DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman convicted of murder in the starvation death of her 16-year-old daughter has been given three life sentences. The sentences were handed down Friday to 43-year-old Nicole Finn of West Des Moines. She was convicted last month of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping.

Authorities say Natalie Finn weighed only 85 pounds when she died in October 2016. Experts testified that her siblings, Mikayla and Jaden, were at risk of starving to death as well and spent months recovering after Natalie suffered cardiac arrest. Finn’s ex-husband, Joe Finn II, has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, neglect or abandonment and child endangerment. He wasn’t living with the rest of the family when Natalie died. His trial begins April 30.

OAKLAND, Iowa (AP) — A preliminary report on a school bus fire in Pottawattamie County Iowa that killed the driver and a teenage passenger says the fire started in the engine compartment after the bus became stuck in a ditch. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board was issued today (Friday). The Dec. 12 fire killed 16-year-old Megan Klindt and 74-year-old Donnie Hendricks.

The report found that Hendricks was backing the bus out of Klindt’s rural driveway when the bus’ right rear wheels dropped into a 3-foot-deep ditch. As Hendricks tried to drive out of the ditch, a fire began in the engine compartment and spread to the passenger compartment. The report says it is unknown why Hendricks and Klindt did not exit the bus.

2018 marks the 50th year of service for two healthcare institutions in Cass County – Cass County Memorial Hospital and Atlantic Medical Center. Both opened for business in the fall of 1968, as two separate healthcare businesses working together to care for citizens of Cass County and beyond. Prior to 1968, there had been private hospitals in Atlantic since 1903, and several private physician offices. In November 1967, Cass County residents voted to create a county hospital, which meant committing to utilize some of the county tax revenue to help support the new hospital. At the same time, the E. A. Kelloway family donated a 25-acre site, where the current hospital sits. Patients and staff moved into the new Cass County Memorial Hospital in October 1968.

In October 1968, a crowd gathered to celebrate the opening of the new Cass County Memorial Hospital.

As the new hospital was being constructed, a group of local physicians decided to come together and create a clinic across the street from the hospital. Drs. Dwaine Wilcox, John Weresh, Einer Juel, Millard Petersen and John Moriarty opened the Atlantic Medical Center on November 1, 1968, at 1500 E. 10th Street. They moved to their current location when the hospital added on the north wing, focused on outpatient services, in 1998. The hospital and medical center officially joined forces in 2000 with the creation of Cass County Health System, which also includes Southwest Iowa Surgery, Eye Associates, Anita Medical Center, Massena Medical Center, and Griswold Medical Center.

“To have these two healthcare businesses survive the many ups and downs in healthcare over the past 50 years is really quite an accomplishment,” noted Brett Altman, CEO. “I believe the key is, and always has been, having outstanding, dedicated staff throughout the health system. It is the commitment of these individuals that allowed both the clinic and the hospital to continuously adapt to the changing environment while consistently providing superior care and experience to patients.”

Cass County Health System will be celebrating the dual anniversaries with staff and community members throughout 2018.

The leaders of at least three Iowa cities are in the nation’s capitol for the U-S Conference of Mayors. The mayors of Davenport, Des Moines and Dubuque are attending the event. Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol says one primary focus of discussion is about the Trump administration proposal to create jobs and improve our communities through a massive road and bridge construction proposition. “We’re hopeful that this year, there’ll be some real action taken on that,” Buol says. “It’s a $5-trillion deferred need so we’re looking, hopefully, at some significant dollars that’ll be put into infrastructure.”

Along with infrastructure improvements comes the need to be best prepared for severe weather issues, having everything from storm sewers to floodwalls in top working order. “Climate change is a major concern for every mayor and council in this country,” Buol says, and that’s another key topic being addressed. “Depending on where you are, the effects are different, but especially in coastal cities where we’re having hurricanes and sea rise and flooding from rain events across the country,” he says, “just catastrophic weather situations.”

