Former Le Mars Community Principal Appointed By Governor Reynolds To Serve On Educational Examination Board
(Des Moines) — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has announced the names of people to serve on state boards and commissions. One of them is a former Le Mars Community elementary principal. Floyd Athey of Ames has been appointed to serve on the Board of Educational Examiners. Athey was the principal for both Clark Elementary and Franklin Elementary schools between 2010-2015. He had been with the Le Mars Community School District for 28 years. He is now the principal at Ames Christian School.
Semi Truck and Trailer Collides With Pickup Truck Near Brunsville
(Le Mars) — A collison occurred late Friday afternoon between a semi truck pulling an empty livestock trailer and a pickup truck. The accident happened at about 5:13 p.m. at the intersection of county road K-42 and 170th street near Brunsville. The collision caused the cargo box and topper of the pickup to be severed from the vehicle scattering debris on the roadway and into the nearby ditch. The collision also caused a wheel to be separated from the pickup truck. Three people were reported to be injured, however two sustained minor injuries, while the third person, a passenger in the pickup was transported to Floyd Valley Healthcare in Le Mars with what was believed to be non-life threatening injuries. Responding to the accident were the Le Mars Ambulance, Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department, Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, and the Iowa State Patrol. The accident is being investigated by the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office.
Farmhand Accused Of Killing Mollie Tibbitts Wants Trial In A Different County
MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) – The former farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and stabbing death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa wants to have his trial moved to a more diverse county.
The Des Moines Register reports that 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera’s lawyers filed a motion Friday asking that the trial be moved out of Poweshiek County, so there can be more minority representation in the jury pool.
Rivera is charged in the killing of Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who disappeared while out for a run July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa. Investigators recovered her body a month later in a cornfield. A medical examiner has said Tibbetts was stabbed to death.
Rivera is a Mexican national who has been accused of being in the country illegally. He worked at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts disappeared.
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Cedar Rapids Man Arrested For Setting Apartment On Fire
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Police say they’ve arrested a man suspected of setting a Cedar Rapids apartment fire that injured him and four others, including a firefighter.
Station KCRG reports that 24-year-old Dallas Tullis, of Cedar Rapids was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree arson, assault on a police officer, assault causing injury and interference with official acts. Investigators say Tullis set the fire Thursday morning that destroyed the apartment complex. Police say he was found near the scene and taken to a hospital for injuries. Police say he assaulted an officer and a security guard at the hospital.
He has since been release and booked into the Linn County Jail.
A 65-year-old male suffered life-threatening injuries and is still hospitalized. Two other adults also suffered injuries and were treated and released.
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Suspect Arrested For Arson For Independence Fire
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) – A suspect has been arrested in an eastern Iowa fire that injured two people.
Firetrucks were sent to the home in Independence around 11:30 p.m. Saturday. The names of the two injured and other details about the fire haven’t been released.
Authorities say Shane Heins, of Oelwein, was taken into custody Sunday and charged with arson. Buchanan County court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
33rd Baby Turned Over To Authorities Under Safe Haven Law
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a newborn boy has been surrendered to state custody under Iowa’s safe haven law.
The Iowa Department of Human Services says it is the 33rd time the safe haven provision has been used since it went into effect in 2001.
The department says the baby was born Feb. 2 at an Iowa hospital and released to the custody of DHS officials.
Iowa lawmakers changed state law following a 2001 case in which a mother killed her home-delivered newborn in eastern Iowa. Under the law, parents can give the state custody of babies who are 30 days or younger without concern of being prosecuted. Parents or an authorized representative can leave infants at a hospital or other health care facility.
The babies are placed with foster or adoptive families.
Jury Acquits Activist
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A jury has acquitted an anti-violence activist who had been charged with child endangerment.
The Des Moines Register reports that 46-year-old Calvetta Williams was found not guilty Friday by a Polk County District Court jury.
Williams was charged with child endangerment causing injury for an incident investigators say happened at Williams’ day care in July 2017 in which a girl received superficial injuries.
Williams voluntarily surrendered her child care provider license that same month.
Williams founded Mothers Against Violence in 2013 after the shooting death of a close friend in Des Moines.
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Iowa State University Receives Multi-Million Dollar Gift
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University is set to receive a $3.5 million gift to transform biomolecular research and make the school into a leader in advanced electron microscopy technology.
The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine announced the grant earlier this week.
The grant will enable the purchase of a state-of-the-art cryo-transmission electron microscope equipped with a direct electron detector. Cryo-EM technology generates images of delicate biomolecules by bombarding frozen cellular, viral, nucleic acid or protein samples with electrons. The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists for developing the technique.
The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in Iowa, with assets of more than $325 million and annual grant distributions of nearly $16 million.
