ELK RUN HEIGHTS, IA (IRN) – A man died Friday after his gun fell on the ground and went off. KCRG-TV reports Black Hawk County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Elk Run Heights and found 45-year-old Martin Lawrence unconscious. Investigators say he was getting out of his car when his gun dropped onto the ground and fired, hitting him in the leg. He later died at the hospital. Deputies believe the bullet traveled up Lawrence’s body and caused internal injuries. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A house fire in Iowa City was quickly contained Friday night, according to KWWL-TV. Crews were called to the location after smoke was spotted near the roof of the house. The fire was declared under control within ten minutes of fire crew arrival. No injuries were reported, but seven people living in the house have been displaced. JOHNSTON, IA (IRN) – A former Johnston school bus driver will be sentenced in March. KCCI-TV reports 61-year-old Robert Scarbrough was charged with assault causing injury and child endangerment last October. Police said Scarbrough approached a 15-year-old student with special needs after he failed to follow instructions. The student directed an inflammatory comment toward the bus driver who grabbed the student’s coat, hit the boy in the face and pushed him to the floor. In videos of the incident, students can be heard screaming, demanding the driver to stop. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa Senator Rob Hogg (HOEG) is filing nomination petitions for U.S. Senate on Monday at the offices of the Iowa Secretary of State in Des Moines. The filing will include more than 13,000 signatures from Iowans from all 99 counties. Hogg is running against incumbent Senator Chuck Grassley. OSCEOLA, IA (IRN) – An unemployed southern Iowa man can stop his job search after he won a Publishers Clearing House lifetime prize. WHO-TV reports the prize patrol was in Osceola on Friday to award its youngest-ever big prize winner. 21-year-old Ryan Hart won the lifetime prize and will be awarded $5,000 a week for the rest of his life. Hart had his mother on the phone with him when he was awarded the prize at his doorstep. Hart said he’s been entering the contest for a year, and isn’t sure what he will do with the money.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Department of Public Health reported three Iowans have contracted the Zika virus. The cases were confirmed by lab tests in a new report released Friday. All three cases are women, and none of the women were pregnant. The women all had traveled to countries where the virus is present. Mosquitoes carrying the virus have not been found in Iowa or most of the U.S. OTTUMWA, IA (IRN) – A Florida man has been federally indicted in a case out of Ottumwa that prompted an Amber Alert. Nineteen-year-old Kevin Ramirez faces federal charges of enticement of a minor; travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, enticement of a minor; transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and possession of child pornography. Ramirez is accused of travelling to Ottumwa from Florida to meet with a 13-year-old girl. MOLINE, IL (IRN) – Deere & Company has announced 100 layoffs at two Iowa factories. KCCI-TV reports the company informed the employees that they will be placed on indefinite layoff, effective April 1. The company said the layoffs will take place at Deere’s factories in Davenport and Dubuque. CRAWFORDSVILLE, IA (IRN) – A single-vehicle rollover accident near Crawfordsville Thursday afternoon resulted in the death of a Washington man. KCII radio reports the SUV was traveling southbound, left the roadway, travelled through an intersection, overcorrected, crossed the centerline, entered a ditch and rolled several times. Dirk Charles Weerman was transported by helicopter from the scene and succumbed to his injuries at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He was not wearing a seatbelt. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The boarding school for troubled teens in Keokuk is under a new investigation. KHQA-TV reports this time it’s Iowa legislators who want answers about Midwest Academy child abuse allegations. Iowa representative Bobby Kaufmann initiated the formal request to start the inquiry. He wants to find out who is responsible, and how they can prevent it from happening again. LINN COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Two Cedar Rapids residents face charges in connection with a robbery Thursday afternoon. KCRG-TV reports the 29-year-old male victim provided information on two suspects who left in a silver Ford Taurus with Missouri plates. Cedar Rapids Police located a vehicle matching the description a short time later. Linn County Deputies then arrested 23-year-old Tanor Jimmison and 24-year-old Kashawna Harris on various charges. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A man is in custody after he led officers on a chase through the east side of Des Moines Thursday night. WHO-TV reports the man was taken into custody after he crashed the van he was driving into a ditch. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines has reached its highest homicide rate in two decades this past year. Now one rapper is using music to speak out against violence in the state, according to CNN. The untimely death of 16-year-old Terry Harris inspired hip-hop artist Will Keeps to write a song, “Wake Up, Iowa.” Keeps, who at one time was left for dead on the streets of Chicago, has dedicated his life to keeping gangs out of central Iowa. The Des Moines Police Department is helping the rapper promote his song.

