712 Digital Group - top

Iowa early News Headlines: Wed., Dec. 24, 2014

News

December 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for selling crack cocaine at a candy store. Thirty-six-year-old Dwayne Howard of Dubuque was sentenced after pleading guilty in October to one count of distribution of crack cocaine near a playground. Howard acknowledged he repeatedly sold crack cocaine to an undercover officer in January and February 2014. The sales were at Howard’s business, Wayne’s Candy, in Dubuque.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man was sentenced a second time to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing heroin to someone who used the drug and then died. Fifty-one-year-old Alvin Stanley Briggs Jr. first pleaded guilty in June 2013 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but that conviction was overturned due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling dealing with deaths resulting from drugs supplied by another person. In October, Briggs again pleaded guilty and acknowledged a person identified as S.R. would have lived if not for using heroin distributed by Briggs.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An appeals court has overturned a decision ordering the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to pay $4.7 million in legal costs to an Iowa trucking company. The 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals says Judge Linda Reade erred in awarding the fees to Cedar Rapids-based CRST Van Expedited. The ruling sends the case back to Reade to make those findings and determine again whether CRST should receive fees.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s population continues to grow slowly but steadily. The Census Bureau has released estimates showing Iowa’s population was just over 3.1 million as of July. It’s up about two percent since 2010, when Iowa lost a U.S. House seat following the last headcount.