The Friday morning news headlines from the KXEL NewsCenter…
Two Department of Corrections medical staff member incorrectly administered the Pfizer vaccine to 77 inmates at the Iowa State Penitentiary. The specific dosage was not released, but it “exceeded the amount recommended by the vaccine manufacturer.” Officials say the department immediately contacted the CDC and Pfizer for guidance. None of the inmates is experiencing unusual adverse reactions. Vaccinations at the prison are on hold while the situation is investigated. The two nursing staff members that administered the vaccine have been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
A Waterloo woman was in the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound Thursday morning. Aaliyah Lewis was found on the 400 block of Sunnyside Avenue with a wound to her leg. She was taken to the Unity Point Allen Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Officers say 24-year-old Jakwone Watkins was arrested and charged with carrying weapons, willful injury, and possession of firearms as a felon.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the state of Iowa challenging a 2019 law that allows Medicaid to deny payment for sex reassignment surgeries for transgender residents. The lawsuit was filed in state court Thursday on behalf of Aiden Vasquez, who sought surgery under Medicaid coverage and was denied by the Iowa Department of Human Services. ACLU lawyers say they will argue that denying the surgery to transgender Iowans violates equal protection rights guaranteed in the Iowa Constitution. They also will claim a 2019 change to state civil rights law saying governments in Iowa can deny paying for the surgery is unconstitutional and unenforceable because it intentionally discriminates against transgender Iowans.
A Des Moines woman has entered a plea of guilty to federal hate crimes for intentionally driving her SUV into two children in 2019 because she said she thought one was Mexican and the other was a member of the Islamic State group. 43-year-old Nicole Poole Franklin entered the pleas Wednesday in a Des Moines federal court to two counts of violating the U.S. Hate Crime Act for trying to kill the children because of their races in separate attacks minutes apart. She also admitted guilt to two state counts of attempted murder for the same attacks. Franklin has said she has mental illnesses and a judge initially ruled that she wasn’t mentally competent to stand trial. She was later deemed competent.
A Redfield man will stay in jail while he faces charges stemming from the Jan. 6 disturbance at the U.S. Capitol. An Iowa Southern District federal judge ordered 37-year-old Kyle James Young to stay in detainment, awaiting an appearance in federal court in Washington, D.C. on 12 federal counts. The judge noted that Young has a history of controlled substance abuse and five felony convictions. He also previously failed to appear in court as ordered and violated parole. A status conference in the case is set for Friday afternoon.
Two men charged with terrorism after they tried to crash a vehicle into the Muscatine police headquarters have agreed to a plea deal. 24-year-old Gilberto Daniel Castillo I and 21-year-old Marc Anthony Castillo each entered pleas of guilty to assault on a police officer, second-degree criminal mischief and criminal gang participation. Gilberto Castillo also admitted guilt to an additional count of operating while intoxicated; he was sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison. Marc Castillo is scheduled to be sentenced May 7. The original terrorism charge alone had carried a term of up to 50 years in prison.
A judge has declared a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict in the case of a man accused of killing a woman and her two young children. The mistrial was declared Thursday after the jury was unable to reach a verdict on two of three first-degree murder counts against 33-year-old Marvin Esquivel Lopez. That followed four days of deliberation by the jury. Lopez is charged in the 2019 shooting deaths of 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez and her two children–11-year-old Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores and 5-year-old Ever Jose Mejia-Flores. Polk County Attorney John Sarcone said in a statement that his office will try the case again.
