MORE DETAILS ARE BECOMING AVAILABLE ABOUT A POLICE SHOOTING EARLY THIS MORNING IN WATERLOO. IT HAPPENED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF SIXTH STREET AND COMMERCIAL BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 1 A.M. THE INTERSECTION WAS STILL CLOSED TO TRAFFIC AT SUNRISE. AUTHORITIES WERE LOOKING FOR A MAN WHO HAD FIRST BEEN SPOTTED WITH A WEAPON SEVERAL BLOCKS AWAY NEAR 11TH AND COMMERCIAL. AFTER A CONFRONTATION, THE SUSPECT WAS WOUNDED AND TRANSPORTED TO A LOCAL HOSPITAL, THEN TO UNIVERSITY OF IOWA MEDICAL CENTER.
OUTSIDE THE STATE CAPITOL TUESDAY, PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNION OFFICIALS SPOKE ABOUT THE DEATHS OF TWO PRISON WORKERS LAST MONTH IN ANAMOSA. DANNY HOMAN IS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES AN TALKED ABOUT THE FATAL PRISONER ESCAPE ATTEMPT. A STATE CORRECTIONS SPOKESMAN SAYS CHANGES ARE UNDERWAY TO MAKE THE PRISON MORE SECURE. HOUSE SPEAKER PAT GRASSLEY NOTED THE PROPOSED BUDGET FOR NEXT YEAR PROVIDES THE MOST FUNDING FOR STATE CORRECTIONS IN A DECADE.
CEDAR RAPIDS POLICE HAVE IDENTIFIED THE MAN FATALLY STABBED EARLIER THIS WEEK AT A MOTEL. 33-YEAR-OLD VICTOR HUERTA DIED FROM HIS INJURIES EARLY SUNDAY MORNING IN A GUEST ROOM AT THE RESIDENCE INN. POLICE CHIEF WAYNE JERMAN TOLD OUR COVERAGE PARTNERS AT TV-9 THAT COOPERATION WITH WITNESSES LED TO ARRESTS. VICTORIANO DIAS-BARRERA IS CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER AND OTHER COUNTS. A SECOND MAN WAS ARRESTED ON A MURDER WARRANT IN A SEPARATE CASE IN TEXAS AS A RESULT OF THE INVESTIGATION.
CEDAR FALLS PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIALS SAY THEY HAVE ARRESTED A 29-YEAR-OLD MAN SUSPECTED OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE. SAMUEL ADKISSON IS ACCUSED IN THE ONGOING SITUATION INVOLVING A MINOR. CHARGES AGAINST ADKISSON INCLUDE CONTINUOUS SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD AND SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE 2ND DEGREE, PUNISHABLE BY UP TO 50 YEARS IN PRISON, ACCORDING TO CEDAR FALLS POLICE. THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES AND THE ALLEN CHILD PROTECTION CENTER ASSISTED IN THE INVESTIGATION.
SALES AND HIRING ARE EXPECTED TO BE UP AT MORE THAN HALF OF THE COMPANIES POLLED IN THE LATEST IOWA BUSINESS COUNCIL ECONOMIC OUTLOOK SURVEY. IBC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOE MURPHY SAYS THERE ARE PLENTY OF REASONS FOR OPTIMISM BASED ON THE TYPICALLY-TEMPERED OUTLOOK OF IOWA’S BUSINESS LEADERS. SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT OF THOSE POLLED SAY SALES WILL LIKELY BE UP FOR THEIR COMPANIES DURING THE NEXT SIX MONTHS. THE IOWA BUSINESS COUNCIL REPRESENTS 22 OF IOWA’S LARGEST EMPLOYERS ACROSS A RANGE OF INDUSTRIES.
HAWKEYE BASKETBALL STAR LUKA GARZA WON THE WOODEN AWARD AS THE NATION’S TOP MEN’S COLLEGE PLAYER TUESDAY EVENING. THE BASKETBALL EQUIVALENT OF THE HEISMAN TROPHY WAS GARZA’S FOURTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD. HE LED THE NATION IN TOTAL POINTS AND RANKED SECOND NATIONALLY IN SCORING AVERAGE WITH 24.1 POINTS PER GAME.
POLICE PURSUITS HAVE BEEN A REGULAR OCCURRENCE IN EASTERN IOWA’S METRO AREAS THROUGHOUT THE EARLY MONTHS OF 2021. IN WATERLOO ON TUESDAY MORNING, AUTHORITIES CAUGHT UP WITH JOHN RAY MILLER AFTER REPORTEDLY ATTEMPTING TO STOP HIM FOR A VEHICLE EQUIPMENT VIOLATION. MILLER ALLEGEDLY SPED AWAY, ALTHOUGH THE CHASE ONLY LASTED A MATTER OF BLOCKS ON WATERLOO’S EAST SIDE. HE IS ALSO ACCUSED THROWING AN ILLICIT SUBSTANCE OUT OF HIS VEHICLE. MILLER WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY ON TRAFFIC AND DRUG CHARGES, AS WELL AS VIOLATION OF PAROLE.
A DES MOINES MAN HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO 50 YEARS IN PRISON AFTER HE USED HIS VEHICLE TO RUN DOWN A WOMAN WALKING HER DOG LAST SPRING. 50-YEAR-OLD JASON SASSMAN WAS HIGH ON METHAMPHETAMINE DURING THE INCIDENT. EARLIER THIS YEAR, SASSMAN WAS CONVICTED OF SECOND-DEGREE MURDER IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEATH OF 38-YEAR-OLD LAUREN RICE. POLICE SAY SASSMAN TOLD INVESTIGATORS HE DELUSIONALLY BELIEVED RICE WAS A CRIMINAL ABOUT TO KILL SOMEONE. THE VICTIM WAS AN INSTRUCTOR AT DES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
FINDING EMPLOYEES WILL BE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR MANY IOWA COMPANIES IN 2021. JOE MURPHY OF THE IOWA BUSINESS COUNCIL TALKED ABOUT THAT CONTINUING ISSUE, WHICH HAS BEEN COMPLICATED BY CHANGING POLICIES AND STAFFING LEVELS RELATED TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. THE IOWA BUSINESS COUNCIL’S QUARTERLY ECONOMIC OUTLOOK WAS RELEASED TUESDAY AND REFLECTED A POSITIVE SENTIMENT FROM BUSINESS LEADERS.