The Trump administration lashed out at so-called sanctuary cities this week, communities that vow to protect undocumented immigrants from being deported. Federal officials are seeking documentation on whether local police and sheriff’s departments are hiding actions from U-S immigration officials — which is against the law. Buol says Dubuque is trying to show itself as a “welcoming community.” “We’re definitely not going to be doing anything illegal but we’re trying to make a community of choice,” Buol says. “When you look at immigration from a city position, it’s really something that is critical to the future success, not only of Dubuque, Iowa, but of every city in this country.”

He says it’s no coincidence that immigration is a hot-button issue at the same time communities across the country are struggling to find workers as thousands of jobs are going unfilled. “One of the ways that is going to be remediated is through immigration,” he says. “People come to this country, like they always have, that have skills and education and they’re looking for a better life. They’re the people cities are looking to to help fill these jobs.”

The summit opened in Washington D-C on Wednesday and concludes later today. Buol is among 250 mayors from across the country at the conference.

(Radio Iowa)

One of the investors in the popular television show “Shark Tank” is in Iowa today (Friday) to give they keynote speech at the Land Investment Expo in West Des Moines. Kevin O’Leary is a billionaire business man who is one of the “Sharks” on the show who listen to pitches from entrepreneurs and then decide if they want to invest their business. In an interview with Radio Iowa, O’Leary says he plans to share some of his business knowledge with the attendees. “It’s a land conference and we’ll be discussing real estate for sure — but there’s a lot of entrepreneurs in that room and they’re interested in the trends that are going on in terms of management of businesses now,” O’Leary says, ” I’m going to bring a lot of that data with me, because I have over 44 of them now. So, I am able to identify good management practices versus weak ones.”

O’Leary says the big ag companies he invests in that supply fertilizer and seed to farmers have seen their margins go up every year while farmers are seeing their margins go down. He says farmers need to adapt some of the methods of those big companies. “If you don’t know what the price of a bag of seed is in upstate New York and you’re buying it in Iowa, why don’t you know? Because those companies are playing a beautiful arbitrage on different pricing and they are taking advantage of every single algorithm they can with computer technology. There’s no reason farmers can’t do the same thing,” O’Leary says.

Kevin O’Leary

He says farmers could bring input prices down by sharing information. “If there was total transparency on pricing — in other words you knew what your competitor bought corn seed for in Champaign-Urbana for example — why wouldn’t you get the same price here. You wouldn’t because you don’t know,” O’Leary says. “They’ve got to be more cooperative in getting transparency in pricing, and that’s what I am going to talk about.”  He says getting farmers to adapt would help them make more on their operations. “I want every entrepreneur in America to succeed and every other large company is taking advantage of technology and farmers are not, and that makes not sense to me,” O’Leary says.

O’Leary — who is also known on the show as Mr. Wonderful — says this is not his first trip to Iowa and he is excited to be able to talk with landowners at the conference. “This is a remarkable place, this is the most expensive acreage for farming in the world, the most productive. This is a very interesting place. There’s a lot of tremendous quiet wealth here tied up in land — and I’m happy to be a part of it,” O’Leary says.

The 11th Annual Land Investment Expo begins this morning (Friday) and runs throughout the day.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Harrison County today (Friday), identified the victim of an accident that occurred a little after 5-a.m. Thursday, near the Hallett Materials plant. A large dump truck was found submerged in the water in a sand pit near Dunlap. Crews spent hours trying to remove the truck, and recovered the man’s body Thursday afternoon. He was identified as the truck’s driver, 38-year old Christopher McMullen, of Madelia, Minnesota.

Authorities say the truck had been traveling northbound on a private road when it failed to make an eastbound turn. The vehicle drove over a dirt berm and rolled down a steep embankment before coming to rest submerged in a sand pit, under water. Hallett Materials crews had been in the process of digging a pit to collect sand and gravel, which is then loaded into dump trucks and unloaded in a different area. Sheriff’s officials say the recovery effort was slow because of thick ice, and the size of the dump truck, which is believed to have been carrying 166,000 pounds of material.

