From the Associated Press:
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is facing renewed pressure from a hedge fund to speed up its transition to digital publishing and consider adding new digital-savvy leaders to its board. This after successfully fighting off a hostile takeover from a different hedge fund. Lee’s largest shareholder, Cannell Capital, this week disclosed buying nearly 20,000 more of the company’s shares, giving it a 9.1% stake. The fund’s head, Carlo Cannell, said he thinks Lee needs new board members and executives with experience running a digital publishing business.
DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — The new owners of the “Field of Dreams” site in Iowa plan to use $80 million in private investment to make the popular tourist attraction a destination for youth baseball and softball tournaments. The Des Moines Register reports that Go the Distance said in a news release Thursday that the money will be used to build baseball and softball fields, team dormitories and a hotel, among other improvements. Go the Distance’s CEO is longtime Chicago White Sox star and hall-of-famer Frank Thomas. The site in rural Dyersville, Iowa, has long been a popular destination, since the 1989 Kevin Costner movie.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A lawyer for former Democratic Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer has told the Iowa Supreme Court that a lower court judge was wrong to kick her off the June 7 primary ballot for U.S. Senate and the high court should allow her to run in June’s primary for the chance to try to unseat Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. A panel of state officials concluded that signatures with missing or incorrect dates on Finkenauer’s nomination petitions still substantially complied with state law. But the lower court judge said a literal interpretation of the law required the signatures to be disqualified. The high court heard arguments Wednesday and must rule before Monday, when ballots must go to printers in order to be mailed on time to Iowans abroad.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Court records indicate that a suspect charged in a deadly Iowa nightclub shooting is the father of one homicide victim’s child and once worked at the nightclub. Police arrested 32-year-old Timothy Rush on Monday, and he was charged with second-degree murder and other counts in the shooting death of 35-year-old Nicole Owens and the wounding of another man early Sunday at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge in Cedar Rapids. Police have said Rush was one of two people who fired shots in the crowded club, killing Owens and 25-year-old Michael Valentine and injuring 10 others. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports Linn County birth records show Rush and Owens are the parents of a girl born in early 2021.
GILMORE CITY, Iowa (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado hit near Gilmore City in north-central Iowa as a strong line of storms moved across the state Tuesday night into Wednesday. Weather service meteorologist Rod Donavon in Des Moines said Wednesday that the tornado was confirmed by a trained spotter southwest of the small town of Gilmore City and tracked several miles to the northeast. Donavon says up to 10 tornadoes were reported across mostly the northern half of the state as the storms moved through, but only ones near Logan in western Iowa and near Stacyville and St. Ansgar in northeastern Iowa have been confirmed. There have been no reports of serious injuries with the storms.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two cases of bird flu have been confirmed in U.S. zoos, but officials said they won’t order widespread euthanasia of zoo birds the way they have on farms. Agriculture Department spokesman Mike Stepien declined to release any details about the zoo cases Thursday. Many zoos across the country have closed down their aviaries and moved birds inside whenever possible to help protect them from bird flu that officials believe is primarily being spread by the droppings of wild birds. Nearly 27 million chickens and turkeys have been slaughtered in 26 states to limit the spread of bird flu during this year’s outbreak. Officials order entire flocks to be killed when the disease is found on farms.
