[UPDATED] (Atlantic, IA) – White out conditions and a glaze of ice on the roads caused multiple crashes on Interstate 80 in western Iowa late Sunday afternoon and evening, resulted in injuries and stranded motorists being ferried to shelter in Cass and area Counties. The Iowa State Patrol reports there were 61 crashes covered between 9-a.m. Sunday and 9-p.m. Nine of those accidents involved injuries, and 61 resulted in property damage. There was one fatality accident in Davis County. The Iowa Department of Transportation shut down Interstate 80 between West Des Moines and Council Bluffs, Sunday evening, and would later shut down the Interstate from Altoona eastward to Iowa City. I-35 was also closed between Ames and the Minnesota border.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon says emergency services and law enforcement were kept very busy all night long.

Kennon said with the interstate having been closed, a number of vehicles remained in the ditches. He wasn’t sure how many cars and trucks were strewn about the ditches and median, but those motorists needed a place to stay and in some cases, receive medical treatment. The Nishna Valley YMCA in Atlantic was the designated shelter.

Officials in Cass County coordinated rescue services from a number of surrounding towns and counties, to transported multiple persons injured in the I-80 crash.

The YMCA guests were served a hot meal this (Monday) morning. Now, Kennon said, the trick is to get those motorists back to their vehicles once the roads re-open.

The accidents began being reported in Harrison County at around 3:45-p.m., when multiple vehicles piled-up between the 93 and 99 mile markers, Sunday. It wasn’t long after the snow began to fall and the winds began to gust, that the crashes began to occur on I-80 in Pottawattamie County near mile marker 30, and in Cass and Adair Counties, as the storm pushed eastward. An Iowa State Patrol cruiser was struck during one of the accidents. Prior to the statewide shutdown of I-80, the Interstate was blocked westbound near the Marne exit at around 4:45-p.m. due a multi-vehicle injury accident that reportedly included at least one semi. Separate crashes occurred not far from the initial accident site, and on I-80 in Adair County.

Overnight, winds gusted to 55-mph in Atlantic, 58-mph wind gusts were recorded in Spencer, Storm Lake, Algona and Creston yesterday (Sunday). The National Weather Service in Omaha reports a 64-mph gust was recorded near Villisca, Sunday. 61-mph gusts were reported near Council Bluffs and Emerson, and a 56-mph blast of wind occurred at the Harlan Airport.

(Radio Iowa) – Despite the snow, it’ll soon be spring and Iowans will need to take greater care when using a host of products inside their homes and outside in their yards to avoid accidental poisonings. Janna Day, spokeswoman for the Iowa Poison Control Center and a licensed practical nurse, says they handled nearly 24-thousand poisoning cases last year, with calls from all 99 counties. The most common call involved pain relievers, medications found in nearly every household. “That could be things like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, those types of things. It’s important to note that when you’re taking an over-the-counter medication, to just be mindful of how much you’re taking, what the correct dose is,” Day says, “and if you ever have questions, you can always call us.”

Of all the calls to the toll-free number last year from Iowans, she says more than half involved children. Day says the Sioux City-based center is offering a new communications feature on its website: Iowa Poison-dot-org. “We understand that there are some folks who would rather connect with us via a chat feature and so we have launched that and we are excited to be able to offer that to the public,” Day says. “You can go onto our website and chat with us. You will still get connected to one of our nurses or one of our pharmacists.” Without access to the Iowa Poison Control Center, a study found 78-percent of callers report they would have gone directly to a hospital emergency room.

By providing immediate expert assessment and follow-up care, Day says the center saves Iowans nearly 16-million dollars in healthcare costs every year. “If you call the Iowa Poison Control Center, oftentimes we can manage your case with you right at home and save you a trip to the emergency department or save your child a trip to the emergency department,” Day says. “We can help with those cases just right over the phone or right over our chat feature.”

Contacting the hotline is free, confidential, and available around the clock at 1-800-222-1222.

(Radio Iowa) – The state Transportation Commission has approved rules for the new hands free cellphone law that could lead to violators losing their driver’s license. The D-O-T’s Kathleen Meradith-Ayers the new rules make a hands-free violation impact your driving record.”Under the new law, a conviction for violating the new hands-free law will count when we’re tallying up the number of moving violations on a person’s driving record to determine whether their license should be suspended,” she says. Meradith-Ayers says they step in when you get too many violations. “The suspension is triggered once you get three moving violations in a 12-month period,” she says.

Meradith-Ayers says your license can be suspended for 90 days after you reach the three moving violations. “Once a driver’s license suspension happens, Usually they can either serve the suspension or you can appeal it and we will go through and make sure everything was applied correctly. For some of these sort of lower level suspensions, there is a class you can take in lieu of the suspension called the Driver Improvement Program,” says Meradith-Ayers. Iowa has a graduated driver’s license system for young people where they start with a restricted license before earning a regular one.