BLOOMFIELD, IA (IRN) – A Bloomfield woman was killed Tuesday in a three-vehicle crash on Highway 2. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Toyota van driven by 34-year-old Kristine Kaelin of Ottumwa was stopped on the highway trying to make a left hand turn. A Dodge van driven by 63-year-old Marilyn Roberts of Missouri, was also eastbound, and failed to notice that Kaelin’s vehicle was stopped and swerved into the westbound lane, hitting a Chevy pickup truck head-on. 79-year-old Carolyn Lawson of Bloomfield was killed in the crash. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Iowa led the nation in grain bin entrapments in 2015, although overall totals declined from the previous year. KCRG-TV reports Iowa saw seven such incidents last year, a little less than one-third of the 24 grain bin entrapments reported across the country. Of the two dozen entrapments nationwide, 14 were fatal, including one in December in Benton County that killed a Keystone man. FORT MADISON, IA (IRN) – A southeast Iowa man is behind bars facing one burglary charge but more are likely to follow. KHQA-TV reports Paul Baker of Fort Madison has been arrested for one count of Burglary in Lee County. Investigators seized hundreds of stolen items from Baker’s home, mostly jewelry and electronics. Authorities say Baker could be facing multiple charges in Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police arrested a man Wednesday evening in the November shooting death of his wife and daughter. KCCI-TV reports 47-year-old Barney Fraaken of Des Moines was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Police identified the victims as 42-year-old Amy Fraaken and 16-year-old Amber Fraaken, both of Des Moines. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A man was shot and killed in Cedar Rapids Tuesday night marking the first shooting homicide in the city this year. KWWL-TV reports 25-year-old Joseph Perkins Jr. of Chicago died and another man was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. Authorities say the shooting wasn’t random. DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – A driver died when his vehicle crashed after an object went through his windshield, according WQAD-TV. The crash happened Wednesday on eastbound Interstate 80 in Davenport. Road debris, which investigators did not yet identify, went through the windshield of the vehicle. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. A female front-seat passenger was taken by ambulance to a local hospital; her injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. FAYETTEVILLE, AK (IRN) – Former Iowa State University head football coach Paul Rhoads has been hired as a secondary coach at the University of Arkansas. The 48-year-old Rhoads will be the defensive backs coach. Rhoads was fired from ISU in November.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police are investigating a shooting at an elementary school’s parking lot Tuesday. KCCI-TV reports it was reported at Park Avenue Elementary. The man shot, 18-year-old Darrius Colter Jr., told police he knocked on three different doors before someone came outside and called 911. About 3-4 shots were heard by nearby residents. Colter told police he and friends went to buy marijuana from an unknown individual at the school. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) – A White House invitation for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley to discuss the current U.S. Supreme Current vacancy with President Barack Obama has so far gone unanswered, according to The Des Moines Register. Grassley, a Republican, is Iowa’s senior senator and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He has vacillated in the past week over whether he would consider an Obama nominee to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, but he issued a letter on Tuesday saying the committee would not hold confirmation hearings until after a new president take office in 2017. WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – A mental health patient in the psychiatric ward at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo stole an ambulance and left the facility Tuesday, according to KWWL-TV. He was found shortly after having abandoned the ambulance. When police located him he was walking down a street trying to find an unlocked car. He’s back in custody. OMAHA, NE (IRN) – A 43-year-old woman has been given jail time and told to make restitution for helping to steal cattle in Nebraska’s York County and selling them in southwestern Iowa. The York News-Times reports that Amy Springer was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay nearly $1,800 to a feedlot owner in York County. Prosecutors say Springer and an accomplice stole two steers from the feedlot and sold them at a sale barn in Massena, Iowa. WAUKEE, IA (IRN) – Some Waukee students will soon start their day a little differently. WHO-TV reports Monday night the school board decided to require all high school students to begin their day with the Pledge of Allegiance. The issue was brought up by a parent who questioned why the requirement only applied to students through tenth grade. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Roosevelt High School is now the first Des Moines public school to have gender-neutral restrooms. KCCI-TV reports two gender-neutral restrooms are now open in support of the LGBT community. Officials at the school say the restrooms are a part of a widespread effort to make students and staff feel accepted. The idea was put forth by student Zoe Wagner, who said students at the school come from all walks of life. Principal Kevin Biggs says that if the change can make an impact on even one person, then it’s worth it.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa lawmakers will debate a bill that would let children use handguns Tuesday. The bill would allow children of any age to use handguns WITH adult supervision. Current law prevents anyone under the age of 14 from using handguns. MARION, IA (IRN) – A group of Linn-Mar High School parents allege Assistant Football Coach Matt Casebolt emotionally and physically abused their kids at football practice. Monday, the families filed complaints with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners against Casebolt and his supervisors. Parents initially took their concerns to Linn Mar’s High School Principal Jeff Gustason. The district investigated and dismissed the abuse claims. Unsatisfied, the group decided to appeal to the state board. PAGE COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A 25-year-old inmate at the Page County Jail died in early December due to methamphetamine toxicity, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Jessica Lee was arrested Nov. 19 on multiple drug charges. She was found unresponsive in her cell on Dec. 1 and died the next day. Authorities determined she died because she had sneaked meth into the jail inside a body cavity, and the bag had deteriorated. CENTERVILLE, IA (IRN) – A drug bust in southern Iowa on Monday resulted in two people being charged. WHO-TV reports 38-year-old Raymond Rhodeman of Des Moines and 43-year-old Melissa Zanders of Centerville were arrested. Authorities found meth, drug paraphernalia and an automatic weapon. Officers also located an unidentifiable white powder, which was later determined to be potassium cyanide, a deadly chemical used in gold mining. Both are charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a controlled substance. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – One person is in jail this morning for arson after a shed fire in Cedar Rapids. KCRG-TV reports the fire department put out the fire and police arrested Richard Alatalo for arson and public intoxication. Officers found him shortly after the fire started. Alatalo was arrested on an arson charge last October. NEVADA, IA (IRN) – The Sloan family bought an old theater in Nevada because they love its rich history. KCCI-TV reports they found an unanticipated piece of history while remodeling. An old child’s wallet was found lodged in floorboards. A pocket calendar in the wallet revealed it had been lost in 1944. It also held World War II ration stamps, a Boy Scout card, faded photos and an ID. It’s owner is alive and well. 85-year-old Clare McIntosh saw his wallet for the first time in 71 years Monday.