The Iowa State Patrol is warning motorists that troopers are getting creative in efforts to enforce the state’s new distracted driving law. Trooper Alex Dinkla says drivers should think twice about picking up their cell phone, even if they don’t see a marked state patrol vehicle in the area. Troopers in each district are coming up with ways to disguise themselves in order to catch drivers breaking the new law. “In eastern Iowa, they’re doing an effort with an undercover RV…so troopers will be riding in the motor home and looking out the window as they head down the interstate, looking for those violations,” Dinkla said. “We might have a trooper sitting on a bulldozer in a construction zone area.”

The Iowa State Patrol is also getting help from DNR officers in their marked DNR trucks. They’re calling troopers if they spot texting drivers. According to Dinkla, these initiatives are all about increasing safety on Iowa’s roads. “That is ultimately our goal whenever we’re out enforcing these violations – we are trying to reduce accidents and reduce fatality accidents,” Dinkla said.

Motorists are often on the lookout for marked law enforcement vehicles so they can quickly put their phone down until the uniformed officers are no longer in sight. Dinkla is hoping the threat of an undercover or disguised officer will encourage motorists to keep their focus on the road at all times. “If they think about that device and they’re going to grab that device, they might think twice about it, because they never know where an officer might be looking from,” Dinkla said.

The state law, which took effect July 1, makes text and app use a primary offense, meaning police can pull over and ticket a driver who is spotted texting or checking email with their phone. The fine for a texting-while-driving ticket is $30.

(Radio Iowa)

Democrats in the Iowa Senate warn about 11-thousand Iowa kids are in danger of being uninsured because their families may be unable to buy individual insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s exchange next year. Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, is calling on Republican Governor Kim Reynolds to approve a stop-gap plan for the parents who to get insurance for those 11-thousand children. “They shouldn’t have to worry about wrapping their kid in a bubble wrap for 2018 because they can’t get health insurance and they can’t afford to have their kid break an arm on the playground,” Petersen says. “It’s just simply wrong. We need answers.”

Petersen’s proposal would let those parents buy private insurance through the state-run HAWK-I (HAWK-eye) program. The program currently subsidizes insurance for about 60-thousand children who live in a household where the yearly income is at or below three-hundred percent of the poverty line. Petersen says federal bureaucrats would have to grants Iowa a waiver to implement the stop-gap proposal she’s offering for 11-thousand more Iowa kids. “Families’ financial security depends on answers,” Petersen says. “Congress is not coming up with solutions.”

Medica is the only insurance company that plans to offer individual insurance policies on the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange in 2018 and the company has warned premiums will jump 43 percent. Iowa’s insurance commissioner has offered a plan that might lessen the premium hike, but federal officials have to provide a waiver for his proposal, too.

(Radio Iowa)

There’s an Iowa connection to the weekend deaths of 10 people in a human trafficking case in Texas. The victims were found dead in a tractor-trailer in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio, Sunday. The tractor-trailer had Iowa license plates which are registered to Pyle Transportation, a trucking company based in Schaller.

A federal complaint says the  immigrants packed into a tractor-trailer discovered outside a Texas Wal-Mart were taking turns breathing through a hole in the trailer and pounding on the walls to get the driver’s attention. According to a complaint filed today (Monday), a passenger in the trailer told investigators that he and others who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally were guided into the trailer to be taken north to San Antonio.

The complaint says passengers appeared fine during the first hour of their journey, but people later began to struggle to breathe. They were trying to get the driver’s attention, but to no avail. Federal prosecutors today (Monday) charged James Matthew Bradley with illegally transporting the immigrants for commercial or financial gain, resulting in the deaths of 10 people inside.

Authorities fear the death toll could rise because many of those rescued from the sweltering truck were hospitalized, suffering from extreme dehydration and heatstroke. The truck reportedly didn’t have a functioning air conditioning system and temperatures were over 100 degrees.

(Information from Radio Iowa and the Associated Press)

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County today (Monday) issued several arrest reports. Authorities say 28-year old Lee Patrick Schuler, of Oakland, was arrested at around 6:25-a.m. Sunday, for OWI/2nd offense, and having a concealed .22 caliber rifle and ammunition. Schuler was arrested after a deputy responded to a single-vehicle, property damage accident in the vicinity of Honeysuckle Road and 400th Street. The vehicle, a 2004 Chevy pickup, was found in the north ditch. Schuler told the deputy he had fallen asleep at the wheel while returning to his residence. He was cited for Failure to Maintain Control, and arrested on the OWI and weapon charges.

