Home News Monday Afternoon News, October 14th

Monday Afternoon News, October 14th

Farmers Trying To Catch Up On Harvest

(Le Mars) — Farmers are taking advantage of the drier and warmer temperatures for this week by trying to catch up with their harvest. Brian Kookier of Le Mars was harvesting some corn just prior to the lunch hour this morning along county road C-38 about three miles southeast of Le Mars.
He talks about his experience with this year’s harvest.

 

 

Des Moines Mother Given Probation For Son Who Found Gun And Shot Himself

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The mother of a 4-year-old boy who shot himself after finding an unsecured gun in her vehicle in Des Moines has been sentenced to a year of probation.

Polk County court records say 28-year-old Rachel Rowe also was fined $315 and given a deferred judgment. Under a deferred judgment, her conviction can be removed from her record if she were to successfully complete the terms of her probation. She’d pleaded guilty to allowing a child access to a loaded gun.

Kent Balduchi is Rowe’s attorney, and he told The Des Moines Register on Friday that she and her husband thought the gun was in a child-safe holster. It wasn’t. The boy found the .45-caliber handgun May 29 inside another container in her vehicle and shot himself in an upper arm.

 

 

Suspect In Fort Dodge Murder Arrested By Georgia Authorities

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Georgia authorities have found a man suspected in an Iowa slaying.
Fort Dodge police say in a news release that 19-year-old Damion Chavez was spotted by a sheriff’s deputy in Lowndes County, Georgia, on Saturday in a vehicle on Interstate 75. The vehicle was pulled over and Chavez was arrested without incident. Two other people in the vehicle were released.
Arrangements are being made to have Chavez returned to Iowa. Iowa court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
Fort Dodge police say Chavez has been charged with robbery and first-degree murder in the slaying of 28-year-old Mohammed Yaqoub, who lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Officers sent to check reports of a shooting found Yaqoub. He’d been shot several times.
A 16-year-old boy also has been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting a robbery.

 

 

Marion Expanding Airport Runway

MARION, Iowa (AP) – Work has begun to expand the airport runway in the Cedar Rapids suburb of Marion.
The Gazette reports a groundbreaking ceremony was held last week for the $1.7 million project.
The work will widen the runway from 23 to 60 feet, meeting the
standards of a basic service airport. And additional $400,000 is being spent to replace lighting.
The project is being funded by a $424,000 grant from the Iowa
Department of Transportation and city bonds.
The city also plans to make improvements to signage, the parking areas and other parts of the airport.

 

 

Des Moines Hits Financial Goal For New Skateboard Park

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Backers of a skateboard park under construction in downtown Des Moines say they have reached their $6.3 million funding goal.
The Lauridsen Skatepark will be the nation’s largest when it’s
completed in spring 2020. The 88,000-square-foot skate park is being built on five acres of land between Second Avenue and the Des Moines River.
Recent gifts by the Lauridsen Family Foundation and the state’s Enhance Iowa fund enabled organizers to reach their fundraising goal. Nix and Virginia Lauridsen have donated a total of $1.6 million to the project.
Besides the skate areas, the park will include viewing platforms,
handicap accessible walkways, shade structures and landscaping.
Organizers expect about 40,000 skaters a year will use the park. They note skateboarding will be an Olympic sport in 2020.