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

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• 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped or cut into florettes
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the cauliflower until fork-tender.  Either microwave, covered with water, or steam on stove top.

Blend cauliflower with the cream, butter, salt, pepper, mustard and nutmeg.  Place in blender and blend well.

Add eggs and blend, add 3/4 cup cheese and blend.

Pour into a greased casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A special prosecutor will be appointed to handle the case against a television reporter accused of violating an order not to take courtroom video of “The Bachelor” star Chris Soules.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that a judge recently ruled that the Buchanan County Attorney’s office can’t pursue the case because prosecutors might be called as witnesses. So the contempt of court case against former KWWL reporter Elizabeth Amanieh will be delayed.

KWWL published video of Soules’ April 2017 court appearance after he was jailed for an accident that killed Kenneth Mosher. Police say Soules rear-ended Mosher’s tractor and left the scene. Soules has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say a judge told Amanieh she wouldn’t allow video of the hearing and only photos would be permitted. She’s pleaded not guilty.

The Creston Police Department reports a rural Creston woman was arrested Monday afternoon on drug and other charges. 25-year old Shelby Bishop was arrested at 200 W Howard St. at around 3-p.m., on three Union County Warrants for: Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; Possession of a Controlled Substance; and, Violation of Probation. The warrants were associated with an original charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance. Bishop was being held in the Adams County Jail, while awaiting a bond hearing.

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

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(UPDATED) AMES, Iowa – July 3, 2018 – Changes in the flood forecast may cause the Iowa Department of Transportation to close U.S. 30 between Boone County Road R-18 and Iowa 17 near Boone earlier than previously announced. New water level readings suggest the roadway will likely be closed as early as noon on July 4. The road is expected to remain closed due to flooding until approximately 5 p.m. July 13, according to the Iowa DOT’s District 1 Office.

During this closure, traffic will be detoured using Boone County Roads R-18, E-57 and Iowa 17.

If you are driving and come upon rapidly rising waters, turn around and find another route. If your route is blocked by barricades, find another route. Barricades are put up by state or local officials to protect travelers from unsafe roads. Driving around them can be a serious risk. The road may be washed out below the water surface. Your vehicle may stall or get stuck in the water, and then get pushed off the road. Once off the road, vehicles often start to roll, making escape difficult or impossible. Many flood-related deaths in the United States are the result of an attempt to move a stalled vehicle.

The latest traveler information is available anytime through our 511 system. Visit 511ia.org; call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide)

Thousands of vehicles were damaged in flash flooding this past weekend in the Des Moines area. Chris Good is a mechanic at Iowa Auto Repair in Urbandale. “My phone has not stopped ringing,” Good says. Many vehicle owners are calling to find out if it’s safe to try and start their car or if they should have it towed to a repair shop for inspection. “If you got a couple inches of water on your carpet, that’s one thing, but if the car was underwater where the engine was underwater, then have it towed,” Good says.

Some flood-damaged cars CAN be salvaged, but Good notes computers inside the vehicle are not sealed against the weather. “Modern cars have 20 to 50 different computers,” Good says. “The electronics obviously do not like to get wet, they’re going to have corrosion in the wires and connectors.” Good expects most of the cars that took on water in the weekend flooding will be considered a total loss. He’s warning used car shoppers to do their homework. “In the future, people who are looking to buy a used car really need to get it checked out ahead of time. These are going to start hitting the market,” Good says.

Some vehicles may be repaired only cosmetically and placed for sale without any indication of the flood damage. Good says there are several sites online for buyers to check, for free, if a vehicle has been affected by flooding. One such tool is offered by the National Insurance Crime Bureau: https://www.nicb.org.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Council Bluffs arrested a man in connection with a robbery that took place early this morning. 38-year old Bryan Coulter was arrested after the victim of the crime positively identified him. Coulter was charged with 1st degree Robbery, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Carrying Weapons, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and on an outstanding warrant. His arrest followed a call at around 2:50-a.m. today (Tuesday) to the Walgreens store at 535 East Broadway.

Upon their arrival, officers made contact with a man who said he was in his vehicle at 400 Franklin Ave, when Bryan Coulter came up to his window and asked for his money and phone. The victim told Coulter “no,” and that was when Coulter allegedly pointed a handgun at him, but was unable to operate the weapon. He then left the area, but officers were able to locate the vehicle that Coulter was in, and detained him long enough for the victim to make a positive ID. Coulter was booked in at the Pottawattamie County Jail.

Police in Red Oak, Monday evening, arrested a man wanted on a Montgomery County felony warrant for Probation Violation. 33-year old Jeremy Ray Dilocker, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 6:20-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $5,000.

The totals collected by state climatologist Justin Glison confirm what appeared to be happening in June in much of the state — it was wetter than normal. He says we got an average six-point-seven-six inches of precipitation compared to the normal five inches. June also averaged four degrees warmer than normal at 73 degrees.

Glison says those numbers for June are near the top of the weather records. “Preliminary we are running at the ninth warmest month and the 13th wettest month on record,” according to Glison. The numbers are averaged out from across the state, as Glison says precipitation varied greatly.”What we’re seeing is a weird distribution of rainfall. I mean, the north and west have received between 100 and 200 percent of what they normally would receive in June,”Glison says. “While you look at the south and the southeast in particular — which is in D-2 drought still — they are running between 50 and 75 percent of what they should have year to date.”

Glison says part of the problem is the gentle two-hour rains have gone away in the last several years and we now get more sporadic rain events. “We’ve really seen that trend hit this month. With the jet stream being so far north we get these days on end and weeks on end where we have warm moist air over the state. So when you sort of boundary that move, then that will just force thunderstorms to pop up. So, that’s the kind of unusual behavior that we’re seeing in June,” he says.

Glison took over as the state climatologist in June, following the retirement of Harry Hillaker.

(Radio Iowa) * June 2018 weather data for Atlantic can be found on the “Weather” page at kjan.com*