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

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An employee at an Iowa Lottery retailer is charged with stealing a winning $250,000 scratch ticket and working with her boyfriend and mother in an attempt to claim the prize. Prosecutors said Friday that the trio now faces felony charges.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Public Safety has announced an arrest in a shooting death that occurred nearly 18 months ago in Burlington. Authorities say 23-year-old Earl Riley Booth-Harris was arrested Friday on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder in the Feb. 16, 2015 death of 24-year-old Deonte Raynell Carter.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Public Health has filled the position of state medical examiner with a doctor who has been in the position on an interim basis. Agency Director Gerd Clabaugh announced Friday that Dr. Dennis Klein had accepted the position, which became open when Dr. Julia Goodin resigned in January to take a similar job in Tennessee.

GRIMES, Iowa (AP) — The mother of a 2-year-old boy who was found dead in his Polk County home also has died. Authorities said Friday that Stephanie Erickson was pronounced dead Thursday at a Des Moines hospital. Erickson was taken there a week ago after she and the body of her little boy, Mason Wyckoff, were found. The causes of the two deaths aren’t being released until autopsy results have been returned.

A couple from Jefferson, South Dakota is asking for the public’s help to find a lost bike which fell off their car when they left to go back home from RAGBRAI this week. Breanne Demers says she and her husband Jeffrey had to leave Tuesday because of work commitments, and made their way around the bike route on gravel before hitting the highway. “We got on Highway 25, we headed north and we then turned west on Highway 34. And we continued on that route and we stopped in Red Oak to get a bite to eat, and we happened to notice that the strap had broken on the rack,” Demers says.

She says here husband’s bike was last on the rack it had fallen off somewhere along the route. Jeffrey served three tours in Iraq and the bike has sentimental meaning to him, as he bought it following the final tour. “When he met me he got into biking and he didn’t have a nice road bike,” Breanne explains. “And on that tour as he was making money overseas, he was sticking a little bit aside…and he saved enough to buy this bike and all the components he wanted on it. So for him, it’s kind of like his little medal from coming back from overseas, you know, it has a lot of meaning to him.”

They put out a call on Facebook and some state biking websites asking if anyone had seen it, and got some idea of where it may’ve fallen off from a woman who called them.
The woman had seen the bike in the middle of road somewhere between one and three miles south of Highway 34 on Highway 25. The woman stopped and moved the bike to the should and called the Creston Police Department. Creston police told the couple the bike was gone by the time they were able to check on it. She says the sentimental background of the bike is the reason they want it back as they know he will probably need to get a new bike for rides.

“When an aluminum-framed road bike hits the pavement at 70-miles-an-hour — not likely it’s going to be real ridable, the frame will be bent. She says she told her husband he likely won’t be able to ride the bike distances as he used to anymore and he will have to get a new bike anyway . “He said ‘I know but I want that bike back’, I don’t care if it hangs in the garage, I can just see it every day.” The bike is white Specialized brand with red handle bars. It has an Albrechts bike shop sticker on it. If find the bike or know where it may be, please call Breanne at 712-635-3161.

(Radio Iowa)

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a Nebraska man was sentenced Thursday to spend 15-years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. In addition 58-year old Steven B. Davis, of Omaha, will serve 3 years of supervised release following the term of his imprisonment.

On April 13, 2016, a jury in the Southern District of Iowa found Davis guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. The charge against him was the result of an investigation by law enforcement of methamphetamine trafficking that took place between Omaha, Nebraska, and Audubon County, Iowa. The evidence at trial showed that from as early as June of 2014, continuing through August of 2014, Davis conspired with others to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine in the Southern District of Iowa.

The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case against Davis was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department say that on August 2nd, from 5-8pm, the Police Department will be hosting National Night Out in Target’s north parking lot at 3804 Metro Drive, in Council Bluffs. The CB-PD, along with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department, Iowa State Patrol, and the Council Bluffs Fire Department will all have equipment on display.

They’ll be grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, handing out t-shirts and other items to the children and holding a small raffle for bicycles and small gifts from nearby businesses.

There will be free face painting and balloons for children, as well. The annual event is a neighbor/community building campaign that focuses on getting out and interacting with each other but this will also allow for neighbors to interact with their local law enforcement.

This is a free event for the whole family and it is open to the public. If you are unable to attend the event at Target, officials encourage you to use the nationally recognized night to get out and meet those neighbors you have not met yet, plan a neighborhood block party and build camaraderie between you and your neighbors.

