MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – A Mason City girl missing for two months has been located. KIMT-TV reports Tala Rose Schaal, 15, was found after being reported missing back in October.
Witnesses reported seeing Schaal go into an apartment building in Mason City on December 6. Officers responded and found her minutes later. Police arrested 18-year-old Devyn Robert Belseth for Harboring a Runaway – Against the Wishes of a Parent or Guardian. He’s in jail.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The man who shot-and-killed Aaron Ross on September 30th in Des Moines is in custody in Chicago. WHO-TV reports 28-year-old Tyrone Hughes, Jr. was arrested on Tuesday in Chicago and charged with First Degree Murder. Ross was shot while sitting in a car in Des Moines. Prosecutors are working to extradite Hughes back to Iowa.

ORANGE CITY, IA (IRN) – A Northwest Iowa man is now facing criminal charges following a demonstration earlier this year where he burned several Orange City library books with gay themes. KCAU-TV reports Christian activist Paul Dorr of Ocheyedan (oh-CHEE-din) has been charged with fifth-degree criminal mischief after an October 19th demonstration that he filmed on Facebook in protest of the Orange City Pride festival. It’s a simple misdemeanor.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa’s chief lawyer is teaming up with 38 other states and the District of Columbia to curb the number of robocalls. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller joined a bipartisan group of attorneys general nationwide to take a look at the problem, which data shows has surged from 2.7 million to 5.1 billion robocalls in just one year.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A star University of Iowa quarterback in the early 1990s, Ryan Driscoll, has died from an apparent heart attack at the age of 44, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Driscoll was a three-sport athlete at Linn-Mar High School, where he earned all-state honors in football and baseball. At Iowa, he played in 25 games from 1994-96 for Hayden Fry. After graduating in 1996, Driscoll settled in Rockford, Illinois, where he worked in the medical sales field.

WAUKEE, IA (IRN) – An audit by state auditor’s office of the Waukee Community School District has identified more than $130,000 expenditures “which were not in the best interest of taxpayers.” The approximately $129,000 of costs identified include $83,000 spent on retreats for the District’s administrators, $18,000 of purchases made with procurement cards, and $28,000 for lounge chairs and furniture purchased for the Superintendent’s office.

BLOOMINGTON, IL (IRN) – A semi truck driving the wrong way crashed with a school bus carrying a girls basketball team, killing two people just outside Bloomington, Illinois, according to CNN. The crash was reported Wednesday. The driver of the semi truck, a 34-year-old man from Iowa, and Charles Crabtree, 72, a school volunteer traveling with the team, were killed in the crash. The semi truck’s driver has not been named pending next of kin notification.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Both occupants of a reportedly stolen sedan that crashed in Des Moines on Monday have now died. The Des Moines Register reports the driver of the sedan, Jair Sanchez-Banos, 17, died Wednesday. Passenger Emilio Esteban Garcia, 16, died earlier. Police said the two were tied to an earlier drive-by shooting.

CRESTON, IA (IRN) – Beth Kulow, a former dean at Southwestern Community College in Creston, is facing criminal charges for allegedly stealing from the school. WHO-TV reports Kulow is accused of approving the use of school funds for private expenses including travel and her wedding. Kulow resigned in October.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Sen. Chuck Grassley says he will not support any Republican challenger to President Donald Trump in the primary ahead of the 2020 election. Grassley says anyone is welcome to campaign in Iowa, but he won’t be appearing with them. Outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich says he’s seriously considering challenging Trump for the 2020 GOP presidential nomination.

MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – A stunt done to get some laughs in Mason City did just that – but it also caused an increase of calls to the Mason City Police Department. KIMT-TV reports Joe Paulsen, owner of Kllen Sweep Construction, placed a dummy that looked like a man in trouble hanging from a gutter and reaching for a ladder on the front of his business. Paulsen was trying to replicate the famous scene by Clark Griswold in the movie Christmas Vacation. Police weren’t happy, and Paulson took it down. He still thinks it’s funny.

MASON CITY, IA (IRN) – Investigators say an altercation preceded a railroad officer’s shooting of a man in Mason City. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says Union Pacific special agent Louis Miner stopped 30-year-old Nathan Olson for trespassing on Union Pacific property last Thursday, and an altercation occurred. The DCI hasn’t released whether Olson was armed. He remains hospitalized. Miner was treated at a hospital Thursday and then released.

NEW HAMPTON, IA (IRN) – A Chickasaw County man will spend life in prison for the death of his infant son. WQAD-TV reports Zachary Koehn, 29, left the four-month-old baby in a bedroom for nearly two weeks last year. Authorities found baby Sterling dead in a swing seat, weighing less than 7 pounds, in a diaper that hadn’t been changed in a week, and with maggots forming under his skin. The boy’s mother, Cheyanne Harris, 21, has pled not guilty and will have a separate trial.

FORT COLLINS, CO (IRN) – A Colorado man already in custody for causing a fatal crash that killed a Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School teacher and his daughter is now facing murder charges. KGAN-TV reports 19-year-old Marcos Orozco was fleeing police after a burglary when he crashed into a vehicle carrying 55-year-old John Nees and 38-year-old Nicole Nees. The father was visiting his daughter on Thanksgiving in Fort Collins.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A man who worked for a non-profit organization that helps at-risk youth is charged with enticing a minor under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose. WHO-TV reports Akil Jabbar met with the minor in the middle of the night with the intent of committing an illegal sex act with her. Jabbar allegedly planned to supply the girl with illegal drugs and alcohol.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Gov. Kim Reynolds says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has again rejected a disaster assistance request for victims of tornadoes that hit Marshall and Polk counties last summer. FEMA stated that the damage wasn’t severe or widespread enough to merit individual assistance. Marshalltown was hit especially hard by the July tornado, which damaged more than 900 homes.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Icy roads caused many accidents in eastern Iowa after rain early this morning. Some accidents caused blockages or closures on major interstates and roadways. Reports are still coming in.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Two people were hospitalized in critical condition Monday after their reportedly stolen vehicle led police on a chase that ended in a crash in Des Moines. Police said the injured were also tied to an earlier drive-by shooting. The car that was stolen was left alone running.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines mother drove to the school drop-off while drunk and nearly plowed into a group of elementary students, according to KCCI-TV. Heather Mapes, 43, is in jail. Mapes was drunk as she swerved into the bus lane at Garton Elementary School and narrowly missed hitting a group of students. Mapes was dropping off her 5-year-old daughter when she hit the curb. She then argued with school staff, and a bus driver stopped her from leaving the scene.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Des Moines Police Department is investigating the case of a dog being shot with four arrows. A man found a stray pit bull and took it into his grandmother’s home, where it attacked her poodle. The man then shot the pit bull with four arrows. Both dogs had to be put down.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN – Former President George H.W. Bush made his final journey to Washington, D.C., on Monday to lie in state after his death. KCRG-TV reports his death is sad news for Becky Beach, of Des Moines. Beach, who worked for and has been friends with the Bush family for 40 years, said she is mourning the death of her longtime friend. Beach says she was a 22-year-old college graduate when she volunteered in Iowa to help Bush run for president in the late 1970s.