WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) – The latest USDA planting report is out. U.S. farmers set a record soybean planting high with 85.1 million acres, up 2 percent from last year. Corn growers planted an estimated 88.9 million acres, the lowest corn acreage since 2010.

DES MOINES (IRN) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports the effort by law enforcement agencies to enforce Iowa’s boating while intoxicated law has resulted in making contact with more than 1,400 boaters on 380 vessels. Of the vessels contacted, officials issued 161 warnings or citations and made 10 arrests for boating while intoxicated. Last year, nearly three out of four of Iowa’s boating fatalities involved alcohol.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Two people are dead after a crash in Monona County Monday. The Iowa State Patrol reports 49-year-old Leon Weifenbach of Onawa was southbound when she veered into the northbound lanes striking a car driven by 52-year-old Joseph Metz of South Sioux City Nebraska.

DES MOINES (IRN) – An urn containing a mother’s cremains was among items stolen from a home while the victim slept. The Des Moines Register reports that the 26-year-old victim awoke to find his mother’s urn missing along with two cell phones. The victim gave police the name of Michael Duncan Byers, 29, who was found already booked in at the Polk County Jail for violating probation. The urn wasn’t recovered.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – The man suspected in the disappearance and death of Iowa State University student Tong Shao, 20, has been arrested in China. KCRG-TV reports Xiangnan Li, 23, a former business student at the University of Iowa, faces a homicide charge in China.  Li is suspected of suffocating his girlfriend, hiding her body in the trunk of her car and fleeing to his native China.

LOS ANGELES, CA (IRN) – A former Iowa State University Basketball player has been found dead. The Des Moines Register reports Jackson Vroman, 34, was found in a pool at his Los Angeles County home Monday. The cause of death has not been released. Vroman averaged 13.9 points per game his senior season (2003-04) and led the Big 12 Conference in rebounding.

MADISON COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Deputies dispatched to a crash scene Monday morning found a man dead inside a vehicle. KCCI-TV reports the crashed car on its top was found about 15 miles southwest of Winterset. Deputies identified the driver as Daniel Holker, 57, of Winterset.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Police officers and firefighters responded to the First Avenue Bridge over the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids Monday evening for a report of a man who went into the river. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports witnesses say the man was seen passing underneath the Second Avenue Bridge but was not visible downstream at the Third Avenue Bridge. The search was suspended as darkness fell.