Tuesday, August 27, 2019

OKOBOJI, IA (IRN) – The search for a Fort Dodge man who vanished over the weekend is over. The body of 24-year-old Vincent Harvey was pulled from Lake Okoboji late Monday night. Harvey had been missing since Sunday when his belongings were found on a dock.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines mother has been charged with two counts of child endangerment after leaving her kids at home to go shopping. KCCI-TV reports Rahwa Mussa, 26, left her 5-year-old and 2-year-old at home while she went shopping. Later that day, police found the 2-year-old boy alone outside on a playground. The 2-year-old would have had to cross a city street and parking lot to get to the park.

SEATTLE, WA (IRN) – The captain of United Airlines Flight 232, which crash-landed in Sioux City in July of 1989, has died. KTIV reports Captain Al Haynes died Sunday. Haynes was hailed as a hero for his actions in the crash. He and his crew were able to navigate the plane to the Gateway Airport in Sioux City after losing control when a tail fan failed and all of the hydraulic lines were destroyed. A total of 112 people died, while 184 survived.

SHENANDOAH, IA (IRN) – Organizers were hoping 50 people would show up for an informational meeting about “Hemp 101″ at the Shenandoah American Legion Country Club. More than 150 people showed up. KETV reports the Shenandoah Chamber of Commerce wants the city to be the center of hemp production in the state when it becomes legal.

U.S.A. (IRN) – The latest edition of the Farmer’s Almanac is out. For the upcoming year, the Almanac predicts a frigid winter, above normal precipitation, and a late spring for Iowa. The Almanac rebuffs conventional forecasting methods and relies instead on “sunspot activity, tidal action of the Moon, and the position of the planets. Fortunately, a Des Moines Register analysis shows that the almanac is more often wrong than right in its predictions.

Monday, August 26, 2019

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A woman robbed a Des Moines convenience store at gunpoint early this morning. KCCI-TV reports the woman walked into the store, pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded money. She got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police caught up with the suspect two miles away from the robbery and 45-year-old Windy Denise Nicodemus, of Pleasant Hill, was arrested without incident.

FORT COLLINS, CO (IRN) – A man convicted of second-degree murder for a crash that killed two Iowans has been sentenced to 70 years in prison. The Coloradoan reports 20-year-old Marcos Orozco was sentenced Friday in the deaths of Nicole Nees of Fort Collins and her father, John Nees of Cedar Rapids. The crash occurred last Thanksgiving Day. The victims had been shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and were stopped at a red light when Orozco, driving a stolen pickup, crashed into the rear of their vehicle at 90 mph. Earlier that day, Orozco had used the stolen pickup to crash into a pawn shop and steal firearms.

CEDAR FALLS, IA (IRN) – Three people were assaulted while walking in a group near the University of Northern Iowa campus early Sunday morning, according to KCRG-TV. At around 1:45 a.m., they reported they were assaulted by a group of three white males and three black males.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A house was set on fire after fireworks were discarded in Des Moines on Saturday. Spent fireworks placed in a trash can up against the house caused the fire.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Tana Goertz, a Des Moines metro woman who met Donald Trump as a contestant on his reality TV show, “The Apprentice”– is now part of a national effort to get women more comfortable with publicly supporting President Trump’s re-election. A top surrogate for President Trump, who holds a senior campaign position in Iowa, Goertz says the president has done more for women than anyone else she could think of besides Mother Teresa.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – A man sentenced last year to 25 years for attempting to kill his wife in Dubuque is seeking a competency evaluation, saying he should not have been allowed to enter a plea in the case. The Telegraph Herald reports that 52-year-old Clifford Smiley says he was bipolar, off his medication and addicted to heroin when he stabbed his estranged wife in a Dubuque parking lot on April 1, 2018.

FORT COLLINS, CO (IRN) – A man convicted of second-degree murder for a crash that killed two Iowans has been sentenced to 70 years in prison. The Coloradoan reports 20-year-old Marcos Orozco was sentenced Friday in the deaths of Nicole Nees of Fort Collins and her father, John Nees of Cedar Rapids. The crash occurred last Thanksgiving Day. The victims had been shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and were stopped at a red light when Orozco, driving a stolen pickup, crashed into the rear of their vehicle at 90 mph. Earlier that day, Orozco had used the stolen pickup to crash into a pawn shop and steal firearms.

VINTON, IA (IRN) – Two people are in custody after a knife assault in Vinton early Friday morning. KGAN-TV reports they were in an altercation with a third man.

LE MARS, IA (IRN) – Five people were hospitalized after a Le Mars crash ejected all five from their vehicle Friday night, according to an Iowa State Patrol crash report. The five occupants of the PT Cruiser, ranging in age from 18 to 21 years old, were all ejected from the car. None were wearing their seatbelts.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

BUCHANAN COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Former “The Bachelor,” star Chris Soules has agreed to a suspended two-year prison sentence following a crash that claimed the life of a man in Iowa. KCRG-TV reports Soules was driving when his pickup truck hit a tractor in Buchanan County in April of 2017. A farmer, Kenneth Mosher, 66, died in that crash. Soules did perform CPR on Mosher but left before police arrived. He was arrested at his home a few hours later.

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – The Dubuque Regional Humane Society is over capacity with cats after they took in almost 30 felines that were abandoned in a cemetery. The cats range in age from a few months to approximately two years old.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Cedar Rapids innovation and tech nonprofit NewBoCo has been awarded a major grant to bring their coding classes to the women at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville, Iowa. KGAN-TV report the Google Impact Challenge Iowa selected NewBoCo and four other Iowa organizations to receive $175,000 for proposing what Google panelists decided were “bold and creative ideas to create economic opportunity.”

STORM LAKE, IA (IRN) – Storm Lake students debuted an original song and music video this week. KCCI-TV reports the song, “America’s School,” talks about the diversity in the Storm Lake community and how the school has changed over the past 30 years. One of the lyrics highlights the 24 languages spoken by students and faculty.