MUSCATINE, IA (IRN) – An eastern Iowa man who tried to organize the killings of witnesses from behind bars so they couldn’t testify against him has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. The Muscatine Journal reports that 38-year-old old Justin Lee DeWitt was sentenced Friday for three counts of attempted murder. While he was incarcerated, Dewitt tried to coordinate the murders of three witnesses so they couldn’t testify. Dewitt spoke twice to someone he thought had a connection to a contract killer, but the contact was really an undercover officer.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A major winter storm battered much of the state Friday into this morning, causing road conditions to deteriorate and making travel nearly impossible. Officials with the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for almost all of Iowa.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Snow is going to take a back seat to the brutally cold temperatures moving in. The City of Des Moines has opened up several warming shelters. The designated areas include Southridge and Merle Hay malls, six public libraries, Central Iowa Shelter and Services, and the Bethel Mission.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa swore in Gov. Kim Reynolds Friday for her first elected term as Iowa governor — the first woman elected to that position. Sen. Charles Grassley and newly elected members of Congress Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne came from Washington to attend the inauguration. After Reynolds was sworn in, she delivered an inaugural address focused on the image of her beloved state as “one big small town.”