Articles by Iowa Radio News

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Thursday, January 18, 2018

SIBLEY, IA (IRN) – A 39-year-old former football coach and teacher accused of sexually assaulting a child in northwest Iowa has been convicted of a similar crime in Nebraska. KGAN-TV reports Kyle Ewinger was found guilty Tuesday of sexual assault in Omaha. Prosecutors say he assaulted the 9-year-old son of a woman he was dating. The former Sibley-Ocheyedan coach was fired after the district superintendent found Ewinger sleeping in his classroom next to a 10-year-old in 2015. BREMER COUNTY, IA (IRN) – An officer involved shooting has resulted in the death of a man in Bremer County. Officers responded to a report of a person with a gun pointed at his head in Floyd at Love’s Truck Stop. The man left, and was stopped in Nashua for speeding 104 mph. He got out of his car, and pointed a gun at his head. Officers negotiated with the man, he got back in his car, and a shot was fired. The man wasn’t hurt, and officers tried to take him into custody. He resisted, and drove forward, hitting an officer. Two officers fired shots and hit the suspect. He was pronounced dead at the scene. HANCOCK COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A Hancock County man is facing four counts of felony sexual abuse for incidents spanning from 2011 until August of 2017. KIMT-TV reports Damien Kyhl, of Britt, is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail without bond. Kyhl is accused of committing sex acts on persons under the age of 12. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A man convicted of running a cockfighting operation out of his Des Moines home was handed a five-year suspended sentence, which animal advocates say is a slap on the wrist. KCCI-TV reports police raided Mariano Martinez Ramirez’s home in July and found 85 chickens and roosters believed to be used in cockfighting. DUBUQUE COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A house in Dubuque County sustained about $200,000 damage in a fire Wednesday night. Four different fire departments fought the blaze. No people were injured, but the family dog perished in the fire. OTTUMWA, IA (IRN) – ESPN will cover a professional eating contest in Ottumwa this summer. Competitors will line up to eat the loose meat sandwich called a “Canteen” from Ottumwa’s Canteen Alley restaurant. Contestants will have 10 minutes to down as many Canteens as they can for a $2,000 first place cash prize. Organizers are hoping to attract at least one celebrity to the eating contest, and are targeting Ottumwa’s own Tom Arnold or Iowa native Ashton Kutcher.


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Wednesday, January 17, 2018

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines man was stabbed during a home invasion early this morning, according to the Des Moines Register. 21-year-old Julio Molina was stabbed in his home at a trailer park. A skinny white man wearing a black sweatshirt and bandana over his face forced himself inside Molina’s home, demanded money, and then stabbed him before leaving. MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – A Mason City man is facing a felony burglary charge after he was caught on a stolen bike wearing a stolen pink backpack. KIMT-TV reports police saw 22-year-old Joshuah Hockenson riding the stolen fat tire bike and wearing a pink backpack that was stolen from a vehicle. Hockenson had steel knuckles in his back pocket. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A suspicious death in Cedar Rapids is being treated as a homicide. KGAN-TV reports 18-year-old AnnaElise Edgeton died of a gunshot wound. Police found her inside her apartment where they were sent to check on her after she didn’t show up for work. WOODWARD, IA (IRN) – A Woodward woman is in jail on felony child endangerment charges. KCCI-TV reports 32-year-old Tracy Bess-Thacker injured her 10-year-old and infant. Thacker’s husband called 911 to say his wife was drunk and threatening them. Earlier, she punched a hole in the wall, and held her 10-year-old son down in a bathtub of cold water, and threatened to kill him if he told his dad. VINTON, IA (IRN) – Four children were living in the house in Vinton where the Cedar Valley Humane Society has removed about 1,000 animals. KCRG-TV reports there were rabbits, rats, mice, hedgehogs, chinchillas, turtles, fish, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, and a python. Many of the animals were malnourished, dehydrated, and living in overcrowded conditions in fecal matter. The children are with DHS. Neighbors say they didn’t notice anything unusual. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Tom and Janet Lloyd of Des Moines went to Hawaii to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary, according to WHO-TV. On one of the days during the trip there was a false ballistic missile threat. The couple found shelter and started texting family members as fast as they could, as phone lines were jammed. Relief set in when another alert came 38 minutes later; the original notification was a false alarm. Tom says, “it seemed like a day, it was the longest 38 minutes, but if it’s your time to go, there are a lot of worse places.”


