NEWTON, IA (IRN) – A Newton man has been charged with attempted murder in two vehicle crashes reported Monday night. KCCI-TV reports 50-year-old John Leslie Britton is charged with three counts of attempted murder, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Police were called to a report that a man had been intentionally hit by a vehicle, and then to a report of a vehicle occupied by a woman and child being hit. No one was seriously injured.

WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – Waterloo firefighters say they found one woman dead at the scene of an early morning house fire on Tuesday. There was no visible smoke or flames when firefighters arrived. However, after a walkthrough of the home, firefighters found a woman in her 60’s dead. Officials say she lived alone, and they are now investigating the cause of her death and the fire.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3.6% in September from 3.7% in August. The state’s jobless rate was 4.3% one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent in September. This low unemployment rate has not been seen since 2006.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Hundreds of new parking spots will soon be available for patients and visitors at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as well as the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. KCRG-TV reports work is nearly complete on a new $10 million underground parking ramp. It’s located outside the main hospital and adds 700 parking spots.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A 20-year-old will spend 14 years in prison for selling heroin mixed with fentanyl to two people who overdosed and nearly died in February. KCRG-TV reports Marcus DeJohn Wallace of Cedar Rapids admitted he distributed heroin to a person in a parking lot who shared it with another. Both users immediately overdosed in a car and lost consciousness. The driver of the car slumped forward, hitting the steering wheel and horn, which a passer-by heard and called 911 when he saw people unconscious in the car.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – An internal police investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed man in June has cleared the Des Moines police officer who shot him. KCCI-TV reports the investigation found Officer Vanessa Miller did not violate any administrative policies when she fired shots through her squad car window at 28-year-old Ryan Keith Bolinger. Bollinger’s family isn’t surprised the police department concluded one of their own did no wrong.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – University of Iowa students, faculty and community members will engage in a protest on Wednesday in what they are calling a “Rally to Defend Our Universities.” KWWL-TV reports it’s a protest in support of demands for the Iowa Board of Regents to resign or be removed. Organizers say they planned the event as a response to anger over the Regents’ corrupted search for a new UI President.

WINTERSET, IA (IRN) – A 102-year-old Winterset woman has received an honorary high school diploma, according to WHO-TV. Ruth Lampe volunteers at the senior center in Winterset, helping out in the kitchen twice a week. She dropped out her freshman year in high school to go to work during the Great Depression.  Lampe says working keeps her young.