From the Associated Press:
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say one person has died as a powerful storm system swept across the Great Plains and Midwest, closing highways and spawning reported tornadoes in Nebraska and Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol says a semitrailer was stuck by high winds and rolled onto its side on southbound on U.S. Highway 151 in eastern Iowa on Wednesday evening, killing the driver. The National Weather Service says the storm was shifting north of the Great Lakes on Thursday, with high winds, snow, and hazardous conditions continuing in the upper Great Lakes region. There were at least 13 tornado reports Wednesday in the Plains states, scattered through eastern Nebraska and Iowa. Winds topped 70 mph through much of Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is posting 823 COVID-19 hospitalizations and 130 more deaths as virus activity remains high throughout the state. Iowa public health officials reported Wednesday that 14 children age 11 or younger are among those in hospitals. All are unvaccinated. Another five children between age 12 and 17 are hospitalized and all but one are unvaccinated. The Iowa Department of Public Health also reported 20 people between age 20 and 29 are in the hospital with only one of those patients fully vaccinated. State officials also reported another 130 deaths, raising the state total to 7,680. More than 500 people have died since Nov. 1, reflecting an average of about 12 deaths a day from COVID-19.
NEW YORK (AP) — The former Facebook manager who startled the world this fall by leaking tens of thousands of internal documents and accusing her former employer of caring more about money than about public safety has a book deal. Little, Brown and Company announced Thursday that it had acquired Frances Haugen’s memoir, which it said would offer “a critical examination of Facebook.” The book does not yet have a title or release date. Haugen’s prominence has been cited as a sign of a rising wave of Big Tech whistleblowers. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has disputed her accounts, calling them a “false picture” of the company.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A 64-year-old Davenport man has been found not guilty of homicide by vehicle due to reckless driving in the death of a man who he hit with his vehicle and dragged under his car. A judge on Tuesday did find Mark Blackwood guilty of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. Investigators said Blackwood hit 60-year-old Eric Johnson, of Rock Island, on Jan. 18. Johnson was dragged about 2,050 feet after the crash. District Court Judge Mark Fowler found that prosecutors proved Blackwood knew he hit Johnson, but did not prove Blackwood knew Johnson was under the car when he kept driving.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids teenager accused of killing his parents will undergo psychiatric exams before legal proceedings against him continue. Court documents filed Monday say District Court Judge Ian Thornhill ordered a competency evaluation for 17-year-old Ethan Alexander Orton. Thornhill said Orton’s defense team submitted enough information to support their belief that Orton has a mental illness. Orton is charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbings of his parents, 41-year-old Misty Scott Slade, and 42-year-old Casey Orton, at their home on Oct. 14. He has pleaded not guilty.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa farmland value jumped 29% this year to an average statewide value of $9,751 per acre, the highest such value recorded by Iowa State University since it began its survey in 1941. The last time farmland values increased more than 25% in a year was in 2011, when values rose 32.5% due to surging ethanol demand and high commodity prices. Associate Professor of Economics Wendong Zhang says the increase this year is in part due to much stronger commodity prices thanks to higher exports, stronger than expected crop yields and COVID-19 related government payments. The average statewide value of an acre of farmland rose by $2,193 an acre since last year.
