SHERRILL, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have released the name of a man whose body was recovered from a marsh along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. The Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office identified the man Wednesday as 63-year-old Gary Koch, of Dubuque. The Sheriff’s Office says his death appears to be related to a medical condition.

His body was recovered from the marsh north of Dubuque around 1 a.m. Tuesday. Authorities had been searching for Koch since his family members sought help late Monday night.

An investigation into a hit-and-run property damage incident in Pottawattamie County, Tuesday night, resulted in a man being arrested for OWI/2nd offense. The Sheriff’s Office says Deputy Lieber was driving a marked patrol car at around 9:20-p.m., when a broadcast was put out about a hit-and-run that had just occurred. The deputy passed the suspect vehicle, a red Ford Ranger pickup, on Big Lake Road and observed it had front end damage.

After he turned around to initiate a traffic stop, the Deputy noticed multiple signs the driver was under the influence. After a series of sobriety tests, the driver of the pickup, 22-year old Jacob Robert Levene, of Honey Creek, was taken into custody and brought to the Pott. County Jail.

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

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The Creston Police Department says two residents of the community reported one incident of vandalism and one of theft. A man residing in the 700 block of N. Sycamore Street in Creston, told Police Tuesday morning, that someone had slashed a tire on his vehicle, resulting in a loss of about $250. The incident happened sometime between Sept. 1st and 5th.

And, a Creston man reported Tuesday that sometime between 3:30-and 4:30-p.m. Tuesday, someone took his wife’s purse from her vehicle while it was parked near 410 S. Sumner Street. The loss was estimated at $60.

And, sun glare was said to have been partially to blame for an accident that happened at around 8-a.m. Tuesday, at the intersection of S. Sycamore and W. Howard Streets, in Creston. Authorities say a 2013 Chevy Cruz driven by 53-year old Michelle McLaren-Hicks, of Creston, and a 2011 Chevy Malibu driven by 27-year old Chelsea Leigh Sorensen, of Creston collided, after McLaren-Hicks, who was traveling east on Howard Street and stopped at the intersection, pulled away from the stop sign.

She told officials the rising sun obstructed her view of the pickup. The woman was given a warning for Failure to Yield the right-of-way. Damage from the collision amounted to $6,000. There were no injuries reported.

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

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Another of the three people accused of trying to pass counterfeit cash at Sioux City’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has pleaded not guilty. The Sioux City Journal reports that 26-year-old Kurt Jones entered the plea Friday to a forgery charge. His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28. He lives in Le Mars.

Police say Jones, Jackelen Hartsock and Brittany Derby made several cash transactions at the casino on Aug. 5. Police say the bills were later found to be counterfeit. Hartsock already has pleaded not guilty. Derby hasn’t been arraigned yet.

The City of Adair has issued a bottled water advisory due to a water main break. According to reports, residents are encouraged to use bottled water or boil water before consuming, cooking, or personal hygiene use, including brushing teeth. The advisory will last for the next 24-48 hours or until tests confirm there is no risk to public health.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A $625,000 settlement has been reached in a pay dispute at a meat plant in northwest Iowa. The Sioux City Journal reports that a federal judge approved the settlement of lawsuit filed in 2016 by five women. Their lawsuit said Curly’s Foods violated federal law by not paying plant workers for time they spent putting on and taking off required gear before and after their shifts and during their unpaid 30-minute meal breaks.

Each of the women will receive $5,000. The remaining $600,000 will be divided among 460 current and former workers who joined the class-action lawsuit. Curly’s, a division of Smithfield Foods, which was also named in the lawsuit, admits no wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement. Ribs and other precooked meats are processed at the plant.

If you are a heart patient with a pacemaker, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about the mini computer that is inside each device. Unity Point St. Lukes Hospital cardiologist, Doctor Roque Arteaga says the F-D-A warning is due to the possibility that a computer hacker could interfere with how the pacemaker functions:
“Through the radio frequency signal you can in theory hack into the microprocessor or micro chip of the device and change settings, parameters or even access some of the personal information. All this is theoretical,” Arteaga says.

A hacker would have to be within the same room or nearby to be able to interfere with the pacemaker. But as a precaution, the manufacturer has created anti-hacking software that you can download to insure against that possibility. Doctor Arteaga warns that you should be at a heart clinic to have that procedure done, instead of trying to download the software yourself at home:

He says if you are dependent on the pacemaker you should have the software downloaded in the office or at the hospital in case something would go wrong. The doctor says if you are not pacemaker-dependent, you could download the software at home.

There have been no reports of pacemakers being hacked anywhere in the country, and the warning is being issued as a preventative measure. The doctor says there is also a risk from downloading the software. “The manufacturer indicates that even though the software improves the cybersecurity of the device — like any software you are downloading to a computer — it can also make the microprocessor malfunction too. And that is a theoretical possibility too,” according to Arteaga.

He works for St. Luke’s Cardiovascular Associates — which is sending letters explaining the situation to the 140 patients who are included in the pacemaker recall. The alert affects 465-thousand pacemakers nationwide.

(Radio Iowa)

Governor Kim Reynolds leaves today (Wednesday) for official state business overseas. During stops in Israel, Reynolds will be signing two “memorandums of understanding” that will formally link institutions in Israel with Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. “A big percentage of their GDP goes to research and development and they’re very innovative and entrepreneurial in spirit,” Reynolds says, “much like we are as Iowans and so we believe there’s a lot of opportunity.”

Reynolds says the new links will focus on Iowa’s strengths in agriculture at Iowa State and medical research at the University of Iowa. “This is an opportunity for us to look for economic opportunities between Israel and Iowa,” Reynolds says. “They’re a big start-up country and we’re always encouraging business to come to Iowa and invest.”

Two years ago, Israeli start-ups raised nearly four-and-a-half BILLION dollars in venture capitol in a country of eight million people. That’s about two-and-a-half times the population of Iowa. Israel is now a high-tech hub, second only to Silicon Valley in the number of start-up companies per capita.

The Israeli government provides significant support for research and development. South Korea is the only country that provides more. Reynolds is scheduled to meet with Israel’s prime minister during her trip. She will also speak next week at an international conference in Tel Aviv about “Wicked Water Problems.” The two-day event is co-sponsored by the American Water Resources Association and the Water Research Center of Tel Aviv University. Reynolds will visit Germany, too, but she’s not disclosing the details of that part of her trip.

“We’re always looking for opportunities, meeting with different companies to talk about opportunities that we have right here in Iowa,” Reynolds said. The governor is scheduled to return to Iowa on Friday, September 15th.

(Radio Iowa)