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Iowa early News Headlines: Friday, 12/2/16

News

December 2nd, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

PELLA, Iowa (AP) — An employee of an Iowa Wal-Mart where three people were killed when a truck crashed through a front entrance says two of those killed were his co-workers. Don French, who was off-duty Thursday morning and shopping in the Pella store at the time of the crash, told the Des Moines Register that he heard the crash and rushed to see what had happened. He found severely injured people.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University paid up to $225 per hour to rent an airplane for President Steven Leath to fly himself to meetings even as an older school plane that he piloted sat unused. The university rented the plane from prominent Ames landlord Brent Haverkamp, who was later awarded a lease to store his airplanes in an Iowa State hangar after the school evicted a 17-year tenant. Leath’s plane rentals and relationship with Haverkamp add new layers to the flight scandal that has roiled his presidency.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An insurance company says it will lay off about 120 people at its Cedar Rapids office. Transamerica announced Thursday it would cut the Cedar Rapids job as part of moves that also include the closure of offices in Los Angeles, Folsom, California, and West Chester, Ohio, during 2017. A total of 800 jobs will also be eliminated in other locations, including the Cedar Rapids cuts. Before the layoffs, the Baltimore-based company had about 10,000 employees with 3,500 located in Cedar Rapids.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a 3-year-old boy has died of injuries from a Nov. 22 car crash in downtown Des Moines. Sgt. Paul Parizek says David Reh died Thursday, nine days after the car he was riding in rear-ended a pickup truck, then struck a delivery truck before finally coming to rest in a parking lot. The Des Moines Register reports the boy’s father who was driving, 46-year-old Soh Reh, died earlier from injuries he suffered in the crash.