Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Organizers of the popular summer bike ride across Iowa are cutting ties with its longtime sponsor, the Des Moines Register, amid backlash over the newspaper’s handling of a story. The staff of the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa resigned en masse from the Register and its parent company, the Gannett Corp., on Tuesday. The group immediately launched a competing event, Iowa’s Ride, that will be held next July during the same week that the Register’s ride had been scheduled.

WORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) — An Iowa man who was arrested by Minnesota police in January is now suing the city and the department, alleging his encounter with officers left him with four broken ribs and internal bleeding. Thirty-three-year-old Kelvin Rodriguez of Sheldon, Iowa, filed an excessive force lawsuit Monday against Worthington and its department. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota says Rodriguez’s injuries required multiple surgeries. The city’s attorney had no immediate comment Tuesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines have announced the arrests of two men in the fatal shooting of another man on the city’s north side earlier this month. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said in a written statement Tuesday that Gregory Samuel Hampton Jr. and Adam Ahmad Ismail _ both 18 and Des Moines residents _ were being booked into the Polk County Jail. Each is charged with first-degree murder and robbery in the Oct. 10 shooting death of 23-year-old Rashid Mohamed Ibrahim.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is forming a working group to be chaired by the lieutenant governor to make recommendations for removing racial bias from the criminal justice system and to help offenders re-enter communities in a way that reduces repeat offenses. Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg is a former state public defender.

A single-vehicle accident Tuesday afternoon on I-80 near Walnut, has claimed the life of a Nebraska woman. The Iowa State Patrol reports 21-year old Dylin Roxane Rae Sears, of La Vista, NE., was driving a 2007 Hyundai Sonata westbound on I-80 just before 2-p.m., when she lost control of the car while passing another vehicle, near Walnut.

The vehicle entered the median and rolled over, before coming to rest in the outside lane of eastbound I-80. Sears, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from her car during the crash. She was transported by LifeNet helicopter to the UNMC in Omaha, where she died.

The accident remains under investigation. The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Iowa DOT, Walnut Fire and Rescue, and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County, Tuesday, arrested a 14-year old female, for Assault on a Health Care Provider. Her arrest took place following an incident at the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital. The unidentified juvenile was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs.

Deputies with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, charged a Villisca man, 26-year old Tra Perry, with several no contact order violations and tampering with a witness. Authorities say while incarerated at the Fremont County Jail, Perry made contact by telephone with a protected party of a valid no contact order, seven times between October 8th and 9th of 2019.

Perry was charged with seven counts of Violation of a Court Order and 1 count of Tampering with a Witness. He remains in custody at the Fremont County Jail on $43,000 bond on his previous charges of Arson 2nd Degree, Robbery 2nd Degree, Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree, Theft 2nd Degree, Domestic Assault, and a Probation Violation.

Tra Perry

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County said no injuries were reported following a collision at around 8-a.m. Tuesday, at the intersection of Ginko Avenue and Highway 48, north of Red Oak. Authorities say a 1973 Ford Dump truck driven by Joshua D. Most, of Red Oak, was traveling north on Highway 48, and had slowed to turn left onto Ginko Avenue. A northbound 2006 Ford F-350 driven by Edward D.C. Stickland, of Red Oak, struck the right rear of the dump truck as he looked down at his phone went the device sounded.

Both vehicles came to rest in the southbound lane of Highway 48. Damage to the dump truck, owned by Lance Most, was estimated at $3,500. The pickup, registered to Badger Repair, LLC., in Red Oak, sustained about $20,000 damage. Stickland was cited for Failure to provide proof of SR-22 insurance (accident related), Driving Under Suspension, and Operating with an Expired Registration.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted by Red Oak Police and Red Oak Fire.

Officials with the Harlan Police Department said Tuesday (today), 39-year old Tracy Michelle Inman, of Omaha, was arrested Monday following a traffic stop. Inman was transported to the Shelby County Jail where she was charged with unlawful possession of prescription drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, theft 5th, no valid driver license, improper use of registration and windshield requirements

Last Thursday, 49-year old David Dean Anderson, of Shelby, was arrested on an active warrant. Anderson was transported to the Shelby County Jail. And on October 9th, 62-year old Lea Ann Blackwell, of Harlan, was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant. She was transported to the Shelby County Jail.