When the truck was removed from the pit at around 4:15 p.m., McMullen was dead inside the cab. An autopsy has been ordered. The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department says the recovery effort was led by crews with the Woodbine Fire Department, with assistance from dive teams out of Crawford County, Carroll County and from Yutan, Nebraska. Other agencies assisting at the scene included: Harrison County Emergency Management; Harrison County Roads Department; The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, and the Woodbine Police Department.  Aarow towing was called to remove the submerged truck from the water.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports 53-year old Randall Joe Conry, of Atlantic, was arrested this (Friday) morning on two felony charges, including OWI 3rd or Subsequent Office, and Eluding. He was also charged with Driving While Revoked, Interference with Official Acts, and Driving Under Suspension. Conry was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $11,600 bond.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office would also like to remind people of the many telephone scams that come and go. Sometimes it’s a “Publisher’s Clearinghouse” scam, or something in that vein. One recently reported to the Sheriff’s Office, is the good old “Grandma/Grandpa, I Need Some Money” scam. The  person who reported it was successful in getting the scammers to hang up by asking some good questions, like, “What’s my (first) name?” and “What’s your last name?” The only name the knew was the grandchild’s first name, and they hung up upon questioning. If you get a scam like this, it’s okay to ask questions and be skeptical – it can save you from being scammed! If there’s a call asking you for money for a deal that’s too good to be true, or for a family member, usually a grandchild, question it or simply hang up and contact another family member to verify the information. You can also feel free to call the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Council Bluffs was arrested Wednesday, on a warrant for Violation of Parole. 34-year old William Daniel Mendez was taken into custody at around 1:45-p.m., at a residence in Carter Lake. Mendez was also wanted on a warrant for a Sex Offender Registry Violation.

A Story County man turned himself-in to the Pott. County Jail at around 1-p.m. Thursday. 23-year old Lucas Scott Brooks, of Maxwell,  was wanted on two Pott. County Felony warrants for Violation of Probation. He was subsequently booked into the jail.

A man already being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail, was arrested and charged Thursday, with being a Fugitive from Justice. Authorities say 23-year old Alan Calderon Reyes, of Sioux City, was wanted on warrants out of Nebraska and South Dakota. Reyes was then returned to the custody of jail staff.

And, 30-year old Jacob Harrison Uptegrove, of Wright City, MO., was arrested at the Pott. County Jail, on warrants for Criminal Mischief in the 2nd Degree (A Class D Felony), and an Aggravated Misdemeanor charge of 1st Degree Harassment. Uptegrove was booked into the jail.

A collision Thursday afternoon near Afton, in Union County, resulted in possible/unknown injuries to one person. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports the accident happened on Highway 34, at around 3:50-p.m.  It occurred as a school bus was dropping of children near 1784 Highway 34. Officials say a 2017 Jeep Renegade driven by 55-year old Shellie Ann Mayne, of Afton, stopped for the school bus, along with a couple of other vehicles. 41-year old James Aaron Evans, of Keokuk, was distracted by objects in his 2015 Chevy Malibu, and failed to stop in-time. His car hit the Jeep on the passenger rear side.

Mayne, who was wearing her seat belt, complained of pain and possible injury following the collision, but was not transported to the hospital. Evans was also wearing his seat belt, and appeared to be uninjured. Sheriff’s Deputies cited Evans for Following too Close. Damage from the collision amounted to $5,000 ($2,500 per vehicle).

City officials in Exira say crews are continuing with repair work on a water leak that was reported this past week, and which resulted in residents being asked to conserve water. The leak is being repaired but residents are still being asked to conserve water through this weekend, as the repairs are in progress. They hope that repairs will be completed by Monday.