The latest news from the Associated Press:
The drama surrounding a sudden vacancy in the job overseeing elections in one of Iowa’s most populous counties has voting experts concerned about what it could signal about the future of voting in America. Roxanna Moritz’s resignation last month, and a series of partisan moves since then, are signs that an office long viewed as quiet and nonpartisan is now fair game in the political fight about trust in the nation’s elections. Democrat Moritz stepped down as auditor in Scott County after months of tension that degenerated into personal attacks and threats of violence. Iowa Democrats criticized the county board for appointing a Republican replacement.
Several hundred volunteers joined law enforcement officials in searching for a missing 10-year-old east-central Iowa boy. Xavior Harrelson was last seen around 11 a.m. Thursday on his bike near his home on the north end of Montezuma. Mitch Mortvedt with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said areas around the family’s home were being searched Sunday. One of the volunteers, Dena Bear of Barnes City, said she came out to help because having a missing child is a mom’s worst nightmare and she has two kids in their teens.
A third teenager has died after a freight train hit the pickup truck he was riding in with three other teens on Thursday, and the fourth teen remains hospitalized. Iowa State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Alex Dinkla said Saturday that Rylon Cook, 15, of Osceola had died from his injuries. Authorities had previously said that Brooklynn Eggers, 14, and Gavin Werner, 15, who were both from Murray, Iowa, had died at the scene of the crash in rural south-central Iowa. Dinkla said the 16-year-old driver of the pickup truck remained hospitalized in serious condition. The crash happened around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at a railroad crossing just east of Murray.
A jury has found a farm laborer guilty of murder in the abduction and killing of a University of Iowa student who vanished while out for a run in 2018. The jury on Friday found Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Mollie Tibbetts, a friendly and bright 20-year-old who was studying to become a child psychologist. Bahena Rivera, who came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico as a teenager, will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The verdict comes after a two-week trial at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, in a case that inflamed public anger over illegal immigration and concerns about random violence against women.
An Iowa man who left a threatening voicemail telling Gov. Kim Reynolds she should be hung or shot “for treason” has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge. Harvey Hunter Jr., 48, pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment, accepting a plea agreement offered by Polk County prosecutors. In a written guilty plea, he said that he “did threaten to commit bodily injury to a government official” in his Jan. 5 voicemail. Prosecutors will recommend that Hunter serve a one-year term of probation, pay a fine, have no contact with the governor and undergo a mental health evaluation. His sentencing is set for next week.
Fire officials in southwestern Iowa say three people have been injured in an explosion and resulting fire Friday morning at a Creston apartment building. Television station KCCI reports that the explosion was reported about 9 a.m. The Creston Fire Department says two of the three injured were flown to area hospitals. Fire officials say they believe the explosion was caused by a resident smoking while operating a medical oxygen tank. Fire Chief Todd Jackson tells KCCI that he and other firefighters helped residents escape the fire through exits and windows.
