DES MOINES, Iowa — [KCCI] – Court records show a Polk City woman was under the influence of methamphetamine when she caused a crash that killed her son. Abby Amenson, 41, has been charged with homicide by vehicle-operating under the influence in the crash that killed 10-year-old Maxwell Amenson last summer.

Authorities say she crossed the center line on Northwest Fisher Lane and hit another vehicle head-on July 7. Court records say authorities found drug paraphernalia and meth inside the woman’s purse in a search after the crash.

(Radio Iowa) – Research at Iowa State University has discovered how structures within turtle genes fold onto each other, which I-S-U biology professor Nicole Valenzuela says is a key to how the animals function.

Turning genes on and off allows the turtles to survive in harsh environments.

It is believed this is why some turtles can survive weeks without oxygen and some can withstand extreme cold. Valenzuela says understanding the genetic basis of the turtle traits could be leveraged for biomedical uses in humans.

Valenzuela says there is much more research ahead before they can determine how these traits could be used to help humans.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R has released three studies on the environmental and economic impacts of recycling in the state. The D-N-R’s Laurie Rasmus says the studies are part of its Sustainable Materials Management Initiative as they try to get a better handle on what we are throwing away.

One study looked at how the bottle deposit law works.

Rasmus says the studies of the waste dumped at the landfills yielded a lot of information on what is thrown away in Iowa.

The studies also help them tell the true cost of what we throw away.

Rasmus says they hope to find more ways to use the waste.

She says recycling has to be a multi-step process.

You can see the results of the studies at iowadnr.gov/SMM.

(Radio Iowa)  – While retailers nationwide are bracing for a shopping extravaganza on this Black Friday, locally-owned merchants across Iowa are hoping for a bigger boost tomorrow. Jayne Armstrong, director of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Iowa District Office, says Small Business Saturday is a crucial day for the state’s consumers to “Be Loyal, Buy Local.”

Armstrong says 97-percent of Iowa’s businesses are small businesses and embracing them improves the backbone of our state.

If you’d like to support Iowa’s wealth of merchants who are outside of your immediate area, dozens of businesses are offering their wares at shop-iowa-dot-com, which Armstrong says makes it easy to patronize even more hometown heroes in -other- Iowa towns.

The website covers a wide array of goods, including artwork, furniture, food, toys, t-shirts, beauty care products, jewelry and more, all crafted in the Hawkeye State.

https://www.shopiowa.com/

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Small Town Poll has tracked a sharp decline in membership in local service clubs. David Peters, a rural sociologist with Iowa State University Extension, says the poll started surveying residents in 125 Iowa towns in the early 1990s.

In the early 1990s, about 20 percent of the residents in a typical small Iowa town were members of a fraternal group.

Peters says the Iowa Small Town Poll found membership in service clubs was relatively stable from 1994 to 2004 and the sharp decline started about 2010.

National data shows membership all organization, including churches, has been on decline for the past 40 years. But Peters says the decline has been particularly severe with fraternal groups.

Peters says another factor is younger adults who might want to be involved are commuting longer distances to work and don’t have as much free time in their home communities. When service clubs disappear, Peters says small towns lose the infrastructure that organizes and raises the money for a variety of events and causes.

Peters says his research shows younger adults DO want to help their communities, but they want shorter meetings, more flexibility, virtual options AND a group effort that’s not necessarily aimed at putting on the same events, year-after-year.

(Dubuque, Iowa) – Two people died following a crash Thursday afternoon south of Dubuque. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened at around 1-p.m. at the intersection of Skyline Road and U-S Highway 15, when the driver of an SUV failed to obey a stop sign and yield the right-of-way to a semi tractor-trailer before the SUV was struck by the semi.

The driver of the SUV died at the scene. A passenger in the vehicle was transported by ambulance to a local hospital and later flown by helicopter to the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, where they later died from their injuries. The driver of the semi was not injured.

The names of the victims were being withheld by the State Patrol pending notification of family.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – A male suspect is in custody following a domestic incident involving shots fired Thursday morning in Council Bluffs.  According to KETV in Omaha, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s deputies say shots were fired at 6 a.m., and a male was not allowing a female to leave an RV.

Pottawattamie County dispatch placed the scene on Monument Road near the Lewis and Clark Monument and Park. The Iowa State Patrol and Council Bluffs Police assisted at the scene.  A deputy said the location has been a place of interest for months. Deputies said they took a while to make contact with the suspect but talked to him on the phone and arrested him without incident after about two hours.

Pottawattamie County confirmed the female is cooperating with law enforcement. The ages and identities of the two people involved are unknown at this time.

(New Market, Iowa) – A home in rural Taylor County sustained extensive damage during a fire late Thursday morning. The bulk of the damage occurred in the living room of the home at 1271 140th Street, near New Market. Extensive smoke and water damage was sustained elsewhere throughout the structure.  According to reports, firefighters from New Market, Villisca and Corning responded to the blaze, at around 11:30-a.m.

The home’s residents escaped without injury by the time firefighters arrived. Crews remained on the scene for a little more than two hours before operations was terminated. No firefighters were injured.

Photo courtesy of Red Oak Fire Chief John Bruce.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – A tax credit for biodiesel production expires at the end of this year and Senator Chuck Grassley says congress is unlikely to address the issue in December.

However, early next year Republicans in congress are hoping to extend a package of tax cuts approved in 2017 and Grassley says it’s possible the biodiesel production tax credit could be inserted in that bill.

Iowa is the largest U-S producer of biodiesel. The state’s nine biodiesel plants produced about 350 million gallons of the soybean-based fuel last year. The biodiesel tax credit was established in 2005 and has been extended several times. Grassley says the U-S Treasury Department and Environmental Protection Agency rulings on the scope of other tax breaks for renewable fuels should have been made long ago.

In February, the E-P-A approved the sale of a 15 percent ethanol blend at gas pumps in Iowa and seven other Midwest states year round, but the higher blend of ethanol still cannot be sold in other states during the summer months. The agency has long cited concerns that E-15 can cause smog during hotter weather.