OSCEOLA, IA (IRN) – The Iowa State Patrol reports a pregnant woman and her two-year-old stepson were killed in a two vehicle accident near Osceola Friday evening. She lost control and was hit by a truck coming the other direction. The driver of the truck was not injured.

AMES, IA (IRN) – With the unemployment rate at a historic low, the Iowa DOT is having a difficult time filling over 630 part time positions to drive snowplows. The DOT uses the part-timers during severe storms or when crews need to be out over several days.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A former Maynard West Central High School teacher has lost his teaching license after showing up to work drunk last April. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports Daniel Reisner was suspended in August for two years. He will now have to complete at least 15 in-person class hours of an ethics course by the Iowa State Education Association before his license is reinstated. He will also be given a written reprimand.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines residents are upset about how the city smells, and they are letting others know on social media and are calling to complain to the city. The Des Moines Register reports that people are complaining of the smell of manure. City officials said it’s from farm fields north and northwest of Des Moines. After farmers harvested their crops, they spread manure on the fields. Thursday was particularly windy in the Des Moines metro area and the wind picked up that smell and blanketed it across the metro.

IOWA (IRN) – The day after soldiers from the Iowa National Guard were celebrated in a homecoming ceremony in Davenport earlier this month, they were told some bad news. The Quad Cities Times reports nearly every member of the 248th Aviation Support Battalion — about 366 out of 400 soldiers — were overpaid by the federal government. And the government intends to get its money back. Money owed ranges from $2 to $4,500, depending on rank, years of service, entitlements and duration of the payment error.

JOHNSON COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A crash in Johnson County last night killed two people and injured another, according to the Iowa State Patrol. One vehicle crossed the center line and hit a second vehicle head on in the oncoming lane.

OMAHA, NE (IRN) – A survey of bankers in 10 Plains and Western States including Iowa concludes the regional rural economy is shrinking. The report says the farm sector continues to be weakened by tariffs and low commodity prices; that the tariffs are affecting farmers’ income and they are “bad policy from the White House.”

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Wells Fargo will lay off 400 Des Moines-area workers as the beleaguered bank works to shed tens of thousands of jobs across the country. KCCI-TV reports company officials aren’t saying how many more of the bank’s 15,500 Iowa jobs might be cut in the future. Wells Fargo is the single largest private employer in the Des Moines metro area. CEO Tim Sloan says the bank is evolving to do business in “a more streamlined and efficient manner” and to better “deliver what customers want.”

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A total of 76 students at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy were taken to Des Moines area hospitals and treated for carbon monoxide Thursday morning after a security guard noticed a strong odor of gas coming from the dorms. WHO-TV reports doctors at the hospital say the attentive security guard likely saved their lives.

JOHNSTON, IA (IRN) – Dozens of students at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in Camp Dodge were transferred to metro hospitals after becoming ill this morning due to carbon monoxide poisoning. WHO-TV reports cadets had headaches, nausea, and lightheadedness. When the first crew arrived they tested for carbon monoxide and found high levels. A total of 56 patients suffering from symptoms were transferred to Des Moines metro hospitals.

WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is the new Senate president pro tempore, which means he will preside over the Senate in the vice president’s absence and is third in line of presidential succession. Senator Joni Ernst will also be taking up a new leadership position: vice chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference.

WASHINGTON, D.C. Not one, but two Iowa lawmakers are set to make history once they both officially take their posts as representatives in the U.S. House come January. Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne joined fellow “incoming freshman” to the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. this week. Together, Axne and Finkenauer will become Iowa’s first female representatives in the U.S. House, a feat they celebrated at the Capitol on Wednesday.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – More than 3,500 students, staff and community members gathered on the Drake campus to stand up against hate. KCCI-TV reports the Idaho-based white supremacist group “The Road to Power” left calls that officials say “convey offensive, disturbing and hateful recorded messages,” on campus phone lines. The university also reported racist notes being slipped under student dorm room doors.

CALIFORNIA (IRN) – At least nine Iowans are in California helping victims of the wildfires. They’re volunteers from the Iowa Chapter of the American Red Cross. The Iowa volunteers are mostly helping out with sheltering needs, as thousands of people lost their homes in the fire.
Other Iowa volunteers are working on family reunification.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) A Des Moines man found guilty of murder will spend his life in prison, according to KCCI-TV. Magai Anai-Kur, 20, of Des Moines, broke into 77-year-old Robert Howe’s Urbandale home in 2017 and stabbed him before stealing his minivan. Howe was taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, but died months later. Anai-Kur was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 25 years for robbery and another 25 years for burglary. Those sentences are to be served consecutively.

MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – A man hit by a vehicle while walking on a Cerro Gordo county road has died, according to KIMT-TV. The driver of the vehicle was charged with driving under suspension. The collision remains under investigation.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A second racially charged message was left in the dorm room of a minority student at Drake University Tuesday. University President Marty Martin described the messages as spreading “hatred and racial superiority.” Martin says that student doesn’t belong at Drake, and that they will not succeed in tearing the community apart. Students have also been receiving racist robocalls.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Nationwide Insurance has announced it will eliminate 1,100 employees across the country, including about 80 employees in Des Moines. KCCI-TV reports Nationwide says, “We are making these changes from a position of strength and stability to position the organization for long-term success and growth.”

LE MARS, IA (IRN) – Last Friday was devastating for the Le Mars community when four people from the area died in a plane crash near Guthrie Center. WHO-TV reports while families of the deceased are preparing for funerals, neighbors are lending a hand, or a combine, as they work together to harvest the family’s crops while they grieve.