From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say seven people are dead after a tornado swept through central Iowa, damaging homes, knocking down trees and toppling power lines. Emergency management officials in Madison County said six people were killed when the tornado touched down Saturday in an area southwest of Des Moines near the town of Winterset. Among those killed were two children under the age of 5. Officials also confirmed one death in Lucas County, about 54 miles southeast of Des Moines. Thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes moved through much of Iowa for hours with storms also causing damage in the Des Moines suburb of Norwalk, areas just east of Des Moines and in other parts of eastern Iowa.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A northwest Iowa man facing four federal charges related to entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack has pleaded not guilty. Kenneth Rader of Sioux City appeared in a video hearing on Friday before Judge Royce Lamberth to face charges he knowingly entering a restricted building, two counts of disorderly and disruptive conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building. The 53-year-old Rader remains free on bond and has another hearing scheduled for May 10. He was arrested on Jan. 20 in Sioux City after an Omaha, Nebraska, FBI agent said the agency received a tip from a relative that Rader was involved in the breach of the Capitol.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley has filed nomination papers with the Iowa secretary of state’s office, officially beginning the process of seeking an eighth term representing Iowa. The 88-year-old Grassley announced in September he intended to run for another six-year term. If completed he will be 94. Grassley, who has held the seat for 41 years, is the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator. His campaign office says in an email that he delivered nearly 10,000 signatures from voters from all of Iowa’s 99 counties on Friday to qualify him to appear on the Republican ballot for the June 7 primary. Another Republican and at least four Democrats also are running for the seat.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A stranger who walked into a Des Moines hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and bottle fed a baby has been found guilty of misdemeanor trespassing and ordered to pay more than $700. Television station KCCI reports that 36-year-old Adam Wedig was found guilty Thursday by a magistrate judge and incurred $736 in fines, charges and court costs. Police say Wedig entered the NICU at MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center and fed and changed the baby in December, but had no relationship to the baby or his parents. The child was not injured. The child’s parents are suing the hospital, accusing MercyOne of not having adequate security for the unit. The hospital has declined to comment on the lawsuit.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of killing a Cedar Falls man inside a downtown apartment in 2019. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that jurors on Friday found 20-year-old Keyon Roby guilty of first-degree murder in the Dec. 4, 2019, shooting death of 24-year-old Grant Saul. The jury deliberated for a day-and-a-half following a week of testimony. The punishment for first-degree murder in Iowa is a mandatory life sentence. Roby also was found guilty of robbery. Formal sentencing will be at a later date.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Homicide detectives in Des Moines are investigating after police found a man fatally shot in a residential neighborhood. Police say in a news release that officers were called Thursday night to a neighborhood several blocks northeast of the Iowa State Capitol, where they found a 34-year-old man with a gunshot wound. Paramedics rushed the man to a hospital, where he died of his injuries. Police later identified him as Blake Alcott Myers, of Des Moines. Homicide detectives were interviewing witnesses and gathering forensic evidence in the shooting. The death was the city’s third homicide for 2022.
