From the Associated Press:
MOLINE, Illinois (AP) — Deere executives say the company won’t return to the bargaining table with striking workers because it won’t offer a better contract than one they rejected that included immediate 10% raises. Marc Howze, the chief administrative officer of Deere & Co., said Wednesday that the deal the United Auto Workers union rejected on Tuesday represented the most it could offer and still keep its costs competitive. Pressure on the union to reach a settlement will mount the longer workers go without pay. The disputed contract would cover more than 10,000 Deere workers at 12 facilities in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas, who make the company’s iconic John Deere green tractors and other equipment.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Neal Smith, a World War II bomber pilot who became a successful lawyer before representing Iowa for 36 years in Congress, has died. He was 101. Smith was first elected in 1958 and remained until 1995, a tenure that made him Iowa’s long-serving U.S. House member. Smith was known as a quiet but effective leader whose greatest accomplishments revolved around the approval of federal funding for dams and reservoirs that safeguarded cities from flooding and created much-used lakes for recreation.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Voters have reelected the Black mayor of Iowa’s eighth-largest city, Waterloo, which will also have its first majority-Black City Council. The historic outcome of Tuesday’s election followed a campaign marked by bitter debates over policing and race. Quentin Hart, who became Waterloo’s first Black mayor in 2015, won a fourth two-year term. With three Black candidates also winning open City Council seats, four of its seven members will be Black. Hart and all four winning council candidates, including a white incumbent, defeated rivals endorsed by a political action committee, Cedar Valley Backs the Blue, that formed to oppose Hart’s reelection and support what it called “pro-law enforcement candidates.”
URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a Wisconsin woman whose body has not been found. Polk County authorities said Wednesday that 46-year-old James Shiloh Klever, of Mount Ayr, Iowa, is suspected of killing 30-year-old Rachel Reuter, of Cassville, Wisconsin. Her father reported her missing on June 16. The Polk County Sheriff’s office said evidence indicated the woman had been killed June 13 at a home in Bondurant. Klever is being held on $1 million bond.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State public health data shows Iowa has surpassed 7,000 deaths from COVID-19. The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 104 additional deaths occurring between Aug. 8 and Oct. 30. That brings the state death total to 7,069 since early 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began. Iowa ranks 26th in the nation in the number of deaths per 100,000 people since January 2020 and 13th nationally in number of deaths per 100,000 in the past seven days. Data this week suggests an uptick in virus spread in Iowa as the seven-day moving average of daily cases increased to more than 1,000 a day again after dropping below 1,000 for the past two weeks.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A Davenport man faces sentencing Jan. 12 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his mother. McKinsley Watson was originally charged with first-degree murder in the May 2020 death of 59-year-old Victoria Watson. Authorities say she was strangled and also suffered from a head injury. Watson pleaded guilty at a hearing on Oct. 29. He could face up to 50 years in prison. Davenport police were called around 4:45 a.m. May 21, 2020, to a home. Officers said they found McKinsley Watson on the front stoop exhibiting odd behavior possibly related to drug use. His mother was dead inside the home.
