Iowa’s unemployment rate in November dropped slightly to 3.6% from October, according to Iowa Workforce Development…the national rate was nearly double that, at 6.7 percent. One year ago, Iowa’s unemployment rate sat at 2.8%, before the pandemic. In November, 57,900 Iowans were unemployed, down from 59,900 in October. This estimate is 130,100 lower than the COVID-19 peak in April.
Authorities say a 43-year-old man died in an apartment fire in Fairfax. The fire was reported just after 10 p.m. Friday at a six-apartment building in the 300 block of Vanderbilt Street. Smoke and fire was coming from the apartment building when Linn County deputies and fire crews arrived. Ronald Weston was found in an upstairs unit and pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the fire has not been determined. The State Fire Marshal’s Office is assisting in the investigation.
Cedar Rapids Police are investigating a shots-fired incident on the Southwest side early Saturday morning. Authorities say police were called to Jim’s Food in the 800 block of 6th Street SW around 2 a.m. early Saturday. They say a building at the location was struck by a bullet, which resulted in property damage. No arrests have been made, and police continue to investigate.
Split decisions on the road for the Waterloo Black Hawks over the weekend…they fell at Omaha Friday 5-2, but rebounded to defeat Sioux Falls Saturday by the same 5-2 score. Waterloo is idle until Saturday, the 26th, when they travel to face the Sioux City Musketeers.
An outside audit found that a Des Moines library employee who died in April improperly charged more than $28,000 to a library credit card. The auditors the city hired found that Bekki Kirkland made 159 fraudulent transactions between 2016 and 2020. Roughly one-third of the improper purchases the former office manager made were to purchase prepaid VISA gift cards. Library staff discovered several suspicious purchases on a credit card Kirkland was authorized to use shortly after her death. Library Director Sue Woody said in a statement that additional procedures have been put in place to protect library funds in the future.
Fourth District Congressman-elect Randy Feenstra said he is not ready to commit to Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election. On the Iowa PBS program “Iowa Press”, Feenstra said he signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking for an investigation into the election results. He says the pending litigation concerning the election should be completed. Feenstra is a Republican who was elected to represent Iowa’s fourth district in the November election, succeeding Rep. Steve King. Feenstra will be sworn in on Jan 3, 2021.
Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators are calling on the Department of Justice to release information about the investigation into the Glenwood Resource Center. A report from December of last year showed the Glenwood Resource Center was performing a series of human experiments on its patients including “sexual arousal studies” and “optimal hydration.” In the eight weeks leading up to the 2019 report, there were three deaths at Glenwood Resource Center, and the superintendent was fired following the investigation. The GRC has a troubled past including several employees quitting in 2016 due to abuse allegations and five Department of Human Services workers being convicted of mistreating residents in 2018. Earlier this month, lawsuits from former employees claim that the Iowa Attorney General’s office approved the human experiments. Senators Joni Ernst and Charles Grassley wrote a joint letter to the DOJ last week requesting a timeline of the investigation into GRC and Woodward Resource Center.
The Cedar Falls Board of Education is expected to approve bids for a new high school during a special meeting today at noon. The 305,000-square-foot school will be located on nearly 70 acres of land north of West 27th Street and west of PE Center Drive. The total project budget is set at $112.8 million. Construction is expected to get underway next spring and be finished ahead of classes starting in the fall of 2024. The building will replace the current Cedar Falls Community Schools’ facility at 1015 Division St.
Authorities have identified the victim of a fatal hit and run in Pisgah. Law enforcement reported to Dave’s Old Home Cafe in Pisgah at 10 p.m. Thursday, where 30-year-old Caleb Solberg of Moorhead was found dead. Witnesses identified all parties involved in the hit and run, authorities said. Police charged 28-year-old Kristopher Erlbacher of Woodbine with first-degree murder; he’s being held without bond. A disagreement between the two men apparently led to the hit and run.
A Des Moines man has been sentenced to life in prison for beating his mother to death with a crowbar and then remaining with her body for five days before contacting authorities. 33-year-old Christopher Thompson was sentenced Friday for first-degree murder in connection with the March death of Paula Thompson. Court documents show she had been trying to get her son to move out of her home and had confided to friends and on social media that she was frightened of him. Thompson has already asked the court to set aside his guilty verdict.
A Des Moines man is charged with vehicular homicide after a crash killed a woman and injured her husband. Des Moines police say witnesses told them 67-year-old Bertoldo Zuniga was driving erratically and speeding before the crash Thursday involving four vehicles. A woman in one vehicle, 71-year-old Linda Vander Hart, died of her injuries and her husband was seriously hurt. Investigators say Zuniga was driving drunk when he didn’t slow down and hit three vehicles at a light. Zuniga is facing four charges, including vehicular homicide by OWI, and several traffic violations.
