Milford Woman Faces Vehicular Homicide
SIBLEY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have charged a driver whose sport utility vehicle collided with a car in northwest Iowa, fatally injuring the car driver and his 5-year-old son.
Court records say 49-year-old Ann Vanderpool, of Milford, faces two counts of vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated. Her attorney, Jack Bjornstad, declined to comment Wednesday. Vanderpool’s preliminary hearing is scheduled
for March 15.
The accident occurred June 10 on Iowa Highway 9 near Sibley. The car driver, 48-year-old Travis Mier, of Spirit Lake, was pronounced dead at Osceola Community Hospital. His son Elliot was pronounced dead later at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital.
Vanderpool also was hospitalized.
Des Moines Police Investigate Second Homicide of 2018
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines police say officers called to an early morning disturbance found a dead man and have taken another man into custody.
Police says a resident called police just before 6 a.m. Wednesday to report hearing a disturbance, adding that someone may have been killed.
Officers rushed to the home just northwest of the city’s downtown and found the dead man in a second-floor apartment. Officers took a man into custody but haven’t filed charges.
Police later identified the dead man as 34-year-old Christopher John Latimer, of Des Moines.
Police say the death is considered suspicious and have begun a homicide investigation.
The death is Des Moines’ second homicide of 2018.
Polk County Voters Reject One Cent Sales Tax
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Voters in most Polk County cities have rejected a 1-cent increase to the local sales tax.
Unofficial results show the measure failed by 227 votes Tuesday in the 10 Polk County cities that have contiguous borders: Altoona, Bondurant, Clive, Des Moines, Grimes, Johnston, Pleasant Hill, Urbandale, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights.
The tax was expected to generate $79 million annually, and cities planned to use the money to hold down property taxes and pay for such things as parks, trail extensions and street improvements.
Without the $37 million Des Moines would have received in the first year of the increase, city officials are expected to raise the city property tax rate by 20 cents Thursday before passing a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Vice President Pence Visits Iowa And Nebraska
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to western Iowa and eastern Nebraska is one in a series of stops to tout a recently approved federal tax cut, as well as attend a fundraiser for Republican Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts.
Pence spoke at an America First Policies event in Council Bluffs, the latest in his bid to sell the American public on the tax overhaul signed into law by President Donald Trump in December.
The vice president has also been campaigning for Republicans on the tour, seeking to protect GOP majorities in this midterm election year. Pence will travel on to Kentucky later Tuesday.
The tax law provides steep tax cuts for corporations, with more modest breaks for most Americans – although some will pay more.
