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KXEL Morning News for Thu. Feb. 25, 2021

By Tim Martin Feb 25, 2021 | 5:56 AM

Ames Police say an autopsy shows the death last month of a 21-year-old woman outside an Iowa State University sorority house was caused by acute alcohol intoxication and hypothermia. Emergency responders found the body of Olivia Chutich on the ground in the parking lot of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority the morning of Jan. 22. Chutich was the daughter of a Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and the CEO of a regional health entity. Investigators have said Chutich was last seen late the night before she was found, and they believe she had been lying in the parking lot for several hours before she was found. No foul play is suspected.  

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says a Mount Vernon man is facing charges of animal neglect. 43-year-old Brian Greazel was taken into custody after being served an arrest warrant yesterday. Authorities say on February 11, the sheriff’s office received a complaint of neglected cattle located on Linn Ridge Rd in rural Lisbon. Deputies found numerous deceased cattle on the property, and determined the cattle were being denied sustenance, shelter, and care. Greazel is the owner of the cattle and is being charged with livestock neglect resulting in death, which is a serious misdemeanor. 18 head of cattle were able to be rescued.

A new billboard is visible in the Mason City area to keep the missing person case of Jodi Huisentruit in the public mind. Huisentruit was a TV news anchor who went missing on her way to work on June 27, 1995. She was declared legally dead in 2001. Huisentruit has never been found and a suspect has never been named. Three billboards initially went up in the Mason City area in May 2018, around what would have been Huisentruit’s 50th birthday. According to organizers with FindJodi.com, a website dedicated to bringing awareness to her case, funding for the billboards ran out. The last one came down last month. Organizers say the new billboard went up on Tuesday and will stay up for at least another year. It may rotate through different locations around Mason City.

The Black Hawk County Health Department has found a way to keep its epidemiologist position–by eliminating other vacant positions. The changes were approved unanimously by the Board of Health yesterday morning. This comes after the Board of Supervisors voted to cut some 99-thousand dollars of funding from the health department. As a result, the health department is cutting its oral health program manager and a clerk typist, both positions that are both currently vacant. The measure specifically suspends funding for the clerk typist position for the next fiscal year, but completely eliminates the oral health program manager position. While two positions have been eliminated, another has been added for a communications strategist, someone who will serve solely as the Health Department’s public information officer. 

The Drug Enforcement Agency is releasing numbers on Iowa drug seizures in 2020 and special agents are warning people about their findings. Last year, the Omaha Division said agents took an estimated $2.8 million worth of methamphetamine and marijuana off Iowa streets. Agents from DEA offices in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Sioux City and the Quad Cities also seized 9 kilograms of fentanyl from Iowa communities, which is enough lethal doses for 4.5 million users.  According to the DEA, fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine. In 2020, agents also found a 70% increase in cocaine seizures in the state compared to the year before. The agency said cocaine availability is increasing across the U.S.

The Winnebago Industries Foundation is contributing half-a-million dollars to support the John V. Hanson Career Center at North Iowa Area Community College. NIACC is teaming up with the Forest City, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, Lake Mills and North Iowa Community School Districts on the project. Plans are for the Career Center to provide high school students with key educational opportunities in high demand and well-paying areas related to advanced manufacturing, construction trades, IT and healthcare. The center is scheduled to open this fall and will accommodate a minimum of 80 students per semester.

Iowa’s Democrat attorney general has installed the Republican governor’s lawyer into a high-level job in which he is defending his former boss’ policy agenda and management decisions in court. Weeks after joining Attorney General Tom Miller’s staff, Sam Langholz has participated in cases defending Gov. Kim Reynolds’ coronavirus restrictions, her law requiring a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, her denial of overtime pay to some nurses, and her administration’s ouster of a longtime public health spokeswoman. Miller and Reynolds announced Langholz’s appointment as an assistant attorney general for civil and appellate litigation in November.