The man on trial for the 2018 abduction and stabbing death of a University of Iowa student has claimed publicly for the first time that two masked men were responsible for the crime and forced him to take part at gunpoint. The defense called Cristhian Bahena Rivera to testify at his first-degree murder trial yesterday. He admitted his car was the one on surveillance video circling Mollie Tibbetts while she ran in Brooklyn in Poweshiek County on July 18, 2018, that she ended up in its trunk and that he hid her body in a cornfield. But the farm worker denied he was responsible for stabbing her to death, instead saying the two masked men were involved. The defense rested later in the day and closing arguments are scheduled for today.
An inmate assaulted a correctional officer yesterday morning at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections. It happened around 8:15 a.m., when the officer was walking an inmate to his cell and another inmate approached and punched the officer in the face. Other officers in the area began using defensive techniques while restraining the attacker. The officer was taken to the hospital for treatment of a broken nose. The inmate did not suffer significant injuries. The Iowa DOC is still investigating.
NewBo City Market has named Julie Parisi as the organization’s new Executive Director. Parisi has worked as the Market’s Director of Business Development for the past several years, guiding all who start their business at the Market. Parisi will begin her new position at the end of June, after the departure of the Market’s current Executive Director, Scott Kruger.
Polk County authorities say a driver they had been seeking after finding an abandoned, crashed car was killed when he walked out of tall grass and into the path of a commercial truck. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release 36-year-old Joshua Haman of Pella died Tuesday morning near the intersection of Iowa Highway 163 and NE 108th Street. Investigators say the incident began around 5 a.m. Tuesday, when the car Haman was driving went into a ditch and rolled. Deputies called to the scene found the wreckage, but could not find Haman. Hours later, investigators say, Haman walked out of an overgrown ditch on Highway 163 not far from the crash scene and into the path of a truck carrying a garbage dumpster.
The University of Northern Iowa announced yesterday that Dr. José Herrera will serve as its next Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, pending Board of Regents approval. Herrera currently serves as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. He has held academic affairs leadership roles at Western New Mexico University and Truman State University, and was Program Director for the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation. Herrera began his higher education career as a biology professor, and received his Ph.D. from Kansas State University and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences from Northern Illinois University.
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has submitted a new Certificate of Need application for a proposed $230 million, 36-bed hospital in North Liberty, at the intersection of West Forevergreen Road and Coral Ridge Avenue. The Iowa Department of Public Health recently denied UIHC permission to build the hospital. The five-member State Health Facilities Council voted 3-2, opposing the project. The council cited cost, lack of collaboration with other area health care providers, and space. UIHC officials said the hospital offers more complex services that are taking up space at the main campus in Iowa City and say the university is collaborating with other area health care providers.
Cedar Rapids mayoral candidate Tiffany O’Donnell says she will be supporting the construction of a new casino, and building it in downtown Cedar Rapids. O’Donnell is also advocating an increase in the contribution that casinos give to local non-profits to five percent. She said she supports a casino to create a vibrant downtown, more high-paying jobs and a new revenue stream for city services and area non-profits. Voters will decide the fate of a casino’s future in a referendum on November 2nd.
A Dubuque man is pleading guilty to hitting and killing a pregnant woman in an accident in rural Dubuque County in 2019. 20-year-old Hannah Ruggeberg of Bellevue and her unborn son Kashton were killed after 71-year-old John Hoffman of Dubuque collided head-on with their vehicle near Key West. Investigators say Hoffman was drunk when he was driving north in the southbound lanes of Highway 52. The plea agreement recommends he be sentenced to 25 years in prison and pay more than $3,000 in restitution.
A 77-year-old woman who was hit by a vehicle on Tuesday on Merle Hay Road in Johnston has died from her injuries. Kim Ga was in the roadway in the 6100 block of Merle Hay Road when a vehicle struck her on Tuesday morning. She was taken from the scene in ‘stable’ condition but passed away from her injuries on Wednesday. No charges have been filed in the case. The accident remains under investigation.
