From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
MOLINE, Ill. (AP) – More than 10,000 striking Deere & Co. workers are voting on a new contract offer from the tractor maker, but this third deal is strikingly similar to a contract that 55% of workers rejected two weeks ago. The latest proposed contract being voted on Wednesday maintains the 10% immediate raises that the last deal offered, and it makes what the United Auto Workers union called modest changes to Deere’s internal incentive pay program for workers. The disputed contract covers 12 plants in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas where the Moline, Illinois-based company’s iconic John Deere green agricultural and construction equipment is made.
MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) – Two people have died in a two-vehicle crash at Maquoketa in eastern Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol says the crash happened around 5 p.m. Tuesday when a southbound car turning left off Highway 61 was hit by a northbound pickup truck. Television station KCRG reports that the crash killed two men, 68-year-old Gary Schlapia and 61-year-old Michael Griffin, both of Maquoketa. It was not clear from a patrol report whether Schlapia and Griffin were in the same vehicle. Two other men were taken to hospitals for their injuries.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A former manager for an influential Iowa-based pork dealer has died in a crash, days after federal prosecutors charged him in a scheme to swindle hog farmers through fraudulent buying practices. The Iowa State Patrol says 70-year-old Steven Demaray, the former regional buying manager for Lynch Livestock, was driving a truck that crashed head-on Monday morning into a concrete overpass support pier on Highway 63 near New Hampton, where he lived. Demaray, who was known by his nickname “Shooter,” was the only person in the vehicle and died at a hospital. An accident report released Tuesday gave no indication why his truck left the road. A federal grand jury on Nov. 4 indicted Demaray and a former Lynch Livestock bookkeeper on two counts of mail fraud. Demaray had pleaded not guilty.
SIGOURNEY, Iowa (AP) – A 32-year-old Iowa man has been found guilty in the death of a Black man whose body was found burning in a ditch last year. Steven Vogel, of Grinnell, was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. Prosecutors said he killed 44-year-old Michael Williams, whose body was found burning in September 2020 in a rural Jasper County ditch. Testimony during the trial indicated Vogel killed Williams because of a “love triangle” involving Vogel’s girlfriend. Three other people were charged in the case but Vogel was the only suspect charged with murder.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A man has been shot and killed by police in Waterloo after officers say he rammed a patrol car. Television station KCRG reports that the shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday on a city street after a short vehicle chase. Police say the chase began when a driver was spotted driving recklessly and tried to hit an officer’s patrol car. The chase ensued, and several other officers converged to stop the man’s car. Police say that the driver refused to get out of the car and instead rammed a patrol car. Police say an officer then fatally shot the driver. Police have not released the man’s name, but say he was 42 years old.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A former Pleasantville police officer has been charged with several counts in a child sex abuse case. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said Tuesday in a news release that 30-year-old Alec Veatch was arrested Monday at his Norwalk home. Veatch has been charged with one count each of third-degree sexual abuse, lascivious acts with a minor and enticing a minor. Investigators say Veatch is accused of having sexual contact with a 15-year-old. Veatch was booked into the Jasper County Jail and later released on bond. No attorney was listed for Veatch in online court records, and a publicly-listed phone number for Veatch could not be found Tuesday.
