GARRISON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have released the name of a worker killed in an accident at an eastern Iowa rock quarry. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office identified him as 30-year-old Michael Lee Griffith, who lived in Vinton. First responders were sent around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday to Wendling Quarries, just southeast of Garrison. They found Griffith had been trapped in a rock bin and had already died. Details about what happened haven’t been released. The accident is being investigated.

Officials with the Glenwood Police Department, Thursday, warned area residents of a new text scam involving a person claiming to be a member of the area clergy. In one instance, a person who said they were “Fr Dan Siepker” texted the recipient, and after some back and forth messages, asked for gift cards to be purchased for “a friend [of his] battling cancer in the hospital.”

The “priest” said the patient needed the gift card to download his favorite songs and video “to help boost his confidence, faith and morale in the next phase of his surgery and throughout the therapy.” The scammer also said they would “reimburse” the message recipient, as soon as possible.

Authorities warn THIS IS A SCAM. If you receive a similar text claiming to be from an area priest or minister, do not fall for it! If you have any questions as to the validity of such texts, contact your clergy or a representative of your church.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The trial for a man charged with killing a Des Moines mother and her two young children has again been delayed. Television station KCCI reports that a judge on Thursday agreed to push the trial date for Marvin Escobar-Orellana to April 27 after both sides requested more time to prepare for trial. Escobar-Orellana’s trial had been had been set to begin on Jan. 27. Escobar-Orellana is charged with three counts of first-degree murder after police say he fatally shot 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son on July 16 in a Des Moines home.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Billionaire Tom Steyer has qualified for next week’s Democratic presidential debate in Iowa. He’ll be on stage alongside Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. Steyer qualified by hitting polling requirements in South Carolina and Nevada, two of the early voting states. He said while campaigning in New Hampshire on Thursday that his campaign has momentum. A new Fox News poll conducted in South Carolina put Steyer at 15%, and another Fox News poll in Nevada put him at 12%. In previous early state and national polls, Steyer has mostly been in the low to mid-single digits.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state auditor says the Iowa Department of Human Services provided data for an audit of its Medicaid Home Health Program that was so flawed that it was unusable. Auditor Rob Sand said Thursday that it took eight months to get information on the number of patients served, services received and fees paid, but the data was flawed and he couldn’t determine whether money was properly spent or recipients adequately served. Home Health Services provides home-based nursing care, physical therapy and other services for Medicaid recipients. A DHS spokesman disputes Sand’s assertions and says the agency relies on independent audits to ensure it’s operating properly.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The names of three finalists for Iowa’s vacant Supreme Court seat have been forwarded to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who will appoint one of them. The Judicial Nominating Commission on Thursday selected as finalists Joel Barrows, a district court judge out of Bettendorf; Matt McDermott, a Des Moines attorney; and Dana Oxley, a Cedar Rapids attorney. The three were selected from a dozen applicants. Reynolds will have 30 days to make the appointment to fill the vacancy left by the sudden death in November of Chief Justice Mark Cady.

A pedestrian struck by a semi in Page County, Thursday afternoon, has died from injuries suffered in the accident. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2011 Peterbilt tractor-trailer driven by 35-year old Justin Wayne Nall, of Savannah, MO., was traveling north on Highway 71 near the intersection with Nodaway Valley Park a little after 2-p.m., when a pedestrian – 50-year old Joey Clark McComb, of Clarinda, walked into the southbound lane.

McComb then proceeded to walk back into the northbound lane in the path of the semi, before being struck. He was transported by Clarinda Rescue to the Clarinda Regional Health Care Center, where he succumbed to his injuries.