An eastern Iowa hog farmer has been sentenced to life in prison in connection with the death of his wife, who was impaled in the back with a corn rake. Iowa District Court Judge Thomas Bitter issued the required sentence of life without parole Friday for 44-year-old Todd Mullis, who was convicted last September of killing his 39-year-old wife Amy on the couple’s farm near Earlville. Mullis maintained his innocence at sentencing. Prosecutors say Mullis was furious that his wife was having an affair and feared he’d lose their farm if she divorced him. The sentencing hearing was postponed four times because of restrictions related to the coronavirus.
A Postville man is dead following a collision between a car and a utility terrain vehicle Saturday morning in Clayton County. The Iowa State Patrol says 23-year-old Jasmyne Jones of Cedar Rapids tried to pass 72-year-old Byron Meyer in his UTV. But officials say Meyer turned and the two vehicles collided. Meyer was thrown from the UTV and died. His 68-year-old passenger Eileen Meyer was injured and hospitalized; authorities say she was wearing a seatbelt…but he was not.
A Polk County judge has refused to allowed some Des Moines area bars to reopen while their lawsuit challenging Gov. Kim Reynolds’ new round of bar closures makes its way through the courts. Polk County Judge William Kelly emphasized the importance of public health Friday in his explanation of the ruling denying a temporary injunction to the bar owners in Polk and Dallas counties. Attorney Billy Mallory said he will appeal the denial while continuing to prepare for trial, where he will seek a permanent injunction.
Police around the country are reporting that as roads and highways emptied during the pandemic, some drivers took advantage by pushing well past the speed limit. It’s a trend that statistics show is continuing even as states reopen. Iowa is among those states reporting year-over-year increases in high speeds. As another example, troopers in Ohio have issued 61 percent more tickets since April for driving more than 100 mph than they did a year ago; July was also that state’s worst month for fatal accidents since 2007.
The Polk County sheriff’s office released dashcam footage and other information Friday about the fatal shooting of a Wisconsin man by one of its deputies in 2018. It wasn’t immediately clear from the video released Friday if 25-year-old Isaiah Hayes was shot in the back, as his family contends. The sheriff’s office disclosed details in an online video that includes dashboard camera footage of deputies chasing the Ashland, Wisconsin, man through central Iowa. They also released previously undisclosed documents and radio communications. The sheriff’s office says Deputy Ryan Phillips saw Hayes run from a stolen car near Altoona. Phillips reported that Hayes had a weapon and that he fired when Hayes refused orders to drop it.
And there’s no curbside garbage collection for the city of Waterloo today; those who normally have garbage pickup today will instead have service tomorrow.
