DES MOINES – A federal jury in Des Moines convicted a former central Iowa radio host this week for 11 counts of wire fraud, following a four-day trial. According to public court documents, 65-year-old Martin James Tirrell ran a scheme to defraud multiple individuals between February 2024 and January 2025, obtaining money from individuals that he claimed would be used to buy tickets to high-demand sports and concert events and resold at a profit. Instead, Tirrell used most of the funds for gambling and personal expenses, repaying loans, and paying other investors for earlier payments. In total, investors provided Tirrell several million dollars and the victim investors sustained a combined loss exceeding $1.5 million. Tirrell was on federal supervised release for a 2019 mail fraud conviction. Tirrell was released from his 41-month prison sentence in January 2023.
ALBIA – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a release of manure from a vacated storage basin at an animal feeding operation six miles south of Albia in Monroe County. The DNR received multiple reports of the release Friday morning. The animal feeding operation had been vacant, but manure mixed with rainwater remained in the basin. The discharge has stopped, emptying most of the contents from the basin into Soap Creek, a tributary of the Des Moines River. While the stream was dry at the point of entry, it now contains a mixture of water and manure.
DES MOINES – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 3.2 percent in June, down from a jobless rate of 3.5 percent one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in June. The total number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 55,200 in June from 56,100 in May.
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