More than 100 people gathered outside the Iowa State Capitol Saturday to rally against mandates requiring people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, such as the ones some Iowa hospitals have issued. One of the speakers at the rally, Republican state Rep. Jeff Shipley, called vaccine mandates “a crime against humanity.” The event was organized by a group called Informed Choice Iowa that opposes mandatory coronavirus vaccinations and vaccine passports. Brei Johnson with that group said she believes vaccinations should be discussed between a health professional and patient, not made a condition of employment.
A state board charged with helping oversee Iowa’s response to the coronavirus pandemic can’t meet because it doesn’t have enough members. Seven of the 11 seats on the Iowa State Board of Health are vacant. The board of health is made up of private individuals, including medical and public health professionals, and advises the Iowa Department of Health. Members are appointed by the governor. State law says one political party may not have more than half of any state board’s membership plus one. The board currently has three Republicans, one political independent and no Democrats. It last met May 12 and is not scheduled to meet again until Sept. 8.
Police in Marshalltown and Ames are investigating an apparent suicide that could be connected to a sexual exploitation investigation. Marshalltown police said they are investigating a report of inappropriate sexual contact between a former Marshalltown school employee and a student. When officers attempted to serve a search warrant at a home in Ames last Thursday, a gunshot was heard inside the home. A man was found dead in the basement and preliminary investigation indicates he died by suicide. The Marshalltown school district confirmed the man who died was the subject of the sexual exploitation investigation. Earlier this month, a Marshalltown middle school teacher charged with having inappropriate contact with a child was found dead in another apparent suicide.
Cedar Rapids Police say an early evening shooting Friday appears to be targeted, but wound up striking several homes and cars. It happened just after 6:30 Friday night in the 300 block of 16th Street SE. Several neighbors called to report gunfire in the area. When officers arrived, they did not find any victims, but a number of homes and cars were hit. Investigators collected evidence at the scene and spoke to witnesses. No arrests have been made.
A woman was killed when her motorcycle was rear-ended in rural Marshall County. Just before 9:30 Saturday night, the Iowa State Patrol was sent to a report of a collision between a SUV and a motorcycle. Officials believe both vehicles were traveling east on Main Street Road as it approached the intersection with Wallace Avenue, located east of Marshalltown. The vehicle hit the motorcycle from behind ejecting 48-year-old Shelly Anne Tuttle from the motorcycle. She died due to injuries suffered in the collision.
Meanwhile, a 52-year-old man received life-threatening injuries in an accident involving a motorcycle just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Cedar Rapids Police responded to an area along U.S. Highway 30 westbound to the east of the exit for Williams Boulevard SW. Officers located the man about 30 feet down from the top of an embankment along the highway. The man was unconscious when officers located him. He was taken to UnityPoint-St. Luke’s Hospital.
During its weekend convention, AFSCME Council 61 unanimously elected Rick Eilander to be the group’s next Council President. Eilander has been a union representative with the council since 2006, and most recently was an organizer working with locals and bargaining units. The Newton native became a member of AFSCME first as a jailer and then chief jailer with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office before joining the Department of Corrections in 1996 at the Newton Correctional Facility. Eilander was nominated for the position by outgoing Council 61 President Danny Homan, who is stepping down after 16 years.
A 40-year-old Denver man was killed early Friday in a two-vehicle Butler County collision. The Iowa State Patrol responded just after 4:30 a.m. to the collision of a sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck at 280th Street and Temple Avenue southwest of Shell Rock. Seth Sanderson was westbound on 280th Street in the SUV when he failed to stop at the stop sign and collided with a northbound truck driven by 58-year-old Denis Morrow of New Hartford. Sanderson died at the scene; officials say he was not wearing a seatbelt. Morrow was not injured.
One of five people charged in a 2019 shooting death in Des Moines has been found not guilty. 18-year-old Jackson Calaway was 16 when he was charged with first-degree murder in the October 2019 death of 23-year-old Rashid Ibrahim. Police said a group of five men and boys targeted Ibrahim for robbery after claiming they wanted to buy marijuana. Ibrahim was shot during a confrontation with the group. Prosecutors said they believed Calaway was the shooter, but a Polk County jury found Calaway not guilty last week. The four other suspects are awaiting trial.
A Des Moines man has been sentenced to up to 50 years in prison for killing and dismembering his wife last year. 33-year-old Datron Simmons must serve at least 35 years behind bars following his sentencing last Friday. A jury convicted Simmons last month of second-degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Connie Simmons. Police found her body in a wooded area near the couple’s home in September. Police said Datron Simmons told officers that he tried to conceal the death by disposing of her body. Authorities believe he killed his wife on Sept. 6.
An eastern Iowa woman who summoned police to her house on a separate complaint ended up being arrested herself, along with her boyfriend, after officers found a marijuana-growing lab and mushrooms there. Police arrested 43-year-old Ilana Poulin and 33-year-old Timothy Doyle on suspicion of several drug counts and one count of child endangerment, because police say the drugs were easily accessible by Poulin’s teenage children. Police say in court records that officers went to Poulin’s house in Blue Grass with a search warrant following a complaint she and her teenage daughter filed with police on Wednesday. The nature of that complaint was not revealed.