Make it a common goal between your neighbors to make your neighborhood a safer and better place to live.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An employee at an Iowa Lottery retailer is charged with stealing a winning $250,000 scratch ticket and working with her boyfriend and mother in an attempt to claim the prize. Investigators say 20-year-old Ashley Bosler worked at Casey’s general store in Sioux Rapids in northwest Iowa. She allegedly scratched the bar code off an instant ticket and determined it was a top prize winner after scanning it.

A prosecutor says Bosler hadn’t paid for the ticket ahead of time and wasn’t old enough to play the lottery, which has a minimum age of 21. Bosler allegedly paid for the ticket later after receiving money from her mother. Her boyfriend, Johnny Long Jr., tried to claim the prize. The lottery didn’t pay after discovering scribbling on the ticket that raised suspicions.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports a man was arrested Thursday evening on an assault charge. 25-year old Jesse Don Powell, of Shenandoah, was arrested after he turned himself-in just before 7-p.m. Thursday, on a Page County Warrant for Serious Assault causing bodily injury.

Jesse Don Powell

Powell was booked into the Page County Jail and immediately posted the $1000.00 surety bond through a bonding agency.  He was released pending further court proceedings.

Atlantic City Administrator John Lund today, reports the City’s Personnel & Finance Committee will be meet in a hastily-called session in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, to discuss a counter proposal from Noddle Development. The Omaha commercial property development firm owns buildings in the Atlantic Shopping Plaza, where Hy Vee, the Salvation Army and Pizza Ranch are located.

The company says it has had storm water drainage and sanitary sewer issues, and proposes the City contribute towards the repairs. The PF&C meeting takes place at 1-p.m.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports an Oakland man was arrested on an OWI charge at around 10:45-p.m. Thursday, after he was pulled over in Council Bluffs, on Highway 6 near McPherson Avenue. The deputy initially stopped 63-year old Charles Gordon Reed for having defective tires, but he was subsequently placed under arrest  OWI/1st offense, after he field tested well above the legal limit for intoxication (at .156). A subsequent test indicated a slightly less reading. Officials requested a blood test for intoxication be conducted on Reed, but the results of the test were not available at the time of the report. Reed was booked into the Pott. County Jail on the OWI charge, and cited for having defective tires.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Powerball players will have a shot at the nation’s eighth-largest lottery jackpot this weekend, but they’ll face long odds that have resulted in nearly three months without a winner. Anyone who matches all five balls and red Powerball on Saturday night could win a $478 million annuity paid over 29 years or opt for a $330.6 million cash prize. No one has matched all the numbers since the May 7 drawing.

This jackpot is less than a third of the record $1.6 billion Powerball won in January, but is the fifth-largest in the game’s history.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors has passed a resolution for the enforcement of posted weight limits on county bridges. Cass County Engineer Charles Bechtold, today (Friday), said the move will make the resolution an annual occurrence. Bechtold said the signs have always been posted, but there was never a resolution adopted. He said enforcement however, has been an issue. He cited an incident in Audubon County where an overloaded grain cart caused a bridge collapse in the fall of 2008. The accident prompted a legal issue where the weight limit was posted, but no resolution was passed that would have enforced the limit through stiff penalties.)

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors passed a resolution to enter into a 28-E agreement with 58 other counties in Iowa, known as the Iowa Precinct Atlas Consortium. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman explained the computer software program and hardware will help with voter identity confirmation through the use of a scanner for ID’s or voter registration cards. The County will pay a fee of $1,500 per year to remain in the consortium, which was started in 2008.

Sunderman said there are only two such systems in existence. The State uses a separate system, but it never really caught on like the Atlas system has. The Supervisors today (Friday), also heard reports from County Conservation Director Micah Lee, who said they’ve been cleaning up a lot of storm damage at parks in the county, as far as downed tree limbs are concerned. They’re also continuing with general maintenance and repairs.

And, Cass County Veterans Affairs Director Mitch Holmes provided the Board with a Quarterly and Annual Report. In his annual report, Holmes said his office assisted 606 veterans and their families, with a total of 4,586 contacts having been made. A total of 429 federal VA documents were processed during that time, as well.

Holmes said recent statistics shows Cass County veterans and their families received a little more than $7.825-million dollars in federal VA Benefits during FY 2016, which is an increase of just under $100,000 from last year. That includes $3.55-million for compensation and pensions, $3.7-million for medical expenditures, and $413,000 for education and vocational rehab.

Holmes said if federal VA assistance was not available, many of the County’s veterans and their families would have to seek assistance from state and County sources, such as the general assistance fund, which would reduce the amount of assistance available to non-veteran residents.