From the Associated Press (11:30 a.m.):
YARMOUTH, Iowa (AP) – Crews continue to search for a man missing beneath piles of grain and debris from a collapsed grain silo in southeastern Iowa. The collapse happened just before 8 a.m. Tuesday at a grain elevator at Yarmouth. Mediapolis Fire Department Deputy Chief Jeff Kerr told the Hawk Eye that two men had just unloaded a semitrailer full of grain when they heard a loud bang and began running from the facility as the silo partially collapsed. Kerr says one of the men looked back and saw the other man was no longer with him. A Des Moines County sheriff’s dispatcher who answered the phone Wednesday morning said the man was still missing.
RANDALIA, Iowa (AP) – A northeast Iowa farmer has pleaded not guilty to livestock neglect after 3,000 hogs died on his property. Derek David Smith filed the written plea Monday in Fayette County District Court. Court records say the 41-year-old Smith was hired by Valley Farms to care for the hogs on his property near Randalia. On June 2, authorities found more than 3,000 feeder hogs dead at his confinement operation. Court records say the animals died from lack of feed and another 200 hogs had to be euthanized for heath reasons. The charge is a serious misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,560 fine.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa deer hunters will be allowed to use semi-automatic weapons including AR-15 rifles to kill deer in more parts of the state during a newly created antlerless season in January under a bill signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds. Iowa lawmakers passed the bill in May and it was signed by Reynolds on Friday. Advocates say the new law will help control the deer population and respond to complaints that excess deer eat corn and are hazardous to motorists. Iowa has had January deer hunting seasons in the past but they were limited to a few counties where the deer population was more of a problem. The bill is expected to expand the January hunt counties from five to as many as 15, depending on rules from the Department of Natural Resources.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Students at Iowa’s three public universities may be paying more for tuition starting in the fall. The Des Moines Register reports that proposed tuition rates were presented at a virtual meeting of Iowa’s Board of Regents on Monday. The proposal includes a 4.25% increase for resident undergraduate tuition at all three schools. A final vote by regents is expected next month. The meeting included comments from student government leaders at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. They called on the state Legislature to increase funding for their schools in order to defray tuition rates that have been steadily rising.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – A Mason City man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a February shooting that killed one man and left another with disabling injuries. Online court records show 24-year-old Daniel Martez Judon IV was sentenced after pleading guilty Friday to a count of intimidation with a weapon. Judon is one of two people charged in the Feb. 6 shooting in Cedar Falls that killed 19-year-old Arthur Craig Lang III, of Clear Lake, and left another man with a partially severed spine. Police have said Judon was in a vehicle with others when they began arguing with a group of pedestrians, and the two groups began shooting at each other. Police say Judon among those who fired a gun.
Inflation is taking a toll on infrastructure projects across the U.S. Rising prices for materials such as asphalt, steel and iron pipes are driving up the costs to build roads, bridges, rail lines and water mains. The prices for some infrastructure materials have risen even faster than general consumer prices. State and local officials say inflation is diminishing the value of a $1 trillion federal infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden just seven months ago. Some officials say inflation has forced them to delay or scale back the scope of projects.
