State News

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Tuesday, November 9, 2021

FAIRFIELD, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation continues to investigate the death of Fairfield Spanish teacher Nohema Graber. Two students are charged in her death. The DCI says they don’t believe the murder was racially motivated. The 16-year-old suspects, Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale, are both still in jail on $1 million bonds. COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – A shooting involving a married couple in Council Bluffs that stemmed from a domestic disturbance left a woman dead and her husband wounded. Deputies were called Sunday to a home for reports of a disturbance and arrived to find 86-year-old Harvey Rankin suffering from a gunshot wound and his 83-year-old wife, Bonnie Rankin, dead inside the home. Police don’t know what happened. OMAHA, NE (IRN) – Five teenagers have been arrested after shots were fired from their car at police during a chase from Omaha, east into Iowa, and back into Omaha. Among the five people arrested early Monday morning were a woman who turned 19 on Monday, an 18-year-old man, two 17-year-old boys, and a 15-year-old boy. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The city of Des Moines will be able to move more homeless people indoors this winter. Central Iowa Shelter & Services held a ribbon cutting Monday on a new facility on Mulberry Street. The new addition has 24 new apartments to help move more people in out of the cold this winter. It cost 5.6 million dollars. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police said they may know how an apartment fire started early Monday morning. According to police, the fire started inside an apartment at Gray’s Lake Apartments on Fleur Drive when an occupant “attempted to light a bug on fire on a futon.” It “lit up like a tinderbox,” according to police. Smoke and ash filled all of the units in the building.


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Monday, November 8, 2021

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – An Iowa City man is facing multiple charges after authorities connected him to multiple firearms and shooting-related incidents in Iowa City and Coralville. Demetrick Byars, 19, admitted to being in possession of a rifle during the interview and said he believed it was stolen. Investigators found multiple firearms, two homemade explosive devices, drug packaging materials, a digital scale and a bag of THC edibles in a search of a Coralville residence. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – One person was rushed to a Des Moines hospital Sunday after shots were fired near a Drake neighborhood. The victim is a 15-year-old boy from Des Moines who remains in critical condition. Members of the public gave CPR until medics arrived. FORT DODGE, IA (IRN) – An 18-year-old man who was shot in the stomach is recovering in an Iowa hospital. The shooting happened early Sunday morning in Fort Dodge. FAIRFIELD, IA (IRN) – Fairfield High School is still mourning murdered Spanish teacher Nohema Graber, who was allegedly killed by two of her students, but the district’s superintendent said the community should not worry about another threat. In a statement Sunday night, the superintendent said rumors on social media of a violent attack at the high school when class resumes today are not credible. RICEVILLE, IA (IRN) – The Howard County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 10th Hole Hotel in Riceville on Friday night. On the 911 call, the caller was whispering and said there were two men with chainsaws at the hotel and to send help. A deputy went to the hotel and said a man and woman appeared at a second floor window with the man screaming “help” while the woman yelled “he’s hallucinating. The deputy knocked on the door and the woman came into the hall while the man slammed the door behind her and started barricading the door. The deputy was able to take the man into custody, but the hotel room was destroyed.


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Sunday, November 7, 2021

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A woman shot by a Des Moines police officer last month has been released from the hospital, and is now facing charges. 35-year-old Katherine Margaret Louise Mehle of Des Moines is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon and interference with official acts with a weapon. She’s in jail. WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – Workers at Tyson Fresh Meats in Waterloo had to evacuate Saturday morning after a bomb threat. Company officials say police searched the plant, and gave the all clear. Operations then resumed as normal. EVANSTON, IL (IRN) – Alex Padilla took over for the struggling Spencer Petras and led three scoring drives, Tyler Goodson ran for 141 yards and a touchdown and No. 19 Iowa beat Northwestern 17-12 on Saturday night to stop a two-game losing streak. AMES, IA (IRN) – The running of Breece Hall and a little razzle-dazzle propelled Iowa State to a 30-7 victory over Texas at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday. Hall rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns as the Cyclones earned their third straight win over the Longhorn and became bowl eligible for the fifth consecutive season.


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Saturday, November 6, 2021

FAIRFIELD, IA (IRN) – An entire town is hurting and trying to understand the death of a beloved teacher. Police say 66-year-old Nohema Graber, a Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School, was attacked and killed by two students from the school she taught. The students who allegedly killed her were angry about their grades in class. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A 69-year-old Iowa City man turned himself in after a man with a gunshot wound was found in a crashed vehicle last month. Philip Olson turned himself in after hearing about the crash. Olson admitted to having fired a .22 caliber air rifle at a squirrel from inside his home adjacent to the highway, but he said he missed. The shot was fired toward the highway. LUANA, IA (IRN) – A Luana man is dead after a farm accident in Fayette county on Thursday. Evan Pape was working on a corn wagon on a farm north of Clermont when he was pinned between the corn wagon and his service truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. BOUTON, IA (IRN) – Two Dallas County towns are saying goodbye to their fire chief. Ken Cavanaugh died of a heart attack, but not before pulling his school bus full of children off the road and saving their lives. Cavanaugh was the fire chief in Woodward and Bouton.


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Friday, November 5, 2021

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa and 10 other states have filed a lawsuit challenging a vaccine mandate for employers issued by President Joe Biden’s administration. The suit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contends that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government. The new mandate applies to private employers with at least 100 workers. FAIRFIELD, IA (IRN) – Human remains discovered in a park in Fairfield belong to a woman who was reported missing Wednesday. The remains have been identified as those of 66-year-old Nohema Graber, a Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School. Willard Noble Chaiden Miller, 16, and Jeremy Everett Goodale,16, both students at the school, face murder charges. Graber suffered from an injury to her head, and her body was found under a tarp, a wheelbarrow and railroad ties. A police report says the suspects had items with blood on them. Motive, and the planning and execution of the murder, were revealed by the suspects on social media. FORT MADISON, IA (IRN) – A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old in Fort Madison. CEDAR FALLS, IA (IRN) – Dozens of people had to be evacuated Thursday after a fire at an apartment complex in Cedar Falls. The complex has 88 apartments and 83 residents. Everyone had to be evacuated, and some residents with mobility issues needed help getting out. One person was treated for smoke inhalation. IOWA (IRN) – Governor Kim Reynolds signed off on Iowa’s new redistricting maps Thursday evening, officially changing Iowa’s congressional and legislative districts for the next decade.