissa Marie Petesch, age 30, from Hazel Green, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 132 months’ imprisonment and 3 years’ supervised release following her June 12, 2018 guilty plea to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, conspiring to commit money laundering, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
• Jose Juan Ceja, age 25, from Bell Gardens, California, was sentenced to 156 months’ imprisonment and 5 years’ supervised release following his June 28, 2018 guilty plea to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.
• Mauricio Bayardo Chan, age 21, from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, was sentenced to 300 months’ imprisonment and 5 years’ supervised release following his August 1, 2018 guilty plea to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and conspiring to commit money laundering.

(Radio Iowa) — More than 100-thousand acres of farmland in three southwest Iowa counties were flooded this spring. One southwest Iowa farmer says his family has been able to plant just THREE PERCENT of their cropland due to this spring’s flooding.  “About 75 or 76 acres is about all I’m going to get in this year.” Pat Sheldon says in a normal year, his family’s farming operation near Percival would plant 25-hundred acres of corn or soybeans. They planted beans this year. This is the second time in less than a decade that Sheldon’s farm has been hit by flooding.

“We had to build a new home after 2011 and we built this one up, so it’s dry and in a good shape,” Sheldon says. “Some of our buildings have had water in them, lost some grain bins and some of that stuff.” Sheldon says hauling out the rotten grain is a concern.

“Most of ours isn’t as bad as what I’ve seen some of the neighbors have, but you know the structural integrity of some of those bins in getting the grain out in a safe manner is a real issue — I mean a very dangerous issue,” Sheldon says. “Farming’s dangerous enough in normal conditions, let alone the things we’re dealing with now and it’s going to be a while because we’ve got to fix roads before we can even get a lot of it out.”

Nearly two MILLION bushels of corn and another half a million bushels of soybeans were sitting in grain bins and spoiled by this spring’s flooding. The U-S-D-A has not yet come up with the documentation required for getting federal payments to cover some of those losses. State officials advise farmers who are removing grain to take photos and have a third-party confirm how much grain was damaged.

A state legislator from Glenwood says farmers in his area are struggling to figure out how to safely remove ground-level sections of their grain bins — so a skid loader can be used to get the spoiled grain out.

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

LAKOTA, Iowa (AP) — A worker at the site of a wind farm under construction in north-central Iowa has died after being run over by a semitrailer. The Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office says it received a request Wednesday afternoon for an ambulance at the site near Lakota. Officials say 51-year-old Lee Gruver, of Daisetta, Texas, was pronounced dead at the scene.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The continued threat of rain and higher-than-normal reservoir releases into the Missouri River will hamper the draining of floodwaters in fields and plans to repair more than 100 levee breaks after devastating spring floods. Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service said Thursday that rain over the next week could lead to some parts of the lower end of the river rising as much as 2 feet.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Officials say viewing platforms and walkways with railings are being installed at a Sioux Falls park where a 5-year-old girl drowned. The Argus Leader reports that city leaders set aside $300,000 last year to cover the cost of construction at Falls Park. A consultant recommended the safety measures after an Iowa girl fell into the Big Sioux River and drowned last year. Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken says the development should allow visitors of all ages and mobility to enjoy the park.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers surveyed in parts of 10 Plains and Western states are seeing improvement in the region’s farm economy. The Rural Mainstreet survey released Thursday, shows the survey’s overall index rising from a stunted 48.5 in May to 53.2 this month. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy.

LAKOTA, Iowa (AP) — A worker at the site of a wind farm under construction in north-central Iowa has died after being run over by a semitrailer.

The Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office says it received a request Wednesday afternoon for an ambulance at the site near Lakota. Officials say 51-year-old Lee Gruver, of Daisetta, Texas, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Station KLGA in Algona reports that once officials determined a vehicle was involved in the death, the investigation was turned over to the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Department of Transportation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The continued threat of rain and higher-than-normal reservoir releases into the Missouri River will hamper the draining of floodwaters in fields and plans to repair more than 100 levee breaks after devastating spring floods.

Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service said Thursday during a news conference that while water levels on the river have dropped below flood stage in most places, rain over the next week could lead to some parts of the river rising as much as 2 feet (0.61 meters) from Rulo, Nebraska, to where it meets the Mississippi River in St. Louis.

Increased reservoir releases are also keeping swamped land from drying out. The Corps reiterated Thursday that releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will remain at 75,000 cubic feet (2,124 cubic meters) per second until next Thursday, when officials plan to drop that amount to 70,000 cubic feet per second. That’s still about twice the normal amount for this time of year.

Normal releases from Gavins Dam might not be seen again until November, officials have said. Officials with the Corps’ Omaha and Kansas City, Missouri, divisions acknowledged that the increased reservoir releases were hampering efforts to close scores of levees broken in March during historic flooding in the Missouri River Basin that caused significant damage in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

“It has made things more difficult, yes,” said Matthew Krajewski with the Omaha division. Of the 47 levee breaks seen in Nebraska and Iowa, only seven have been closed, Krajewski said. In Kansas and Missouri, none of the 64 levee breaks have been repaired, Mike Dulin with the Corps’ Kansas City division said.

“We have not been able to access those areas yet due to continued high water,” Dulin said. He said it will likely be “well into the summer” before crews can even access breached levees along the river in far northwestern Missouri. Other breaks further downstream in Kansas and Missouri north of Kansas City should be accessible sooner, he said. “But there’s no guarantees on that as long as the water is high,” Dulin said.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County report 35-year old Jameson Gordon Schlup, of Red Oak, was arrested Thursday in the 100 block of B Street, in Red Oak. Schlup was picked-up on a warrant for Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $25,000 bond.

The Glenwood Police Department reports two arrests took place, Thursday. 18-year old Devlin Barrett, of Glenwood, was arrested for Assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. His bond was set at $2,000. And, 18-year old Dylan Finn, also of Glenwood, was arrested for Assault. His cash or surety bond was set at $300.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday, a man from Creston reported Wednesday afternoon, that someone had entered his storage unit in Creston, and took a tool box along with Craftsman tools. The incident, which happened sometime between June 16th and 19th, resulted in a loss of about $5,000.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Missouri trooper who was convicted of a misdemeanor in the drowning death of a handcuffed Iowa man has lost another attempt to get his job back.

The Kansas City Star reports that the Missouri’s Department of Public Safety again revoked Anthony Piercy’s license to be an officer this week. Deputy director Kenny Jones wrote that “an individual in custody is entitled to safe treatment from his arresting officer.” Jones’ decision was in response to a judge reversing the initial revocation of Piercy’s license last month because the agency didn’t provide an adequate explanation.

Piercy was driving 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson, of Clive, Iowa, for a breath test at the Lake of the Ozarks in 2014 when Ellingson fell off the boat and slipped out of an improperly secured life vest.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers surveyed in parts of 10 Plains and Western states are seeing improvement in the region’s farm economy. The Rural Mainstreet survey released Thursday shows the survey’s overall index rising from a stunted 48.5 in May to 53.2 this month. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says higher agriculture commodity prices and rebuilding from recent floods boosted June’s index. Goss also noted that despite negative consequences from trade tensions and tariffs, nearly 7 of 10 bank CEOS surveyed support either raising or continuing the Trump administration’s current tariffs.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.