From the Associated Press:
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa prison inmate serving a life sentence for murder has died from complications related to COVID-19 and multiple preexisting medical conditions. The Iowa Department of Corrections said in a news release that 81-year-old Phillip Benito Cuevas was in hospice care at the Iowa State Peninitentiary when he died Saturday. Cuevas had been serving a life sentence for first-degree murder from Polk County. His sentence began in 1977.
HULL, Iowa (AP) — A 27-year-old man has been arrested after a woman died in a bicycle collision with a truck in northwest Iowa. The Sioux County Sheriff’s office says Seth De Jong, of Doon, is suspected of homicide by vehicle while intoxicated and homicide by vehicle caused by reckless driving. The sheriff says 69-year-old Lorna Moss, of Sioux Center, Iowa, was riding her bike Friday about 2 miles north of Hull when a truck driven by De Jong hit the bicycle from behind. Moss died at a nearby hospital. The crash remains under investigation.
OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Ottumwa police say a man is in custody after a stabbing death at a motel. Officers found 43-year-old Joshua David Barnhill, of Ottumwa, suffering from a stab wound Friday night at the Stardust Motel. He died at a local hospital. Police say 39-year-old Robert Wayne Milford Jr. was later arrested in Ottumwa and jailed on suspicion of second-degree murder, providing false information to a police officer and possession of methamphetamine. Police say the men were staying in separate rooms at the motel when the stabbing occurred.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A second suspect is charged in a shooting in Des Moines that killed one person and injured two others. Des Moines police say 18-year-old Mohaned Musa Ishag of Des Moines was arrested and charged Friday with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. The shooting on Monday killed 40-year-old Frederick McCuller II and injured two other men. Seventeen-year-old Danil James Deng was charged earlier this week in adult court with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Police said in a news release that investigators believe the two suspects intentionally fired several shots at the victims.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A group of parents of disabled students has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to strike down Iowa’s law banning schools from requiring masks, arguing it endangers their health and denies equal access to education. The lawsuit is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and disability rights organizations. It adds to the legal pressure facing the law as virus cases and hospitalizations climb in Iowa to their highest levels since last winter. Gov. Kim Reynolds defended the law at a news conference Thursday, saying it lets parents choose whether their students should wear masks. She says those who feel unsafe in classrooms can enroll in online-only programs.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A parole officer who shot a suspect in a confrontation that saw the officer also injured has been cleared by a prosecutor of wrongdoing. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber issued a report clearing Officer Mike Brown in the Aug. 20 shooting in Council Bluffs. The report says the shooting stemmed from officers’ attempts to arrest Brandon Hines and a woman on warrants. Investigators say Hines rammed an officer’s car and drove toward Brown as officers tried to arrest him on warrants. Investigators say Brown fired his gun six times, hitting Hines in the shoulder and hand, before Hine’s car hit Brown. Hines was later arrested in neighboring Omaha, Nebraska, where he was taken to a hospital.
