Iowa Radio News

IOWA (IRN) – The Iowa Department of Public Health today requested Iowans returning from a country where the coronavirus COVID-19 is spreading to voluntarily self-isolate for 14 days following their return. Areas in this travel notice currently include: China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, and South Korea. POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A retired Council Bluffs police officer pleaded guilty in the hit-and-run death of a cyclist. KETV reports a judge immediately sentenced Bob Christensen to two years probation. A 911 caller reported finding a man unresponsive in the grass that had been riding a bicycle. Christensen left the scene then drove back in a different vehicle. His trial was scheduled to start Tuesday. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A kayaker found a body in the Cedar River Monday morning. KCRG-TV reports police identified him as Justin Robert Johnson, 42. Johnson had been reported missing on November 5. An autopsy will be conducted. BURLINGTON, IA (IRN) – Burlington police are searching for a shooter after arriving at a scene to find two people injured by gunfire. Their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – An Ottumwa man is in custody at the Polk County Jail after leading police on a chase. KTVO-TV reports just before 4 a.m. Monday, Des Moines police officers initiated a traffic stop. Instead of stopping, the driver, 45-year-old Tyler Shipley sped off, reaching speeds of more than 25 miles per hour over the posted limit. He was stopped in Jasper County. AMES, IA (IRN) – Iowa State University students studying abroad in Italy are now being asked to return to the United States by Friday, cutting their semester-long study abroad trip short. The CDC is advising all travelers to avoid nonessential travel to Italy. The students say they don’t want to return home.

OMAHA, NE (IRN) – Worries about the coronavirus that’s infected tens of thousands of people globally are making a mark on the economy of a nine-state region in the Midwest and Plains. A new survey report says the Mid-American Business Conditions Index sank in February. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the softer reading and the economic harm from the virus should concern policymakers. JOHNSTON, IA (IRN) – A missing Mississippi teenager is safe in Iowa, and a man who police say is involved in her disappearance is facing charges. KCCI-TV reports twenty-one-year old Jared Michael Wright, of Lawton, Oklahoma, is charged with harboring a runaway. Authorities believed the girl was in jeopardy considering the area’s sex trafficking risk and her learning disability which causes her behave like an 11- or 12-year-old. DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – 16,000 tires at a home in Davenport are being removed by the city. WQAD-TV reports William Peters lives in the home and owns B&M PitStop, a tire removal company. He’s the middle man between a tire store and a tire recycler, but the tires he’s collecting aren’t making it to that destination. Since Wednesday, the city’s been loading 300 tires in 16 truckloads every day to the Scott County Landfill. Peters will have to pay a disposal fee close to $100,000. CORRECTIONVILLE, IA (IRN) – A Powerball ticket sold in northwest Iowa is worth $1 million. Iowa Lottery officials say the ticket was sold in Correctionville. WEST DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A taxicab driver saved a West Des Moines woman from being scammed. KCCI-TV reports the 83-year-old woman was about to give a scammer $40,000 when he stopped her. Scott Kilmer was driving a woman to a bank when he discovered that she was about to pull money from an account to give to a man she didn’t know. He told her not to do it, and reported the scam to the Iowa Attorney General’s office. Kilmer said he was just doing what anyone would have done.

WEST DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Three people were injured after three motorcycles crashed in West Des Moines Saturday. Two people had serious injuries and the third had life-threatening injuries. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Cedar Rapids Police recovered a vehicle that was stolen Saturday afternoon. KCRG-TV reports when police located the vehicle, the driver refused to stop and led police on a pursuit. The vehicle struck a curb and three juveniles, two 15-year-olds and one 14-year-old were taken into custody. No one was injured. AMES, IA (IRN) – The Iowa State men’s track and field team won the Big 12 title at the indoor conference championship this weekend. The Cyclones scored 137 points to capture the team’s first title in the Big 12 era. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Luka Garza scored 25 points and had 17 rebounds as No. 18 Iowa pulled away in the second half for a 77-68 win over No. 16 Penn State on Saturday. Garza extended his streak of 20 or more points against Big Ten teams to 14 games, a new school record. It was Garza’s 14th double-double of the season.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines Police officers have arrested a man for robbing the Iowa State Bank Friday evening. KCCI-TV reports officers were in the area and spotted the suspect, Abraham Fagory, 25, before he fled on foot. Fagory ran into an apartment building and entered an apartment where he was apprehended. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Police in Des Moines say a suspect has been arrested in the death of a 71-year-old woman who was the victim of a hit-and-run as she crossed a Des Moines street last month. 41-year-old Isaias Flores-Morales was arrested Thursday in Illinois. Markert died a week after being hit near the Drake University campus. She was the house mother for Delta Gamma sorority at Drake. DIKE, IA (IRN) – A wooden box containing the cremated remains of a Dike man that was stolen in a home burglary has been recovered. The remains of 65-year-old Daniel Evanson were stolen during a break-in at his rural home. Evanson’s family members went to social media to plead for the public’s help in finding the remains and the ornate wooden box holding them. A jogger found the box on a trail in Cedar Falls on Friday DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Students from across the state will put their speed and accuracy to the test in Des Moines today. About a dozen kids, ages seven to 17, are competing in the Braille Challenge hosted by the Iowa Department for the Blind. They are competing to be the fastest Braille reader in the state.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst signed a Senate resolution asking Major League Baseball to reconsider shutting down 42 minor league teams. Eastern Iowa is home to three of the teams on the chopping block; the Clinton Lumberjacks, the Burlington Bees and the Quad City River Bandits. CHARITON, IA (IRN) – A Chariton man is facing a long list of criminal charges after a standoff Wednesday that left students on lockdown at local schools hours after dismissal time. WHO-TV reports it started when Jeffry Alan Hildreth intentionally damaged the gas line to his home, causing a leak in the neighborhood. When officers approached Hildreth’s home, he came outside armed with a rifle. FLOYD COUNTY, IA (IRN) – An Ames man has been charged after police found 60 pounds of marijuana in a car. KIMT-TV reports Floyd County authorities say Elias Joseph Gonzales, 25, was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped for speeding near Floyd. A search found 47 vacuum sealed packages of marijuana weighing a total of 60 pounds. A bag at Gonzales’ feet held two loaded handguns, methamphetamine, and a large amount of cash. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Authorities are seeing an increase in thieves stealing catalytic converters in the Des Moines metro. KCCI-TV reports Skeffington’s Formal Wear surveillance video shows a man stealing three catalytic converters in ten minutes. A total of 15 catalytic converters have been stolen from that lot, and it’s happening across the metro. Thieves crawl under higher vehicles, make a quick cut with a saw, and then melt down the metal for palladium, which is now going for nearly $3,000. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – More than three weeks after the Iowa caucuses, the Iowa Democratic Party has released the results from the recounted precincts. Recounting resulted in no change to the number of National Delegates allocated to each candidate. In the lead, Pete Buttigieg will have 14 delegates, while Bernie Sanders will have 12.