From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in December. Iowa Workforce Development reported Tuesday that the rate was down from November’s 3.7% rate and reflected that 5,200 more people found jobs. The percentage of Iowans in the labor force also increased slightly. Iowa’s rate was ranked 20th nationally. Nebraska continued to have the nation’s lowest rate at 1.7%. The national unemployment rate for December was 3.9%.
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) – A 48-year-old Marshalltown man has been charged in the stabbing death of another man earlier this month. Marshalltown Police and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said Monday that Kalalizi Jean Baptiste Madogo was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Yannick Mangubu on Jan. 2. Madogo is being held pending an initial court appearance.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A Waterloo man has been convicted of killing his wife and burning her body in 2018. Jurors convicted 31-year-old Fredrick Williams after deliberating only a few hours on Monday. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of Lakisha Owens, who was found buried behind a cemetery in January 2018. Black Hawk County Attorney Brian Williams said Owens had been abused by her husband before she disappeared, and he did not report her missing. Fredrick Williams, who did not testify at the trial, told police he hadn’t seen Owens since she kicked him out of their apartment.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa House Republicans are proposing eliminating retirement income taxes in a move that would cost the state about $2 billion in revenue over the first six years. Rep. Gary Mohr, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, says Monday that the proposal is part of efforts to encourage retirees to remain in Iowa rather than move to other states such as Florida and Texas, which don’t tax income. State revenue experts estimated eliminating retiree benefits from income tax would cost the state about $2 billion in the first six years. Mohr said Iowa “could afford that right now.” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has a similar proposal.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is asking its shareholders to help it fight off a hostile takeover offer from “vulture hedge fund” Alden Global Capital. The publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Buffalo News and dozens of other newspapers, including nearly every daily newspaper in Nebraska, sent a letter to shareholders Monday asking them to support its board nominees in the dispute with Alden. Lee, which is based in Davenport, Iowa, already rejected Alden’s $24 per share offer because it said the $141 million bid grossly undervalues Lee, but the two sides are locked in a court battle over whether Alden will be able to nominate its own directors.
RIVERSIDE, Iowa (AP) – Officials in southeastern Iowa have identified two people killed in a house fire earlier this month. Washington County officials said in a news release Monday that 79-year-old John Henry Downer and 53-year-old Noel Edmond Downer both died in the Jan. 8 fire in Riverside. Firefighters who responded to reports of the fire found the bodies inside the home, where the Downers lived. Riverside is a community of 1,100 people about 13 miles south of Iowa City.
