OTTUMWA, IA (IRN) – An Ottumwa man is accused of trying to talk a 14-year-old girl into meeting him for sex. KTVO-TV reports 26-year-old Anthony Gomez also asked the victim to send nude pictures of herself in exchange for money. Gomez also spoke with the victim on multiple occasions about driving to her residence and picking her up. The girl told Gomez her age multiple times.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – An Iowa City man faces charges after five pounds of marijuana mailed to his home was intercepted by the United States Postal Service. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports the postal service discovered a suspicious package that was to be shipped to the home of 20-year-old Brett Wilkins. Wilkins called the Iowa City Post Office to ask about the status of his package, which was then delivered to his home. Police later served a search warrant at the residence, where Wilkins said the items in the package were his.

SALEM, IA (IRN) – Damage surveys are being conducted today by the National Weather Service as at least one tornado occurred in Wednesday in southeastern Iowa. According to KCII Radio, trained weather spotters reported a tornado and funnel clouds near Salem at 3 p.m., and an emergency management coordinator saw a funnel cloud by Mediapolis. The severe storms produced large hail, heavy downpours, and strong winds.

MARENGO, IA (IRN) – A jury has convicted an Iowa man of first-degree murder in the 2000 disappearance of his fiancee even though her body has never been found. KCCI-TV reports jurors returned the verdict in Marengo Wednesday against Tait Purk in the death of Cora Okonski, a 23-year-old waitress and mother of a young child. Purk will be sentenced to life in prison without parole. He confessed the crime to another inmate while in prison.

BLACK HAWK COUNTY, IA (IRN) – A Waterloo man is dead after his car collided nearly head-on with a truck transporting a large dumpster Wednesday afternoon south of Cedar Falls. KCRG-TV reports 41-year-old Christopher Potter was northbound when a southbound Mack truck failed to yield when it turned in front of him.

MUSCATINE, IA (IRN) – Two Muscatine High School students have been arrested for threatening terrorism. KWPC-Radio reports school authorities found terroristic threats on an electronic device owned by the High School. An investigation is underway.

TITONKA, IA (IRN) – The remains of an Iowa sailor killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are being returned to Iowa today. The Des Moines Register reports William Kennedy, of Titonka, was one of 429 sailors and Marines who were killed aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma. He was 24. Kennedy’s recently identified remains had been buried in an area for the unidentified at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. He will be buried next to his mother at a Titonka cemetery tomorrow.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cedar Rapids says an Iowa man has pled guilty to a scheme that targeted elderly people across the country. 37-year-old Carlos Rodriguez of Dubuque pled guilty to wire fraud. Rodriguez says a fellow schemer would call an elderly person and tell him or her that a relative was in jail. The caller would then ask for money to be wired so the relative could be released. Rodriguez was among those who picked up the wired money.

OMAHA, NE (IRN) – A former Winnebago Tribal Council member has pled guilty to his role in stealing from the tribe’s casino in Iowa. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Lawrence Payer is one of nine former council members accused of a conspiracy to siphon more than $327,000 from the WinneVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Florida police have arrested a Florida man on charges of threatening to kill Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, and other public officials. KCCI-TV reports 59-year-old Richard Gillow posted on Facebook that he would kill the public officials, all of whom he believed to be involved in the removal of his daughter’s children by DHS. Gillow says the government kidnapped his grandchildren.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police are investigating two shootings yesterday. WHO-TV reports a driver reported his car was hit by gunfire, and moments later a man arrived at Broadlawns Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. In the second shooting, a man was shot twice in the arm by another man passing in a car. The injured man then returned fire, but police aren’t sure if anyone else was hit.

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – A similar name to a massage parlor is hurting a Dubuque flower shop, according to KCRG-TV. The owner of Neighborhood Floral, Cards, and More says people aren’t coming to her shop because they are confusing it with a massage parlor in the same strip mall. The name of the massage parlor is the Flower Garden, and it’s at the center of a police investigation into prostitution.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – U.S. Rep. Rod Blum walked out of a television interview in front of a group of schoolchildren in Dubuque on Monday when pressed by a KCRG-TV reporter about not allowing people from out of his district into his town halls. Blum said he didn’t want non-district attendees at the meetings because he doesn’t represent them. When asked by the reporter if he took contributions from people outside of the district, Blum walked out.

