Iowa Radio News

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Clive man was charged with kidnapping Friday after he took his niece from a daycare, according to the Des Moines Register. James Davies, 29, took the child without consent after several people tried to stop him. He then drove the child to his residence and refused to give her back to her family. He drove the girl, unrestrained in the front seat, to Prospect Park and handed her to the first person he saw. After Davies drove away, the girl was “passed off” to other people at the park until they tracked down her family and returned her. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Surveillance video at a convenience store caught someone stealing money from a jar that was full of donations for a little girl battling a rare disease. KCRG-TV reports the money was for 15-month-old Tobin Rockwell of Cedar Rapids. She’s battling a rare disease that causes the brain to deteriorate. She has less than 10 years to live. Her parents have been raising money to get Tobin a gene therapy that insurance doesn’t cover. ALTOONA, IA (IRN) – A fire at the Altoona Burger King Friday has forced it to close indefinitely. It’s only the latest. In 2018, four Burger King establishments in Iowa caught fire. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Grand View men’s wrestling program has won seven straight national titles. Coming soon: women’s wrestling. Grand View Athletic Director Troy Plummer announced on Thursday they would be adding women’s wrestling to Viking athletics. Plummer says the program will start in the fall of 2019 or 2020. Women’s wrestling programs are growing nationwide.

ALTOONA, IA (IRN) – Fire crews were still at the scene of an early morning fire in Altoona hours after it started. KCCI-TV reports it happened at the Burger King near Adventureland around 3:30 this morning. ANKENY, IA (IRN) – A man was found dead Thursday afternoon after an apparent suicide in Ankeny. The Des Moines Register reports the man, in his mid-40s, killed himself in a room of a business after he was fired earlier in the day. He has not been identified. CLINTON, IA (IRN) – A Clinton man is facing 47 felony sex offenses and 121 counts of invasion of privacy. The Clinton Herald reports that officers arrested Timothy Geerts Wednesday. A woman who lived with Geerts brought a memory card from his cell phone to police. Recordings allegedly show him sexually assaulting her while she was passed out – 39 times. Geerts also admitted to putting a camera by the toilet in his bathroom and a crack in the shower wall. There were also videos that included three minors performing sex acts. WEST DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A man turned himself in to West Des Moines police Thursday after he beat up what he thought was an Uber driver following a night of New Year’s celebrations. KCCI-TV reports West Des Moines police used Facebook to help catch 23-year-old Patrick Kilmer. Kilmer and his girlfriend got into a car that they had mistaken for their Uber. The driver told the couple to get out and Kilmer attacked the driver. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) – Two Iowa women joined a record number of women in Congress on Thursday. U.S. Representative Cindy Axne, a West Des Moines Democrat in the Third Congressional District, and U.S. Representative Abby Finkenauer, a Dubuque Democrat in the First Congressional District, got sworn in as the first Iowa women to serve in the U.S. House.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – A Council Bluffs man pleaded guilty to threatening the city’s mayor. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 33-year-old Chase Points was given 30 days in jail, a two year suspended prison sentence and a year probation. He also was ordered to obtain drug, alcohol and mental health evaluations. Points left a handwritten note on Mayor Matt Walsh’s desk that said, “God is going to cut you down.” DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – After a particularly deadly 2017 in Des Moines, homicides in Iowa’s capital city dropped in 2018 by nearly 50 percent. The Des Moines Register reports slayings in the city declined from 25 in 2017 to 13 in 2018. Of the 13 homicides, the attacker is known in 11 cases; four were ruled self-defense, with no arrests made. Des Moines police ended the year with an 85 percent homicide-clearance rate. QUIMBY, IA (IRN) – A 21-year-old woman has died after her sport utility vehicle struck a deer in northwest Iowa. KCRG-TV reports the collision happened near the Cherokee County town of Quimby. The driver was injured when the deer penetrated the SUV windshield, and her vehicle then ran into a roadside ditch, killing her. She is the second Iowan to die in a crash with a deer in the last two weeks. On December 23, a 57-year-old woman died when the SUV she was riding in hit a deer in Tama County. The deer also went through the windshield and killed her. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Fire investigators are trying to determine what started a blaze at the MidAmerican Service Center in Polk County. KCCI-TV reports the fire was contained to the roof, and no one was inside the building at the time of the fire. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) – Sen. Elizabeth Warren is preparing to bring a populist message to Iowa voters just days after taking her first major step toward launching a campaign for president. The Massachusetts Democrat told reporters on Wednesday she’s planning to visit the state with the nation’s first presidential caucuses after being sworn in on Thursday to a second Senate term. Warren says Washington “works great for the wealthy and the well-connected, it needs to work for everybody else.”

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (IRN) – Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Joe Acosta and his two daughters rang in the New Year in Council Bluffs with fireworks. KETV reports after shooting off the fireworks, they went inside to go to bed. Their dog started barking, and alerted the family their home was on fire. Acosta says he thought he had extinguished all of the fireworks, but apparently hadn’t. WEBSTER COUNTY, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting the Webster County Sheriff’s office investigating an officer-involved shooting west of Dayton. Deputies were responding to a domestic disturbance and tried to stop a man fleeing the scene in his car. He started shooting at deputies and they fired back. The man crashed into a farm field and was found dead inside his car. CEDAR FALLS, IA (IRN) – Two people were shot just before bar closing time Tuesday on College Hill in Cedar Falls, according to the Des Moines Register. Less than two hours after the new year was rung in — at about 1:45 a.m. Tuesday — one person fired multiple shots from a handgun into a crowd. Two people were struck and taken to local hospitals. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines man was jailed Monday after he assaulted a convenience store clerk with a banana. KCCI-TV reports police responded to reports of a dispute at a QuikTrip around 3 a.m. The store clerk reported being chased around the store by 26-year-old Rogelio Tapia after trying to intervene in a domestic situation. Witness say Tapia chased the clerk and threw items at the clerk, including a banana. TAMPA, FL (IRN) – The Iowa Hawkeyes upset 18th ranked Mississippi State to win the Outback Bowl 27-22 on New Year’s Day. Iowa finishes 9-4 and will likely finish with a spot in the final Top 25 rankings.

JOHNSTON, IA (IRN) – An 18-year-old Johnston man is facing charges for his role in a Nov. 5 crash that killed a 38-year-old Ankeny woman and injured two passengers. The Des Moines Register reports Charles Hunter Everman was charged with vehicular homicide and serious injury by vehicle after an investigation into the crash revealed he had been driving twice the posted speed limit. ONAWA, IA (IRN) – Residents of the Monona County town of Onawa have had enough of brown water. KCAU-TV reports citizens complain that the water has been getting worse year after year. City officials say they are working on the problem. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A beauty school in Iowa City isn’t allowing students to finish their 15-month program. KCRG-TV reports the owner of The Salon Professional Academy told students the school would permanently close on Friday due to budget issues. Students were stunned, and are unsure if their hours will transfer to another beauty school. URBANDALE, IA (IRN) – An Urbandale man is entering the new year with a new ability, according to WHO-TV. Nicholas Noah is colorblind. His new eyeglasses use an optical filter that allows colorblind people to perceive color. Noah says, “one of the most amazing things I’ve seen so far is a sunset. I never really knew that a sunset had multiple colors.”