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Iowa early News Headlines: Friday, Dec. 6, 2019

News

December 6th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A review by The Associated Press has found that Iowa’s list of ineligible felon voters remains riddled with errors, omissions and wrongful additions that make it an unreliable indicator of who can and cannot vote and hold public office. The Des Moines Police Department, the State of Iowa and others are mistakenly included on the list due to data entry errors, along with dozens of people who were not convicted of felonies. Similar errors have caused dozens of lawful voters to be disenfranchised in elections since 2012. They’re resurfacing as civil rights advocates lobby lawmakers to end Iowa’s lifetime voting ban for felons.

LU VERNE, Iowa (AP) — A violent Iowa convict who was on parole is charged with driving across the state in a rental car, and fatally shooting a small-town female bank employee during a robbery. Valentino Williams, 35, of Coralville, is charged with first-degree murder and robbery in Wednesday’s killing of 43-year-old Jessica Weisharr, of Algona. Williams is charged with shooting Weisharr multiple times outside of the Security State Bank in Lu Verne, a northern Iowa town of about 250 people where she was working. Weisharr died at the scene. Investigators said surveillance video and witnesses tied Williams to the crime.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water being released into the lower Missouri River is being reduced ahead of winter, so flooded areas along the river will see some relief. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the amount of water being released from the Gavins Point dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border has been reduced to 57,000 cubic feet per second, and it will be cut further to about 27,000 cubic feet per second by mid-December. The reductions will allow the river to fall below flood stage in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri by the end of this month.

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden is trying to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s icy reception from world leaders by portraying himself as someone who is well versed in foreign affairs and can restore American prestige abroad. But his moves risk being overshadowed by a testy confrontation with a voter in Iowa. John Kerry, the former secretary of state and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsed Biden Thursday. Yet before Biden could celebrate Kerry’s backing, Biden grew angry at a town hall in Iowa when a retired farmer pressed him about his son Hunter Biden’s work on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.