Waterloo Police continue to investigate the shooting that occurred in and around a private club in downtown Waterloo in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning…at last report, two people are now confirmed dead, a 22-year-old male from Waterloo and a 28-year-old female from out of town. Two more are at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City receiving treatment reportedly for serious injuries, while another eight who suffered from a variety of injuries ranging from being cut by broken glass, falling and being trampled, and sustaining gunshot wounds, have been treated and released. Police have arrested 25-year-old Sir Frank Nelson III of Waterloo on unrelated warrants which became known to police during the shooting investigation, with a further charge of being a felon in illegal possession of a firearm being considered.
The former director of a daycare in Tama County was sentenced yesterday to eight months of imprisonment. 49-year-old Kristine Daniel of Kellogg will report at a later date to serve four months in federal prison, plus four months in home detention. She will then serve three years of supervised release. The charge was in federal court because the daycare received federal funds. She admitted to taking or misusing some $114-thousand over a six and a half year period.
While Halloween activities are scheduled to be held in the city of Waterloo between 6 and 8 p.m. on October 31, city officials today encouraged residents to not participate in traditional trick or treat activities and instead be creative in what they call celebrating a COVID-19 Halloween. A slightly different tone from the City of Cedar Falls, which will honor trick or treat hours of 6 to 8 p.m. on October 31, but noting if citizens do not wish to participate, they should leave their front house light off…and trick or treaters should not visit homes that do not have the front light on.
The first presidential debate will be held tonight, and a new poll released late last week shows a tight race in Iowa with President Trump leading Vice President Biden. Patrick Murray is with the Monmouth University Poll and says that lead is within the poll’s margin of error. You can hear the debate live, with post-debate analysis by Hugh Hewitt, starting at 8 here on News/Talk 1540 KXEL.
County auditors may not use a voter database to correct missing or incomplete information on absentee ballot applications ahead of the November election, this after a Johnson County judge ruled to uphold a new law regarding procedures for processing absentee requests. Two Democrat groups filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to keep the law from taking effect, but a judge denied the petition and upheld the law on Friday. Under the law, auditors are required to contact voters by e-mail, phone or mail to correct discrepancies. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, who was named as a defendant in the case, said in a statement that there are an “unprecedented” number of absentee ballot requests this year and he praised the ruling, calling it akin to Voter ID for absentee ballots.
One man was killed in a single-vehicle accident in Winneshiek County. It happened around 11 o’clock Sunday morning on Middle Ossian Road, which runs between Ossian to just south of Decorah. Deputies believe an SUV driven by 52-year-old Alan Hageman of Decorah, was traveling north when it lost control. The vehicle went into a ditch, hitting an entrance to a field. Hageman was killed in the accident, which remains under investigation.
Squaw Creek Park is now officially Wanatee Park. The Linn County Conservation Board retired the now-former name for the 998-acre park, located off Highways 100 and 13, at its meeting yesterday. The board said the Squaw Creek name was insensitive. The Wanatee in Wanatee Park is Jean Adeline Morgan Wanatee, a women’s rights advocate who was born in the Meskwaki settlement near Tama in 1910 and was a Meskwaki language specialist for the Smithsonian Institution. As for Squaw Creek itself, the Linn County Board of Supervisors will ask the U.S. Geologic Survey’s Board of Geographic Names to rename the creek Wanatee Creek, a process that could take several months to a year. Though the conservation board was able to change the name of the park, changing the name of the body of water itself is a process involving federal, state and local jurisdictions.
A Mason City woman is facing felony drug charges after a traffic stop resulted in a deputy finding a pipe sticking out of a baby’s sock. Jami Garcia was held in the Worth County Jail after being arrested over the weekend. Garcia was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped after the driver had visited someone at the jail. The driver was known to have a suspended driver’s license, and Garcia, who herself had a valid Cerro Gordo County arrest warrant, was found in the backseat. Garcia tried to conceal the pipe in a baby’s sock that was on the floor, according to court documents.
