DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – Three police officers and a boy’s mother coaxed the 7-year-old into jumping from a second-story window into their arms so he could escape a fire at their home in Dubuque. KCCI-TV reports the mother escaped down the front stairs Tuesday, but smoke prevented the boy from reaching the stairs. Three officers joined the mother below the window where the boy was standing. They persuaded him to push out the screen, drop his dog to one of the officers and jump into the waiting arms of his mother and the officers.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police are investigating after receiving a report that a man shot himself in the leg near the Fairgrounds this morning. WHO-TV reports the man was taken from his home by ambulance. Police say the shooting was an accident.

WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – A Waterloo woman is facing multiple charges after she poured gasoline on a woman and threatened to kill her and burn her children. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports 29-year-old Traynetta Ford had a plastic bottle filled with gasoline and dumped it on a woman inside a convenience store. Ford then went outside and poured gas on the woman’s SUV with three children inside. Ford then lit a cigarette lighter near the driver’s door, but the woman chased her away before the gas ignited.

BOONE, IA (IRN) – A former Boone youth pastor has been charged for having inappropriate contact with a 16-year-old girl in his church. The Boone News Republican reports 47-year-old Joel Waltz turned himself into Story County Jail Monday. The victim said she first met Waltz when she was 11, and that he declared his love for her when she was 16, and that she met with him regularly until she was 18. Waltz resigned as youth pastor at Grace Community Church last March after the victim first came forward.

MARION, IA (IRN) – Three people were able to escape safely from a house fire early this morning in Marion, according to KGAN-TV. One cat died from smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is unknown.

ELY, IA (IRN) – Women run the city of Ely in eastern Iowa. KCRG-TV reports women make up the entire city council, as well as run a number of businesses in downtown. City Administrator Denise Hoy says having an all-female city council makes Ely unique.