From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate for September has dropped slightly to 4%. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that the rate declined from 4.1% in August as the total number of unemployed Iowans dropped by nearly 2,000 to 66,100 people. Iowa’s rate left it tied with two other states for the nation’s 17th lowest unemployment rate. Nebraska had the lowest rate of 2%. The nation’s unemployment rate for September was 4.8%.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A person was shot to death in northeast Des Moines. Police say officers responded to multiple reports of gunfire at 5:41 a.m. Friday and found a person who had been shot. Although officers attempted lifesaving efforts, the person died at the scene. It was the city’s ninth homicide of the year.
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Two Iowa State University crew club members were participating in their first practice on the water when they drowned in March after their boat capsized in strong winds, according to newly released investigative findings. The pandemic had kept the club off the water for 18 months and investigators concluded in information released Wednesday that team members’ excitement for a chance to return likely clouded their judgment about safety. The Ames Tribune reports that 20-year-old Yaakov Ben-David and 19-year-old Derek Nanni died in the capsizing on Little Wall Lake, about 20 miles north of the university’s campus in Ames. Three other members made it to shore, two of them with help from bystanders.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have confirmed that an Iowa woman who was reported missing earlier this month died in an apparent murder-suicide at her ex-husband’s home. Charles City police say the body of 44-year-old Jennifer Jo Swingen, also known as Jennifer Smith, was found last week. Police say her ex-husband, 46-year-old Shane Swingen, died on Oct. 12 of an apparent drug overdose. Officers later found Jennifer Swingen’s body at the home. Police say an autopsy determined she had been strangled. Court records show they divorced in 2019. He lived in Charles City and she lived in Dunkerton.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Democrat Cindy Axne and Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks would be pushed into the same congressional district under the latest redistricting maps. The proposal released Thursday by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency also would keep the Democratic counties of Johnson and Linn in separate districts, unlike a previous plan rejected by Republicans earlier in the month. The Iowa Legislature is scheduled to meet in special session next Thursday to consider the maps. If the second set of maps is rejected, the LSA will have 35 days to draw a third set of maps, which could be amended with majority Republicans leading that process.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new monthly survey of bankers in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states suggests strong economic growth continues in the region. The overall economic index for the region improved in October to 66.1 from September’s already-strong 62.5 reading. Any score above 50 suggests growth. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said the area is benefitting from solid grain prices, continued low interest rates and growing agricultural exports. Goss said demand for workers is high but businesses are having trouble finding people to hire. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.