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Tuesday, January 16, 2018

MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – A Mason City man is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail after police say he pointed a gun at a victim and threatened her Monday night. KIMT-TV reports 27-year-old Brandon Hadacek is facing felony charges for possession of a firearm by a felon and going armed with intent. He is also facing charges for false imprisonment, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. OTTUMWA, IA (IRN) – A dispute between neighbors has led to an Ottumwa man being arrested on felony gun charges. KTVO-TV reports 48-year-old Claudy Jacques had an argument with a neighbor, and fired his weapon into the floor of the neighbor’s residence to make a point. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – One person was injured in a car chase and shooting in Des Moines Monday, according to KCCI-TV. One car was chasing another with a shooter hanging out of the window. The female driver of the victim’s car crashed in a ravine, and the male passenger suffered a gunshot wound to his back. The suspect car got away. CLINTON COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A head-on collision in Clinton County killed one driver and sent the other to the hospital Monday. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Buick LeSabre and a Ford F150 pickup collided on a curve. The Buick caught fire after the crash, and the driver was killed. NEWTON, IA (IRN) – A young wife and mother has died due to compilations from the flu. 34-year-old Nikki Burtlow of Newton put off going to the doctor for several days despite feeling ill. She eventually went, but it was too late. Doctors say she was also battling pneumonia and had gone into organ failure. Burtlow died less than 24 hours later. She didn’t go to the doctor because she didn’t have health insurance. DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – Nearly 175,000 people used the Grand River Center in Dubuque last year, including more than 43,000 people from out of town. The Iowa Economic Development Authority estimates those travelers had an economic impact to the city of about $7.6 million.


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Monday, January 15, 2018

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa soon will require that ignition interlocks have cameras so drivers required to take breath tests don’t have other people start the drivers’ vehicles. The Des Moines Register reports the vehicles would still start, but the drivers could lose their restricted driver’s licenses and be charged with crimes after the ignition interlock company notifies the state that other people blew into the devices. COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – Council Bluffs police have identified and arrested the man accused in a December carjacking in the parking lot of Horseshoe Casino. KETV reports John Edward McAuliffe, Jr. allegedly shot a man and took his car. The victim later recovered. CEDAR COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A Quad Cities ambulance rolled on Interstate 80 Sunday afternoon near West Branch. KCRG-TV reports two crew members were transporting a patient at the time of the rollover. The Iowa State Patrol said the driver of the ambulance likely lost control of the vehicle on the icy road, causing it to topple and end up on its roof. LONG GROVE, IA (IRN) – Two people were arrested and charged with multiple drug and weapons violations during a drug task force bust in rural Scott County on Friday. WQAD-TV reports three one-pot meth labs were recovered along with numerous chemicals, a shotgun, and ammunition. FOREST CITY, IA (IRN) – A man who authorities say spent years pretending to be someone else is back in custody. KIMT-TV reports 57-year-old Wendell Keith Hunter of Forest City pleaded guilty to identity theft and fraudulent use of a birth certificate. Law enforcement says Hunter used that birth certificate and a Pennsylvania voter ID card to pass himself off as someone named Daniel Hughes, getting a job a 3M in Winnebago County in 2014. He was apprehended in Tennessee. NEWTON, IA (IRN) – A World War II veteran from Newton has finally received the medals he deserves. WHO-TV reports Corporal Kenneth Arthur was in the artillery. On Sunday, Senator Joni Ernst presented Arthur with the medals from his service. Arthur suffered multiple injuries during combat, including the loss of his left eye. Arthur says, “I don’t want to see another war, they are not good for nobody.”


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Sunday, January 14, 2018

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – A 2-year-old girl found unresponsive along with her mother in a Council Bluffs apartment fire has died. The Omaha World-Herald reports that A’Nyia Patton died Friday night at Children’s Hospital in Omaha. An autopsy has been ordered. The girl’s mother, 37-year-old Michelle Patton, remains in critical condition. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Cedar Rapids police are calling a Saturday death ‘suspicious.’ KWWL-TV reports police were called to an apartment where they found a deceased person. Family is being notified. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A preliminary auditor’s report shows the Woodward-Granger Community School District is missing $190,000, and they haven’t yet figured out where the money went. According to the report, there were “irregularities” in the payroll last August. IOWA (IRN) – After a record-breaking scoring performance, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows basketball player Rhett Darland says he was blindsided by insults from a college staffer on Twitter. WHO-TV reports after Rhett set the record, Iowa State women’s basketball player development coordinator Adam Urness, a Clarion-Goldfield graduate, sent the high school player messages criticizing his new single game scoring record. He used an expletive and made accusations about drug use. Urness has since apologized, and resigned.