From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed the state’s redistricting plan into law, finalizing the once-in-a-decade task complicated this year by late U.S. Census data that pushed the state past constitutional deadlines. Reynolds announced Thursday night she had signed legislation redrawing the legislative and congressional districts. The Iowa Legislature on Oct. 28 passed a redistricting plan created by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. It was the second set of maps after Iowa Senate Republicans rejected the first plan drawn by the LSA on Oct. 5. The redistricting process was delayed this year because census data came in later than usual as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) – A 17-year-old from the southeastern Iowa town of Fort Madison is now charged in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy. Authorities said Thursday that Dimari D.J. Meredith was charged with first-degree murder. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney. The victim’s name and information about a possible motive have not been disclosed. Officers were called to a home just after 5 p.m. Wednesday and found the victim in a bedroom. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police say the weapon was found inside the victim’s home.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The attorneys general of 11 states have filed a lawsuit challenging a vaccine mandate for employers issued by President Joe Biden’s administration. The suit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contends that authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government. The new mandate applies to private employers with at least 100 workers. Missouri’s GOP Attorney General Eric Schmitt says in a court filing the mandate is “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise.” Other suing include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Jonathan Johnson spent weeks on a ventilator battling COVID-19, then decided to get married – in the hospital. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the 28-year-old man surprised his fiance with the help of hospital staff and arranged a wedding in the intensive care unit of the hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa, tying the knot with 28-year-old Mariah Copeland from his bed. As soon as he recovered, he decided it was time to get married. Family, friends and an officiant helped pull off the surprise on Oct. 14. Johnson says: “After coming off the ventilator, you view a lot of things differently in life.”
FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) – Two 16-year-old students are charged in the death of a high school Spanish teacher in southeast Iowa. Jefferson County authorities say Willard Noble Chaiden Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale are charged as adults with first-degree homicide and conspiracy to commit first-degree homicide in the death of 66-year-old Nohema Graber. The Fairfield High School teacher was reported missing on Tuesday and her remains were found later that day at a park. Court filings say her body was found under a tarp and she suffered head trauma. Graber taught Spanish at the school since 2012. Court documents indicate the suspects, who are students at Fairfield, do not yet have attorneys.
DOWS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities in north-central Iowa are investigating the death of a man in the small town of Dows. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says EMS crews called to a home on Tuesday found the body of Mario Salvador Lopez. His body was sent to the State Office of the Iowa Medical Examiner. DCI says that after the autopsy, the death is being investigated as a homicide. No further information was released. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Wright County Sheriff’s Office.