WASHINGTON, D.C. A Senate panel has approved Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as U.S. ambassador to China. Today’s decision all but assures full Senate confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for the key diplomatic post. The 70-year-old Branstad has headed Iowa government for more than 22 years and is the country’s longest serving governor.

BURLINGTON, IA (IRN) – A Burlington couple is accused of trying to walk out of a Coralville Wal-Mart with more than $1000 worth of merchandise. KCJJ-Radio reports 33-year-old Tosha Clouse and 27-year-old Christopher Oberlander loaded up a shopping cart and left without paying. Among other items, they stole a computer and a Night Owl Surveillance system.

URBANDALE, IA (IRN) – An Urbandale mother is in jail, and her 6-year-old daughter is recovering from second-degree burns in a child endangerment case that police say almost went unnoticed. KCCI-TV reports 34-year-old Helena Cole is charged with child endangerment causing physical injury. Police learned about the case thanks to an intuitive teacher who noticed that the child had been kept home from school. School officials showed up to Cole’s apartment and found the girl badly burned inside.

BLACK HAWK COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Authorities in Black Hawk County are investigating a road rage incident that sent one person to the hospital. WHO-TV reports a semi-truck driver and another driver got out of their vehicles at a stop sign. During an altercation, the truck driver was stabbed in the back. The suspect then fled.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Multiple crews responded to an apartment fire in Cedar Rapids last night. KGAN-TV reports 12 units on the top floor of the building were affected. Two ladder trucks from the Cedar Rapids Fire Department were needed to put out the fire. There are no official reports of injuries, but witnesses say one person was hospitalized.

HIAWATHA, IA (IRN) – High school students in the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Academy at Kirkwood’s Linn County Regional Center took on the challenge of converting a shipping container into a tiny home. KCRG-TV reports it took 12 weeks and $24,000 to build.
At just 266-square feet, the tiny house is truly tiny. But there is room inside for a bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and living area. It’s for sale.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Board of Regents is considering tuition hikes at the state’s three public universities next school year to help offset millions in budget cuts. The Press-Citizen reports the proposal would increase in-state base tuition for undergraduates by $216 for the 2017-18 academic year at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – Officers responded to reports of a stabbing at the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall yesterday. KGAN-TV reports upon arrival, police found the victim and suspect near the fountain in the Mall where the victim was stabbed multiple times. The victim was transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals. Their wounds appeared to be non-life threatening.

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – Dubuque authorities are looking into the case of man who died after police pepper sprayed him. WHO-TV reports the man had been assaulting customers at a bar Saturday night. When officers arrived, bar patrons were holding the man down and police used pepper spray to subdue him. The man then went into cardiac arrest. Officers performed CPR, but he later died at the hospital.

BURLINGTON, IA (IRN) – A woman was killed in a fire at a Burlington duplex, according to WQAD-TV. When firefighters arrived, they found flames coming from one of the downstairs windows. After entering the home, firefighters found the body of an adult woman. Crews tried to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead.

ANAMOSA, IA (IRN) – The Jones County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a man accused of taking a child this weekend. KCRG-TV reports 29-year-old Frank Young, of Anamosa, took the child from a home outside Oxford Junction. When a deputy tried to stop him, he left the child unhurt in his vehicle and ran off into a wooded area. Young is wanted on multiple charges, including domestic abuse, violation of protective order and violation of a custodial order.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – An Iowa man died peacefully this month after family members falsely told him the process to impeach President Donald Trump had begun “so that he could rest in peace.” Corliss Gilchrist, who would have celebrated his 92nd birthday Sunday, died Wednesday at his Altoona home. His obituary published in the Des Moines Register said he was a proud union member and took great pride in his work with Armstrong Tire, retiring after more than 40 years of service.