Waterloo Ward 1 council member Margaret Klein says she’ll be on the November ballot…but as a candidate for mayor. Klein announced her candidacy late yesterday afternoon. She cited a lack of city leadership due to tax increases, lack of growth and blighted neighborhoods. She also was critical of the decision to remove the griffin from the police logo. Current Waterloo mayor Quentin Hart has scheduled an announcement about his political future for today.
Authorities have set up a tip line to help find a boy who vanished from a rural Iowa trailer park days before his 11th birthday. The FBI and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are hoping the digital tip line will help in the search for Xavior Harrelson, who went missing May 27. Detectives are considering several possibilities concerning the disappearance, including that he was abducted, that he suffered an accident, or that he ran away. The website is fbi.gov/findxavior.
A 36-year-old man is dead following an accidental self-inflicted gunshot. Shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, officials responded to 110 Hillcrest in Raymond on a report that a male had shot himself. Brent Schaefer was taken to UnityPoint-Allen Hospital, then transferred to Iowa City. He died early yesterday morning due to the gunshot injury.
One person was hospitalized early yesterday morning with two non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. Just after 1 o’clock early yesterday morning, a 911 call was made for an ambulance near the Iowa Lodge apartments in Coralville. That’s where the injured person was found. The shooter has been identified, and investigation into an altercation before the shooting is continuing.
A motion for a mistrial filed by defense attorneys for Cristhian Bahena Rivera has been denied. Judge Joel Yates overruled and denied the motion in an order filed Friday. The ruling came one week after Bahena Rivera was found guilty of murdering University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in 2018. The motion says the court was informed that a state’s witness had viewed livestreamed coverage of the trial from a room outside the courtroom on May 20. The court denied the motion verbally during the trial and said a written ruling would come later.
Meatpacking workers are showing signs of boldness in labor negotiations after experiencing the pandemic’s health threats and economic repercussions. For example, the union at a South Dakota pork processing plant that experienced a virus outbreak last year has overwhelmingly voted to reject a contract offer from Smithfield Foods. It will next move to bring the prospect of a strike to the negotiating table. Workers have pushed for workplace safety during the pandemic. They are now navigating an economy where businesses have increased wages. Virginia-based Smithfield Foods is downplaying the contract rejection, saying it’s a “routine” part of negotiations.
Many turned to swimming pools as a way to beat the heat this past weekend, but that was harder to do in Cedar Rapids due to a shortage of lifeguards. Only the Noelridge Pool was open over the weekend. The Cherry Hill pool will open this coming weekend. Those two pools are top priority for Cedar Rapids officials because they are the largest, and therefore offer the most space for people to social distance while enjoying the water and sun. It takes 124 lifeguards and 67 cashiers to operate all five of the city’s outdoor pools. The city has increased pay to $12 an hour in hopes of getting more applicants.
A single-vehicle accident in rural southeast Linn County Friday night sent four people to the hospital, all with non-life-threatening injuries. Just before 10:30 p.m., the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and other emergency responders were sent to a report of a vehicle overturned in a ditch along Ivanhoe Road, east of the intersection with Pleasant Hill Road. Deputies found an SUV in the ditch with four passengers inside. They believe the driver lost control on the gravel surface of the road, entering the north ditch and flipping.
A judge delayed sentencing Friday for a Davenport woman who had entered a plea of guilty in a fatal shooting at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, because the woman says she is innocent. 25-year-old Treshonda Pollion was scheduled to be sentenced Friday after pleading to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death of 29-year-old Eloise Chairs. Scott County Judge Henry Latham said he would delay sentencing Pollion because she claimed she was innocent during a pre-sentence investigation. Pollion’s attorney said her comments were to explain why she accepted a plea deal. He asked for time to talk to his client.
Police have arrested a 20-year-old Iowa man accused of hiding in the backseat of a Nebraska woman’s car and using zip ties, duct tape and homemade chloroform to abduct her and imprison her in a storage shed at his home. Police arrested Zack Smith of Bronson early Friday on charges of third-degree kidnapping, false imprisonment and two counts of assault. His bond has been set at $250,000. Sioux City police say the woman was reported missing Thursday morning after her car was found abandoned with her purse and cell phone inside. Police say the woman managed to escape from the shed while police were searching for her.
