Author: Iowa Radio News

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A woman who implicated two innocent people in a Des Moines slaying has been sent to prison for murder. KCCI-TV reports 54-year-old Helen Frazier was sentenced last week to 52 years in prison. Prosecutors say she stabbed to death 55-year-old Andrea “Andre” Brown in January 2017. Frazier initially provided police information that led to the arrest of a Des Moines man. He spent 17 days in jail before charges against him were dropped. Prosecutors say Frazier lied again in telling investigators that yet another person killed Brown.

JOHNSTON, IA (IRN) – A Johnston woman has been charged with child endangerment causing death in connection with a child who was found unresponsive in her unlicensed in-home day care. KCCI-TV reports 47-year-old Trina Mazza entered a plea of not guilty. Mazza was providing in-home day care services to seven children who weren’t her own. That’s illegal.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Cedar Rapids police are looking for the person or people responsible for stealing dozens of wedding and prom dresses from a local seamstress. KCRG-TV reports burglars broke into Seams Easy sometime late Wednesday. Burglars made off with at least 30 different articles of clothing, ranging from prom and wedding dresses to t-shirts. The shop’s owner thinks the cost of the loss is about $10,000.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – High winds knocked over 12 semitrailers across the state Thursday, according to the Iowa State Patrol, causing a headache for drivers on heavily traveled interstates.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – Rebuilding the Interstates and state highways damaged in Iowa flooding could cost around $70-90 million dollars, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. These repairs shouldn’t slow work on other road projects across the state, as disaster funding will be in place.

ELDORA, IA (IRN) – An Iowa woman charged with kidnapping for confining her boyfriend’s 8-year-old son under the basement stairs has been convicted of a lesser charge. KIMT-TV reports a judge on Wednesday found Traci Tyler guilty of misdemeanor false imprisonment. Prosecutors say she and the boy’s father, Alex Shadlow, locked the boy in the basement of their Ackley home for at least nine hours a day in the summer of 2017. The boy told authorities he had to sleep on concrete. Shadlow’s trial is set to begin Sept. 30.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – The Johnson County Medical Examiner says a woman found dead inside her Iowa City home died of sharp force injuries. KGAN-TV reports Iowa City Police have been investigating 65-year-old JoEllen Browning’s death as a homicide since she was found dead on Friday.

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, IA (IRN) – A former central Iowa massage therapist has been arrested after authorities said he inappropriately touched a female client during a treatment. KCCI-TV reports 64-year-old Kevin Jon Thoren, of Ankeny, allegedly sexually abused the woman at Banyan Tree Health & Wellness in Windsor Heights.

CUCAMONGA PEAK, CA (IRN) – Two hikers who had been missing for nearly five days on their way to reach California’s Cucamonga Peak have been located. Gabrielle Wallace, 31, and Eric Desplinter, 33, an Iowa native, were spotted by an aviation crew, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. A search team followed two sets of footprints in Cucamonga Canyon that led them to the pair. A rescue team will hoist the pair out one at a time. They will be flown to a nearby fire station, where they will be reunited with their families.

NEW YORK, NY (IRN) – Former Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball star Megan Gustafson was selected as the 17th overall pick for the 2019 WNBA Draft on Wednesday night. Gustafson, a 6’3″ center for the Hawkeyes, will be joining the Dallas Wings as their second-round draft pick. She won numerous awards for player of the year following the 2018-2019 season, including the Naismith Award.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The World Pork Expo, held annually at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, has been cancelled to help prevent the spread of a disease affecting pigs outside of the country. The event has been cancelled over fears of the spread of African swine fever. The event was to be held June 5-7.

JOHNSON COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Utah-based investment company Havenpark Capitol has bought two more mobile home parks in eastern Iowa, one in Iowa City and one in West Branch. KCRG-TV reports residents have been told to expect a 100 dollar increase per month, or about 28 percent. Havenpark Capitol already raised the rent by close to 60 percent in a North Liberty mobile home park after buying it. Many residents are on fixed-incomes, and say the price hike could leave them homeless.

IOWA (IRN) – Iowa ranks at the top of the list for the most structurally-deficient bridges in the nation, according to the U.S Department of Transportation. The ranking came from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association analysis of bridge data.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has a warning for the thousands of Iowans recovering from devastating flooding this year: watch out for price gouging and fraud.
He says shady clean up and corrupt construction companies tend to look for victims of natural disasters. Miller says many of these contractors come from out of state and go door-to-door looking for business.

CRESTON, IA (IRN) – Residents in Creston have a recycling problem. KCCI-TV reports Creston residents are struggling to redeem their cans because the city’s approved redemption center doesn’t meet the DNR’s guidelines. By state law, stores that sell beverages in the deposit/refund cans must redeem the cans. Local stores are saying no, we’re not taking them.

WEST DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Authorities made an arrest Monday in connection with the death of an 18-year-old woman. KCCI-TV reports Des Moines resident Eliazar Montoya Gama, 17, is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in connection with the death of Sakira Bonner. Bonner was found lying in the road Friday, just west of I-35 in West Des Moines.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Cedar Rapids police are investigating five different incidents involving gunfire since Friday. KCRG-TV reports two arrests have been made.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Three people were hurt and traffic was blocked for several hours after a stolen car struck a utility truck near Drake University. WHO-TV reports an officer tried to stop the vehicle, and if fled at a high rate of speed. Police called off the chase, but the driver ran a red light and was hit by an oncoming truck. One person was seriously injured. Two others suffered minor injuries.

DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – For ten years Quang Le and his wife Hien have owned and operated the Oriental Food Grocery Store in Davenport. WQAD-TV reports for the past couple of weeks, rising flood waters reduced business to a trickle. For now they are surviving with a new delivery method. They are delivering food by boat.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – STD rates are on the rise in Iowa and that’s causing concern among health officials. In Iowa in 2018, there were more than 14,000 cases of chlamydia. That’s a 5-percent increase from 2017. There were 4,800 cases of Gonorrhea, a 30-percent increase.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Cedar Rapids police are investigating a report of shots fired Sunday, according to KGAN-TV. When officers arrived, they found a vehicle that had been hit by gunfire. This is the fourth shots-fired report in southeastern Cedar Rapids in the last three days.

FORT MADISON, IA (IRN) – An Iowa State Penitentiary worker is recovering after becoming extremely ill when she came in contact with an unknown substance at the prison. KTVO-TV reports the substance is believed to have come from a bottle of eye drops. Other prison employees quarantined the substance, and the staff member was taken to a local hospital.

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – Police in Dubuque have arrested a mechanic accused of harassing a woman, hoping to trade sex for car repairs. KDTH Radio reports a woman went to a repair shop, where 30-year-old Kenneth Hess worked. Hess texted her that he had found an additional problem, but would fix it for free if she came back on Sunday, implying that the repairs would be in exchange for sex.

CENTERVILLE, IA (IRN) – A 9-year-old southern Iowa girl was recently rewarded for her heroic efforts that potentially saved her babysitter’s life. KCCI-TV reports while her parents were in the Twin Cities, Madelyn White was with her four younger siblings at the family’s Centerville home. She saw their babysitter sitting in a chair in the living room, asleep, with blood coming from her mouth, so she called 911. The babysitter’s OK, and Madelyn has now received two awards from the city; junior firefighter and citizen of the month.