(CORALVILLE) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections report a man serving a life sentence out of Pottawattamie County for the crime of Murder in the 1st Degree, has died in prison. Inmate Kevin Richard Johnson was pronounced dead due to natural causes at 6:33-p.m. on Monday. He died in a hospice room of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, where he had been housed due to chronic illness. Johnson was 64 years old at the time of his death. His 1st degree murder sentence began December 3rd, 1980.

The body of Kevin Johnson Jr. was found July 17, 1989, buried in a wooded area behind the family’s home in Council Bluffs, less than three weeks after he’d been killed. An autopsy showed the 2-month-old died of blunt trauma to his head.

Audubon Community School District Superintendent Brett Gibbs reports that at a Special Board meeting this (Wednesday) morning, the Audubon School Board approved the hiring of Eric Trager, currently the 5 – 12 Principal in Audubon as the new Superintendent of Schools.  Mr. Trager will be shared between the Audubon and Coon Rapids – Bayard School Districts, continuing the sharing agreement that has been in place for the past three years. He will succeed Gibbs, who is retiring at the end of the current school year.

The Board had received 13 applications for the position, and narrowed their choices down to five finalists before re-interviewing some of the candidates on Dec. 19th.

Three people were arrested over the past couple of days, in Creston. Authorities says 23-year old Brett Cheers, of Greenfield, was arrested just before 1-a.m. Tuesday, for Driving While Suspended. And, at around 4:40-a.m. Tuesday, 36-year old Travis Woollums, of Creston, was also arrested for Driving While Suspended. Both men were later released from the Union County on a $300 bond, each. Monday night, 31-year old Waymond Foster, of Afton, was arrested in Creston on a Union County warrant for Violation of a Protection Order. Foster was arrested at around 10:25-p.m. and later released from the Union County Jail after posting a $300 bond.

An accident early Tuesday morning in northern Iowa’s Winnebago County resulted in 10 people being transported to area hospitals. According to the Iowa State Patrol, one of the vehicles was traveling southbound on 120th Avenue on the wrong side of the road, when it hit another vehicle head-on. The accident happened about five-miles northwest of Forest City, at around 3-a.m., Tuesday. Following the crash, one of the vehicles ended-up in the ditch, while the other came to rest on the east side of the road. The injured ranged in age from 18-to 22. The Patrol says alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the collision, which remains under investigation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly survey report suggests that business conditions improved last month in nine Midwest and Plains states. The report issued Wednesday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index rose to 55.2 in December from 54.1 in November. The October reading was 54.9. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the shortages of skilled workers are still holding back even stronger growth. The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

A traffic stop in Adams County this (Wednesday) morning, resulted in the arrest of a Nebraska man. 22-year old Ray Phillip, Jr., of Omaha, was arrested at around 3:17-a.m., for OWI/1st offense, Driving Under Suspension, Reckless Driving, No Insurance, and Speeding. He was pulled over after being observed driving eastbound in the westbound lane of Highway 34, near Birch Avenue.

The Iowa State Patrol has confirmed a second fatality has occurred following a weekend crash on Interstate 80 in northeast Des Moines. The driver of a 2016 Ford Focus, 22-year old Austin Paul Gainuss, of Des Moines, died Tuesday at Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, where he had been flown to by medical helicopter after his car was struck from behind by a speeding pickup truck. The accident happened at around 10:10-p.m. Saturday near the east mixmaster (the I-80/I-235/I-35 interchange). After the impact, both vehicles entered the north ditch, where the car struck a tree.

Authorities say they think 37-year-old Travis Gonzales, of Bondurant, was under the influence when his 2018 GMC pickup rear-ended the car. A passenger in the Ford, 24-year-old Joshua Lamont Cox, of Prairie City died at Mercy Hospital shortly after he was transported there by ambulance, Saturday. Both men in the car were wearing their seat belts. Gonzales was able to walk away from the crash uninjured.

The accident remains under investigation, with charges pending the results of toxicology tests.