We now know the identity of the woman who died as a field fire she was tending got out of control Sunday in the 3000 Block of Gillmore Road in Linn County. 79-year-old Carol Woodson of Marion was found by emergency personnel down on the ground, surrounded by flames and smoke. Woodson was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Union Middle School teacher under investigation for inappropriate email exchanges with students resigned Monday. Union Community Schools’ Board of Education held a 7 a.m. meeting to deal with the matter and unanimously approved a resignation agreement with the teacher on a 7-0 vote. Superintendent Travis Fleshner said the board gathered ahead of its regular monthly meeting Monday night because, in his words, “they committed to acting on it as soon as the employee committed to the offer.” He confirmed that two middle school students had been involved with the inappropriate email exchanges. The Dysart police department obtained a search warrant related to the teacher in March. Details of the warrant were sealed. The teacher was put on paid administrative leave March 16. District officials first became aware of the concerns late last year.
One person is dead and another injured after a collision in Tama County just before 7 o’clock Monday morning on U.S. Highway 30 at the county road E-66 intersection. 73-year-old Hazel Griffiths of Brooklyn was driving west on E-66 when she failed to yield at stop sign and entered eastbound traffic on Highway 30, colliding with the front of another vehicle driven by 21-year-old Molly Watt of Melbourne. Griffiths was pronounced dead at the scene. Watt was taken to a Cedar Rapids hospital.
A Des Moines man died after suffering serious injuries in a T-bone collision south of Madrid Sunday evening. It happened around 6:15 p.m. on Iowa Highway 17 and NW 158th Avenue in northwest Polk County. 65-year-old David Turner was driving a vehicle westbound on NW 158th Avenue when he failed to stop at a stop sign and was struck by a northbound vehicle driven by Brooke Crooks of Madrid. Turner was airlifted to a hospital in Des Moines but later died, authorities said. Crooks suffered minor injuries and was treated at a hospital in Boone County.
One suspect is in custody following a deadly stabbing…it happened just after midnight early Monday morning in a guest room at the Residence Inn on 1900 Dodge Street NE in Cedar Rapids. Police found a 33-year-old man with a stab wound to the upper torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 39-year-old Victoriano Dias-Barrera was arrested and charged with first degree murder, going armed with intent, and assault with a deadly weapon. Investigators say several people were in the room at the time of the stabbing, and that the suspect and victim knew each other and got into an argument before the stabbing. Another man at the scene, 29-year-old Anthony Diaz, was arrested on a murder warrant from Texas.
One man has been arrested after the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office seized around two pounds of methamphetamine. The sheriff’s office conducted a search warrant at the home of Fred Louis Pa last Thursday, the result of a lengthy investigation in which the two pounds of meth was recovered. The street value for the meth is nearly $25,000. Pa was charged with three drug-related felonies.
A woman was rescued by a passerby after she was trapped in a vehicle after a rollover accident shortly before noon Monday at Lark Ave. and 300th St. in Cerro Gordo County. 61-year-old Donna Rench of Manly was eastbound on 300th St. when her pickup entered the north ditch and rolled. Rench was trapped inside the vehicle but was freed by a passerby as the vehicle started on fire. She was taken to a Mason City hospital for treatment.
The State of Iowa will pay $225,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was injured when a state trooper knocked him over and put his knee on his neck during a 2017 traffic stop, according to documents released Monday. The payment to Bryce Yakish ends a lawsuit he filed against the state and former Iowa State Patrol trooper Robert Smith in 2019, months after a sheriff released dash camera video of the arrest. The lawsuit alleged that Smith assaulted and falsely arrested Yakish, lying about what happened during their encounter. The video shows Smith pulling Yakish over for speeding on his motorcycle on Sept. 25, 2017, at a gas station off of Interstate 80 near West Liberty. The state Solicitor General said it was in the state’s best interest to resolve the claim, since the state faced “some difficulty on the liability side” and could be required to pay Yakish’s attorneys fees if it lost at trial.
