Home News Thursday Afternoon News, February 14th

Thursday Afternoon News, February 14th

Sioux City Man Accused Of Setting Fire To Former Girlfriend And Hotel Room Pleas Not Guilty

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A man accused of killing his former girlfriend in a Sioux City hotel room and setting it aflame has pleaded not guilty.
Woodbury County court records say 29-year-old Jordan Henry entered the pleas Wednesday to charges of first-degree murder and arson. His trial is scheduled to begin July 9.
Police say an autopsy showed 40-year-old Elizabeth Bockholt, of Hinton, was strangled. Firefighters found her unresponsive Jan. 24 in a Wingate Hotel room, and she was pronounced dead later at a hospital.
A criminal complaint says Henry is a transient living in Sioux City.
The complaint says he was identified on surveillance video and by witnesses who saw him leaving the area just after the room fire was discovered.

 

 

Iowa Trade Team Returns Home From Columbia And Panama

(Le Mars) — A group of agricultural officials representing various commodity and farm organizations from Iowa, including Plymouth County pork producer Bill Tentinger of Le Mars, recently returned home from a trade mission trip to Columbia and Panama. Leading the delegation of 20 officials were Iowa Lt. Governor Adam Gregg and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Naig. Naig says the purpose of the trade tour was to
promote Iowa meat products.

Naig says Columbia doesn’t usually come to mind when discussing trade partners. However, he says Columbia is an important market for Iowa farmers.

The Iowa Agriculture Secretary says what has helped with the development of trade with the two Latin American nations is we have free trade agreements established with both Columbia and Panama.

Competition from other Central and South American nations such as Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil may cause you to believe the US meat market into Columbia would be stifled. However, Naig says he learned the Columbian consumer prefers the better quality of U-S pork and beef products. We also tend to have an edge over our competitors because of logistics.

Naig addresses critics who may wonder if such trade tours are indeed beneficial? He says establishing relationships between Iowa farmers and foreign buyers is essential to broadening the Iowa and U-S agricultural trade.

Le Mars pork producer Bill Tentinger was one of the Iowa farmers that participated on the Columbian-Panamanian trade mission tour. We will hear Tentinger’s perspective of the trade tour in the coming days.

 

 

City Of Clive Purchasing Homes In Flood Region

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) – The Des Moines suburb of Clive plans to buy and demolish two dozen homes and businesses that have been repeatedly damaged by flooding.
The estimated cost for all the properties is $11.3 million. They’re all situated in the Walnut Creek flood plain, which has been inundated six times since 1986. The latest flooding occurred June 30 , during which Clive Library and Clive Aquatic Center also were damaged.
Clive community development Doug Ollendike told The Des Moines Register the city will acquire the property over several years, using a priority list based on the risks to life and on damage severity.
The city is offering 110 percent of each property’s assessed value.
Projected prices range from $85,250 for a small office building to $7 million for property occupied by a vending machine supply company.

 

 

Former Radio Talk Show Host Charged With Fraud

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An April trial has been scheduled for a former Des Moines sports radio host who’s accused of defrauding people out of $1.5 million.
U.S. District Court records say Martin “Marty” Tirrell pleaded not
guilty Wednesday to two counts of bank fraud, two of wire fraud, one of mail fraud and one of access device fraud. His trial is set to begin April 1 in Des Moines.
The Des Moines Register reports that Tirrell had hosted talk shows for years and appeared on Mediacom’s local cable shows.
The court documents say he told investors in 2016 and 2017 that he would buy sports tickets and resell them at profits they could share. He originally paid them back and provided them with VIP access to events. But prosecutors say Tirrell eventually began using the investors’ money on personal items or to pay back other people who’d invested.

 

 

Former Iowa Finance Authority Director Has New Job

AMES, Iowa (AP) – A former state official who was fired for sexually harassing women has a new job working for the security contractor that helps manage Iowa State University athletic events.
The university told The Associated Press on Thursday that Dave Jamison has been working as an usher and parking attendant at recent Cyclones games.

Jamison is an employee of the Contemporary Services Corporation, which has a contract to provide support personnel for football and men’s basketball games. The company provides crowd management and security services for events nationwide.
Gov. Kim Reynolds fired Jamison last year as director of the Iowa Finance Authority after two women reported that he had sexually harassed them for years and made them feel unsafe.
An investigation verified their allegations, which included one alleged groping incident. State officials agreed this month to pay $4.15 million to those two women. The state is considering whether to seek restitution from Jamison.
One expert says Jamison’s employment creates liability risks for the security firm and for Iowa State.

 

 

Husband Charged With Wife’s Death

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – The husband of a woman found dead near a Waterloo cemetery more than a year ago has been charged in her slaying.
The Courier reports that 40-year-old Lakisha Owens, of Waterloo, disappeared in January 2018, and her body was found at the Garden of Memories Cemetery later that month. An autopsy showed she died of asphyxiation.
Police arrested her husband, 28-year-old Fredrick Williams, on
Wednesday. He’s been charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.
Court records say shortly after he was interviewed by police in Owens’ disappearance, Williams went on the run and was later found in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Prosecutors said at the time that leaving the state had violated his parole in an armed robbery case, and he was sent back to prison in March.

 

 

Nurse Accused Of Stealing Pills Is Sentenced For Three Years

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa nurse accused of stealing pain pills while working in a northern Iowa hospital has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Prosecutors say 58-year-old James Moorehead, of Mason City, was sentenced Wednesday in Cedar Rapids’ federal courthouse.
Moorehead pleaded guilty in August to one count of acquiring a
controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception or subterfuge; one count of false statements relating to health care matters; and one count of aggravated identity theft.
He admitted that while working at Franklin General Hospital in Hampton in 2016 and 2017, he used patient identities to obtain hydrocodone pills. He was fired from the hospital in March 2017.
Prosecutors say Moorehead had lost his nursing license in 2008 for similar conduct, but had the license reinstated in 2011.