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

DETROIT (AP) — A major winter storm that blanketed much of the Midwest with snow earlier in the weekend is barreling toward New England, where it is expected to wreak transportation havoc from slick and clogged roads to hundreds of cancelled airline flights. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings or advisories for part or all of at least 15 states stretching from southeast Missouri to the northern tip of Maine.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Snow has mostly moved out of Iowa, leaving residents to deal with high winds and bitter cold. The National Weather Service shows most of Iowa received 1 to 6 inches (2.54 centimeters to 15.24 centimeters) of snow from the time the storm moved in Friday overnight to Saturday morning. The northeastern corner of the state saw higher amounts, with an area near the town of Cresco close to the Minnesota border getting 13 inches (33.02 centimeters).

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has elected Judge Gayle Nelson Vogel, of Spirit Lake, as the court’s chief judge. Vogel has served on the court since 1996 and is the ninth chief judge since the state legislature established the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1976. She replaces Chief Judge David Danilson, who recently retired.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is highlighting family and children’s issues as she introduces herself to Iowa Democrats. It’s her first visit to the early-voting state as a 2020 Democratic presidential prospect. Unlike some of her potential rivals, the New York senator was starting from scratch in a state where few Democratic activists have a strong impression of her. One Sioux City Democrat said she was impressed by what she saw in Gillibrand, noting her “soft-spoken passion.”

Harlan, IA – Six Shelby County residents were elected to the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Shelby County Council in the Nov. 6 general election. They are: Elaine Baughman, Kirkman, Gwen Hansen, Kirkman, Renee Hansen, Harlan, Lorie Knudsen, Harlan, Jana Schmitz, Harlan and Klare Veath, Elk Horn. Current members of the county extension council who were re-elected to four-year terms are Baughman, R. Hansen and Knudsen.  New members who joined the council in January are Schmitz and Veath. In addition to the four candidates elected to four-year terms, Gwen Hansen was elected to a two-year term to complete an unexpired term.

Photo: Front L-R: Elaine Baughman, Kathy Fara, Renee Hansen
Back L-R: Jana Schmitz, Julie Klein, Klare Veath, Lorie Knudsen, Gwen Hansen.

Carryover county extension council members whose terms expire at the end of 2020 are Kathy Fara, Irwin, Julie Klein, Harlan and Michele Monson, Irwin. The new members will replace Jo Kenkel, Defiance, Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, Westphalia, and Sheila Rhiner, Shelby.

Officer elections were held at the January 8th Extension Council meeting.  Current officers are: Chairperson: Julie Klein Vice-Chairperson: Michele Monson   Secretary: Lorie Knudsen Treasurer: Elaine Baughman.  Other committee appointments: Regional Council: Julie Klein and Klare Veath, Iowa Extension Council Association Liason: Gwen Hansen.

The extension council is the county’s governing body of ISU Extension and Outreach. Extension council members hire county staff, manage the county extension budget and help determine programming, said Julie Klein ISU Extension and Outreach Shelby County council chairperson. The county extension office is located at 906 6th Street Harlan. Learn more at www.extension.iastate.edu/shelby.

Elected council members and offices in every county uniquely position ISU Extension and Outreach to move the state forward. Last year more than 1 million people directly benefited from ISU Extension and Outreach programs. These programs help citizens solve critical issues affecting their lives. ISU Extension and Outreach and county extension councils together are building a strong Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has elected Judge Gayle Nelson Vogel, of Spirit Lake, as the court’s chief judge. Vogel has served on the court since 1996 and is the ninth chief judge since the state legislature established the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1976. She replaces Chief Judge David Danilson, who recently retired.

Vogel was born in Rockford, Illinois, and graduated cum laude from Rockford College in 1971 and Drake University Law School in 1983. Following law school, she worked in private practice in Knoxville.

Vogel is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association and the Iowa Judges Association and was instrumental in developing rules to expedite appeals in child dependency cases. She currently serves as co-chair of the Judicial Technology Committee.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced herself to Iowa Democrats as a common-sense fighter for family, and especially children’s, issues, in her first visit to the early-voting state as a 2020 Democratic presidential prospect. Unlike some of her potential rivals, the New York senator was starting from scratch in a state where few Democratic activists have a strong impression of her and where some say she’s known more for criticisms of her.

“We have to take on these systems of power that destroy our hopes” for better lives for families, Gillibrand told a dozen Sioux City Democrats at a coffee shop in the western Iowa city Friday. “That’s why I’m running, and that’s what I think we have to fight for.” Gillibrand, who announced her intentions to run on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Tuesday, wasted little time getting to the state where the 2020 caucuses launch the Democratic presidential selection process.

