From the Associated Press:
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former manager for an influential Iowa-based pork dealer has died in a crash, days after federal prosecutors charged him in a scheme to swindle hog farmers through fraudulent buying practices. The Iowa State Patrol says 70-year-old Steven Demaray, the former regional buying manager for Lynch Livestock, was driving a truck that crashed head-on Monday morning into a concrete overpass support pier on Highway 63 near New Hampton, where he lived. Demaray, who was known by his nickname “Shooter,” was the only person in the vehicle and died at a hospital. An accident report released Tuesday gave no indication why his truck left the road. A federal grand jury on Nov. 4 indicted Demaray and a former Lynch Livestock bookkeeper on two counts of mail fraud. Demaray had pleaded not guilty.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A man has been shot and killed by police in Waterloo after officers say he rammed a patrol car. Television station KCRG reports that the shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday on a city street after a short vehicle chase. Police say the chase began when a driver was spotted driving recklessly and tried to hit an officer’s patrol car. The chase ensued, and several other officers converged to stop the man’s car. Police say that the driver refused to get out of the car and instead rammed a patrol car. Police say an officer then fatally shot the driver. Police have not released the man’s name, but say he was 42 years old.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Pleasantville police officer has been charged with several counts in a child sex abuse case. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said Tuesday in a news release that 30-year-old Alec Veatch was arrested Monday at his Norwalk home. Veatch has been charged with one count each of third-degree sexual abuse, lascivious acts with a minor and enticing a minor. Investigators say Veatch is accused of having sexual contact with a 15-year-old. Veatch was booked into the Jasper County Jail and later released on bond. No attorney was listed for Veatch in online court records, and a publicly-listed phone number for Veatch could not be found Tuesday.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Treasury from enforcing a provision of the American Rescue Plan that prohibited states from using the pandemic relief funds to offset new tax cuts. U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler ruled Monday that Congress’s exceeded its power under the Constitution in putting the so-called tax mandate on states. Thirteen states had filed a lawsuit in federal court in Alabama challenging the provision of the pandemic relief package. The American Rescue Plan steered $200 billion in relief funds to states but specified that states could not use it as a means to cut taxes and then use the federal relief dollars to offset the revenue reduction.
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Mason City schools will drop the mascot “Mohawks” in favor of a brand that doesn’t exploit Native American tribal symbols and imagery. The Mason City Board of Education voted Monday to retire the “Mohawk” name and mascot and begin the search for a new mascot in January. Officials plan to have a new mascot and name selected by July 1. The move comes after the Meskwaki Nation in Iowa and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council of Akwesasne, New York, objected to the Native-themed mascot. Calls for such changes have grown more insistent across the country in recent years.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new state audit report on government spending accuses Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds of using nearly $450,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds to pay salaries for 21 members of her staff for three months last year and concealing the spending by passing it through the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. State Auditor Rob Sand says a review of the state’s payroll system shows the money was used to pay the governor’s office staff, but it’s unclear why she had to take federal money to pay the salaries and why the funds weren’t initially in her budget. Reynolds’ office responded Monday by saying she is working to provide federal officials the documentation needed to approve the funds.
