SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A northwest Iowa dairy has settled a federal lawsuit and promises action to prevent future manure discharges into nearby streams. Prosecutors also said Thursday that Meadowvale Dairy, of Rock Valley, has agreed to pay a $160,000 civil penalty. The proposed consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.

The lawsuit filed last February alleges that since 2001, Iowa has cited Meadowvale a dozen times for failures to maintain adequate storage for effluent.  The complaint says Meadowvale operates waste systems for two interconnected feeding operations for a total of about 10,000 head of cattle. It says wastewater from two of Meadowvale’s facilities entered two tributaries of the Big Sioux River in violation of the dairy’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.

Two people were injured during accident Thursday afternoon in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Department says a 2006 Dodge Ram pickup driven by 22-year old Jordan James Vrba, of Red Oak, was stopped at the intersection of Highway 34 and G Avenue, waiting to turn left. A 2003 Ford driven by 55-year old Janet Spicer, of Emerson, was traveling westbound. Spicer didn’t see the taillights of the pickup due to dense fog in the area, and dirt and mud on the pickup’s taillight lenses. Her car rear-ended the pickup at around 2:40-p.m.

Spicer suffered possible/unknown injuries, and was transported by Red Oak Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital. Vrba suffered suspected serious or incapacitating injuries, and was also transported by Red Oak Rescue to the hospital.

Damage from the collision amounted to $10,500. No citations were issued.

Police in Red Oak arrested two men on separate drug- and assault-related charges. At around 1:45-a.m. today (Friday), 19-year old Daniel Lee Vance-Hunt, of Red Oak, was arrested at the intersection of Miller Avenue and E. Summit Street, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

And, at around 5:35-p.m. Thursday, 58-year old Charles James Netherton, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 1200 block of Highland Avenue in Red Oak, on a valid Red Oak Police Department warrant for Assault and Harassment in the 3rd Degree. Netherton was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

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

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa institution for residents with intellectual disabilities, reeling from allegations of abuse against residents, has been ordered to reinstate a high-ranking official who was fired over safety lapses in 2014. The Public Employment Relations Board says the firing of Glenwood Resource Center administrator Douglas Wise wasn’t justified and he must be returned to a similar job with full back pay. Wise had been faulted for failing to keep batteries out of a home where residents swallowed them.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — President Obama has shortened the prison sentences for a dozen inmates from Iowa serving time on drug manufacturing and dealing charges. In his last act in office, Obama commuted the sentences for 360 federal inmates convicted on drug charges. The list includes 12 former Iowa residents whose terms were each shaved by several years, including nine convicted on methamphetamine-related charges.

NEOLA, Iowa (AP) — After successfully creating a trio of crosses along Interstate 80 back in June, the Neola Lions Club chapter is planning to illuminate them for people driving at night. The Daily Nonpareil reports chapter President Fred Rodenburg presented the idea of the 36-foot high crosses to the chapter after learning about Crosses Across America. Rodenburg says the project cost about $1,000. The group is raising funds to illuminate the structures.

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man has been charged in the death of a woman who died after being injured by a homemade cannon. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports 29-year-old Max J. Fenton, of Greeley, was charged Wednesday in Delaware County Court with involuntary manslaughter and released. The charges stem from the night of July 2, when court documents state Fenton fired an “improvised cannon.” Part of the cannon failed and sent fragments toward spectators, injuring a woman who later died.

NEOLA, Iowa (AP) — After successfully creating a trio of crosses along Interstate 80 back in June, the Neola Lions Club chapter is now planning to illuminate them for people driving at night. The Daily Nonpareil reports the chapter was inspired by Crosses Across America, a nonprofit that has helped raise more than 2,000 clusters of crosses nationwide.

After learning about the organization, Neola Lions Club President Fred Rodenburg presented the idea of the 36-foot high Neola crosses to the chapter. Rodenburg says the estimated cost of the project will be $1,000.

Local farmer Les Clark, whose property overlooks the interstate, has granted Rodenburg’s club permission to use it for the effort. The group is currently raising funds to illuminate the structures.

Council Bluffs – The trout stocking scheduled for tomorrow (Friday, Jan. 20th) at Big Lake has been postponed until spring due to rapidly deteriorating ice conditions. The Iowa DNR says the family fishing event scheduled for this Saturday, Jan. 21 has been cancelled, and will not be re-scheduled.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man who ran to help an Iowa couple during the deadly Florida airport shooting this month attended the funeral for the man who was killed. The Omaha World-Herald reports Mark Lea flew down from Minnesota to attend the Wednesday service at Council Bluffs’ Bayliss Park Chapel for 57-year-old Mike Oehme.

Lea says he found the couple while trying to aid the shooting victims at the airport. Mike and his wife Kari Oehme were both shot, but Kari is currently recovering from her wounds. Lea says he was tending to Kari’s wounds when he noticed Mike Oehme nearby with a head wound.

Oehme was one of five people killed in the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Jan. 6 when a gunman opened fire.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers across Middle America say depressed farm commodity prices are the biggest threat to the economy this year in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states. The overall economic index in a monthly survey of bankers for the region remained in negative territory at 42.8 in January, down slightly from December’s 42.9. Survey officials say any score below 50 suggests an economic decline.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says livestock commodity prices have tumbled by 7.3 percent and grain commodity prices by 11.7 percent in the last year. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

Goss says the rural economy is improving in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota, while all the other states are trending lower.

Police in Clarinda are investigating a hit-and-run property damage incident that took place at the Clarinda Cemetery. Police Chief Keith Brothers says at around 5-a.m. today (Thursday), Officers discovered several cemetery monuments had been damaged at the Clarinda Cemetery, located on the north side of Clarinda.

An investigation revealed that a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox had entered the cemetery at the 16^th & Walnut Street entrance, careened out of control on one of the access roads, striking several monuments causing an estimated $20,000 in damages to the monuments and totaling the Chevrolet Equinox with an estimated worth of $5,000.

The driver of the Chevrolet Equinox left the scene of the accident on foot. The accident remains under investigation and officers are pursuing numerous leads and collecting evidence at the accident scene in an attempt to identify and locate the driver.

Clarinda Cemetery damage. (Photos provided by Clarinda P-D)

In an update to our earlier report, officials with the U-S Environmental Protection Agency said today (Thursday), that the location for a meeting planned for next Tuesday evening in Atlantic has been changed. The EPA had planned to hold a public session at the AMU Building on Jan. 24th from 6-until 7:30-p.m., but the location of the meeting instead has been changed to the Cass County Community Center.

The session will provide updates on efforts to mitigate PCE contamination from a former dry cleaning business site near 7th and Plum Streets, and the PCE site on Chestnut Street. The former dry cleaning facility and IDOT laboratory facility no longer exist at the location (1205 E. 7th St). The EPA has said some municipal drinking water wells have been impacted due to groundwater contamination associated with the former dry cleaner. Those wells were shut down, and the City’s drinking water wells are NOT affected.

Additional site information is available online at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/pceformerdrycleaner