(Palo Alto County, Iowa) – A collision east of Emmetsburg Friday afternoon resulted in one death and three persons injured. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident happened a little before 3-p.m., at the intersection of 370th Street and 480th Avenue, in Palo Alto County.

Authorities say a 2013 KIA was traveling south on 480th Avenue. The driver, 32-year-old Desiree Angela Sternhagen, of Janesville, MN, failed to stop and yield at the intersection with 370th Street. Her car struck the passenger side of a 2018 Mitsubishi, driven by 34-year-old Mathia Kay Nieves, of Emmetsburg, as she was traveling west on 37oth.

A passenger in the Nieves vehicle, 67-year-old Ernest Eugene Manwarren, of Emmetsburg, who was not wearing a seat belt, was fatally injured. Nieves, and another passenger in her car, 33-year-old Justin Eugene Manwarren, of Emmetsburg, along with Desire Sternhagen, were all injured and transported to the Palo Alto Hospital by ambulance.

The Patrol says Sternhagen was not wearing her seat belt. Mathia Nieves and Justin Manwarren were belted into their vehicle.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department said late Friday night, that an arrest had been made in connection with the shooting Thursday night, of a 17-year-old male. Detectives with the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division located and arrested 19-year-old Isaac James Landanger, of Council Bluffs. Landanger was booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail for Attempt to Commit Murder, a Class B Felony.

The investigation is ongoing and it is anticipated that additional suspects will be charged as the investigation moves
forward.

Isaac James Landanger booking photo (Courtesy Council Bluffs PD)

Previously, authorities reported that at around 9:30-p.m., Thursday, Council Bluffs Police Officers were dispatched to the area of S. 26th St. and 3rd Ave.for a “shots-fired” call. Officers arrived in the area and discovered that a 17-year-old male was shot in the chest and leg. The victim was transported to Mercy Hospital prior to officers arriving on scene. He suffered non-life threatening injuries.

An initial investigation indicated that a disturbance had occurred in front of 215 S. 26th St. During the disturbance one subject produced a firearm and fired multiple shots.

The Criminal Investigation Division is still seeking additional information and witnesses related to this incident. Anyone
with information is encouraged to call the Council Bluffs Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at 712-328-
4728.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa business that makes trailers for hauling livestock and grain will be laying off dozens of employees this fall. Sioux City’s Wilson Trailer Company has notified the State of Iowa it will be laying off 58 workers on September 30th. By law, businesses that have more than 100 employees are required to provide 60 days advance notice of layoffs. Employees were notified Thursday.

The company, in a written statement, cited slowing trailer sales in the agricultural market as the reason for the layoffs. Wilson Trailer Company, founded in 1890, is a family-owned business with headquarters in Sioux City. It operates five production plants, including two in Sioux City. The rest are in Moberly, Missouri, Yankton, South Dakota, and Lennox, South Dakota.

In addition to trailers to haul grain and livestock, the company makes flatbed and gooseneck trailers.

(Osceola, Iowa) – A motorcycle accident early this (Friday) afternoon in Clarke County, claimed the life of a man from Des Moines. The Iowa State Patrol reports 38-year-old James Paul Qualls died, after the 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle crashed on Interstate 35 northbound at the exit ramp to Highway 34, near Osceola. The accident happened just before 1-p.m.

The Patrol says witnesses told Troopers the cycle was passing multiple vehicle at a high rate of speed when it took Exit 33 and went out of control. The motorcycle overturned before hitting a sign post. Qualls was ejected from the machine and landed in the ditch. The cycle rolled down the embankment and also came to rest in the ditch.

James Qualls was transported to the Clarke County Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. Osceola Police assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa)  – Hundreds of Iowa hunters will hit the fields this holiday weekend for the start of the rabbit and squirrel seasons. Nate Carr, an Iowa D-N-R conservation officer for Hamilton and Hardin counties, says the weather should be ideal.
“Rabbit and squirrel season are going to open up this Saturday,” Carr says. “The two things you’re going to need for that is pretty basic, your typical hunting license, and habitat fee are what’s required for those. For rabbit, shooting hours are sunrise to sunset, you can take up to 10 per day, and then for squirrel, your daily bag limit is six.”

Iowa’s rabbit season runs through February 28th, while the squirrel season will end on January 25th. Carr says this Sunday will also kick off the hunting season for mourning doves.”That’ll run from September 1st all the way through November 29th. Your daily limit for doves is going to be 15 birds,” Carr says. “Just like rabbit and squirrel, make sure you have your hunting license and habitat fee, but also, like any migratory bird, you’re going to need to be registered through HIP or have your HIP registration.”

HIP is the Harvest Information Program, for which you can sign up at IowaDNR-dot-gov. Sunday also marks the start of the teal hunting season, which runs through September 16th.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports the arrest today (Friday), of 41-year-old Ralph Cleveland, from Council Bluffs. Cleveland was arrested on an Omaha, NE, warrant. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is working on a constitutional amendment that would make clear children do not have to testify in person — in a courtroom — against their alleged abuser. In June, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a man who argued it was unconstitutional for two children to testify against him via a live video link that was shown in the courtroom. “Iowa is the only state that has found that and so I am working in my office to draft a constitutional amendment to solve this problem,” Bird says, “because we have to protect children.”

Four Iowa Supreme Court justices joined the majority opinion that says remote testimony from children in abuse cases violates a defendant’s right to confront their accuser in court. Bird says while she respects the opinion as an officer of the court, the attorney general’s office argued the confrontation clause in the constitution does not require an in-court appearance by a child abuse victim. “They’re kids. It would be hard for them to testify in court about something good that had happened,” Bird says, “much less something really bad and awful that has happened.” Bird, a former county attorney, prosecuted cases involving child sex abuse victims. “I would advise child victims and also adult victims of crime that they did not have to look at the defendant. They are there as a witness,” Bird says, “…but these kids and other victims are often really scared to be there.”

The process of proposing amendments to Iowa’s constitution is long and 2027 is the earliest an amendment on this topic could be presented to voters for ratification. The Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling requiring in-the-courtroom testimony from children is likely to spark appeals from adults who’ve been convicted of child abuse or assault. An Illinois LAW passed in 2023 gives Illinois judges the discretion to let children under 13 testify outside the courtroom when warranted. Last year Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled prosecutors may use outside-the-courtroom testimony from older children.

(Des Moines, IA) – The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today (Friday) said “Through the Safe Haven Law, a baby girl, born July 30 is now in the care and custody of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, and will be placed with foster families until permanent placement is determined.”

Officials say that brings the overall total to 71 infants since the law went into effect more than two decades ago.  This is the fifth case so far in 2024. In 2023, ten infants were relinquished to HHS custody under the Safe Haven Act.

Iowa’s Safe Haven Act is an option for parents in crisis who determine they cannot care for an infant up to 90 days old. Designated safe havens are locations like hospitals, police and fire stations, etc. Iowa HHS then works to place infants in in approved foster homes while awaiting permanent adoption.

If you are interested in becoming a foster parent or adopting a child, visit https://iowafosterandadoption.org/ to learn more about becoming an approved foster or adoptive family. For more information on Iowa’s Safe Haven, visit https://hhs.iowa.gov/programs/CPS/safe-haven.