From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
MALVERN, Iowa (AP) – An historic grocery housed in a nearly 150-year-old building in the western Iowa town of Malvern has been destroyed in a fire. Television station KETV reports that Mulholland Grocery on Main Street burned Monday night in a multi-alarm fire that required the efforts of nearly a dozen area fire departments to extinguish. Firefighters say the fire broke out around 5:30 p.m., while the store was still open for business, but no one was hurt in the blaze. Owner Tom Mullholland says the building first opened in the 1870s as a dry goods store. It’s been in the Mulholland family for all but 17 years since.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Former Iowa state epidemiologist and medical director Dr. Caitlin Pedati has accepted a new public health job in Virginia. The Virginia Beach Department of Public Health says Pedati will serve as the coastal city’s public health director beginning Dec. 10. Pedati left the Iowa Department of Public Health in October, citing an interest in pursuing new career opportunities. She began working for IDPH in 2018. She says in a statement she’s happy to return to her home state.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa state budget experts predict state revenue will increase by about 3% for the current fiscal year and 1.7% next year. Iowa and many other states experienced a boost from federal COVID-19 aid, which fueled increased consumer spending through this year and is reflected in increased tax collections and more state revenue. The challenge is to determine what happens when the impact of the federal dollars wanes. The budget experts concluded Monday that revenue growth will slow but continue upward. It all means Iowa is likely to have more than $2 billion in excess revenue that the state has not committed to spending. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican legislative leaders say they plan to propose significant tax cuts.
THOR, Iowa (AP) – The small north-central Iowa town of Thor took a hit last week when two buildings along its main street were gutted by fire. The Messenger reports fire was discovered late Friday night, first in Thor’s old Humboldt Trust and Savings Bank building. Soon, the entire building and the vacant building next to it were engulfed in flames. Thor Volunteer Fire Chief Kevin Olson, who lives around the corner from the buildings, learned of the fire when someone banged on his door late Friday night and he stuck his head out to see the flames. Firefighters from seven departments worked through most of the night to put out the flames.
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) – Passengers trains will begin stopping Wednesday at Fort Madison’s historic station for the first time in more than 50 years. David Handera, an Amtrak vice president, announced Friday night during an event in Fort Madison that eastbound and westbound Southwest Chief trains would begin stopping at the old station on Wednesday. The station was built in the Mississippi River town by the Santa Fe railroad in 1910, but passenger service was moved to a building in a nearby rail yard in 1968. For years, Fort Madison residents have worked to raise money and make improvements to the old brick structure in the heart of downtown so it could again be used for train passengers.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The murder trial of a man accused of killing a woman and her two children is set to begin this week after a jury failed to reach a verdict in his first trial earlier this year. Television station WHO 13 reports that trial begins Monday for Marvin Esquivel Lopez. Esquivel Lopez, who is also known to federal immigration authorities as Marvin Escobar-Orellana, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the 2019 deaths of 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, 11-year-old Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores and 5-year-old Ever Jose Mejia-Flores. His first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury said they were able to reach a verdict on the killing of Flores-Rodriguez but not for the children.