In a statement released Tuesday the Director of RAGBRAI, TJ Juskiewicz, announced his resignation from the position. Juskiewicz said he and his organizing staff will be starting a new ride called “Iowa’s Ride” that is scheduled for the week of July 19-25, 2020, which is the same week as RAGBRAI.

In the statement Juskiewicz described his frustration with not being able to speak openly to RAGBRAI patrons after the fallout from the Register’s coverage of Carson King, the Iowa State fan who turned a sign for beer money into a multi-million dollar fundraiser for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Juskiewicz said he was told by Register Editors to refer any questions to the paper’s official statement regarding their editing decisions, and to run any statements he wanted to put out through a PR firm that was hired during the fallout from the coverage.

Juskiewicz stated “I can no longer be an effective leader when my principles are compromised by the leadership of Gannett/Des Moines Register. If we balked this time, I couldn’t imag(in)e any future thoughts of making decisions in the best interest of YOU the riders and the great state of Iowa.”

The new ride will have a Northern Iowa route this year with the official route being announced in November. The new ride will directly benefit Iowa based charities. You can find out more about the new ride and sign up at www.iowasride.com.  Officials at Gannett, the parent company of the Register, said late Tuesday, that RAGBRAI will continue in 2020, and that they are committed to donating $50,000 to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. A Gannett spokeperson said the company is exploring legal all legal options, but none had been taken against Iowa Ride organizers, as of last report.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines have announced the arrests of two men in the fatal shooting of another man on the city’s north side earlier this month. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said in a written statement Tuesday that Gregory Samuel Hampton Jr. and Adam Ahmad Ismail — both 18 and Des Moines residents — were being booked into the Polk County Jail. Each is charged with first-degree murder and robbery in the Oct. 10 shooting death of 23-year-old Rashid Mohamed Ibrahim.

Ibrahim was found by officers sent to investigate reports of a shooting. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

(Radio Iowa) — Federal officials today announced an ear, nose and throat doctor in Carroll with clinics in eight other Iowa cities has agreed to pay one-MILLION dollars to resolve allegations of Medicaid fraud. The doctor says the settlement is not an admission of wrong doing. According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cedar Rapids, Dr. Tracey Wellendorf was accused of performing sinus surgeries that did not meet Medicaid’s “medically necessary” standards or were incorrectly coded on bills submitted to Medicaid.

Officials indicate the doctor’s one-MILLION dollar payment to the government relates to as many as 115 procedures performed from the fall of 2014 through the fall of 2015. Dr. Wellendorf released a written statement, saying reasonable people can disagree about the best medical treatment options and neither he nor the clinic are admitting doing anything wrong.

Wellendorf said “there were no adverse patient outcomes” and he’s” happy and relieved” to have what he described as an “expensive, time-consuming and distracting” matter resolved. A special agent in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says Wellendorf has agreed to “intensive quarterly monitoring by an independent review organization” over the next three years.

Wellendorf says that additional scrutiny will show “complete compliance” with Medicaid regulations and professional standards. The website for Wellendorf’s Carroll clinic shows the doctor operates satellite clinics in Atlantic, Corning, Denison, Ida Grove, Jefferson, Lake City, Red Oak and Storm Lake.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have identified the person whose remains were found last week in a homeless camp near downtown Des Moines. Police said Tuesday in a news release that the remains are those of 23-year-old Marshal Aaron Terrell Johnson, of Des Moines. Police say the identification was made through “an extensive forensic examination.”

Detectives are investigating Johnson’s death as a homicide. His remains were found Oct. 8 after police received a tip that led investigators to a wooded area behind an abandoned manufacturing plant. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said at the time that the body had been “cleverly concealed.”

Police have not yet shared other details of how Johnson died and say the body was likely in the area for a few months.