Author: Iowa Radio News

IOWA (IRN) – Hy-Vee announced on Tuesday it will no longer require fully vaccinated customers and employees to wear face coverings in its stores, except where required by local ordinances. The move is in accordance with the CDC’s updated mask guidance.

IOWA (IRN) – Parents and schools are getting mixed messages on masks. On Friday, the Iowa Department of Public Health said schools should make masks optional for students. Then Sunday, the CDC said keep mandating masks through the school year. Ultimately it’s up to each school district.

U.S.A (IRN) – Farm tractor sales continue high growth. April sales grew over already large 2020 gains. US farm tractors saw double digit growth in the US and Canada as inventories continue to fall. Combine sales also grew 23%.

AMES, IA (IRN) – The Iowa State Cyclones softball team is going to the NCAA softball tournament for the first time in 33 years. The program last participated in the tournament in 1988. The Cyclones are 31-21 and earned their first top 25 ranking in February. Iowa State’s Sami Williams is the Big 12 all-time leader in career hits, doubles and total bases. Williams also took Iowa State’s career and single-season home run record with 21 in 2021.

MARION, IA (IRN) – Anyone over 55 can now rent electric trikes housed at the new Marion YMCA. The City debuted the program Monday. Seniors use them to commute around town.

WINTERSET, IA (IRN) – Madison County emergency crews were called to a rollover bus crash early Monday morning. It involved a Winterset School District bus. There were 10 students on board. All of them were taken to Madison County Hospital to be checked out and none reported serious injuries.

BROOKLYN, IA (IRN) – The trial for the man accused of killing Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old Iowa college student, is scheduled to start today in Scott County, nearly three years after her murder. Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 26, allegedly stabbed Tibbetts while she was on an evening run in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. Her body was found more than a month later in a cornfield.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – An Indiana man has been arrested in connection with a shooting death in Iowa City last month. 29-year-old Renard Winfield Jr. of Gary, Indiana, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting of 31-year-old Tommy Curry. Curry thought he was going to be meeting with a woman he had been texting with for months. Instead, police said Curry was shot and killed by an Indiana man who had been posing as a woman.

SIBLEY, IA (IRN) – Hazmat teams were rushed to the Osceola County town of Sibley Sunday for a massive train derailment. More than a dozen cars hauling fertilizer and explosive ammonium nitrate left the tracks. The town was evacuated.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – None of the University of Iowa’s football coaches — including head coach Kirk Ferentz — participated in the voluntary salary reductions that UI Athletics announced last summer in light of massive pandemic losses. Most UI Athletics staffers took the pay cut — including Fran McCaffery, head coach of the men’s basketball team; Lisa Bluder, head coach of the women’s basketball squad; and Tom and Terry Brands, head and associate head wrestling coaches.

WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – Two women were injured and one man is dead in an early morning shooting Saturday in Waterloo. The man was found collapsed in a gravel alley. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The women’s injuries do not appear to be life threatening.

IOWA (IRN) – Data from the Iowa Department of Public Health showed the state hit another grim milestone Saturday, with the overall death toll in the state surpassing 6,000 since the start of the pandemic last year.

JEFFERSON, IA (IRN) – There was a second explosion at a grain elevator Saturday night in Jefferson.On Friday morning, there was an explosion at Landus Cooperative. Landus said smoldering grain in a self-contained bin located next to the grain elevator led to the dust explosion. A second, smaller explosion occurred at about 7:15 p.m. Saturday. Authorities said there were no injuries in either explosion.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A prominent New Orleans-based national steakhouse chain is coming to Iowa. Ruth’s Chris Steak House will begin construction on a 9.5-acre multi-use development at the corner of Jordan Creek Parkway and Ashworth Road in West Des Moines this fall.

POLK COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Two people had to be rescued from a car that crashed off a bridge in Polk County Friday evening. The driver of the car lost control and crashed into a guard rail on a bridge. The car took a nosedive to the ground below, and the passenger was impaled through the torso by one of the wooden guard rails. The injured passenger was conscious and alert throughout most of the incident and is in critical condition.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who said the state should refund a $465 fine he paid for a speeding ticket following another high court ruling that certain officers could not issue such tickets. Friday’s ruling likely means Iowa is off the hook for refunding millions of dollars in fines from tickets wrongly issued by Motor Vehicle Enforcement officers.

MARION, IA (IRN) – Students and parents in the Marion Independent School District are asking officials to end the year sooner than scheduled. Currently, the school year is set to end June 11, the second week of the month, versus the usual first week of June. A petition to get the school year to end at its usual time has more than 500 signatures.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The new recommendations from the Iowa Department of Public Health on Friday said schools should let parents and students make their own decision about wearing face masks.

HARLAN, IA (IRN) – Parents in Harlan are suing their school district over its mask mandate. The parents say they’re frustrated with Harlan Community Schools as they say other districts in the area are ending their mandates. This comes as the CDC said fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask in most indoor places.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A 35-year-old woman with multiple warrants for her arrest fled from police at a high rate of speed in Des Moines yesterday resulting in a three-vehicle crash. A 53-year-old man was critically injured in the crash and died from his injuries. The woman was taken into custody.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A judge has dismissed a rarely used felony leak charge against a Black Lives Matter activist in Iowa who gave a confidential police bulletin to a television news reporter. The judge found that protester Viet Tran didn’t break the law when he gave the Des Moines Police Department bulletin to a television reporter.

GRUNDY COUNTY, IA (IRN) – The Grundy County Board of Supervisors is halting the expansion of wind energy generation, passing a moratorium on any new wind turbine construction. The action comes after citizens started a petition to halt a proposed new project.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (IRN) – Jerry Burns, a former University of Iowa football coach, has died at age 94. Burns was an assistant coach at Iowa in 1954 and took over as head coach in 1961, going 16-27-2 over five years before departing for the NFL. Burns helped the Green Bay Packers win the first two Super Bowls as the defensive backs coach for Vince Lombardi. He was hired as the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator in 1968. Burns became head coach in 1986, leading the Vikings to three playoff berths in six seasons.