From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa City police are investigating after officers found a 20-year-old man with a gunshot wound after a traffic crash. Police said they were called to a crash Sunday evening on Highway 6. A car had left the road and run into a median near an intersection. The man is in critical condition after being taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. No further information has been released.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A 40-year-old Sioux City man has been convicted of two counts of attempted murder after he ran over another man on a motorcycle. A Monona County jury found Jayme Powell guilty of attempted murder and other charges Friday. Authorities arrested Powell on Dec. 27 after he fired shots at a vehicle and then ran over Richard Polack, who was on a motorcycle, on southbound Interstate 29 near Whiting, Iowa. Prosecutors said Powell fled the scene and later stole two pickup trucks before he was arrested in Sioux City. Police said Powell and Polack, of Sioux City, had been in a fight before the confrontation on the interstate.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An agency will release a second attempt at redrawing Iowa’s congressional and legislative district lines this week. The response from Republicans could make clear whether they intend to stick with the state’s nonpartisan process or opt for a more partisan approach that favors GOP candidates. The once-a-decade process allows that if legislators reject two maps drawn by the Legislative Services Agency, lawmakers can create any map they want as long as it abides by a host of rules. Republicans hold majorities in both legislative chambers as well as the governorship, so the GOP would have complete control of that process. Republican leaders have declined to say they won’t amend the third set.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Farmers and Deere & Co. suppliers are worried about what the strike at the tractor maker’s factories will mean for their livelihoods. More than 10,000 Deere employees went on strike last week at 14 Deere factories in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and Georgia after the United Auto Workers union rejected a contract offer. The longer the strike continues, the greater the impact will be on the communities around the plants. Iowa farmer Lance Lillibridge, who is president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association board, said he worries about not being able to get parts if his John Deere combine breaks down during harvest.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Frustrated with persistently low prices, ranchers and others in the beef industry are moving to reverse a long trend of consolidation and planning to open new slaughterhouses. The new plants typically cost more than $300 million, but they still will be much smaller than those owned by the four meat company giants that slaughter over 80% of the nation’s cattle. That has led to some skepticism about whether the new independent plants can succeed. David Briggs is the CEO of a proposed plant in western Iowa. He says acknowledges the tough odds but says cattle people are risk takers.
MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed that remains found in September are those of a boy who disappeared in May. The Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office announced on its Facebook page Friday night the remains were those of Xavior Harrelson, of Montezuma. The sheriff said the boy’s cause of death would not be immediately released. Mitch Mortvedt, with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, said Xavior’s death was being investigated as suspicious. Xavior went missing from a rural Iowa trailer park days before his 11th birthday. The remains were discovered in September by a farmer working in a field near where Xavior lived.
