The Mills County Engineer reports repairs are ongoing for Lambert Ave. between I29 and the Plattsmouth Bridge. Damage was more extensive with this Round 2 of flooding. Officials are hoping to reopen the road later this week – weather permitting.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has almost completed work to close three of the most serious levee breaches on the Missouri River in southwest Iowa. Matthew Krajewski is readiness branch chief for the Corps’ Omaha district. Krajewski says four of about 40 breaches needed urgent attention after the flooding in March and May , and three of those should be closed Monday.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that the levees needing urgent repair were designed to protect Council Bluffs, Bartlett, Percival and Hamburg. The closure of those four breaches is expected to cost more than $34 million. The other breaches aren’t as large and don’t put as much infrastructure or people at risk. Some of the breaches are allowing water to flow back into the river from flooded fields.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports that at around 7:45-a.m. Friday, Deputies were called to an upstairs apartment located in the 25,000 block of McPherson Ave., for a verbal disturbance. 19-year old Hunter James Surita was located in the upstairs apartment. During the course of the investigation several items were located in plain view consistent with narcotics use. ​Surita was later arrested for Possession of Drug paraphernalia, and transported to jail. That same day, 27-year old Danielle Renee Davenport was in the jail lobby,​ visiting an inmate,​ who had a valid arrest warrant. ​After the valid warrant for violation of probation out of Pottawattamie county was confirmed, Davenport was taken into custody and transported to corrections before being turned over to jail staff. On a related note, the person Davenport was visiting with, 33-year old Kim Michael Britt, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was charged with Violating a Protective order by speaking with Davenport through the jail’s video communication system.

Pott. County authorities received a 911 call Friday afternoon about an erratic ​driver that almost hit another motorist head-on and was currently westbound on Highway 92. A Deputy intercepted the vehicle, which was traveling at a ​high rate of speed westbound. After an investigation was performed, 44-year old Jesus Aranda was arrested for OWI/1st offense. A traffic stop Friday afternoon in Council Bluffs resulted in the arrest of 24-year old Steven Matthew Fitch, for Carrying Weapon — Concealed on Person, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd Offense – marijuana. He was arrested after an Sheriff’s Investigator and a Deputy were heading northbound on 16th Street in Council Bluffs and had stopped at the red light at 16th and Avenue G. To their left was a black BMW passenger car occupied by a male driver, and a female child in the front passenger seat. Once the light turned green the BMW accelerated quickly. ​The car continued to accelerate well over the 35 mph speed limit. The Deputy accelerated to catch up to the vehicle and initiated the traffic stop.

Late Friday evening, a Deputy on patrol in Pott. County was advised that there was a possible intoxicated driver on Interstate 80 Eastbound. He was able to locate the vehicle at the 20 1/2 mile marker and observed it unable to maintain its lane. The driver, 58-year old David Lynn Anson stopped the vehicle at the 21 mile marker. He was subsequently arrested for OWI/1st offense. Early Saturday morning, 28-year old Crystal Rae Husz was arrested for OWI/1st offense. She was taken into custody following a traffic stop for speeding, at Stoney Brook and Highway 92.  Also arrested early Saturday morning, was 40-year old Daniel J. Cernovich. The man was arrested in Carter Lake after a report was received about an intoxicated male continuously entering and exiting a store. Cernovich was charged with Public Intoxication.

At around 12:23-a.m. today (Monday), 22-year old Alexander Keith Sales was arrested following a traffic stop on a vehicle with no front license plate and other, moving violations. Sales was taken into custody for Driving While license suspended or revoked. And, at around 5:30-a.m. today (Monday), 31-year old Cory Robert Kyle, of Defiance, was arrested for Driving While Barred/Habitual Offender.

