Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Board members of an obscure but influential Iowa government insurance program have spent tens of thousands of dollars in public money to travel to out-of-state resorts for meetings. A review by The Associated Press finds that directors of the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool for years have held two of their six annual meetings in other states, usually at posh locations in Florida in February and Michigan in August.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities suspect that two cybersecurity workers charged with breaking into an Iowa courthouse were responsible for a late-night entry into the courthouse in Des Moines. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that based on surveillance footage, investigators believe 43-year-old Gary Demercurio, of Seattle, and 29-year-old Justin Wynn, of Naples, Florida, entered the Polk County Courthouse on Sept. 9. The men were charged with burglary after being found in the Dallas County Courthouse.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque woman who authorities say stole more than $48,000 from her elderly aunt has been given two to five years of probation. Dubuque County District Court records say 54-year-old Kathryn Billmeyer was sentenced last week and was ordered to pay back the money to her aunt’s estate. Prosecutors say Billmeyer’s daughter, Anna, used the woman’s credit card to buy nearly $1,600 worth of items. She, too, was sentenced to probation.

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. (AP) — A 43-year-old St. Joseph man could face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in a Lake of the Ozarks boating accident that killed a man. Cletus Barsch pleaded guilty on Sept. 10 to one count of boating while intoxicated resulting in a homicide and two counts of boating while intoxicated resulting in serious physical injury. Sentencing will be March 11. The accident in May 2018 killed an Iowa man.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal officials say the amount of water flowing down the lower Missouri River this year is approaching the 2011 record and a third round of flooding is expected this week after unusually heavy rains upstream.

Heavy rains dumped more than four times normal in parts of Montana, Nebraska, North and South Dakota last week. That triggered flood warnings and forced the forecast for how much water will flow down the Missouri River to jump to 58.8 million acre feet. That will be second only to 2011’s 61 million acre feet.

The Corps of Engineers doesn’t expect major problems or threats to cities with the latest flooding — provided the temporary repairs made to levees since the spring hold up. But communities along the river are bracing for problems.

Downstream, residents of Hamburg, Iowa, will be keeping a close eye on the repaired levees around their town that was inundated in the spring to be sure the patches will hold up. Completely repairing the levees damaged in the spring is likely to take several years and cost more than $1 billion. “Anybody I talk to I tell them to be prepared,” said Mike Crecelius, the emergency manager in the southwest Iowa county that’s home to Hamburg. “There’s been no relief at all this year.”

In March, massive flooding caused more than $3 billion in damage in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. In June, flooding returned and inundated many of the same places because most damaged levees remained broken. The river will remain high throughout the fall because the Corps of Engineers plans to continue releasing large amounts of water into the river to clear out space in the reservoirs ahead of winter.

Officials with the Mills County Emergency Management Agency, Monday, said elevated Missouri River levels will cause increased flood risk for Southwest Mills County this week. Residents West of Interstate 29 and S. of Lambert Ave. are cautioned to be alert and consider evacuating the area. Increased water may also be an issue West of Interstate 29 and S. of Hwy 34 as well as the Pony Creek Drainage District. Exact effects of this River level are hard to determine, so extreme caution is advised. Excessive rain in the northern river basin and pending increased output from Gavin’s Point Dam are causing a prediction of 29.4 ft. on 9/20 at the Plattsmouth Gauge, 3 feet above flood stage. Currently, the River is at 27 ft. at the Plattsmouth Gauge, a 2 ft. increase from last week.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa says it has contacted Iowa State after the Hawkeye Marching Band was subjected to “inappropriate actions” during Saturday’s football game between the two rivals.

The statement from Iowa athletic director Gary Barta on Monday did not include details and said only that “we have contacted Iowa State athletics administration and are working to gather additional information.”
No. 18 Iowa rallied to beat Iowa State 18-17 on the road. The game at Jack Trice Stadium lasted nearly 6 ½ hours after a pair of weather delays, and some fans from Iowa State’s student section ran onto the field during the second interruption before being sent back by security.

Iowa’s band, like the team itself, was booed heavily by the Iowa State student section when it entered the stadium before kickoff.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports just two arrests took place over the past week. On Sept. 9th, 47-year old Bobby Glen Agan, of Stuart, was arrested by Stuart Police, on a Cass County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/display or use of a weapon – 1st offense, and Assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. Agan was turned over to Cass County Deputies. He was released from custody on Sept. 12th.

And, 42-year old Brandy Dawn Johnson, of Perry, was arrested Sept. 9th, for Driving While License Denied or Revoked (OWI related), and OWI/3rd offense. She was taken into custody by the Iowa State Patrol, following an investigation into an accident on Interstate 80 near mile marker 88, a little before 5-p.m. Sept. 9th.

The Trooper found a Chevy Suburban hung-up on the north side guard rail and partially in the ditch. Motorists advised the Trooper that the female driver of the vehicle had walked away in the north ditch. She was located and identified as Brandy Johnson. Johnson failed the Standard Field Sobriety and Preliminary Breath Tests, during which she tested out at a .223 Breath Alcohol Contact (BAC) (nearly 3 times the legal limit). At the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Johnson blew a BAC of .179 (slightly more than twice the legal limit).

Johnson was released from custody the following evening.

Nearly 77 years after leaving for a patrol in present-day Papua New Guinea during WWII, Pvt. Laurel W. Ebert is returning home to Iowa. Ebert, a 27-year-old Blairstown, Iowa native serving with Company I, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, was last seen Nov. 26, 1942 when he and a team of eight other U.S. Soldiers went on a patrol to find and silence an enemy machine gun position in the Cape Killerton area of the Australian Territory of Papua. Ebert and five others failed to return from the mission and were listed Missing in Action (MIA).

Laurel Ebert Photo

In January 1943, the remains of an unidentified American Soldier were interred at the U.S. Temporary Cemetery Sanananda #3. The remains, later designated X-3127, were moved to U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery Finschhafen #2 in 1945, then to the Central Identification Point at the Manila Mausoleum in the Philippines in 1947. Unable to be identified, X-3127 was interred at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Due to new historical investigations and new technology that could link an identification to Unknown X-3127, the remains were disinterred in May 2017 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Dental and anthropological analysis, as well as mitochondrial DNA analysis, were used in the identification of Ebert’s remains in 2019.

Ebert’s military awards and honors include Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Bronze Service Star, World War II Victory Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantryman Badge, and Honorable Service Lapel Button-World War II.

A graveside service will be held at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, 21st Ave., Blairstown, Iowa on Friday, Sept. 20 at approximately 10:45 a.m., with full military honors provided by the Iowa National Guard. The public is welcome to attend the memorial service.