39-year old Matthew Terrill Ollie, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 6:20-a.m. Sunday, after an investigation into a accident involving a motorcycle he was riding. The 2004 Harley Davidson crashed in the 19,000 block of Mynster Springs Road. Ollie fled the scene and was located by law enforcement at Mercy Hospital at around 5:30-a.m., Sunday.  A routine license check revealed he had an active warrant for his arrest through Missouri, for being a Fugitive from Justice. Once released from the hospital, Matthew Ollie was transported to the Pott. County Jail, where he was being held pending extradition to Missouri.

A man being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail was charged with Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree, after he allegedly broke a sprinkler head at the facility. The incident happened a little before midnight, Saturday. Authorities say 36-year old Arthur Jarrod Crum, of Council Bluffs, was angry because “People [were] saying he was a child molester. Damage to the jail sprinkler head amounted to $350.

The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office says 20-year old Cole Allen Fischer, of Avoca, was arrested at around 3:15-a.m. Saturday, for OWI/1st offense, after a deputy observed a 2013 Chevy pickup traveling north on Highway 59 at a high rate of speed. After the truck was stopped near the intersection of Highway 59 and Magnolia Road, Fischer was taken into custody on the OWI charge.

A woman from Nebraska was arrested at around 4:05-a.m. Saturday in Pott. County, after a deputy responded to a report of a possibly intoxicated driver on Highway 6, near 260th. The vehicle, a 2006 Kia with no registration plates, was pulled over near 270th and Highway 6. The driver, identified as 30-year old Trina Jo Charon, of Omaha, admitted to the deputy that she had marijuana in her possession, and that she had been drinking earlier. A check of her driving status revealed she was not valid to drive, and that the vehicle had been stolen out of Nebraska. Charon was taken into custody for 2nd Degree Theft/Motor vehicle related, and OWI/1st offense.

And, a Nebraska man was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance as well as OWI/1st offense, after he was pulled over for speeding at around 1-a.m. June 27th near the intersection of Highways 92 and 59. 22-year old Tyler Joseph Schleichardt, of Omaha, reportedly displayed signs of impairment. A search of his vehicle resulted in the recovery of approximately 6.6-grams of marijuana.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have accused a 63-year-old man of fatally beating his son in eastern Iowa. Court records say Glenn Plummer III, of Camanche, is charged with second-degree murder. Clinton County Jail records say he remained in custody Monday, pending $50,000 bail.

Court records say Plummer originally was charged with domestic abuse after a police officer found him and his son, 38-year-old Joseph Plummer, the night of May 30 at a Camanche apartment. Police say Joseph Plummer told investigators that his father had beaten him.

Police also say Joseph Plummer died June 1 at an Iowa City hospital. An autopsy was performed, and Joseph Plummer’s death was ruled a homicide.

A Carroll County man was arrested late Saturday night in Audubon County on drug and eluding charges following a pursuit. Audubon County Sheriff Todd Johnson reports 53-year old Delaine Glenn Petersen, of Manning was taken into custody at around 11-p.m. He faces charges that include Eluding, Possession of Marijuana/3rd or subsequent offense, Interference with Official Acts, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was also cited for numerous traffic offenses.

Johnson says the charges stem from Petersen allegedly eluding law enforcement during an attempted traffic stop near Dove Avenue and 130th Street, southwest of Gray. The chase ended in the 200 block of 2nd Avenue in Gray, but Petersen abandoned his vehicle and took off on foot. The Sheriff’s K9 Axel tracked Petersen to where he was taken into custody. Axel also detected evidence Petersen had thrown while on the run. Audubon Police also assisted in handling the incident.

Petersen was transported to the Audubon County Jail and held until appearing before a Magistrate. He later posted a cash bond and was released.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa state law requires all evidence that’s been filed in court and used in cases be kept by court clerks well after convictions in case of appeals or if new technology emerges that could test evidence in a new way. The Sioux City Journal reports that there have been two recent instances in the state where old evidence was retested with new technology to further prove a conviction.

Two men were convicted in separate cases involving rape and kidnap about 30 years ago. They both appealed that there was no DNA evidence that proved they were guilty. Bloodstained clothing and other evidence was taken from storage and tested at the state crime lab. In both cases the defendants’ DNA was found, which supported the original convictions.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 52-year old Gary Eugene Edwards, of Lorimor, was arrested 12:30-a.m. Sunday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Edwards was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for domestic abuse assault.  He was being held without bond in the Union County Jail until seen by a judge.