DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has appointed a district associated judge to fill a vacant district court judgeship. Adria Kester, of Ogden, will fill the seat formerly held by Judge Gary L. McMinimee, of Carroll.

Kester will be the first woman district court judge for Iowa Judicial District 2B, which covers much of central and northern Iowa. Kester received her law degree from Drake University and earned her undergraduate degree from Iowa State University. She currently serves as a district associate judge in Judicial District 2B.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrects said Thursday (today), that a man serving time for robbery and burglary convictions out of Pottawattamie County, allegedly assault a staff member at the Newton Correction Facility, Wednesday morning. Authorities identified the offender as John Doyle Watson, whose sentence began Feb.7th, 2014.

The incident happened at around 9-a.m.  Another offender initially arrived on the scene to assist the staff member, followed immediately by corrections staff who were nearby. The staff member was seen by health services at the prison, then was taken to the local hospital, and is now released.

Watson is serving time for robbery and burglary from Pottawattamie County.  His sentence began on February 7, 2014.

An accident involving a UTV in Atlantic Thursday afternoon resulted in one person being transported to the hospital. Atlantic Police Lt. Paul Wood told KJAN News the driver of the vehicle was traveling south on Mulberry at the intersection with 10th Street and failed to stop at the stop sign. He struck some guys wires to a utility pole on the south side of 10th Street, causing the 4-wheel machine to flip and land on a residential driveway. The driver was ejected from the machine and transported to the hospital. According to reports, he was later flown by helicopter to an Omaha hospital. Witnesses told police the man was traveling faster than the posted speed limit prior to the crash.

The accident, which happened a little before 5-p.m., remains under investigation. No other information, including the man’s name, was immediately available.

photo by KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

The Fourth of July holiday weekend is typically one of the busiest times of the year on Iowa’s waterways and law enforcement officers are planning to target boaters who’ve been drinking. Dustin Eighmy is a conservation officer with the Iowa DNR. This weekend, he’ll be patrolling Saylorville Lake near Des Moines. “We’re looking for anyone not having the proper lookout, they’re boating too closely to other boaters, they’re speeding through no wake zones, and when we stop them – we’re looking for the slurred speech, watery eyes, the smell of alcohol, and beer cans in there,” Eighmy said.

DNR Water Patrol boat

Iowa DNR officers are ramping up enforcement efforts this weekend as part of the national Operation Dry Water campaign. Susan Stocker, boating law administrator and education coordinator for the Iowa DNR, says the goal is decrease crashes and deaths. “During 2016, we had a total of 46 boating while intoxicated arrests here in Iowa,” Stocker said. “On a national level, 17-percent of (boating) fatalities involve alcohol, but in Iowa, our rate is 33-percent.”

Six people were killed in Iowa in boat crashes last year. Two of those crashes involved alcohol. In Iowa, it’s illegal to operate a vessel with a blood alcohol level (BAC) of point-oh-eight (.08) or higher – the same as it is to drive a car. Jeff Swearngin, chief of the Iowa DNR law enforcement bureau, says alcohol tends to impair judgment and reaction time even greater on the water.

“When you’re on the water, the effects of alcohol get amplified by the wave action, the wind, the sun, dehydration – you don’t realize how much effect you have with that alcohol,” Swearngin said. “We’re looking to take those folks off the water. The folks who are out there drinking, getting drunk and driving their boat around – they’re not just endangering themselves and their families, but other people who are on the water.”

Boating while intoxicated is not only dangerous, Eighmy notes it can also be expensive. “A BWI fine can up to $1,000 and they can lose their boating privileges up to a year,” Eighmy said. “They’re going to spend a night in jail if they go with us. If you refuse, it’s an automatic $500.”

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The chair of the Iowa Democratic Party says he has resigned from the job because of health issues. Derek Eadon says in a news release that he stepped down Thursday because he was diagnosed recently with what he described as a painful ailment. Treatment will require radiation procedures over the summer.

Eadon says his health has caused him to miss too much time on the job and it’s important for the party chair to dedicate all his or her attention to the work. Eadon was elected by a party committee to the position in January. He replaced Andy McGuire, who has since launched a gubernatorial campaign.

Andrea Phillips, 1st vice chair of the party, will assume Eadon’s role until party leadership meets July 22 to elect a permanent replacement.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A former lottery computer programmer has pleaded guilty in Iowa to running a criminal scheme that allowed him to collect millions of dollars in lottery winnings in four other states. Former Multi-State Lottery Association security director Eddie Tipton on Thursday admitted that he manipulated the computer software he designed, allowing him to provide winning numbers to his brother and others.

