BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials and at least one state said Friday that they have started investigations into a nationwide CenturyLink internet outage that has disrupted 911 service.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai called the outage that began Thursday “completely unacceptable” because people who need help couldn’t use the emergency number.
“Its breadth and duration are particularly troubling,” he said.

The commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will investigate the cause and effect of the outage, he said. The Monroe, Louisiana-based telecommunications giant is one of the largest in the United States. It offers communications and information technology services in dozens of states. Customers from New York to California reported outages.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Debra Peterson said the outage “is not related to hacking,” but she declined further comment. The company said on Twitter that it’s working to restore service and appears to be making progress. It hasn’t provided a cause for the problems. “Where CenturyLink is the 911 service provider 911 calls are completing,” the company said in a tweet.

Regulators in Washington state also said they were opening an investigation into an outage of its statewide 911 service. In Idaho, Emergency Office Management Director Brad Richy said he didn’t receive any reports of 911 service failures, but some state agencies, including the state Department of Correction, lost service on internet-based phones. Some businesses in Idaho also lost the ability to make credit card sales, and some ATM machines weren’t working in Idaho and Montana.

Due to sporadic 911 outages in Massachusetts, public safety officials recommended individuals looking for emergency help use the 10-digit telephone number of the fire or police departments they wanted to contact. In Greeley, Colorado, the Weld County Regional Communication Center on Friday said 911 calls were being dropped, but callers should keep trying and emergency dispatchers would try to call back.

The 911 dispatch center and emergency management in western Missouri’s Johnson County were hit by the outage, county Emergency Management Director Troy Armstrong said Friday. He said the 911 lines were not affected, but the internet was down at the dispatch center and phone services also were spotty.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say officers called to a northeast Des Moines home found the bodies of a man and a woman, and the deaths are being investigated as homicides. Officers went to the home Friday afternoon to check a report of an assault and found the bodies inside.

Investigators were questioning witnesses and checking on other leads. Police spokesman Paul Parizek says more information will be released as it becomes available.

(DES MOINES) –On Saturday, December 1, 2018, Gov. Kim Reynolds, in accordance with an order issued by President Donald Trump, ordered flags at half-staff for 30 days to honor former President George H.W. Bush. At 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, December 30, 2018, the 30-day period will conclude, and all flags will return to full-staff on the State Capitol Building and on flag displays in the Capitol Complex.

Flags will also return to full-staff on all public buildings, grounds and facilities throughout the state.

(Radio Iowa) — If you got an ugly Christmas sweater, something in the wrong size or a duplicate item as a gift, ’tis now the season for returns and lines at customer service counters are long. Margo Riekes, spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau in Omaha-Council Bluffs, offers Iowans a few tips to keep the line moving smoothly.

“Be patient because all of the sales employees, especially the first few days after Christmas, are overwhelmed with all the returns,” Riekes says. “If you’re patient, you’re more likely to get some action.” Standing in line for 45 minutes may try your patience, but she says to consider what it must be like to be the person hearing peoples’ complaints all day long.

“The customer who’s trying to return the gift should always be calm and polite when trying to do so,” Riekes says. “People will be much more willing to help them.” When returning an item, make sure to keep it in the original packaging and in like-new condition.  “Do not take the tags off the things because once the tags are off, it’s probably impossible to return them,” she says.

If the gift giver was thinking far enough ahead to enclose a gift receipt in your wrapped box, it will make the process infinitely easier.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A settlement between Wells Fargo and attorneys general from all 50 states will mean more than $6 million for Iowa. Wells Fargo and the attorneys generals announced the settlement Friday following an investigation into fake accounts opened without the knowledge of customers and other questionable practices.

Besides paying $575 million to the states and the District of Columbia, Wells Fargo agreed to respond to customer complaints about its banking and sales practices. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says the state’s share of the settlement will be $6.18 million. The money will go to Iowa’s Consumer Education and Litigation Fund.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Another state audit of the Mason City school district has uncovered more than $2.1 million in improper disbursements consisting largely of salary overpayments during eight years, according to a report issued Friday. More than $1.3 million was salary to 66 mainly administrative employees that exceeded the authorized pay and increases, the report said. The figure also included other monetary benefits, such as vehicle and cellphone allowances given to some employees. Hundreds of thousands more in improper disbursements covered district contributions to retirement and annuity accounts.

“We identified several administrative personnel who received a percentage increase which differed from the percentage increase approved by the board, as well as certain benefit payments issued to various administrative personnel which had not been reviewed and/or approved by the board,” the auditors said in the report.

District officials had expressed concerns about district spending to state audit officials in August 2017 before the state officials released an audit report for fiscal year 2015. That report noted more than $108,000 of improper disbursements included nearly $69,000 in improper vacation payouts to five former employees. The follow-up audit released Friday covered July 2009 through August 2017.
The new audit also noted improper disbursements of nearly $172,000 in salary and other separation package payments to former Superintendent Anita Micich, who was forced out of her post in June 2016. The auditors said the money was charged to the July 1, 2016, June 30, 2017, fiscal year but was considered improper because the public purpose of the resignation agreement had not been documented.