Gillibrand initially positioned herself more in line with the conservative House district she represented before 2009, when she replaced Hillary Clinton as New York’s junior senator. She was asked to explain the change during a gathering of party activists in Sioux City at the private home of a prominent Democrat. Gillibrand told the roughly two dozen guests that after she had become a senator, she met with the family and friends of a teenage girl who had been shot and killed in Brooklyn. “I had just felt convicted that I had done the wrong thing” by opposing gun control, she said. “And if I’m unwilling to fight for her family, I’m not doing my job.”

On immigration, she has now called for retooling the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Likewise, she was asked why she was the first public advocate for former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to resign. Gillibrand has faced withering criticism from Democrats who said Franken, who resigned his seat in December 2017 after allegations by women that he had groped them, had done far less than what other men have been accused of doing, chiefly President Donald Trump, though the president has denied all allegations of sexual impropriety.

On Friday, Gillibrand headlined the house gathering after chatting for 45 minutes with Iowans and the entourage of media in the coffee shop. She was one of the few prominent 2020 Democrats who attended a Women’s March event this year amid anti-Semitism charges that have plagued the event’s national leadership team. But the senator said the controversy wouldn’t disrupt her commitment to the march’s broader mission. Gillibrand also praised Iowa voters for sending two women represent the state in Congress.

Gillibrand’s Iowa trip is the beginning of her journey to introduce herself to more Americans outside New York, which she has represented in Washington since 2006, first as a congresswoman and then as a senator. She has distinguished herself in the nation’s capital with her outspoken opposition to President Donald Trump and her forceful advocacy for victims of sexual assault and harassment.
Unlike several of the more than a dozen Democrats who have signaled an interest in running,

The Iowa State Patrol reports a Missouri Valley man was injured following an accident on Interstate 29 on Saturday morning. At 1:28am Troopers responded to the accident at mile-marker 59 on I-29 Southbound. After investigation it was determined that 28-year-old Daniel Rose of Missouri Valley was driving a 2014 Jeep Cherokee southbound on I-29 when he lost control. The Jeep entered the west ditch and struck a tree. Rose told troopers he fell asleep at the wheel. Rose suffered unknown injuries and was taken to UNMC in Omaha by Crescent Rescue.

An investigation into the accident is ongoing.

w/ Chris Parks

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

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

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is highlighting family and children’s issues as she introduces herself to Iowa Democrats. It’s her first visit to the early-voting state as a 2020 Democratic presidential prospect. Unlike some of her potential rivals, the New York senator was starting from scratch in a state where few Democratic activists have a strong impression of her. One Sioux City Democrat said she was impressed by what she saw in Gillibrand, noting her “soft-spoken passion.”

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa couple convicted in the starvation death of their 16-year-old adopted daughter will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison. A judge Friday sentenced 41-year-old Misty Jo Bousman Ray to a life sentence with no possibility of parole and her husband, 43-year-old Marc Ray, to 80 years in prison. They were arrested following the May 2017 death of Sabrina Ray, who weighed only 56 pounds when she died.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man who tried to organize the killings of witnesses from behind bars so they couldn’t testify against him has been sentenced to at least 50 years in prison. The Muscatine Journal reports that 38-year-old old Justin Lee DeWitt was sentenced Friday in Muscatine County District Court for three counts of attempted murder.

Authorities at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield say a plane has slid off an ice-slicked runway. Airport officials said on Twitter that no one was injured when the Southwest Airlines plane went off the end of the runway after landing just after 2 p.m. Friday. The incident led authorities to close the airport Friday afternoon and suspend all flights.

Officials said airport fire crews were working with Southwest to get passengers off the plane and take them to the terminal.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa couple convicted in the starvation death of their 16-year-old adopted daughter will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison. A judge Friday sentenced 41-year-old Misty Jo Bousman Ray to a life sentence without the possibility of parole and her husband, 43-year-old Marc Ray, to 80 years in prison. They were arrested following the May 2017 death of Sabrina Ray, who weighed only 56 pounds when she died.

Misty Jo Bousman Ray pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to one count of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of third-degree kidnapping involving two other adopted children who lived at her Perry home. Marc Ray, pleaded guilty last month to child endangerment causing death and three counts of third-degree kidnapping. Misty Jo Bousman Ray apologized, saying “all of this is my fault.”