Tuesday, November 20, 2018

SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – A longtime Roman Catholic priest in Iowa has been removed from the ministry for a year after a girl complained that he improperly touched her. KETV reports the fourth-grader alleged that the Rev. Brian Danner of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Humboldt rubbed the top of her leg while taking her confession. Church officials reported the incident to the county attorney and indefinitely revoked Danner’s ability to function as a priest. A diocese review found that Danner’s actions were inappropriate but didn’t constitute sexual abuse.

DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – A Davenport man whose wife’s intellectually disabled daughter was kept always locked in a bedroom has been given 10 years in prison. The Quad-City Times reports that 56-year-old Eugene Harris was sentenced Friday. Harris’ wife, 48-year-old Kimberly Williams, has pleaded not guilty to the same charges.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Community members packed a Des Moines City Council meeting Monday to advocate for an anti-racial profiling ordinance, according to KCCI-TV. The city faces several lawsuits regarding allegations of racial-profiling by police. Justyn Lewis told the council that it is difficult to live as a 28-year-old black man in Des Moines. He says, “I am a college-educated man–I have a family and I have a wife who is scared for me when I am out driving by myself.”

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Sexual misconduct allegations ended Nate Boulton’s campaign for Governor and could end up costing him his seat in the Iowa Senate, according to WHO-TV. The ethics complaint filed by Sharon Wegner is causing Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen to ask Boulton to resign. Wegner accuses Boulton of grabbing her in a bar in November 2015.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa farmers are nearing the end of this year’s harvest.The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated Monday that 91 percent of the corn crop and 97 percent of the soybean crop have been harvested.

Monday, November 19, 2018

CLEAR LAKE, IA (IRN) – Police officers rescued a woman who’d fallen through ice on a pond while trying to retrieve her dog, according to KCRG-TV. The Clear Lake Fire Department says the 28-year-old woman went onto Fieldstone Pond to get her dog a little after 3:30 p.m. Saturday. She then broke through the thin ice into the icy water. Officers pulled her out. It’s unclear whether her dog also fell in.

ANKENY, IA (IRN) – A vehicle left the southbound I-35 roadway in Ankeny and struck a bridge, according to KCCI-TV. The 41-year-old driver was killed.

BLACK HAWK COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A nearly hour-long car chase across multiple counties ended in an arrest of a man from the Black Hawk County town of Raymond. KWWL-TV reports the chase exceeded 100 mph before the man was stopped with spike strips. Police say he was wanted on a Black Hawk County warrant.

CEDAR FALLS, WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – The worst city in the United States to be an African American is Waterloo-Cedar Falls. U.S.A Today reports no U.S. metro area has larger social and economic disparities along racial lines than Waterloo-Cedar Falls. Black metro area residents earn just 46.8 percent of what white area residents earn, and are far more likely to be unemployed than white workers in the city. Most of the worst cities are in the Midwest.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines Police are investigating a shooting at a south-side bar that happened just before closing time Saturday. Police were called to the Extra Innings bar, and when they arrived they found two people shot. A police spokesman says, “it’s your typical bar story–someone becomes offended because he thinks somebody insulted his girlfriend, and he starts a fight…and someone fires 10 rounds–bars and guns don’t mix.”

Sunday, November 18, 2018

GUTHRIE COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Carbon monoxide poisoning contributed to the deaths of four Iowans in a small-plane crash in Guthrie County last Friday night. KCCI-TV reports passengers on the plane communicated they thought the pilot had a heart attack. According to the state medical examiner’s office, all the victims died from “multiple blunt force injuries in the setting of carbon monoxide toxicity.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, (IRN) – Firefighters and police officers in Cedar Rapids are investigating a garage fire Saturday morning. No one was injured.

SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – A Sioux City man was arrested for stabbing his roommate late Friday night, according to KCAU-TV. The stabbing occurred during an argument.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa House Democrats elected Charles City attorney Todd Prichard as minority leader in 2019. Prichard, an Army veteran, was first elected to his seat in 2013.

Saturday, November 17, 2018

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.