RIVERSIDE, Iowa (AP) — Firefighters who responded to a house fire in the eastern Iowa city of Riverside found the bodies of two people inside. The fire was reported just before 1 a.m. Saturday at a home in Riverside. The Washington County Communications Center says that when firefighters arrived they found smoke and flames coming from the structure. Firefighters recovered two bodies, which were taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny. Riverside is a community of 1,100 people about 13 miles south of Iowa City.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 46-year-old Iowa City man was sentenced to life in prison in the shooting death of a man during a drug robbery. Before he was sentenced Friday, Reginald Little told the family of the victim, 21-year-old Kejuan Winters, that he was not guilty of killing their son. Winters was killed in April 2020 when Little and others attempted to rob him of drugs and money. Prosecutors said the men hadn’t plan to kill Winters but he was fatally wounded when a struggle broke out at Winters’ apartment. Winters’ two children and girlfriend were in the house when he was shot.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An 18-year-old man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison, with parole possible after 15 years, after shots were fired into a New Year’s Eve party in Sioux City. The shooting killed 18-year-old Mia Kritis and wounded three others at the party. Carlos Morales, of Sioux City, pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder and three counts of reckless use of a firearm. Prosecutors said Morales and two other people fired at least 27 shots into a house where dozens of people were attending the party. The other two defendants pleaded guilty earlier and must serve 35 years before being eligible for parole.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The state of Iowa is suing Sioux City over what it says was the city’s manipulation of wastewater testing results and dangerous pollution of the Missouri River in a scheme that saw the wastewater plant’s former supervisor sentenced to jail last year. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office said Friday in a news release that the lawsuit seeks to stop the city’s wastewater plant from violating permit limits for ammonia and chlorine. It also asks the court to assess a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each day of violation. The lawsuit says that from 2012 to 2015, the plant increased chlorine levels on days it tested for E. coli to disinfect wastewater dumped into the river, then lower the chlorine levels on other days.
WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Firefighters have found one person dead inside a burning mobile home near the southwestern Iowa city of West Burlington. The Hawk Eye reports that fire crews were called to the home in Flint River Township early Thursday morning and found it engulfed in flames. Firefighters worked to knock down the flames and found the body during a search of the home. Officials say the Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny will conduct an autopsy to identify the person and establish a cause of death. No other injuries were reported from the fire.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Republican representative says she is running for state auditor, accusing the Democratic incumbent of conducting “political witch hunts” that don’t help taxpayers. Mary Ann Hanusa, who represented Council Bluffs from 2011 to 2021, says she would seek the GOP nomination to run against Democrat Rob Sand. Hanusa, who has been endorsed by Gov. Kim Reynolds and other top Republicans, accuses Sand of using the office to launch baseless investigations based on partisan politics. Sand has conducted audits that criticized Reynolds for misusing federal funds over the past two years. He announced plans to run for a second term in December. Sand defeated incumbent Republican auditor, Mary Mosiman, in his first run for statewide office in 2018.
