Author: Iowa Radio News

MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – An Illinois man who was camping near the town of Rock Falls in Cerro Gordo County has gone missing. KIMT-TV reports he had been doing some sub-contracting work in Mason City and staying at the campgrounds. Friends believe he may have fallen into the river, and that the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s office hasn’t done enough to locate him.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A Waterloo woman who pled guilty to a drug charge in November was sentenced by a federal district judge on Monday. Marvita Roxanna Causey, 39, was sentenced to 37 months in prison. Causey gave her cousin and another woman what she thought was heroin. Later laboratory testing indicated that the heroin contained fentanyl, a powerful opioid. The cousin was found dead.

CORALVILLE, IA (IRN) – A Coralville man was taken into custody after a fender bender led to a fight with law enforcement. KGAN-TV reports 59-year-old Bryan Sheeley allegedly rear-ended a Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy and another car. When the deputy identified herself, she noticed Sheeley was intoxicated, and he tried to flee. When she started to stop him, he attacked her. Tests showed his blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines woman accused of tying her children up with phone cords received two years of probation. KCCI-TV reports Jessica Henderson, 38, entered Alford pleas on Wednesday to three counts of child endangerment. She maintains her innocence, saying a stranger did it while she was taking a shower.

AMES, IA (IRN) – A man stole a pride flag from an Ames church and lit on fire, according to WHO-TV. 30-year-old Adolfo Martinez faces multiple charges. The incident happened at Dangerous Curves Gentleman’s Club in Ames. Witnesses say he was holding the flag in one hand and spraying it with lighter fluid at the same time and caught another patron’s car tire on fire.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The son of an Iowa civil rights attorney in the midst of a high-profile civil trial against a former governor has been arrested in the courtroom where his mother’s trial is taking place. KCCI-TV reports 50-year-old James Barton Conlin, of West Des Moines, was arrested during a break in the proceedings Monday and charged with interference with official acts. He was booked into the county jail and released within an hour. Conlin told courthouse officials he was testing the air after his mother complained it was making her ill.

IOWA (IRN) – The two front runners in the 2020 bid for the White House crisscrossed Iowa Tuesday. Biden said the president is ‘an existential threat to America,’ and that his behavior is ‘bizarre.’ Trump called Biden “Sleepy Joe,” and said he was “weak mentally.”

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Rep. Steve King, the Iowa Republican who was stripped of his congressional committee assignments earlier this year, was not allowed to fly aboard Air Force One on Tuesday as President Donald Trump traveled to Iowa. King, who represents the state’s 4th District, asked the White House to join the President’s entourage, but officials rejected the request, according to CNN. Republican Senator Joni Ernst joined Trump aboard Air Force One.

CEDAR FALLS, IA (IRN) – People in Cedar Falls are complaining that workers at city-owned cemeteries have been removing meaningful items used to honor the dead over the past few days. KWWL-TV reports visitors say city workers have also been throwing flags into dumpsters. The city has apologized.

IOWA (IRN) – Iowa leads the nation when it comes to the amount of waste its people and livestock generate. The Des Moines Register reports Christopher Jones, a UI research engineer, calculated that Iowa’s population — based on the waste from the state’s 3.2 million people and nearly 110 million chickens, pigs, turkeys and cattle — would be the equivalent of 168 million people.

GLIDDEN, IA (IRN) – A 6-year-old boy died after being pulled from a community pool in central Iowa. KWWL-TV reports first responders were sent to the Glidden Aquatic Center in Glidden on Saturday evening. Medics took over CPR and other emergency measures from pool personnel, and he was taken to a hospital in Carroll. He was pronounced dead there. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office identified him as Kadyn Sporrer, of Carroll

CLIVE, IA (IRN) – A man left a vehicle and jumped from the University Avenue Bridge over I-80/35 in Clive onto the roadway below yesterday. KCCI-TV reports a relative was driving the man when he exited the vehicle and jumped off the bridge in an apparent suicide attempt. He was hospitalized, and his condition is unknown.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Iowa’s court system has blocked public access to online records detailing Gov. Kim Reynolds’ 2000 arrest for drunk driving, saying they inadvertently exposed her sensitive personal information. KGAN-TV reports the records contained the governor’s Social Security number, driver’s license number and other sensitive information that should not have been made public. After an inquiry from The Associated Press last week, the court system removed public access to the files.

IOWA (IRN) – President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will both be in Iowa today. Biden will hold a rally over the lunch hour at the Bridgeview Center in Ottumwa. It’s just Biden’s second visit to Iowa since announcing his campaign for president. President Trump will begin his day in Council Bluffs, where he will tour an ethanol plant. He will then head to West Des Moines, where he will take part in a Republican Party fundraiser this evening.

IOWA (IRN) – The number of licensed vendors in Iowa has dropped since the state legalized fireworks. KCRG-TV reports vendors blame new restrictive ordinances some cities have imposed to cut down on their use. In 2018, there were 791 firework vendor licenses issued by the Iowa State Fire Marshal. So far this year, that number is down to 518, a 35% decrease.

TIPTON, IA (IRN) – A 61-year-old Illinois man has been given 25 years in prison for shooting at vehicles along Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa. KGAN-TV reports Charles Johnston, of Belvidere, Illinois, was sentenced Friday. Johnston fired several shots on Jan. 11, 2018, at a rest area and at a semitrailer at a gas station and then at an Iowa state trooper. Johnston had become obsessed over a family supposedly killed in a collision with a semi and that he wanted to retaliate against a truck driver or truck drivers. Johnston had been a teaching psychology at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.

SUMNER, IA (IRN) – One person died after their pickup truck crossed the centerline, entered a ditch, went airborne, and rolled into a light pole in a Dollar General parking lot in the Bremer County town of Sumner. Another person was injured.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A smoke detector may have helped save a woman from a fire in her apartment in Des Moines. WHO-TV reports when crews arrived, they saw smoke coming out of one unit and a woman waving for help on the balcony. Crews were able to get her off the balcony and put the fire out. She suffered minor smoke inhalation but refused treatment. There’s no word on what started the blaze.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Nineteen Democratic presidential hopefuls descended into Iowa Sunday for the largest gathering of candidates so far in the 2020 race. The 2019 Iowa Democrats Hall of Fame was held in Cedar Rapids. The candidates were each given five minutes to separate themselves from the others on the campaign trail. Former Vice President Joe Biden was not in attendance, as he was attending his granddaughter’s graduation. Biden is the frontrunner in the polls.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Twenty-five thousand people attended Pride Fest in Des Moines Sunday. Organizers say this is the biggest turnout in the history of the event.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police are investigating a second attempted ATM theft in a week. KCCI-TV reports Sgt. Paul Parizek said the crime is moronic, because thieves are highly unlikely to get away with any cash during the crime, due to the way the machines are built.

CHARLES CITY, IA (IRN) – Officials at a chicken processing plant in northeastern Iowa announced the plant will close in August, taking 500 jobs with it. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that the Simply Essentials chicken processing plant in Charles City closes on Aug. 5.

DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – Nine Scott County churches are teaming up to honor lives lost in the community. They are remembering victims of gun violence with T-shirts. WQAD-TV reports it’s called “Memorial to the Lost.” Each T-shirt represents a victim of gun violence in Scott County since 2014.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The LGBTQ community is celebrating some historical milestones this year: 10 years of marriage equality in Iowa and 50 years since the Stonewall riots that paved the way for pride celebrations. WHO-TV reports joining in the festivities at Pridefest in the east village of Des Moines were numerous presidential candidates.