Category: State News

OSKALOOSA – The Oskaloosa School Board will hold a special meeting next week after a teacher is accused of posting on social media about the death of Conservative Influencer Charlie Kirk. KCCI-TV reports Art Teacher Matt Kargol posted “one Nazi down” on Facebook shortly after the killing. District Administration has confirmed Kargol has been placed on leave for an investigation. The special meeting will be held in Oskaloosa on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

AMES – A plea agreement has bene reached with a former Iowa State University student accused of sexual exploitation. WHO-13 reports an investigation started this past winter after law enforcement agencies tipped off about possible contact between 43-year-old Patrick Connerley and minors on social media. Connerley allegedly arranged for a meeting with someone he believed to be underage in march. Police say subsequent searches turned up inappropriate photos of children and videos depicting sexual acts with animals. Connerley will plead guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation and to bestiality.

IOWA – Temperatures will feel like close to 100 degrees today across much of the state as a last gasp of summer returns to the area. According to the National Weather Service, a mid-September heat wave follows weeks of fall-like air in the state. Dry conditions will largely remain in place over the next several days well. Those with outdoor plans — including those attending the home football games for Iowa and Iowa State today, are reminded to take extra precautions for heat, including staying adequately hydrated.

BOONE COUNTY – A trial date has been set for former Madison County Treasurer Amanda DeVos. WHO-13 reports she is facing four criminal charges, including felony misconduct in office. The trial has been set for December 16th in Boone County. It was originally scheduled in Madison County in June. DeVos was arrested in late January for using her office to alter government records to make it appear as if her vehicle registration was paid. Additional charges are pending about an investigation into property taxes.

DES MOINES – An Oskaloosa man was sentenced this week to 18 years in federal prison for the sexual exploitation of a child. According to public court documents, 42-year-old Matthew Scott Beal produced child pornography. Beal also used the internet to distribute four videos to an undercover law enforcement account operated by the Homeland Security’s Newark Child Exploitation Task Force. Later, law enforcement seized Beal’s phone during a search of his home in Oskaloosa. Beal’s phone contained over 100 images and videos of child pornography.

IOWA – Iowa’s regent universities announced their fall enrollment data this week. KCCI-TV reports 31,700 students are attending Iowa State, an increase of nearly 700 students from 2024, UNI’s enrollment is just over 9,200 with its largest new class of undergraduates in eight years, and the University of Iowa has 31,563 in attendance this academic year.

DES MOINES – Flags were ordered at half mast through the weekend by Governor Kim Reynolds to coincide with an order by President Donald Trump. The move is to recognize the death of Conservative Influencer Charlie Kirk. The leader of Turning Point USA was shot and killed during an event in Utah. The flags were already ordered to be at half-staff today to recognize the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

ANKENY – An Ankeny Christian Academy teacher was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly touching a student inappropriately. KCCI-TV reports 50-year-old Michael Scott Burrows faces three counts of lascivious acts with a child. The Ankeny Police Department is investigating the alleged incidents that took place in 2021 and 2022 while Burrows was teaching band at the private school.

EDDYVILLE – The Iowa State Patrol is investigating a crash in which a 10-year-old appears to have ran out in front of a moving car. Several agencies responded to the incident that occurred on Wednesday. The report described the injuries of the girl as “minor.”

FORT DODGE – The Iowa Girls State Softball Tournament has called the Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge its home for the last 55 years. This week, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and its Board of Directors signed a contract extension that will keep the State Softball Tournament at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Park for another 20 years. The extension will run through the 2045 state softball tournament and comes on the heels of a six-million-dollar renovation project that Fort Dodge has invested in Rogers Park, which has been home to the state tournament since 1970. The renovation projects include three new fields, lights on all five competition fields, a new press box, and expanded parking.

MARSHALLTOWN – The number of cases related to Legionnaires’ Disease in Marshall County has grown to 34 people, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Retired Catholic Priest Bernard Grady is the only reported fatality. The state has not identified the cause of the nearly three-dozen cases of the bacterial infection that travels through sources of water. Marshalltown Water Works told KCCI-TV the town’s drinking water is not impacted.

ROCK VALLEY – A teenager was killed and another injured in a two-vehicle crash in Sioux County. The Iowa State Patrol reports an unidentified 17-year-old was driving a Cadillac Escalade and pulled out from a stop sign at the intersection of U.S. Highways 18 and 75. The car was struck by a semi, knocking it into a nearby ditch.

IOWA CITY – An arrest has been made in a case involving a baby found in an Iowa City Landfill in 1992. WHO-13 reports 58-year-old Cindy Sue Elder is accused of having matching DNA following a resubmitting of a test by the Iowa City Police Department in 2022. She is charged with first degree murder. Elder has allegedly told police that she left the baby in a plastic bag in a trash can near her father’s home.

GREENE COUNTY – The person killed in an officer-involved shooting in Greene County has been identified. On Saturday, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Boone Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office with a pursuit that started in Boone County and continued into Greene County. The pursued vehicle came to a stop, and officers encountered 18-year-old Camryn Stonehocker of Boone. Stonehocker is accused of exiting his vehicle armed with a weapon. When Stonehocker allegedly advanced on officers, police fired on him. He died at the scene. The involved officers were uninjured. They have been placed on critical incident leave in accordance with their department policy.

NEW DELHI, INDIA – Governor Kim Reynolds gave a keynote address at DialogueNEXT, a two-day symposium in New Delhi, India, convening food system stakeholders to discuss agricultural innovations and reforms to improve global food security. The event is hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in conjunction with CIMMYT, Borlaug Institute for South Asia, and Indian Council for Agricultural Research.
Governor Reynolds is in India conducting an eight-day trade and investment mission which includes a 20-member delegation representing Iowa’s agricultural, education, and government sectors.

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Transportation has been working to lower fatal car crashes in the stat with roadway improvements. WHO-13 reports the DOT has been working to add center line and edge line rumble strips on every two lane highway in the state. The project started 15 years ago, but in 2024, a special focus