A multi-vehicle crash this morning on Interstate 29 south of Sergeant Bluff left two people seriously injured. Woodbury County deputy, Doug Boetger, says it started with a pickup that for unknown reasons was going the wrong way on the interstate. “It attempted to get back up onto the interstate in the southbound. In doing so, it pulled up in front of three semis,” Boetger explains. “It struck one semi in the rear trailer axle and then kind of spun in front of a second semi that basically took it head on between the box and the cab — which imbedded the pickup onto the semi.”

A third semi was bearing down on the wreck and the driver had to take evasive action. “And managed to miss both of the other semis, but clipped a couple of trees. It was off the road for probably a hundred and fifty yards or so before it came to rest,” Boetger says. The occupants of the pickup had to be pulled out of the tangled pickup and semi. “Two people in the pickup were extricated by Salix and Sergeant Bluff Fire Rescue. They were transported to Mercy Medical Center (Sioux City) with serious injuries,” Boetger says.

The drivers of the three semis were not injured. The names of the people in the pickup are not yet available.

(Radio Iowa)

A rear-end collision Wednesday afternoon in Atlantic caused $4,000 damage, but no serious injuries. According to the Atlantic Police Department, vehicles driven by John Carns and Jacquelyn Sheeder, both of Atlantic, collided near the intersection of 7th and Plum Streets.

Officials say both vehicles were traveling westbound on 7th at around 4:20-p.m.  When Sheeder slowed for traffic that was stopped at the signal lights, her vehicle was hit from behind by the Carns vehicle. Carns complained of pain, but declined medical assistance. Authorities say Carns was given a warning for Failure to Stop in an Assured/Clear Distance.

MANSON, Iowa (AP) – A driver has been hospitalized after his propane truck was struck by a locomotive at a crossing in the northwest Iowa town of Manson.  The Messenger says the accident occurred around 5:55 p.m. Wednesday. State trooper Mark Anderson says witnesses saw the southbound truck stop at the tracks and then get hit in the back as the eastbound train went through. The truck came to rest on the driver’s side.

A hazardous-materials team responded when firefighters reported that propane was leaking from the truck.

w/ Ric Hanson

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HOLSTEIN, Iowa (AP) – A former transportation director of a northwest Iowa school district has been given two years of probation for tampering with bus records.  The Sioux City Journal says 52-year-old Douglas Wessling was sentenced on Tuesday. The judge also ordered Wessling to pay a $1,000 civil penalty. Wessling had pleaded guilty.

Wessling was put on leave last fall and then lost his job as transportation director for the Galva-Holstein Community School District after an investigation by the Iowa State Patrol. District Superintendent Dave Kwikkel has said three district buses were taken out of service because of damage. Kwikkel said Wessling put one of them back into use before it had been repaired. Authorities say he also falsified repair records on at least three buses.

A new report shows 62-thousand (62,000) Iowans have Alzheimer’s Disease and that number is expected to grow to 73,000 in just over a decade. Carol Sipfle, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Iowa, says the annual report has more disturbing facts about the disease’s impact in the state. “We have the third highest death rate from Alzheimer’s Disease in the country. I think that’s pretty startling,” Sipfle says. “In Iowa, it’s the fifth leading cause of death, while nationally it’s the sixth leading cause of death.”

Iowa has one of highest percentages of residents 65 and older in the country, but Sipfle is quick to point out that Alzheimer’s isn’t just a disease that strikes the elderly. Sipfle says the disease remains widely misunderstood, as many people mistakenly believe it’s simply about memory loss. “It’s so much more than just memory loss, it’s something that kills people,” Sipfle says. “As the brain deteriorates from Alzheimer’s Disease, yes, people do lose their memory, but it impacts their personality, their ability to think, it has a physical impact, and ultimately people will die either from Alzheimer’s Disease or with Alzheimer’s Disease.”

The report from the Alzheimer’s Association (2014 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures) features information about how the disease impacts primarily women. Sipfle is calling on the federal government to invest in Alzheimer’s research as heavily as it does breast cancer. “You know, women are afraid of breast cancer, and rightly so, but what this report tells us is that by the time women are in their 60s, they’re almost twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s as they are to get breast cancer,” Sipfle said.

The report states a woman’s estimated lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s at age 65 is 1 in 6, compared with nearly 1 in 11 for a man. For more information:  www.alz.org/greateriowa.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Woodbury County in western Iowa has approved repair plans for part of a two-lane highway that will eventually be widened. The county board agreed Tuesday to grade part of U.S. Highway 20 in 2016. The paving process will close the road west of Correctionville, and is part of a bigger plan to widen a 12-mile section of the two-lane roadway.

The Sioux City Journal reports the plans will require a detour onto eight miles of County Road D22, also known as Old Highway 20. That county road will be widened and repaired in 2015 in preparation for the extra traffic. The state Department of Transportation says the current widening project, between two miles east of Moville through Correctionville, is scheduled to be completed in 2017.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press …