DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Altoona police are investigating an incident involving two men trying to lure two young males into their truck on Tuesday. The Des Moines Register reports two Altoona Elementary students reported that they were approached by two white males in a pickup. The juveniles reported that the men yelled at them from their vehicle, offered candy and told them to get in. Police were called, but the men had left the scene when they arrived. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A Cedar Rapids woman is accused of stealing $40,000 worth of heirlooms to support her drug habit. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports 27-year-old Jessica Brians took heirlooms and pawned them to obtain money for drugs. Authorities said the heirlooms were taken from her residence, but belong to another couple. When officers arrested Brians, she had meth, heroin and syringes in her possession. MAQUOKETA, IA (IRN) – A Maquoketa taxidermist convicted of selling endangered black rhinoceros horns to a known trafficker was sentenced Tuesday to over two years in federal prison. KCRG-TV reports James Hess, owner of Wildlife Pride Taxidermy and Décor, pled guilty in May to violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits interstate trade of certain wildlife, including endangered species. Hess bought rhino horns in Oregon and shipped them back to Iowa before reselling them. DES MOINES (IRN) – A disgruntled Des Moines Price Chopper customer threatened to beat an employee with a 2-by-4 when an argument ensued over product prices, according to the Des Moines Register. Police arrived at the grocery store Tuesday to find William Graves, 45, of Des Moines holding a “wooden stick” at an employee in a “threatening manner.” Nobody was injured in the incident, and police reduced assault charges to trespassing. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – An officer-involved shooting in Cedar Rapids has left a man dead. According to KWWL-TV, officers stopped a car believing three people inside were suspects in a drug investigation. One person ran off when the vehicle stopped. Two officers and a K9 caught up with the suspect. Officers say the suspect fired a gun at them and officers returned the gunfire. The suspect, Jonathan Tyler Gossman, 21, of Cedar Rapids,  was killed. The police officers and the K9 involved were not hurt. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines police officer was taken to the hospital early this morning after a chase and a wreck. KCCI-TV reports police were pursuing a motorcycle when the driver crashed in a wooded area. The squad car also crashed. The motorcycle driver was arrested, and the police officer taken to the hospital as a precaution. Police did not say why they were pursuing the motorcycle. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Iowa City firefighters responded to a house fire Tuesday night, the result of an apparent lightning strike.  KCRG-TV reports heavy smoke and flames were visible when firefighters arrived. The home belongs to well-known artist Hans Breder, 80. Everyone made it out of the home safely, but the home reportedly contains priceless pieces of art that were likely destroyed. MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – A flood of fake $20 bills has hit Mason City, according to KIMT-TV. Counterfeiters have primarily targeted convenience stores by purchasing cheap items and pocketing the change. One clue the bills are counterfeit? The White House is printed upside down.  

NEWTON, IA (IRN) – A Newton man has been charged with attempted murder in two vehicle crashes reported Monday night. KCCI-TV reports 50-year-old John Leslie Britton is charged with three counts of attempted murder, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Police were called to a report that a man had been intentionally hit by a vehicle, and then to a report of a vehicle occupied by a woman and child being hit. No one was seriously injured. WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – Waterloo firefighters say they found one woman dead at the scene of an early morning house fire on Tuesday. There was no visible smoke or flames when firefighters arrived. However, after a walkthrough of the home, firefighters found a woman in her 60’s dead. Officials say she lived alone, and they are now investigating the cause of her death and the fire. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3.6% in September from 3.7% in August. The state’s jobless rate was 4.3% one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent in September. This low unemployment rate has not been seen since 2006. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Hundreds of new parking spots will soon be available for patients and visitors at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as well as the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. KCRG-TV reports work is nearly complete on a new $10 million underground parking ramp. It’s located outside the main hospital and adds 700 parking spots. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A 20-year-old will spend 14 years in prison for selling heroin mixed with fentanyl to two people who overdosed and nearly died in February. KCRG-TV reports Marcus DeJohn Wallace of Cedar Rapids admitted he distributed heroin to a person in a parking lot who shared it with another. Both users immediately overdosed in a car and lost consciousness. The driver of the car slumped forward, hitting the steering wheel and horn, which a passer-by heard and called 911 when he saw people unconscious in the car. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – An internal police investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed man in June has cleared the Des Moines police officer who shot him. KCCI-TV reports the investigation found Officer Vanessa Miller did not violate any administrative policies when she fired shots through her squad car window at 28-year-old Ryan Keith Bolinger. Bollinger’s family isn’t surprised the police department concluded one of their own did no wrong. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – University of Iowa students, faculty and community members will engage in a protest on Wednesday in what they are calling a “Rally to Defend Our Universities.” KWWL-TV reports it’s a protest in support of demands for the Iowa Board of Regents to resign or be removed. Organizers say they planned the event as a response to anger over the Regents’ corrupted search for a new UI President. WINTERSET, IA (IRN) – A 102-year-old Winterset woman has received an honorary high school diploma, according to WHO-TV. Ruth Lampe volunteers at the senior center in Winterset, helping out in the kitchen twice a week. She dropped out her freshman year in high school to go to work during the Great Depression.  Lampe says working keeps her young.  

