Iowa Radio News

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.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Tyson Foods announced today that all its U.S. employees will be required to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Employees are expected to receive their vaccines by Nov. 1. The company expects leadership to complete vaccinations by Sep. 24, and office employees must be vaccinated by Oct. 1. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A judge on Monday rejected a convicted man’s request for a new trial in the 2018 killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts. Cristhian Bahena Rivera was convicted in May of first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – An Iowa panel has voted to settle a lawsuit and pay five protesters who supported the Black Lives Matter movement for alleged constitutional rights violations when they were banned from the Iowa Capitol grounds. The State Appeal Board on Monday approved a recommendation by state lawyers to pay the protestors $5,000 each and their attorney $45,000. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Iowa is the largest pork producer in the United States, and California’s Proposition 12, which is set to take effect in January 2022, is causing concerns for Iowa farmers. Proposition 12 states that in order to sell products in California, farms must be in compliance with California’s confinement regulations. Most of Iowa’s hog production facilities are not in compliance. U.S.A (IRN) – The National Weather Service is now able to trigger cell phone alerts for high-end Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. There will now be three levels of Severe Thunderstorm Warnings – base, considerable, and destructive. The ‘destructive’ storms will have winds of 80 mph and baseball size hail.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A motorcyclist remains in critical condition following a crash in Des Moines on Sunday. An investigation shows that the 40-year-old Des Moines man was traveling at a high rate of speed and weaving in and out of traffic prior to the crash. Police said a 20-year-old Des Moines woman driving a Chevrolet Impala turned into the path of the motorcycle and the motorcycle crashed into the passenger side of her car. MUSCATINE, IA (IRN) – A Muscatine man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the shooting death of his girlfriend. David J.S. Hatfield called police in October 2019, and said 18-year-old Kaitlyn Palmer had tried to commit suicide by shooting herself. Hatfield later admitted to shooting Palmer. WAPELLO COUNTY, IA (IRN) – The Ottumwa Police Department found the body of a missing woman Sunday. 60-year-old Helen Elizabeth Showalter’s family reported her missing on Saturday. She was last seen walking away from a vehicle near the Garrison Rock Park in Wapello County. Her body was found in the Des Moines River, and police have ruled her death suspicious. OTTUMWA, IA (IRN) – Armadillos have made their way to southern Iowa. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has been tracking the animals for nearly four years and they have confirmed 17 sightings just in 2021 alone. Armadillos join us from the south, but officials say they can’t survive the harsh winters here in Iowa. The DNR asks if you see one, take a photograph and send it to them.