DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged a Des Moines man with murder in the deaths of his mother and uncle. Detectives on Friday night charged 30-year-old Joshua Lee Adams with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, 49-year-old Tracy Linn Adams, and his uncle, 54-year-old Gaylord George Jolly Jr. Police say both of the victims died of “sharp-force injuries.” Adams was charged hours after officers were called to a home in northeast Des Moines to check a report of an assault. They found the bodies inside. Both of the victims were residents of Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa) — A volunteer firefighter from northwest Iowa was the first person on the scene after a small plane crashed in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota neighborhood Thursday. Amy Niewohner, of Lawton, was visiting relatives two houses away when the small plane hit the ground and burst into flames. “It was like very movie show plane crash you’ve ever seen — it was the big whir of the engine and a large crash — it shook the entire house. My first instinct was a motorcycle or car had crashed and blown up. So we rushed to the door, and as we were peering out the door we could see a plume of smoke coming out of the house,” Niewohner says.

Her firefighter instincts kicked in and she went to the scene of the crash. “There is debris everywhere, junks of flaming debris, parts of it were up in a tree on fire,” Niewohner says. “I ran up to the back fence to see if there was anybody out, if anything could be done, but there were too many flames. Immediately, everything was engulfed.” Niewohner was worried the people in nearby homes might be injured. She says she went and pounded on the door of the house that was hit and a neighbor came up and said they were not home. There was no one in the other house either.

Niewohner says it is something she will never forget. “It was one of the most surreal things I have ever experienced. I mean that’s one thing you hope you never witness,” according to Niewohner. “We were so, so fortunate, as were all the other neighboring families… somebody was watching over that entire neighborhood.” Niewohner says she thought of the pilot and passenger who died in the crash. Vaughn and JoAnn Meyer were killed in the crash.

Red Oak Police, early this (Saturday) morning, arrested a man for Public Intoxication. Authorities say 24-year old Richard Charles Golden, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 400 block of E. Grimes Street, at around 12:50-a.m. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

Police in Red Oak say a man arrested Thursday night for Public Intoxication, was arrested Friday night, on a charge of Simple Assault. 45-year old James Reed Mitroff, II was arrested at around 8:50-p.m in the 100 block of W. Reed Street, on the simple misdemeanor charge. Mitroff was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

Police in Council Bluffs say three teens were taken into custody late Friday night following the armed robbery of a convenience store. Authorities say officers were called to the White Oak Station located at 154 Bennett Avenue, just after 10-p.m., where three male subjects wearing masks entered the business and one brandished a handgun. They soon left the store with an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes.

Officers quickly arrived on location and set up a perimeter. A police service dog was able to track the path of the suspects. Officers soon located all three suspects, the loaded handgun, and the stolen property. No shots were fired and no one was injured. The three suspects were juvenile males. Two were 16-years old, the third was 15. Their names were withheld by Police.

The Council Bluffs Police Department was assisted during the incident by the Pottawattamie and Mills County Sheriff’s Offices, and the Iowa State Patrol.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged a Des Moines man with murder in the deaths of his mother and uncle. Detectives on Friday night charged 30-year-old Joshua Adams with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, 49-year-old Tracy Linn Adams, and his uncle, 54-year-old Gaylord George Jolly Jr. Police say both of the victims died of “sharp-force injuries.”

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A state audit of the Mason City school district has uncovered more than $2.1 million in improper disbursements consisting largely of salary overpayments. The audit report released Friday says more than $1.3 million was salary to 66 mainly administrative employees that exceeded the authorized pay and increases approved by the school board. The school board president didn’t immediately return a message Friday from The Associated Press.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A settlement between Wells Fargo and attorneys general from all 50 states will mean more than $6 million for Iowa. Wells Fargo and the attorneys generals announced the $575 million settlement Friday following an investigation into fake accounts opened without the knowledge of customers and other questionable practices. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says the state’s share of the settlement will be $6.18 million. The money will go to Iowa’s Consumer Education and Litigation Fund.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that late Friday night, the Fremont County K9 Unit conducted a traffic stop in Randolph. 46-year old Bret Samuelson, of Randolph, was said to have been operating a motor vehicle while driving with a Barred license. During the course of the stop Samuelson was found to be in possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

He was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center, where Samuelson was charged with Possession of a controlled substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving while license is Barred. His bond was set at $4,300, while he awaits his initial court appearance.

Bret Samuelson

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials and at least one state said Friday that they have started investigations into a nationwide CenturyLink internet outage that has disrupted 911 service.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai called the outage that began Thursday “completely unacceptable” because people who need help couldn’t use the emergency number.
“Its breadth and duration are particularly troubling,” he said.

The commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will investigate the cause and effect of the outage, he said. The Monroe, Louisiana-based telecommunications giant is one of the largest in the United States. It offers communications and information technology services in dozens of states. Customers from New York to California reported outages.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Debra Peterson said the outage “is not related to hacking,” but she declined further comment. The company said on Twitter that it’s working to restore service and appears to be making progress. It hasn’t provided a cause for the problems. “Where CenturyLink is the 911 service provider 911 calls are completing,” the company said in a tweet.

Regulators in Washington state also said they were opening an investigation into an outage of its statewide 911 service. In Idaho, Emergency Office Management Director Brad Richy said he didn’t receive any reports of 911 service failures, but some state agencies, including the state Department of Correction, lost service on internet-based phones. Some businesses in Idaho also lost the ability to make credit card sales, and some ATM machines weren’t working in Idaho and Montana.

Due to sporadic 911 outages in Massachusetts, public safety officials recommended individuals looking for emergency help use the 10-digit telephone number of the fire or police departments they wanted to contact. In Greeley, Colorado, the Weld County Regional Communication Center on Friday said 911 calls were being dropped, but callers should keep trying and emergency dispatchers would try to call back.

The 911 dispatch center and emergency management in western Missouri’s Johnson County were hit by the outage, county Emergency Management Director Troy Armstrong said Friday. He said the 911 lines were not affected, but the internet was down at the dispatch center and phone services also were spotty.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say officers called to a northeast Des Moines home found the bodies of a man and a woman, and the deaths are being investigated as homicides. Officers went to the home Friday afternoon to check a report of an assault and found the bodies inside.

Investigators were questioning witnesses and checking on other leads. Police spokesman Paul Parizek says more information will be released as it becomes available.

(DES MOINES) –On Saturday, December 1, 2018, Gov. Kim Reynolds, in accordance with an order issued by President Donald Trump, ordered flags at half-staff for 30 days to honor former President George H.W. Bush. At 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, December 30, 2018, the 30-day period will conclude, and all flags will return to full-staff on the State Capitol Building and on flag displays in the Capitol Complex.

Flags will also return to full-staff on all public buildings, grounds and facilities throughout the state.