From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One of the leaders of the largest county in Iowa is taking the unusual step of suing his own government for libel and extortion. Polk County Supervisor Matt McCoy has filed legal documents to intervene in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by the county’s former human resources director, Jim Nahas, against the county and McCoy’s four fellow supervisors. McCoy denies allegations that he made a violent and vulgar remark about a female county employee that she overheard last year. He says Nahas and another witness do not recall him making such a remark and that they were pressured for political reasons to implicate him in wrongdoing.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say they have solved the 50-year-old killing of an Iowa teen but not before the suspect died of old age. The Gazette reports that relatives of Maureen Brubaker Farley long suspected George Smith was her killer. Two teenage boys found her body in 1971 in a wooded ravine in what is now Tait Cummins Park. Cedar Rapids police interviewed Smith in 1971 but did not have the evidence to charge him. Recently, DNA technology that wasn’t available at the time of the killing allowed police to confirm that Smith was Farley’s killer. Police said this week that the case was closed with no prosecution because Smith died in 2013 at age 94.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The second of two white men who severely beat a Black man during what the victim said was a racist attack has been sentenced to probation. The Des Moines Register reports that 29-year-old Jesse James Downs was sentenced Wednesday to a year of probation after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. An accomplice, 29-year-old Dale Lee Millard, was sentenced in March to three years’ probation for a count of willful injury causing serious injury. The convictions came after the May 2020 attack on 23-year-old DarQuan Jones, who says the two men beat, choked and tried to drown him in a creek while shouting racial slurs at him after he knocked on his girlfriend’s door.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has denied a 17-year-old’s request to be tried as a juvenile in the fatal shooting of man in downtown Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal reports that Dwight Evans will be tried as an adult on charges of first-degree murder, going armed with intent and two drug counts. Evans pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this year. Prosecutors say Evans shot and killed 22-year-old Martez Harrison, of Sioux City, on May 1 following Harrison’s fight with Evans’ friend, 20-year-old Lawrence Canady. Police say the fight occurred after Canady attacked Harrison’s girlfriend. Canady also has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, willful injury and serious assault.
U.S. (AP) — A group intent on expanding Republican power across state-level offices is rolling out a national effort to diversify and broaden the GOP, with an advisory council headed up by a number of possible future presidential hopefuls. The Republican State Leadership Committee on Thursday is launching its “Right Leaders Network.” The group told The Associated Press it aims to elect more women and “candidates from communities of color and diverse backgrounds.” The effort also aims to use former state-level politicians, now in higher office, to serve as mentors for up-and-coming GOP leaders. That’s part of the reason for its advisory council, whose leadership includes Sens. Marco Rubio and Tim Scott, as well as former U.N. Ambassador and ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
WISNER, Neb. (AP) — Sheriff’s officials in northeastern Nebraska say two people have died in a fiery head-on crash on U.S. Highway 275 east of Wisner. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the crash happened Wednesday night when a minivan driven by 56-year-old Lance Arthaloney, of Lincoln, collided head-on with a car driven by a 51-year-old West Point man. The Cuming County Sheriff’s Office says both vehicles erupted in flames after the crash. The crash killed Arthaloney and a passenger in the car, 60-year-old Martha Rodriguez, of West Point. The car’s driver was flown by a medical helicopter to a hospital in Sioux City, Iowa. Investigators say they have not determined which vehicle crossed the center line.
