From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A check of Iowa’s online court system shows a unique name for the prosecutor in hundreds of cases: The Easter Bunny. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that on April 4, online docket sheets for hundreds of Polk County cases were revised to indicate the prosecution had been transferred from an assistant county attorney to “Easter Santa Bunny.” An assistant county attorney says the situation stems from a recent realignment of cases within the county attorney’s office. Some cases were “transferred” to the Easter Bunny until all the work on the digital case transfer could be finished. Lucas says it appears that the Judicial Branch and the IT department decided to use the fake placeholder name.
INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) – A Des Moines man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the 2018 shooting death of a Cambridge woman. The Des Moines Register reports that 22-year-old Jaquarious Scoggins was sentenced last week after pleading guilty in January to second-degree murder for the death of 25-year-old Mercedes Wathen. Scoggins must serve a minimum of 35 years before he’s eligible for parole. Scoggins was originally charged with first-degree murder in Wathen’s death. Police have said officers and medics called to a home just south of Des Moines on April 2, 2018, found Wathen’s body. She had been shot in the head.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Former President Donald Trump’s persistent flirtation with another White House run is doing little to discourage other potential Republican candidates from stepping up their activity in Iowa, the state that will formally launch the nomination process. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quietly finished his fifth trip to Iowa last week, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is planning a statewide trip this summer. Former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to visit western Iowa this weekend. Pence’s trip is particularly notable since he spent the better part of four years in lockstep with Trump. It provides further evidence that Pence is considering his political future without regard to Trump’s plans.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is launching a $6 billion effort to rescue nuclear power plants at risk of closing, citing the need to continue nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power that helps to combat climate change. A certification and bidding process opened Tuesday for a civil nuclear credit program that is intended to bail out financially distressed owners or operators of nuclear power reactors. It’s the largest federal investment in saving financially distressed nuclear reactors, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The first round of awards will prioritize reactors that have already announced plans to close. A dozen U.S. reactors closed in the past decade before their licenses expired.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The new owners of an Iowa amusement park say a water ride where a boy died last year will not reopen this summer. Bill Lentz, general manager of Adventureland in Altoona, said the park officials are still discussing whether the Raging River ride will ever reopen. Eleven-year-old Michael Jaramillo died and his brother and father were injured after their raft capsized, trapping them in the water. Plentz said the new park owner, Palace Entertainment, has hired the ride’s original maker, Intamin Amusement Rides, to exam what steps would be needed to make the ride safe. That review could take several months.
