From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police in Des Moines say a double shooting has left a man dead and a woman in the hospital. Police say the shooting happened just after 10 p.m. Sunday, when police and paramedics were called to a shooting several blocks west of Crocker Woods Park. Arriving first responder found a 46-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man with gunshot wounds and began administering first aid. Both victims were taken to hospitals, where the man died early Monday morning. Police say the woman remained hospitalized Monday in serious condition. Their names have not been released. Police also have not released any information on potential suspects in the shooting and have not announced any arrests.
STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) – A 32-year rivalry between two Storm Lake newspapers has ended after the Storm Lake Times Company recently purchased the Pilot-Tribune from Hallmark II Publishing of Charles City. The Sioux City Journal reports the terms of the sale, announced Friday, were not disclosed. But it will mean the Times and Pilot-Tribune will be merged into a single, twice-a-week publication called The Storm Lake Times Pilot. Art Cullen – who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2017 – will be editor and publisher. His brother, John, will be the president. The newspaper will be published on Wednesdays and Fridays, delivered by mail.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa agriculture officials announced Sunday that another 15,0000 chickens and 37,000 turkeys will have to be killed after bird flu spread to two more commercial flocks. Since the outbreak began a month ago, millions of fowl have been killed, many of them in Iowa, which is the nation’s leading egg producer. The latest cases were at a commercial turkey flock in Sac County and in a flock of commercial breeding chickens in Humboldt County. Because the virus is so infectious and deadly for commercial poultry, entire flocks are destroyed and composted on the farms when they are infected.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld much of a 2019 jury verdict that found the state discriminated against a transgender prison employee by denying him the use of men’s restrooms and locker rooms. However, the court dismissed a portion of the case that centered on sex discrimination. The decision means Jesse Vroegh has won his discrimination lawsuit based on gender identity and the jury’s $120,000 damages verdict awarded for emotional distress. Vroegh is a former nurse at the state’s Mitchellville prison for women. The decision in which the full court recognized gender identity discrimination for transgender workers under state civil rights law is a significant LGBTQ victory.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa man who initially called 911 to report that a woman had suffered a “heroin overdose” has been charged with first-degree murder after officers found a blood-spattered board at the scene. The Gazette reports that 62-year-old Arthur Flowers, of Cedar Rapids, was booked into the Linn County Jail on Sunday morning in the death of Emily Elizabeth Leonard. Officers found her dead in a bathroom with “obvious head injuries” after Flowers called 911 around 6 p.m. Saturday. Investigators suspect she was struck with the bloodied board that also was found in the bathroom, according to a Linn County criminal complaint.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Iowa man has been charged in the death of a woman who tumbled off the balcony of a third-floor apartment in February. West Des Moines police said in a news release that 27-year-old Nathen Cameron was charged Friday with first-degree murder and domestic assault with strangulation, The release said police discovered through their investigation that the death of 23-year-old Trisha Kunze was “not an accident, but rather an intentional act.” Cameron has been taken Dallas County Jail, where he also faces charges of willful injury, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and a drug stamp tax violation.
