From the Associated Press:
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Three people who were attending a monster truck rally in Waterloo were taken to a hospital Saturday night with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Waterloo Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Ben Petersen told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that truck exhaust was assumed to be the source of the carbon monoxide that sickened the spectators. The three people became ill around 9 p.m. Saturday when the crowd was filing out of the National Cattle Congress complex at the end of the event. The monster truck rally featured several top trucks including Bounty Hunter, Scarlet Bandit, Rat Attack and Hot Tamale.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The nation’s egg producers are in the midst of a multibillion-dollar shift to cage-free eggs that is dramatically changing the lives of millions of hens in response to new laws and demands from restaurant chains. In a decade, the percentage of hens in cage-free housing has soared from 4% in 2010 to 28% in 2020, and that figure is expected to more than double to about 70% in the next four years. The change marks one of the animal welfare movement’s biggest successes after years of battles with the food industry. The transition has cost billions of dollars for producers who initially resisted calls for more humane treatment of chickens but have since fully embraced the new reality.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque officials say 58 jobs will be lost when Iowa’s last greyhound racing park closes in May. The Iowa park will have a last season from April 16 to May 15, with 10 races each day. The park is one of four greyhound racing facilities still operating in the country, with another one in Arkansas also scheduled to close by the end of the year. In 2018, Florida residents approved a constitutional amendment to eliminate greyhound racing at the end of the 2020 season. That was a blow to the Dubuque facility, which shared many dogs with Florida venues.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says some misdemeanor trials can be held without the defendant present in cases where the person on trial is intentionally trying to delay justice. The court upheld the conviction of a Le Mars man who was charged with driving while intoxicated in 2017. Randall Hurlbut’s trial was delayed three times and he didn’t show up for his trial in February 2020, saying he couldn’t get a ride. The judge proceeded without him and he was convicted. He appealed, saying his constitutional right to face his accuser was violated. The state Supreme Court concluded in such cases that defendants cannot try to delay justice by not showing up for trial.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s top court official says masks will no longer be required in Iowa courtrooms as a statewide policy beginning next week. Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen says effective Monday, the courts will end the mandatory mask protocol. However judges will be allowed to use discretion to require face coverings by participants if necessary. The step follows Gov. Kim Reynolds’ announcement last week she would end the coronavirus public health emergency in Iowa, a move that will limit the release of state public health data.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa court judge has ordered the state to pay a labor union representing state workers nearly $2 million in a five-year legal dispute centered on whether the state could continue to deduct union dues from state worker paychecks after a state law change in 2017. Judge Paul Scott in a decision posted Monday said the state knew its failure to deduct union dues from worker paychecks would hurt the UE Local 893-Iowa United Professionals union financially. The legal dispute dates back to 2017, when the Iowa Legislature changed state collective bargaining laws but the courts have found the state still had to honor the 2017-2019 contract ratified days before the law changed.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City police say a man is in custody after a standoff began when officers realized he had a gun inside a police car. The standoff occurred Thursday at Heelan High School. U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra was touring the school at the time. Police Chief Rex Mueller says officers stopped a suspect in an armed robbery near the school and placed him in the police car. Officers found he had a micro-compact handgun. After about an hour of negotiations, police fired a chemical agent into the car and the man, 36-year-old Emanual Pleitez, surrendered. He was taken to a Sioux City hospital.
