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Iowa early News Headlines: Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019

News

October 10th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

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

WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence says he is working with the White House counsel’s office to release transcripts of his own calls with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He says the phone conversations help exonerate President Donald Trump of any wrongdoing. Pence was asked about releasing his transcripts and told reporters, “I’d have no objection to that.” He spoke Wednesday after an event in Waukee, Iowa, where he addressed supporters about the president’s trade policy.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating the discovery of human remains in a homeless camp near downtown Des Moines as a homicide. Television station KCCI reports that the police received a tip Tuesday that led investigators to a wooded area behind an abandoned manufacturing plant. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says the case is being treated as a homicide, noting that the body had been “cleverly concealed” and that the person did not appear to die of natural causes.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A top aide to Gov. Kim Reynolds is working as an expert witness in a private property lawsuit, backing a family that is seeking millions of dollars from neighbors in a zoning dispute. The outside work by Department of Administrative Services Director Jim Kurtenbach is unusual for an agency leader. His testimony supporting a family seeking to develop an Ames campground over the objections of neighbors could give the appearance that the executive branch is taking sides in a local dispute.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals says the Sioux City Human Rights Commission may sue the owners of rental properties for housing discrimination for rejecting renters with disabilities who asked to keep companion animals in their homes. A panel of three judges has concluded the city and its civil rights commission have standing to sue the James W. Boyd Revocable Trust and its trustees for violations of the law under the Iowa Civil Rights Act.