Sunday, April 7, 2019

WEST DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Authorities in West Des Moines are investigating a homicide after a woman was found dead overnight in the middle of the road. KCCI-TV reports shots were fired just before midnight Friday. Emergency personnel responded to a report that someone driving in the area found a woman lying in the road. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. She has been identified as 18-year-old Sakira Kezia Tamara Bonner, of Des Moines.

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – Dubuque police are investigating a collision Saturday morning that left a pedestrian dead. KCRG-TV reports a 1998 Buick LeSabre was backing out of a private driveway when the driver struck an 82-year-old pedestrian. The Dubuque man was pronounced dead at the scene.

SLATER, Iowa — A massive fire evacuated a restaurant in Slater, according to WHO-TV. Fire crews were called out around 2:30 p.m. Saturday to Cole’s Famous Tenderloins after a meat smoker caught fire. The fire spread to the restaurant and to a shed nearby. No one was hurt, but the blaze destroyed much of the restaurant and demolished the shed.

DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – Both eaglets in the Arconic Eagle nest have hatched. WQAD-TV reports the first egg hatched on Wednesday and the second hatched on Friday. The eagles, known as Liberty and Justice, joined the Arconic Davenport community in 2009. Since then they have raised 14 eaglets.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Cedar Rapids Police responded to shots fired. KWWL-TV reports officers arrived on the scene and located a vehicle that was shot at. Police collected information and spoke to witnesses. No injuries were reported.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Iowa City police have been investigating a ‘suspicious death’ since early Friday morning. KCRG-TV reports just before 7 a.m., first responders were called to a report of an unresponsive woman. Authorities arrived to find a woman dead inside the home.

MITCHELL COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A 52-year-old woman was killed while cleaning up an area of timber Thursday in Mitchell County. WQAD-TV reports Jacqueline Sue Kapustynski was killed when a tree that had gotten lodged in another tree, fell, striking her.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A driver is OK after his car crashed into a Papa Murphy’s store Friday afternoon in Des Moines. WHO-TV reports the front door was smashed into the restaurant. No one inside was hurt. The driver from Arkansas will also be OK. Police believe it was a mechanical failure.

IOWA (IRN) – Homeowners across Iowa opened their mail last weekend to discover their homes’ value had increased — sometimes steeply — since the last assessment in 2017. The Des Moines Register reports sixteen cities and counties surveyed saw average residential assessment increases of 10% or more. Residential assessment increases ranged from a high of 22.5% in Harrison County in western Iowa to a low of 0.04% in Black Hawk County.

Friday, April 5, 2019

WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – A man has been convicted of being intoxicated when his pickup truck struck a minivan in Waterloo, killing a baby inside. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that 37-year-old Derrick Johnson was found guilty Tuesday of vehicular homicide while intoxicated. Johnson was speeding, and failed to halt at a stop sign. Johnson’s blood alcohol level was as high as 1 1/2 times the legal limit at the time of the collision and he had cocaine in his system.

SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – A June trial has been scheduled for a man accused of trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in Sioux City. KCAU-TV reports 23-year-old Michael Marshall-Limoges pleaded not guilty Wednesday to kidnapping and other charges. He was allegedly driving behind the girl and a 9-year-old boy and then stopped. Police say he got out, grabbed the girl and put her in his car. The girl managed to escape. He told told officers that he tried to kidnap the girl so he could alleviate his anger by hurting other people.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Two men have been arrested and charged in connection to the Tuesday night stabbing of a Des Moines McDonald’s employee, according to the Des Moines Register. The men pulled into the drive-thru and got into an argument with a 19-year-old employee. The men entered the store, where the exchange escalated and a manager stepped in to try to diffuse the situation. The men used a racial slur, got their refund, and left. When the employee went outside for a break, the men were waiting and stabbed him.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Republican Senate panel has failed to pass a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights for felons, killing one of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’s priorities for this year. Reynolds expressed disappointment but said she remains committed to changing the law.

TAMPA, FL (IRN) – Hawkeye Megan Gustafson is The Associated Press women’s college basketball player of the year. She led the nation in scoring for the second consecutive year and is the first player from the school and the Big Ten to win the award. The 6-foot-3 inch star averaged 27.9 points and helped the Hawkeyes reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1993. She became only the fourth Division I player to score more than 1,000 points in a season, and tied the NCAA record for double-doubles in a season with 33.

Thursday, April 4, 2019

COUNCIL BLUFFS, OA (IRN) – A former city clerk in southwestern Iowa has been sentenced to five years of probation and six months of home confinement for stealing thousands of dollars from the city. Federal prosecutors say 57-year-old Carol Jennings also was ordered Tuesday to pay more than $77,000 in restitution. Jennings was clerk of Riverton. She opened two accounts with a local bank using falsified documents and deposited city funds into the accounts. Prosecutors say she then converted most of the money for her own use.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) The Diocese of Des Moines released the names of nine priests who are credibly accused of sexually abusing children while working for the diocese between the 1950s and the 1990s.

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – A Dubuque police officer is in the hospital after he came into contact with a substance and got sick. KCRG-TV reports police were executing a warrant at an apartment when the officer became ill. Fellow officers performed emergency treatment at the scene. The officer is at a Dubuque hospital receiving treatment. He is in stable condition.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Police arrested a Des Moines middle school student for assaulting two teachers and a counselor Tuesday at McCombs middle school. WHO-TV reports the student threatened to assault a classmate. A teacher stepped in and was punched in the face and chest causing a bloody nose. Another teacher who tried to intervene was punched in the neck. Attempting to calm the student, a third woman, the school counselor, was punched four times in her chest and face, breaking her glasses. It took two men to restrain the student who was then taken to the Juvenile Detention Center.

IOWA (IRN) – Republican state leaders are brushing off President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated comments about wind energy as hot air, saying the industry has brought numerous benefits to Iowa. Trump told a crowd at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual spring dinner Tuesday night that he heard that noise from wind turbines causes cancer. Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley called Trump’s comments “idiotic.”