From KCRG-TV9:
Two shootings injured a man and damaged a vehicle overnight Saturday night/Sunday morning in Waterloo. The first happened on East Fourth Street near Gates Golf Course, when someone shot a man in the leg around 11:00pm Saturday night. He went to the hospital with minor injuries. About five hours later, someone shot a vehicle near the corner of West 6th Street and Grant Avenue, That is a couple of blocks east of Irving Elementary school. No one was hurt. Police have not announced any arrests.
A crash in northern Linn County killed the driver of a UTV on Sunday evening. The crash happened near 5006 Red School Rd., around 5:00 p.m. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office reports the driver was traveling north on the road near Central City, when the UTV lost control and rolled into the west ditch. The driver was the only person on the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt or helmet at the time of the crash. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
From the Associated Press:
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Farmers and Deere & Co. suppliers are worried about what the strike at the tractor maker’s factories will mean for their livelihoods. More than 10,000 Deere employees went on strike last week at 14 Deere factories in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and Georgia after the United Auto Workers union rejected a contract offer. The longer the strike continues, the greater the impact will be on the communities around the plants. Iowa farmer Lance Lillibridge, who is president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association board, said he worries about not being able to get parts if his John Deere combine breaks down during harvest.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Frustrated with persistently low prices, ranchers and others in the beef industry are moving to reverse a long trend of consolidation and planning to open new slaughterhouses. The new plants typically cost more than $300 million, but they still will be much smaller than those owned by the four meat company giants that slaughter over 80% of the nation’s cattle. That has led to some skepticism about whether the new independent plants can succeed. David Briggs is the CEO of a proposed plant in western Iowa. He says acknowledges the tough odds but says cattle people are risk takers.
MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed that remains found in September are those of a boy who disappeared in May. The Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office announced on its Facebook page Friday night the remains were those of Xavior Harrelson, of Montezuma. The sheriff said the boy’s cause of death would not be immediately released. Mitch Mortvedt, with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, said Xavior’s death was being investigated as suspicious. Xavior went missing from a rural Iowa trailer park days before his 11th birthday. The remains were discovered in September by a farmer working in a field near where Xavior lived.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A prosecutor has ruled that a police officer who shot and paralyzed a man in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, in April acted legally because the target appeared to be chasing a deputy with a shotgun. Black Hawk County Attorney Brian Williams says Waterloo police officer C.J. Nichols did not know that the long, dark weapon carried by Marcelino Alvarez-Victoriano was a pellet gun until after Nichols shot him. He says video from the officer’s body camera and two deputies’ squad cars show the 44-year-old Alvarez-Victoriano chasing Black Hawk County deputy Blake Dodd with what appears to be a firearm. Alvarez-Victoriano has filed a lawsuit alleging that the shooting was excessive force.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Des Moines public schools district has fired a teacher for failing to wear a mask in school buildings. The firing came about a week after a federal judge suspended a new state law that prohibits school districts from implementing mask requirements. Phil Roeder, a spokesman for the school district, confirmed that a teacher was fired for refusing to comply with the district’s mask policy. The district did not identify the teacher. Roeder said about 10 of the district’s approximately 5,000 employees have been sent home for noncompliance since the district reissued the mask requirement last month. The district says 12 employees are exempt from the policy are are allowed to take a break from wearing a mask during the day, or wear a face shield instead.
