Iowa Radio News

DES MOINES – Several police agencies executed more than a dozen search warrants in the Des Moines metro area Wednesday. The Des Moines Register reports the investigation relates to an opioid-related overdose, which started with a Des Moines Police Department response, but has now been turned over to federal jurisdiction. A total of 13 search warrants were issued and included the Chicago and Houston Police Departments, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and other local, state, and federal agencies.IOWA – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 3.1 percent in November, and the state’s labor force participation rate rose to 66.3 percent. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate increased to 4.2 percent in November. The number of unemployed Iowans increased to 53,000 in November from 51,000 in October. The total number of working Iowans fell to 1,632,600 in November. This figure is 400 lower than October and 20,900 lower than one year ago.ALTOONA – Iowa Donor Network has selected Angel Dominguez of Bettendorf and Joshua Brennan of Davenport to be honored on the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade Float in Pasadena, California on January 1st. Dominguez is a heart recipient, and Brennan is an organ donor . Brennan, who passed away in March 2022 at the age of 41, saved and healed numerous lives through organ and tissue donation. His floragraph will be placed on the float. Dominguez received a heart transplant in 1992 and will ride on the float.  

COUNCIL BLUFFS – A Harlan man was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for receiving child pornography. According to court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip that an account, later determined to be associated with 42-year-old Jesse Daniel Blaine received files containing child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement seized electronic devices during a search of Blaine’s Harlan residence. A forensic examination showed that Blaine used his electronic devices to receive, view, and possess images and videos and to search for child sex stories. CEDAR RAPIDS – A Cedar Rapids man claims he was wrongfully charged by police with drug-related charges in Scott County. KCRG-TV reports Davon Browning was initially charged with possession of ecstasy, but those have since been dropped. His mother says when contacting the Scott County Attorney’s Office for a mug shot, the image was instead of another man who was a previous friend of Browning. The Linn County Attorney’s Office believes Hull may have tried to use Browning’s identity, which led to the mix up. IOWA CITY – In a celebration of her legacy and impact, the University of Iowa Athletics Department has announced plans to retire the No. 22 of Hawkeye women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark during a ceremony scheduled for February 2nd inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Clark will be in attendance for the game against USC. Caitlin finished as the all-time women’s NCAA Division I scoring leader, the major college scoring record-holder, and with the career points in Division I history for men and women. The two-time consensus National Player of the Year led the Hawkeyes to two national runners-up finishes in 2023 and 2024.

OSCEOLA – An elderly couple was found with gunshot wounds in Osceola Tuesday morning that eventually led to two deaths in an apparent murder-suicide. KCCI-TV reports 85-year-old Jim Kimball and 83-year-old Mary Ellen Kimball were discovered by police and transported to nearby hospitals, where they eventually died. The Osceola Police Department believes that both individuals may have been suffering from terminal illnesses. DES MOINES – President-elect Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against now-retired pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register over an inaccurate poll released just days before the general election. Iowa Public Radio reports the lawsuit accuses the newspaper and Selzer of election interference under Iowa’s Consumer Fraud Act. The Iowa Poll showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump just three days before the general election that Trump would win by more than a dozen percentage points in the state.BOONE – The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa High School Sports Network have reached a resolution in their media rights dispute which will make finals round livestreams free for viewers in 2024-25 and conclude their longstanding agreement following this athletic year. The settlement ends litigation which has been ongoing since the IHSAA filed its initial petition in June 2023. IHSSN has been the IHSAA’s exclusive rights holder for championship events since 2006. Media rights for IHSAA events will return to the association effective Aug. 1, 2025.

DES MOINES – Governor Kim Reynolds announced on Monday she has appointed Chris Cournoyer as Lieutenant Governor of Iowa. Cournoyer, a resident of LeClaire, was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2018. She chaired the inaugural Technology committee, from which position she wrote and managed the legislation that made Iowa the sixth state in the nation to protect consumer data in law. She was also Chair of the Education Budget Committee, Vice Chair of the State Government committee and sat on the Education, Natural Resources and Environment, Transportation, and Ways and Means committees. WATERLOO – The Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office has requested assistance from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation for a male who died while in the custody. Following an initial car chase by Waterloo Police on Sunday evening, the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office found the same vehicle twenty minutes after the city department called the pursuit off following a crash. Deputies chased the vehicle, operated by Willie Earl Washington, for approximately nine miles at speeds over 90 mph before it struck stop sticks. Washington was removed from the car by deputies and handcuffed, but then became unresponsive while in custody. Deputies were unable to revive the man despite life-saving efforts. An autopsy is scheduled for December 17th at the Office of the Iowa State Medical Examiner. IOWA – The Iowa State Patrol reported to 258 calls for service during this past weekend’s ice storm. WHO-13 details that among those, 93 were crashes — 78 of which property damage with 14 injuries and one fatality. There were also 138 motorist assists. The department urges travelers to avoid hitting the roads with such extensive ice and freezing rain.

IOWA – Widespread freezing rain over the weekend brought slick conditions and power outages to most of central and eastern Iowa. Many reports of ice amounts over a quarter of an inch were reported to the National Weather Service, with the highest totals observed near the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City metros. Many accidents occurred with multiple jackknifed semis reported on Interstate 80, along with numerous power outages in southeast Iowa. Two-thirds of an inch of ice was recorded in Cedar Rapids in the highest report. KELLOGG – A Lynnville woman was killed in a crash with a semi truck on Saturday afternoon just south of Kellogg. The Iowa State Patrol reports an International MV607 operated by Leticia Penate De Rodriguez of Des Moines was traveling southbound on County Highway T-22 near the I-80 interchange when it went off the edge of the road. The driver overcorrected to the left and crossed the centerline. A 2021 Chevorlet Silverado driven by 56-year-old Gerry Lee Van Dyke was traveling northbound on T-22 and collided head on with the semi. The passenger in the Silverado, identified as 51-year-old Jill Christine Van Dyke, died at the scene. IOWA – Three years ago this past Sunday, Iowa was hit with a rare weather phenomenon for the state of Iowa, and the nation. The National Weather Service described the December 15th, 2021 derecho as the only time in recorded weather history that the wind-based thunderstorm complex impacted any part of the United States in the final month of the year. Officially, it set the new record for most tornadoes in Iowa and the most EF-2/F-2 or stronger tornadoes in a single day since 1950. After the line of storms had passed, numerous strong, non-thunderstorm wind gusts over 70 mph occurred overnight — including what was the highest in over 50 years at the Des Moines Airport.