Meradith-Ayers says a hands-free violation carries more weight for them. “For younger drivers, there’s a much lower tolerance, so that as soon as you cause a crash or you get one traffic conviction, that often triggers a suspension or some sort of warning action against the license,” she says. The change needs one final approval from the Administrative Rules Committee and they will then be active.

(Radio Iowa) – The complete list of candidates who’ve qualified for the Iowa Republican and Democratic Party’s Primary Elections on June 2nd is likely to be released later today (Monday) or tomorrow. Friday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for candidates to walk into the Iowa Secretary of State’s office with their nominating paperwork. Republican Eddie Andrews, who’s been campaigning for governor, entered at 4:55 with a group of campaign volunteers carrying petitions they’d been scrambling for over an hour to organize.

Andrews filled out his affidavit of candidacy form as a couple of volunteers were still clipping batches of petitions together. “We’re having fun, OK?” Andrews said. That’s Andrews. The volunteer doing most of the organizing joked about the situation as reporters looked on: “We had to have some drama for the press.” Andrews replied: “If there’s no drama, I mean seriously, why would we even try?” When it came to the identity verification part, Andrews used the Capitol I-D card he gets as a member of the state legislature because Andrews left his driver’s license in his car.

Before Andrews left the secretary of state’s office, he posed for a photo with the seven people who were part of the deadline sprint. “Thank you guys,” Andrews said and one of his volunteers asked: “Where’s the sparking apple cider?”

State election staff worked over the weekend to count signatures and verify if candidates like Andrews who filed near the deadline had qualified for the ballot. Candidates for the U.S. Senate and governor must have the signatures of at least 35-hundred eligible Iowa voters, with at least 100 signatures on petitions from 19 different counties. This is the ninth Primary Election cycle Secretary of State Paul Pate has been overseeing this process.

“There’s always someone who comes in at the last minute and I can understand some of the things they go through trying to get their campaign paperwork together,” Pate said, “but obviously we encourage them to get in here a little earlier since we have a three-week window to file.” Pate’s staff counts signatures not once but twice to make sure the count is verified, then there’s an objection period where signatures on a candidate’s nominating petitions can be challenged.

Julie Stauch — a Democrat who’d been running for governor — submitted her nominating petitions on Thursday, but Stauch says was notified by the secretary of state’s office on Friday that she did not meet the signature thresh-hold. It means State Auditor Rob Sand will be the only candidate for governor on Democrats’ primary ballots.

Republican and Democratic Party candidates in Iowa’s four congressional districts are required to submit at least 17-hundred-26 signatures, including at least 47 signatures from half of the counties in the district. Candidates for the Iowa Senate have to collect at least 100 signatures on nominating petitions, while Iowa House candidates have to submit at least 50. Republicans and Democrats running for attorney general, state auditor, state treasurer, state ag secretary and secretary of state must submit at least 25-hundred signatures.

Officials with MidAmerican Energy, late Sunday night, said their crews were working to restore service to customers impacted by outages due to a Blizzard Warning and a High Wind Warning issued by the National Weather Service Sunday night into Monday morning.

Dan Winters VP, Corporate Communications said in a press release, “MidAmerican prepared both our company crews and contractor crews, including tree crews, ahead of this winter storm, and our teams are continuing restoration efforts throughout the night. Most customers should expect to have service restored by approximately 6 a.m., with restoration in northwest and north‑central Iowa expected to be completed around midday tomorrow (Monday).

Our greatest challenges right now are:

• Icy and snow-covered road conditions, including many closures
• Strong winds
• Blowing snow leading to reduced visibility

Even so, our crews will continue working safely through the night, and additional resources have been deployed and are ready to travel as soon as road conditions safely allow. We appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding as we work to restore service as quickly and safely as possible.”

Electric safety during storms

If you encounter a fallen line – even if it appears to be a fallen communications line – always assume it is energized and stay far away. Report it immediately. We have personnel in the field monitoring downed wires to help protect the public until line crews arrive.

How to report outages and emergencies

• Report outages: MidAmericanEnergy.com, via the MidAmerican Energy mobile app, through our social media channels, or by calling 888-427-5632.
• Report electric emergencies, including downed power lines: 1-800-799-4443 (Note: this number is for electric emergencies only).
• Customers can also opt in to receive text and email updates by visiting My Account on our website.

(Davis County, IA) – A collision Sunday night between two SUV’s left one person dead and two others injured. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the crash happened at around 9:25-p.m. on Highway 2, west of West Grove, in Davis County. Authorities say a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling east on Highway 2 and a 2010 Buick Enclave was traveling westbound in the eastbound lane. The SUV’s collided head-on.

Both driver’s and a passenger in the Buick were transported to the Davis County Hospital in Bloomfield, where the driver of the Buick was pronounced deceased. The person was not wearing a seat belt.

No names have been released (as of the posting of this report), pending notification of family.

