Wednesday, January 20, 2016

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Police have arrested an Iowa City man after he allegedly used a plastic gun to rob a bank. KCCI-TV reports the Tuesday morning robbery occurred at a U.S. Bank. A University of Iowa police officer later stopped 30-year-old Clifton Rayner Brinkmeyer and in a search found a fake, plastic gun. He was charged with second-degree robbery.

BLOOMFIELD, IA (IRN) – Authorities say a southeastern Iowa man who was killed in December died of gunshot wounds. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and State Medical Examiners on Tuesday released how 39-year-old Michael Thomas Goodwin Sr. died. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder.

AMES, IA (IRN) – Ames police reported an arrest and charges Wednesday in the fatal hit-and-run crash that killed 18-year-old ISU student Emmalee Jacobs, of Urbana. KCCI-TV reports that Emmalee was struck by a CyRide bus within the crosswalk near ISU. The driver of the bus was identified as 23-year-old Benjamin Clague of Gilbert. Clague has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in a death, a class D felony.

ALTOONA, IA (IRN) – Iowa Governor Terry Branstad says he won’t endorse a Republican presidential candidate before the Feb. 1 caucuses, according to WHO-TV. But Tuesday, for the first time, Branstad said he wants Texas Senator Ted Cruz defeated. Cruz is opposed to the renewable fuel standard important to Iowa’s economy, and is aligned with Texas oil interests. Branstad says the election of Cruz would be very damaging to the state.

NEW HAMPTON, IA (IRN) – Three people have died and two others were injured in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 63 south of New Hampton Tuesday evening. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2002 Malibu failed to yield and pulled in front of an oncoming semi.

ATLANTIC, IA (IRN) – Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson suspended campaigning Tuesday and Wednesday following a fatal crash involving some of his campaign workers. KETV reports the crash happened on Interstate 80 near Atlantic. The volunteers were traveling in a van and encountered a patch of ice and the vehicle flipped. Three people were treated for injuries and are expected to be OK. 25-year-old Braden Joplin, a student at Texas Tech University, was killed.

CEDAR FALLS, IA (IRN) – The Cedar Falls City Council has rejected a rezoning request for a disabled Afghanistan war veteran who wants to build a “smart home” in a remote area to accommodate his disabilities. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Taylor Morris asked the city to rezone land from agricultural to residential so he could construct the home, which would be controlled by an iPad. Morris lost portions of all four of his limbs in bomb blast in Afghanistan. The council says it doesn’t want to set a precedent by rezoning.

NASHUA, IA (IRN) – One north Iowa student-teacher team is taking the trip of a lifetime to the beaches of Normandy. KIMT-TV reports 14 student-teacher teams from around the country are preparing to make the journey. Caleb Lines, a sophomore at Nashua-Plainfield High School and his history teacher Suzan Turner have been selected to give a eulogy to a fallen World War II veteran from the area. Lines’ grandfather was a paratrooper who fought at Normandy in World War II.