From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new Congressional report says that at the height of the pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to stave off health restrictions and keep slaughterhouses open even as COVID-19 spread rapidly among workers. The report issued Thursday says meat companies pushed to keep their plants open even though they knew workers were at high risk. The lobbying led to health and labor officials watering down recommendations for the industry and culminated in an executive order from President Donald Trump designating meat plants as critical infrastructure that needed to remain open. The North American Meat Institute trade group says the report distorts the truth and ignores steps companies took to protect workers.
FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) – A 17-year-old Iowa boy accused of helping a classmate kill their high school Spanish teacher last year will be tried as an adult after a judge denied his request to move his case to juvenile court. District Judge Shawn Showers ruled Wednesday that Jeremy Goodale will face a first-degree murder trial in adult court for the beating death of 66-year-old Nohema Graber, who taught at Fairfield High School. Showers said the juvenile court system would not have enough time to rehabilitate Goodale “for a crime of such magnitude.” Goodale and Willard Miller were both 16 when they were arrested in Graber’s killing. Graber’s body was found Nov. 3 in a Fairfield city park, and police say she had been beaten to death with a baseball bat.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A Cedar Rapids man has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge for the shooting death of another teen during a botched robbery. Court records show that 20-year-old Kyler Carson pleaded guilty Tuesday to assault and other counts and was sentenced to three years’ probation. He also must pay $150,000 in restitution to the family of 18-year-old Andrew Gaston. Prosecutors say Carson was 16 when he fatally shot Gaston and injured Gaston’s cousin, Tyrell Gaston, when the Gastons ambushed Carson during a drug deal in an effort to rob Carson of marijuana.
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) – Prosecutors say a man accused of killing an Iowa state patrol trooper had plenty of opportunity to surrender before the fatal shooting. Assistant Iowa Attorney General Douglas Hammerand made the remarks Tuesday during opening statements in the first-degree murder trial of 42-year-old Michael Thomas Lang. The Waterloo-Cedar Rapids Courier reports that Lang’s attorney, Aaron Hawbaker, told jurors the trooper’s death was tragic but did not amount to murder. Lang is accused in the April 2021 killing of Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, who was shot as he led a tactical team to arrest Lang in his home. Lang was wanted for assaulting a police officer after a traffic pursuit earlier that day.
PERRY, Iowa (AP) – The police chief of the central Iowa city of Perry was shot in the leg while trying to apprehend a man with a gun. Police Chief Eric Vaughn was shot in the upper leg after he and officers from several agencies responded to a call of shots fired and then found a man with a handgun. Police say officers negotiated with the man, identified as Jeremiah Messner, and convinced him to place the gun on the ground. When officers tried to take Messner into custody, police say he regained possession of the gun. During a struggle with officers, police say Messner shot Vaughn. Vaughn was flown to a Des Moines hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Details are emerging about a Wisconsin congressional candidate who was found with a loaded gun in his carry-on bag at an Iowa airport last year. Republican Derrick Van Orden, who is seeking the seat being vacated by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, Van Orden was cited in August for having a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer handgun in his bag at the security screening checkpoint at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, airport. Van Orden entered a guilty plea in December. A magistrate ordered him to pay $360 and show he had taken a firearms safety course. The Journal Sentinel reports that he was also fined an undisclosed amount by the Transportation Security Administration. Van Orden’s campaign says he brought the gun to the airport checkpoint by mistake.