(Atlantic, IA) – The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Directors (Board Of Education) will meet at 5:30-p.m. Monday, March 16th, in the Atlantic High School Media Center, for the purpose of Collective Bargaining sessions. Their tentative agenda, is as follows:

Collective Bargaining Proposals will begin at 5:30 pm 

The below meeting will be open to the public as required in Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code.

Certified Staff Collective Bargaining Unit Proposal 

The Atlantic Education Association will present its initial contract proposal for the 2026-2027 school year between the Education Association and the District’s Negotiation Committee.

At 6:30 pm following Certified Staff Collective Bargaining Unit Proposal: 

The Atlantic District’s Negotiation Committee will present its initial contract proposal for the 2026-2027 school year between the Education Association and the Board of Education.

RED OAK, IA (Press release)— The Nishnabotna Water Defenders (“NWD”), a grassroots organization formed in the wake of one of the largest environmental disasters in Iowa’s history, announced today (March 15, 2026) that they have filed a lawsuit against NEW Cooperative, Inc., an Iowa-based cooperative with nearly $3 billion in annual revenue. The petition, filed in Iowa District Court for Montgomery County, seeks to hold the cooperative fully accountable for the March 2024 release of 265,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer into the East Nishnabotna River, an event that decimated aquatic and other wildlife across over fifty miles of Iowa and Missouri waterways.

The legal action comes after a state settlement was widely panned as a “sweetheart deal,” totaling only $100,000 in penalties and supplemental project funding—a fraction of the environmental and economic damage caused when a tank valve was left open for an entire weekend.

“The scale of this disaster is almost beyond comprehension, yet the state’s response has been a mere slap on the wrist,” said Attorney James C. Larew, of Iowa City, one of the attorneys representing NWD. “By allowing hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic urea ammonium nitrate to flow unchecked into our public waters, NEW Cooperative committed an egregious violation of the Clean Water Act and state law. The state’s failure to enforce meaningful penalties not only insults the local community but sends a dangerous message to every corporate polluter in Iowa: that destroying a river is simply the low cost of doing business. In these cases, unfortunately, private citizens, acting as individuals or through their membership groups, must do for themselves and each other that which our governmental agencies should be doing—but, too often, are failing to do.”

The lawsuit highlights that the spill killed over 750,000 fish, as well as countless frogs, snakes, mussels, birds, and animals, effectively turning a 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna, Nishnabotna, and Missouri Rivers into a “dead zone.”

Attorney Carrie La Seur, co-counsel on the case, emphasized the broader legal implications regarding Iowa’s natural resources. “This case is about more than just one spill. It is about the public trust doctrine, which holds state lands and waters in trust for the people of Iowa,” La Seur said. “Iowa’s navigable waters are not private sewers for industrial accidents. The state has a fiduciary duty to protect these public resources for the benefit of all Iowans. When the state abdicates its duty, the people must step in. This lawsuit is a necessary assertion that the public’s right to clean living water is superior to any corporation’s right to be careless.”

The Nishnabotna Water Defenders seek full restitution for the value of the lost natural resources, the implementation of mandatory containment barriers and remote shutoff technology at all NEW Cooperative’s agricultural chemical storage sites, and new state permitting of these facilities, to ensure ongoing compliance.

Terry Langan, Co-President of NWD, summarized the reason for the lawsuit: “Local citizens are being deprived of the full use and enjoyment of what should be a public recreational asset and a source of clean water for personal and business uses: our rivers. The massive pollution event caused by NEW Cooperative—followed by ineffective enforcement of our water pollution laws by Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird make it imperative the citizens act to fill the gap that is harming the quality of the lives of those who live and work in Southwest Iowa. This lawsuit fits squarely within NWD’s clean water advocacy purpose.”

About Nishnabotna Water Defenders: Nishnabotna Water Defenders is a community-led organization, with a membership approaching 200 persons. The organization is dedicated to monitoring water quality and advocating for the health of the Nishnabotna Watershed. Formed by concerned residents of Southwest Iowa, the group works to ensure that local waterways remain safe for recreation, drinking, and wildlife for generations to come.

(Red Oak, IA) – Police in Red Oak made a traffic stop at around 2-a.m. today (Sunday), and upon further investigation, arrested 52-year-old Jody Lee Michaelsen, of Red Oak, for OWI/2nd offense – an Aggravated Misdemeanor. The traffic stop was initiated in the 1000 block of N. 2nd Street, in Red Oak.

Michaelsen was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $2,000.

(Des Moines) Griswold Republican Representative Tom Moore is seeking re-election to the Iowa House for District 18. Moore submitted his nomination papers and affidavit of candidacy March 9^th.

Moore represents District 18, which includes Cass County, Montgomery County, and most of Page Counties. He’s served in the Iowa legislature for more than 10-years.

A former educator, Tom Moore taught history and physical education and coached for 33 years at Grinnell and Griswold Community Schools.  He followed that career with 8 years as Assistant Manager of the Southwest Iowa Egg Cooperative.