The Creston Police Department reports two recent arrests. At around 1:50-a.m. today (Monday), 25-year old Roy Almanza Jr., of Raymondville, TX, was arrested for OWI 1st. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond. And, Sunday morning, 36-year old Heather Davis, of Creston, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. She was released from the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa man accused of killing his former girlfriend’s parents in Nebraska has killed himself in a Nebraska prison. The Nebraska Correctional Services Department says 36-year-old Brindar Jangir was found unresponsive in his cell around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Earlier this month a judge ordered Jangir to undergo a mental competency evaluation , and he was being held at the Lincoln Correctional Center.

Jangir was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the March 23 shotgun deaths in Douglas, Nebraska, of 56-year-old Randal Grimes and 51-year-old Annette Grimes. A court document says Randal and Annette Grimes were the parents of a woman Jangir was living with in Sioux City, Iowa, until she moved out March 12. The affidavit says she told officers Jangir threatened to kill her and her parents if she ever left him.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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UPDATE she has been found. Thank you everyone for your help. (Additional info. not available)

(Original story): The Mills County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help in locating a missing adult. Sarah Gillespie was last seen at approximately 2100hrs on 6/14/2019. The female was last seen wearing blue jeans with a rhinestone belt, cowboy boots with spurs, a pink and black hat, and a turquoise sweatshirt. She was last known to be driving a black 2001 Toyota Tacoma (LIC NL796). If you have any information on the whereabouts of this female please contact the Mills County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 527-4871.

Sarah Gillespie (FOUND)

[Iowa News Service] DES MOINES, Iowa – An annual report measuring the well-being of children ranks Iowa third among all 50 states based on indicators in four areas.  Michael Crawford, director of Iowa KIDS COUNT, maintains the high ranking reflects the importance Iowans place on providing for children and families, noting a decline in the teen birth rate by 45% since 2010, and a 25% reduction in the percentage of children without health insurance.

Crawford says one improvement Iowa could make is qualifying more parents for financial assistance so a larger percentage of children can enroll in preschool. “And the second thing is just continue our access to health insurance for all Iowans,” she states. “Right now we have a very high participation rate for children and we obviously want to keep that up there, at that level, so not to eliminate the Affordable Care Act or in our case the Hawki insurance program for children.”

The Annie E. Casey Foundation 30th edition of the annual report ranks Iowa second among all states in the economic well-being domain and in the top 10 in the three other domains: seventh in education, eighth in health, and eighth in family and community. Leslie Boissiere, the Casey Foundation’s vice president, external affairs, says overall, children in the United States had a better chance at thriving in 2017 than in 1990 when the first Data Book was released, with improvements in 11 of the 16 index measures of child well-being. Boissiere says, however, that racial and ethnic disparities continue, and states should be asking hard questions. “Are we fully funding public education and are we doing it in a way that’s equitable across all communities and neighborhoods?” she states. “Have we expanded Medicaid? Are states making health care and health insurance available to all families? ”

The Casey Foundation found that more than 13 million children in the U.S. are living in poverty, and despite economic growth and reduced unemployment, there’s been virtually no progress on child poverty since the publication of the first Data Book in 1990.

(Radio Iowa) — A nationwide study shows Iowans are at an increased risk of health effects from nitrate exposure. Researchers from the Environmental Working Group and Duke University estimate as many as 12-thousand cancer cases each year nationwide may be linked to nitrates in drinking water. Alexis Temkin is one of the authors of the paper, published in the journal Environmental Research. Temkin says, “We tried to look at the rates and saw that states like California and Iowa had some of the higher rates, where we know that there is a lot of agricultural practices, and definitely many communities that can be affected by elevated nitrate levels.”

The current federal limit on nitrates in drinking water is ten parts per million, but recent studies suggest the risk of certain cancers and birth defects increases even at lower levels. Temkin says she and her co-authors tallied the potential cases. She says, “We found that typically there could be sort of a large public health impact occurring at levels that are below the current legal standard.”

Temkin says agricultural states like Iowa and California are at a greater risk, due to the use of nitrate-rich fertilizer and manure.

(Thanks to Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)