DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Despite the seasonal summer slowdown, Iowa keeps setting new sports betting benchmarks. In June, more than $122 million were wagered in the state. That’s the highest amount in June on record, 10% higher than the year before. Since legal sports gambling began in Iowa in August of 2019, more than $4 billion worth of bets have been placed. Experts predict Iowa will surpass $3 billion placed in sports bets this year alone.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police and the Des Moines Fire Department conducted water rescue efforts along the Raccoon River last night. Police say that an 11-year-old girl had been on the water on an inflatable raft with two other children. She got off the raft, went under the water, and did not resurface. The search is continuing this morning, but she is presumed to have drowned.

LINN COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Multiple rescue and law enforcement agencies in Linn County are searching for someone who went missing at Palisades-Kepler State Park on Wednesday. Rescue personnel were called in when a person began to struggle and went underwater. The search continues.

WEST DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – West Des Moines Police are working to find a suspect in the armed robbery of a bank on Wednesday morning. The robbery happened just before noon at First Class Credit Union. Police say the suspect, wearing a mask and armed with a silver handgun, demanded money from a teller then fled the bank.

SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – Sioux City police removed dozens of snakes and mice from a home Monday night. Marilyn Twinn lives in a townhouse in Sioux City. When she came home one day, she found a python in her garage. She believed the snake came from her next-door neighbor. After getting a search warrant, police and animal control confiscated mice and snakes from the property while the homeowner was out of town. Twinn claims the neighbor’s 6-month-old baby could have easily been killed by the python.