BEDFORD, Iowa (AP) — A Missouri resident is hospitalized in intensive care after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that likely happened after swimming in a southeastern Iowa lake. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services has shut down the beach at Lake of Three Fires State Park in Taylor County after the person was diagnosed with an illness caused by the naegleria fowleri ameba. People are infected when water containing the ameba enters the body through the nose, usually while victims are swimming or diving in lakes and rivers. The CDC says the fatality rate is over 97%. It is believed to be the first case discovered in Iowa. Neighboring states Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas have all reported infections, which have primarily occurred in southern-tier states.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa athletic director Gary Barta says the Big Ten has received inquiries from schools interested in becoming members in the week since the additions of Southern California and UCLA were announced. He said he doubts the conference will expand further in the near future. The Big Ten voted to bring in USC and UCLA in 2024, making it a 16-team conference. Barta says conference leaders discussed Notre Dame last year after Texas and Oklahoma announced they would join the SEC by 2025. Barta said if Notre Dame applied to the Big Ten, he probably would be supportive.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa police officers are taking the unusual move of suing six people who participated in a 2020 protest in Des Moines after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. The lawsuit accuses them of assault and seeks monetary damages. All six people were arrested during the July 1, 2020, protest. Five pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of assault on a police officer and/or interference with official acts. Among them is Indira Sheumaker, who was later elected to the Des Moines City Council. The lawsuit, first reported by Axios Des Moines, was filed by Peter Wilson and Jeffrey George as individuals and not as representatives of the Des Moines Police Department. Experts say it will likely be met with skepticism by the court.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The nation’s largest food distributor has joined the other businesses accusing the four largest meat processors of working together to inflate beef prices. Sysco recently filed a federal lawsuit in Texas accusing Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill and National Beef of price fixing. The lawsuit said those companies have conspired to suppress the number of cattle slaughtered to help drive up the price of beef. The allegations are similar to ones in lawsuits filed by grocery stores, ranchers, restaurants and other wholesalers. The companies didn’t immediately respond to questions about the new lawsuit Thursday, but they have defended their actions in the other cases. The industry maintains that supply and demand drive beef prices, not anticompetitive behavior.
