DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – One person has died and another was injured in an overnight apartment fire in Des Moines. KCCI-TV reports the fire was contained to the third floor of the apartment, which is a Des Moines public housing building. There are 48 units in the apartment, and there is no word on how many people are displaced by the fire.
NEW VIENNA, IA (IRN) – Authorities are blaming a manure runoff from a dairy farm for killing about 60,000 fish in eastern Iowa. The farm is situated about three miles east of New Vienna. The fish kill was reported Oct. 9 after fish carcasses were spotted in two creeks downstream in Dyersville.
CORALVILLE, IA (IRN) – A man has died while serving a life sentence for killing a 2-year-old girl more than 40 years ago in Waterloo. KCRG-TV reports that 71-year-old Russell Fitz died Sunday at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. He’d been assigned there because of a chronic illness. Fitz was charged with first-degree murder for the slaying of Michelle Day in June 1974. A detective found her body in a crawl space over Fitz’s apartment bathroom. She’d been strangled.
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Department of Public Health announced the first flu-related death of the 2017-2018 season Monday. The man who died was from central Iowa and was over the age of 81.
POWESHIEK COUNTY, IA (IRN) – MidAmerican Energy is moving forward with its goal to produce 100% of its energy from wind. Construction is now underway on a new wind farm in Poweshiek County. The farm will involve 170 new turbines capable of producing enough energy to power 60,000 homes. MidAmerican says additional wind farm locations around the state will be selected next year, with the goal of building 1,000 new wind turbines.
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A man in a “Grumpy Bear” costume faces charges after an incident early Sunday morning. KCCI-TV reports a Des Moines homeowner noticed a man wearing a Care Bear “Grumpy Bear” onesie in his driveway. He confronted the man, and a fight ensued. A neighbor was able to help the homeowner restrain “Grumpy Bear”–actually 30-year-old James Shafer–and call police. Shafer told officers he was drunk and thought he was in Burlington.