DES MOINES (IRN) – A woman accused of abusing three young children she was watching in her Pleasant Hill home has pled guilty to two counts of child endangerment. WOI-TV reports in May, 28-year-old Christina Williamson was arrested and charged with five counts of child endangerment. Williamson’s husband recorded her abusing children under her care at her in-home daycare and turned the video over to police. DES MOINES (IRN) – The teen birth rate is down, according to the Des Moines Register. Teen pregnancy continues to much rarer than it used to be, mainly because many young people are more careful about sex than their parents and grandparents were, experts say. The rate has dropped by more than half in two decades, and by more than two-thirds since its peak in the late 1950s. WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – Waterloo police have arrested a man after he allegedly attempted to abduct a man Monday morning. The Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier reports the assailant also beat a woman with a revolver, which discharged when he struck her, and then shot at her when she fled in her vehicle. The man then put the gun to the head of the woman’s friend, and forced him into a car and drove away. Tyray Dantrell Smith, 33, was arrested for kidnapping among other charges. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The emerald ash borer has been confirmed in Cedar Rapids in Linn County. There are now twenty-nine counties in Iowa confirmed positive with this invasive pest. EAB has spread to 25 states destroying tens of millions of ash trees COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – A 9-year-old girl is in the hospital after being struck by a train Sunday afternoon in Council Bluffs. KETV reports witnesses heard the girl scream. Officers found her conscious and alert, lying between two sets of train tracks. She is in “stable” condition with a skull fracture. It appears the girl attempted to cross the tracks after a train had passed and was struck by a second train she didn’t know was coming. NEWTON, IA (IRN) – A fire broke out in a restaurant’s kitchen in Newton Sunday evening, causing smoke damage to nearby businesses. KCCI-TV reports the fire broke out at Panda Garden while customers and employees were inside the restaurant. The fire likely started on the stove and spread up to the ceiling. At least six other businesses suffered smoke damage, including a mortgage company, dress shop and a county building. No one was injured. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) – A Floyd County man who’s been fighting the life sentence he received on federal firearms charges is now trying to take his case to the Supreme Court. KIMT-TV reports 43-year-old Randy Lee Patrie pled guilty in 2014 to a charge of felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of sawed-off shotguns.  He received a longer sentence than usual because of prior convictions and the judge considered him an “armed career criminal.” NORWALK, IA (IRN) – A fire early this morning has forced a family from its Norwalk home. WHO-TV reports when crews arrived, flames were rising from the back porch. Authorities say the fire started on a grill that sparked, then quickly spread to the entire porch area. Everyone was able to get out of the house safely.

BREMER COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A driver was found dead in a Bremer County cornfield, according to KWWL-TV. Carolyn Waggett, 73, from rural Waverly was found in a vehicle that had run off the road on Tuesday morning. Investigators say Waggett died as the result of a medical condition. DES MOINES (IRN) – More than a dozen protesters gathered Saturday afternoon at the Governor’s Mansion in Des Moines, according to WOI-TV. Gov. Terry Branstad has been under pressure from Iowa Republicans to eliminate all government funding for Planned Parenthood. Gov. Branstad says he doesn’t have legal authority to strip Planned Parenthood of taxpayer funding, and an effort to do so could lead to a lawsuit. The protesters disagree. WORTHINGTON, IA (IRN) – Authorities are trying to piece together a number of recent burglaries at city halls in Delaware County. KWWL-TV reports the Delhi, Worthington and Cascade city halls were all broken into last weekend. In all burglaries, small amounts of cash were stolen. Police say they believe these incidents are connected. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A man is behind bars after police say he stole a taxi after he was discharged from Mercy Medical Center on Friday. KCCI-TV reports Luis Orellana-Rivera, 26, hopped in a running taxi that was parked outside the hospital. The driver immediately reported that his vehicle had been stolen. Police said Orellana-Rivera had the keys in his pocket at the time of his arrest. He told police he stole the taxi because didn’t want to walk six blocks home.  

BREMER COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Authorities responded to a crash between a semi and a combine on Highway 218 near Plainfield in Bremer County Friday.  KWWL-TV reports both vehicles were traveling southbound.  The driver of the Target Distribution truck hit the combine after not seeing it, forcing the combine to roll over. The semi lost a tire, forcing it to go into the median.  No one was injured. STORM LAKE, IA (IRN) – A Storm Lake man was given 15 years behind bars for forcing his wife to terminate two pregnancies, according to KCAU-TV. Tony Lee, 55, was found guilty of two counts of forced consent to termination of human pregnancy and two counts of assault. Lee forced his wife to take pills that ended her pregnancy on two separate occasions. Lee also sexually assaulted his wife after threatening her with a machete. WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a man charged with shooting at a Waterloo police officer in 2009. KCRG-TV reports Darnell Demery challenged the conviction, claiming his attorney was ineffective because he didn’t conduct deposition interviews before trial. The Court rejected that claim, ruling Demery failed to show how depositions would have changed the outcome of the trial. The officer was not injured. DES MOINES (IRN) – Governor Terry Branstad signed a proclamation Friday directing a special election to be held on December 8 for Iowa House District 21, following the recent death of Jack Drake of Griswold.  House District 21 is comprised of Adams and Union counties and parts of Cass and Pottawattamie counties. The Iowa code gives the governor the authority to set a special election. BURNSIDE, IA (IRN) – Exploding ammunition woke up the Lehigh Fire Chief before his home burned down in the northern Iowa town of Burnside Friday morning. WHO-TV reports Kirk Kelley and wife Sarah woke up when 2-3,000 rounds of ammo started to go off in a closet where the fire started. No one was injured. This is the third fire in department firefighters’ homes this year. Arson is not suspected.