Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker issued a statement Thursday afternoon, saying his department has received additional complaints about a slight variation of a phone scam we told you about last Friday. Danker says during the scam, someone calls stating that they are a Deputy and will tell you that there is a warrant for your arrest and unless you buy gift or I Tunes cards, then give them the information on the back, they will have a Deputy come arrest you.

The Sheriff says “Please do not fall for the scam, do not give the callers personal information and especially do not give them access to any money in any way. We urge anyone with questions to call their local law enforcement agency.”

Last week, Danker said the Pott. County Communications Center and the Sheriff’s Office had received multiple calls from citizens, who reported they had been contacted by a person who said they were with the Sheriff’s Department, and that a resident had missed a court appearance. The caller said that unless the resident paid a fine, a Deputy would come to their residence and arrest them.

Danker says the Sheriff’s Office will NEVER call you and demand any type of payment for a fine or warrant, in lieu of arrest.

Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart stores, announced Thursday they will be closing more than 100 more stores, including two in Iowa. One is located in Red Oak, the other in Urbandale, leaving the store in Council Bluffs as the only Kmart in the area.  According to officials in Red Oak, about 30-people working at the Kmart Store there will lose their jobs. A total of 64 Kmart locations and 39 Sears stores are affected, nationwide, including the Sears store in Waterloo. Sears stores in Atlantic, Carroll and Clarinda are not affected. The closings are scheduled to occur between early March and April of this year, with liquidation sales at some stores set to begin as early at January 12th.

The announcement comes after Sears Holdings announced the closing of 45 Kmart stores and and 18 Sears stores after the 2017 holiday shopping season. The company announced in early November that closures would affect employees in 26 states, and that the stores would remain open until late January 2018. Prior to that, Sears Holdings had announced closures at 308 Kmart and Sears stores, with Sears CEO Eddie Lampert saying, “This is part of a strategy both to address losses from unprofitable stores and to reduce the square footage of other stores because many of them are simply too big for our current needs.”

In a statement regarding the current closures, Sears Holding said, “We will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members.” Sears did not say how many of its employees would be impacted by the latest round of store closings, but they said most of those lost would be part-time positions.

The legislature’s top Republican today said the governor may have followed the “spirit” but “perhaps not” the letter of the law when balancing last year’s state budget. Governor Kim Reynolds answered “yes” today when asked if she had followed the “letter of the law.”  “I feel that we operated within the intent of the law,” Reynolds said this morning. “The statute is outdated.”

This fall, Reynolds used 13-million dollars from the state’s Economic Emergency Fund to erase a deficit and close the books on the last state budget. A Democrat in the legislature filed a lawsuit this week, arguing the governor’s move was illegal and she should have called legislators back into special session this fall to fix the budget. House Democratic Leader Mark Smith of Marshalltown did not file the lawsuit, but he says Reynolds put legislators of both parties “in a box” by acting on her own.

“The governor should not be above the law here,” Smith says. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake, the top Republican in the legislature, says the House and Senate will consider updating the law about withdrawals from the state’s economic emergency fund.

“I do believe that Governor Reynolds was entirely complying with the spirit of the law,” Upmeyer says. “…It was, perhaps, not the letter of the law, so we will be happy to change that.” Legislative leaders and Governor Reynolds spoke today (Thursday) during a forum organized by the Associated Press. Reynolds called the lawsuit “election year grandstanding.”

“The statute is outdated and the legislature has the opportunity to come in and update it and I would think that’s what they want to do instead of filing a costly lawsuit,” Reynolds says. The 2018 state legislative session begins on Monday. Governor Reynolds will provide details on some of her policy proposals Tuesday when she delivers the annual “Condition of the State” address to legislators.

(Radio Iowa)

Despite the brutal cold weather and a sharp increase in demand from farmers and homeowners, liquid propane prices are -not- bounding in Iowa, according to Paul Ovrom, an ag marketer at the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

“The average price for the state right now is coming out at $1.49 a gallon,” Ovrom says. “That is just two cents higher than a week prior to that.” While two pennies a gallon is a very small rise, he says it’s typical to see price spikes during the wintertime.

“The cold snap that we’re having hasn’t influenced the prices too much yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes within the next week or two,” Ovrom says. “Sometimes there’s a lag in the pricing.” Propane prices are up substantially from a year ago, about 27-percent higher. Ovrom says several factors may be coming into play. Ovrum says L-P prices often bounce between October and March as that’s when much of the product is exported to nations like China.

