Authorities in Guthrie County report Stuart Fire was called late Thursday evening to assist Casey Fire along with law enforcement, in connection with an incident at the Landus Co-Op Grain Elevator, in Casey.  Stuart Fire responded with their ladder truck (Tower 23) and brought a 13-year old female down from the elevator, to safety. The Guthrie County Communications Center received a call at around 7:24-p.m. about the unidentified girl, who had climbed several feet up the elevator.

(Photos from the Stuart F.D. Facebook page)

A Guthrie County Sheriff’s Deputy responding to the scene prevented the girl her from climbing any higher. Rescue crews were on the scene for about 75 minutes.  Among the agencies assisting the Casey and Stuart Fire Departments, was Stuart Rescue, the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, and Iowa State Patrol.

Rescue crews resumed their search this (Friday) morning for a 29-year old man from Iowa, who went missing after a boat reportedly capsized on the Missouri River late Thursday night. According to KETV in Omaha, one person was rescued Thursday night after crews responded to an incident at around 10 p.m.

Crews were in the water for about two-and-a-half hours. They called off the search at around today (Friday) at around 12:30 a.m.  Before returning to continue the search for a victim after sunrise in the Goosehaven area. A drone was being used in the search process. Authorities indicated alcohol may have been involved in the incident, which remains under investigation.

Additional information is currently not available.

(Radio Iowa) — The State Historical Society is asking Iowans to help document the pandemic for future generations. Michael Morain, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, says “We are inviting Iowans to capture the stories of COVID-19 and its impact, its ripple effects on everyday life here in Iowa.” Morain says Iowans may submit items electronically now — things like photos, videos and written materials in digital form. Once the state historical museum reopens to the public, they’ll begin accepting physical artifacts.  “Usually we don’t get the chance to recognize history or historical turning points as we’re living through them,” Morain says. “Usually it requires a little bit of hindsight, but I think people realize that this spring the world is changing and it’s changing here in Iowa in ways that are different than in New York or California or Italy or China.”

Curators hope items like masks, cancelled stimulus paper checks and gallon jugs of hand sanitizer will help illustrate the story of this pandemic a century from now — just like items in the Historical Society’s vault from the flu pandemic of 1917 and ’18 have. “We have medical supplies. We have photos from Camp Dodge where soldiers that were getting ready to ship off for World War I were struggling in dire straights…with the flu,” Morain says, “so we get a sense of what that looked like.”

Soldiers began getting sick in October of 1918 and by the time the illness had run its course, more than seven-hundred soldiers had died. Camp Dodge, at the time, was about a dozen miles away from the city of Des Moines. The city’s board of health closed schools, churches and other gathering spots. For more information on how to donate documents for the project, go to https://iowaculture.gov/history/research/collections/donating-materials

(Radio Iowa) — Signs spreading messages of hope and happiness are popping up in yards across northeast Iowa. Kerra Boriskey (CARE-ah bore-RISKY) manages the sign department for Kendrick Forest Products, based in Edgewood. Boriskey says the signs carry messages like, “Be the Sunshine,” “Faith Over Fear” and “Hope Can Never Be Canceled.” Dozens are now posted in nearly a dozen towns around Edgewood. “How it works is, the communities have reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, we’d love to have some,’ so we take 12 to 15 designs to a community,” Boriskey says. “My mom goes around with my grandma and my niece and they put yard signs in people’s yards.”

Radio IA photo via Kendrick Forest Products.

In addition to the free signs they’re setting up in yards around the region, dozens more are being sold as a fundraiser. “We are charging $10 a sign if it’s something that you pick up and $10 for shipping if you need signs shipped,” Boriskey says, “and we are doing 100% of the proceeds going to local medical staff for supplies and food.” As the pandemic has kept so many people indoors and isolated, Boriskey says they wanted to come up with a way to lift spirits. “The thing that really makes you proud is the fact that you can turn something around and people put their heart and soul into it and we have a product in somebody’s yard within hours of coming up with an idea,” Boriskey says. “People are very appreciative and are excited to see the good hope spread throughout the community.”

The signs are posted in communities including: Edgewood, Manchester, Strawberry Point, Colesburg, Petersburg, Guttenberg, Garber, Dyersville, Cascade, Winthrop and McGregor.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop for speeding Thursday afternoon resulted in a backseat passenger being cited on drug charges. The 2000 Buick LeSabre was pulled over at around 1:50-p.m., near mile marker 66 on I-29, for speeding 81 in a 70 mph zone. The passenger, 21-year old Dane Michael Cole, was found to have a small amount of personal use marijuana and a glass smoking pipe. Cole was cited into court for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

And, prisoner in the Pott. County Jail for being a Fugitive from Justice, was served with a warrant Thursday morning, also for being a Fugitive from Justice. 24-year old Zachary John McGinn, of Omaha, was read the Omaha P-D warrant and then turned back over to corrections staff.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (The Gazette) — An Iowa judge has ruled that a state law blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving federal money for sex education programs is unconstitutional. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that Fifth Judicial District Judge Paul Scott ruled Wednesday in the case. Scott wrote that the law violates Planned Parenthood of the Heartland’s right to equal protection and “has no valid, ‘realistic conceivable’ purpose that serves a legitimate government interest …”

In his ruling, Scott issued a permanent injunction to prevent the law’s implementation.