Category: State News

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A 47-year-old Waterloo man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison over a shootout in the parking lot of a liquor store that the judge called “not unlike the Wild West.” Charles Antony Ware was sentenced for being a felon illegally in possession of a firearm. The judge described Ware’s criminal history as “fairly nonstop.”

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – In response to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Polk County says all individuals should wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. The announcement follows a decision officials had already made concerning masks in Polk County government buildings. That requirement takes effect Monday, Aug. 9.

TOKYO, JAPAN (IRN) – 25-year-old Urbandale native Karissa Schweizer ran to a 12th-place finish in the women’s 10,000-meter final at the Olympics on Saturday. It was the former Dowling Catholic standout’s first Olympics.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Betty Lou Varnum, who hosted the long-running children’s show “The House With the Magic Window” on WOI-TV, died Wednesday. She was 90. Varnum’s obituary says she was born in an orphanage in Chicago on May 3, 1931.

ANAMOSA, IA (IRN) – Inmate Thomas Woodard admitted in Jones County court to killing two prison employees, Correctional Officer Robert McFarland and nurse Lorena Schulte. Investigators say Woodard and another inmate, Michael Dutcher, were trying to escape March 23rd. Woodard admits he used a hammer, taken from a maintenance shop, to kill McFarland and Schulte.

IOWA (IRN) – People in 90 of Iowa’s 99 counties should wear masks indoors due to increasing rates of COVID-19 activity, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

WEST DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A massive project to improve internet service in West Des Moines is temporarily leaving some residents without electricity, gas, water or cable service.
Construction crews are accidentally cutting lines. A Mediacom spokesperson says sometimes “mistakes happen.”

SEATTLE, WA (IRN) – Former Iowa State basketball player Michael Jacobson has signed as a tight end with the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL. Jacobson was signed on Friday to their 90-man roster. Jacobson was listed as a 6-foot-9, 240 pound forward while playing basketball at Iowa State University from 2018-20. He last played football for Waukee High School in 2014 when he helped lead the Warriors to the state semifinals. As a senior, he caught 26 passes and six touchdowns.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Authorities in Des Moines are investigating after a home intruder was shot by one of their victims in self-defense. The man forced entry into an apartment armed with a handgun. The man assaulted and threatened residents inside the apartment before being shot by one of the residents. The intruder’s injuries are not life-threatening.

DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – Davenport police officers apprehended a robbery suspect early Thursday morning after he crashed his car during a police chase. 25-year-old Hunter Jones allegedly robbed a Walmart.

LINN COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Emergency crews responded to a person who jumped out of a moving pickup truck yesterday in rural Linn County. The 22-year-old was transported to a Cedar Rapids hospital for his injuries. He was intoxicated.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Tom Ahart will be issued a letter of reprimand for defying state law by keeping students online last fall. The decision was handed down by the Board of Educational Examiners, and is a symbolic slap on the wrist

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Worried parents with children too young to be vaccinated called on the the Iowa State Board of Education on Thursday to implore Gov. Kim Reynolds to reverse a state law that bans school mask mandates. Republican lawmakers in May rushed through in the final hours of the legislative session a measure that prohibited counties, cities or school boards from imposing face-covering requirements more strict than those ordered by the state. Reynolds immediately signed the bill into law at a festive news conference where she posed with activists who held signs with anti-mask slogans.

TOKYO, JAPAN (IRN) – Former Hawkeyes wrestler Thomas Gilman earned a bronze medal today at the Tokyo Olympics. Gilman, a Council Bluffs native, earned a 9-1 win over Iran’s Reza Atrinagharchi in men’s freestyle 57-kilogram wrestling. He is the first former Iowa Hawkeyes wrestler to medal since the 2000 Sydney Games. Gilman was a three-time All-American and 2016 Big Ten champion at 125 pounds.

IOWA (IRN) – More people in Iowa are getting their coronavirus vaccinations than in recent weeks as case numbers increase. The Iowa Department of Public Health said that 3,570 people tested positive for COVID-19 between July 29 and August 4, around 65.4% more cases than the previous week. The vast majority of those who are sick and hospitalized are unvaccinated.

SPIRIT LAKE, IA (IRN) – An Omaha man drowned trying to save his son in East Lake Okoboji Wednesday. 41-year-old Brandon Urban’s son fell off a paddleboard and got tangled in the weeds. Urban swam to save his son and managed to free him, but got entangled himself and went under. Friends were able to find him and brought him to shore. He was taken to a local hospital where he later died.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – The badly decomposed body of a woman has been found in a Council Bluffs city park. Police said they had no information about how the woman died and did not give her identity. Her death is being investigated as suspicious.

AMES, IA (IRN) – An Iowa community is supporting two nine-year-olds after someone stole from their lemonade stand. Twins Katelyn and Elias were running a lemonade stand Monday in Ames, when they say a girl got out of a car, grabbed their tip jar, got back in the car and drove off. The family reported the theft to police who are investigating. The next day, four different law enforcement agencies showed up to help them raise back the money stolen. The family said they’ve now raised more than $750 dollars, and plan to donate it all to the Shop with a Cop program.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Masks will not be required at the Iowa State Fair. The fair is also not limiting capacity in any buildings. They ask fairgoers to stay home if they’re sick and practice social distancing when possible.

OTTUMWA, IA (IRN) – Police have arrested and charged the husband of a woman whose remains were found in the Des Moines River. Gregory Allen Showalter, 61, of Ottumwa, turned himself in at the Wapello County Law Enforcement Center on Tuesday in the death of 60-year-old Elizabeth Showalter, also of Ottumwa. Her body was found by a hiker Sunday, a day after she was reported missing by family members.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A former Iowa State University football player has been arrested in connection with an assault of a University of Iowa basketball star in May. Nicholas Kron, 29, of Nashville, Tennessee, allegedly attacked Jordan Bohannon, a Hawkeye guard, outside a downtown Iowa City bar. Bohannon suffered a serious head injury. Kron turned himself in on Saturday, was booked into the Johnson County Jail and was released about 20 minutes later.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Data from the FBI shows there was more than a 2,300% increase in background checks related to handgun purchases in July in Iowa, which was the first month Iowans could buy a handgun without a permit under new state law.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Des Moines Public school board has approved a virtual learning option for its elementary students. The option is already available for middle and high schoolers. The board wanted to extend the option to elementary school students because that age group is not eligible for the vaccine yet.