“Propane is tied to crude oil,” Ovrom says. “Crude oil production, a byproduct of that is propane and as crude oil prices go up or fluctuate, that impacts the price of propane.” Even with the cold weather, he does not expect the record demand Iowa saw in 2013 when then-Governor Terry Branstad declared an energy emergency as propane prices averaged as high as $4.71 a gallon.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for hitting and killing an Omaha street crew worker nearly a year ago has been sentenced to 14 days in jail and two years’ probation.

Alan Solarana was sentenced Thursday in Douglas County Court after pleading guilty in September to misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide in the Jan. 23 accident that killed 48-year-old Salvatore Fidone III, of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Police have said Fidone was standing on the driver’s side of a city truck as he and others prepared to fill potholes when a car driven by Solarana drifted from a northbound lane and hit him.

Investigators said Solarana was not speeding on under the influence at the time of the crash.

DES MOINES — Iowa received a statewide annual precipitation of 33 inches in 2017, more than two inches less than normal, according to the latest Water Summary Update from the Iowa DNR. The year began with a wetter than normal spring, followed by drier than normal summer and fall months, with the exception of a very wet October. “The distribution of rainfall was uneven this year, with some areas of southeastern Iowa ending the year more than 10 inches short on rainfall,” said Tim Hall, the DNR’s Hydrology Resources Coordinator. “Good spring rainfall will help to restore soil moisture and shallow groundwater in those areas.”

Streamflow has been generally normal for the second half of the year. Southeastern Iowa remains an area of concern after two consecutive years of drier than normal conditions.  Meanwhile, 2017 was an unusually warm year with a statewide average temperature of 49.9 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.8 degrees above normal. This ranks as the eighth warmest year on record.

For a thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends, go to www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate.

The Atlantic Police Department is issuing a warning to residents of the community, that Atlantic Police have been issuing parking tickets to vehicles parked on the street and that have not been moved since the snow began to fall. Vehicles parked on the street more than 72 hours after the snow stops will be ticketed. They will be towed away beginning today (Thursday).

Drive-by shootings outside two homes in northwest Iowa on Christmas Day led authorities to a house in Brandon, South Dakota, this week where they discovered an arsenal of weapons. Two suspects were taken into custody — a mother and son. Brandon Police Chief David Kull says they found a wealth of guns at the home, which had a fortified basement. “There were approximately 80 firearms and a large amount of ammunition,” Chief Kull says. “I’m talking thousands of rounds. We’ll probably have to weigh it. I don’t think we’ll ever count it.” Kull says 50-year-old Artis Kattenberg and her 16-year-old son were arrested. The drive-by shootings occurred in Lyon and Sioux counties. No one was hurt. Reports say the teen fired the shots. Kull says the incidents may have something to do with a dispute the suspects were having at a church in Rock Valley, Iowa.

“There were comments made in reference to microchips being implanted in brains and being controlled by outside sources,” he says. There is some question about the woman’s mental stability, according to the chief. Kattenburg is charged with felony child abuse. More charges are pending. In addition to the weapons, police seized high-powered rifle scopes, kevlar vests and gunshot suppressors. The basement of the house was stockpiled with supplies, including food and water.

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Arizona man who was arrested, transported cross-country and jailed for a robbery that he didn’t commit is suing the Iowa prosecutor responsible for charging him. Joseph McBride spent two months in custody after authorities arrested him in Phoenix in August. The 23-year-old was among three people charged for a Jan. 1, 2017, home invasion in his hometown of Cedar Rapids — even though he had proof he was 1,500 miles away. Investigators never spoke with him before his arrest.

McBride’s lawsuit alleges that the complaint signed by Linn County Attorney Vander Sanden contained materially false statements, including that police had “phone records and social media” suggesting he was involved. Vander Sanden says the charge was based on a “good-faith belief that the victim was correct in the identification.”

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Goodwill of the Heartland plans to raise $7.6 million to open a vegetable oil packaging plant in eastern Iowa where it would employ dozens of individuals with disabilities. Vice President for Operations Jessica Schamberger presented the proposal to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday. The plan calls for creating 40 jobs in Coralville.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that Schamberger also requested two $50,000 grants to help fund the project, which would ship packaged oil for distribution to more than 70 counties through the World Food Program. Schamberger says the project would package a product that’s produced in Iowa, create jobs for people with disabilities and support people in need. She says the vegetable oil will be sent to counties like Syria, Myanmar and Yemen.