Tipton, his brother Tommy Tipton and Texas businessman Robert Rhodes will repay $2.2 million in prizes they improperly claimed in Colorado, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Kansas. Iowa prosecutors will ask for a 25-year prison sentence for Eddie Tipton.

Tommy Tipton also pleaded guilty Thursday in Iowa and was sentenced to 75 days in jail.

Officials in Audubon report “Music in the Park” set for this evening (June 29th), has been cancelled. Contact the Audubon Library for more information. (712-563-3301)

Far southwest Iowa was hit by the first of eight tornadoes that dropped out of the black clouds onto Iowa soil on Wednesday. Mike Crecelius, the emergency management coordinator for Fremont County, says he was in Sidney about 3 P-M when he first saw signs of serious trouble.”I saw two funnels try to come down at one point, but they both got sucked back up into the cloud itself,” Crecelius says. “The third time, when the funnel started coming down, it just kept coming and it kept itself attached. I could tell it was probably coming down somewhere east of Sidney, I just couldn’t tell where because there’s a hill between us and that.”

Crecelius says he saw two homes north of Farragut that received heavy damage. “Both of them had roof damage,” he says. “The one guy’s got most of his roof missing. A grain bin was blown away at one house. At the other house, the whole house was damaged. Part of his roof is gone. He’s got two of his sheds destroyed. Plus, they had an unattached garage, and had a truck in there. Part of the garage is gone. Both of them have all sorts of trees that were demolished during the storm.”

He says it’s a miracle that no one in the area was hurt, given the amount of damage. “Both houses were occupied,” Crecelius says. “They did get the warning in enough time that in both houses, they went to shelter and nobody was injured in the storm.”

Considering the number of funnel clouds and tornado sightings in the county, and the number of photos taken from various vantage points, Crecelius says it’s a wonder the county escaped further destruction. “I’m not exactly sure how many funnel clouds/tornadoes we actually had here,” he says, “but, we’re pretty lucky there wasn’t more damage done throughout Fremont County and over into Page County than what there was.”

A National Weather Service survey team will be in Fremont County today to inspect the damage and determine the storm’s path. Crecelius asks the public for continued vigilance, as more storm activity is possible this afternoon into this evening.

(Radio Iowa)

Severe storms raked across much of Iowa on Wednesday afternoon and evening, spinning off multiple tornadoes, heavy rain and large hail. National Weather Service meteorologist Craig Cogil says survey teams are out this (Thursday) morning to look over the damage to homes, businesses and crops, as at least eight tornadoes are confirmed touching down across Iowa.

“Most of them, fortunately, stayed in rural areas and overall produced not a whole lot of damage,” Cogil says. “I think we had one injury reported in the state. For some of the sizes of these tornadoes, we’re very fortunate that nothing worse occurred.”  That one injury was in Prairieburg in Linn County, northeast of Cedar Rapids. The roof of a house collapsed in the twister, trapping a woman inside. It was an exceptionally rough storm that rumbled across Iowa over several hours.

“Tornadoes primarily occurred from southwest Iowa down by Bedford, up through near Stuart, near Indianola and then up to the northeast by Dubuque,” Cogil says. “Kind of diagonal from southwest to the northeast corner of the state.”  The twister that appeared Wednesday afternoon near Stuart, was rated an EF-0, with estimated peak winds of 75-mph. It began at around 4:12-p.m. southwest of Stuart, and dissipated at around 4:20-p.m. southeast of Stuart. The tornado traveled an estimated 7-miles. It’s width was not immediately known. It was captured on numerous pictures and video by area residents and spotters.

And, Fremont County authorities say a tornado touched down in a rural area between Sidney and Shenandoah, flattening crops. A home near Farragut was damaged.

Tornadoes sometimes occur in groups but it’s uncommon for the state to have at least eight in a single day. “It’s not really a record for the state,” Cogil says. “The daily record is 28 tornadoes set back in April of 2001, so it’s not really close to a record but certainly, that’s plenty for any day.”

He warns, conditions appear to be shaping up for a potential repeat this afternoon and tonight. “It really looks like another day where we will see active weather primarily across the southern half of the state,” Cogil says. “The further south you go, the better threat of seeing severe weather and the potential for damaging winds, large hail and, again, isolated tornadoes.”

Keep up with the latest forecast at weather-dot-gov, and listen to kjan for updates, or follow us on our mobile app and social media sites.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN)