MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — The trial for a former farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and killing of 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has been delayed.

The Des Moines Register reported Friday that 25-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera will face trial Nov. 11 in Woodbury County. His trial had been set for Sept. 3, but was pushed back to give Rivera’s attorneys more time to prepare. A judge in March approved his request to have the trial moved about 250 miles away from Poweshiek County to Woodbury County.

Rivera is accused of killing Tibbetts, who disappeared while out for a run July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa. Investigators recovered her body a month later in a cornfield. Officials say she was stabbed to death.

Rivera, a Mexican national, also is accused of being in the country illegally. He worked at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts disappeared.

2020 Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris will be in Iowa over the Fourth of July holiday. According to her campaign, Harris will make stops in West Des Moines, Indianola, Council Bluffs, and Sioux City.

On Wednesday, July 3rd, Harris will join West Des Moines Democrats for their 4th of July Summer Picnic celebration and deliver remarks. In the evening, she will host a Town Hall in Des Moines.

On Thursday, July 4th, Harris will attend house party in Indianola. In the evening she will host a 4th of July BBQ celebration in Council Bluffs. The event will be free and open to the public and an opportunity for Iowans to hear from Harris as well as celebrate the holiday with family and friends.

On Friday, July 5, Harris will host a town hall in Sioux City, which her campaign says will be another opportunity for Iowans to hear directly from Harris about her vision for the country and ask her questions.

Additional details on each event are forthcoming.

(Radio Iowa) — A historic theater in downtown Cedar Rapids will host a double-bill concert this fall that features two men who were huge rock-n-roll stars in their era — both of whom have been dead for decades. Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison will be appearing on the Paramount Theatre stage as life-size holograms.

“To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time we’ll see this type of thing in Iowa,” theatre spokeswoman Katie Ripke says, “so I really encourage people to get their tickets early for this.” The one-night-only performance will feature a live band, back-up singers and remastered audio of the musical pioneers’ greatest hits. Ripke says she’s never booked an act for the 16-hundred seat theater quite like this, since it spotlights two artists who, well, aren’t really there.

“It is the first time it’s been a hologram,” Ripke says. “We’re really excited about it. It’s kind of serendipitious that one of the holograms is going to be Buddy Holly with the ties that he has to Iowa. It’s going to be a really cool performance and we’re excited to bring this technology to Cedar Rapids.”

Holly’s final concert was in Iowa in February of 1959. His plane crashed near Clear Lake after a show at the Surf Ballroom, killing the 22-year-old Holly and also claiming the lives of rock-n-rollers Richie Valens and the Big Bopper, as well as the pilot. Sixty years after losing his life in Iowa, Holly’s image will be brought back to life in full color, singing and playing guitar.

The Rock ‘N’ Roll Dream Tour also revives Orbison, who died in 1988. One of his biggest hits was “Oh, Pretty Woman,” which hit number-one in 1964.  “The visuals that the holograms provide is amazing, it’s really cool,” Ripke says. “It should transport people back to the ’50s when they were at the height of their popularity.” Tickets went on sale today (Friday) for the show’s only Iowa stop on October 22nd.

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Buddy Holly hologram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcGSQtuxOcg

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) — A man has been charged with murder in Oskaloosa, accused of killing his girlfriend’s baby son. Station WOI reports that 21-year-old Johnny Dale Jr. is being held on $1.25 million bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 28. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.

A criminal complaint says Dale was watching the 4-month-old boy when his girlfriend went to work on June 15. She told an investigator the boy had a bruise on his forehead and wouldn’t wake up when she got home. Doctors later told investigators the boy had suffered brain and spinal cord injuries consistent with child abuse.

The complaint also says Dale said he’d grown frustrated with the baby and said he bounced him on an air mattress in an attempt to get him to sleep. Dale acknowledged that his actions likely injured the boy. The complaint says the boy died Friday morning.

Police say a man who had a gun at the scene of a shooting in Creston earlier this week is being held in the Union County Jail. Officers responded to a report of a shooting

Charles Edward Keeton (Union County S/O photo)

early Wednesday morning in Creston and found a woman with a gunshot wound in an apartment. She was taken to the Creston hospital, then transferred to a Des Moines hospital for treatment. Creston Police announced today (Friday) that they arrested 37-year-old Charles Edward Keeton Wednesday morning and he’s been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Authorities say Keeton was at the scene of the shooting when officers arrived and further charges are pending in the case. Keeton is beind held in the Union County Jail on a 20-thousand dollar bond.

(Atlantic FFA report) — Last Tuesday, June 11th, three members of the Atlantic FFA chapter traveled to Cedar Rapids, to compete in the Iowa FFA Horse Career Development Event. Taylor McCreedy, Aspen Niklasen, and Craig Alan Becker represented Atlantic FFA at the event. McCreedy placed 4th individually in the event. As a team, the Atlantic members placed 8th overall as well. The competition was held at the Iowa Equestrian Center, located at Kirkwood Community College. A total of 103 individuals from 33 different FFA chapters across the state competed in the event.

Photo: Left to right
Taylor Mcreedy, Craig Alan Becker, Aspen Niklasen.

The state FFA Horse Evaluation CDE was designed to test each contestant’s knowledge of agriculture and their skills in equine science. The contest itself consisted of six classes of horses that each competitor evaluated and judged. They also gave oral reasons and answered questions over the classes that they evaluated. Along with these classes, there was a written examination and a team problem solving competition.

The Iowa FFA Horse Career Development Event was made possible through the Iowa FFA Foundation. The Horse Career Development event was coordinated and conducted by Rhonda Clough of Kirkwood Community College at the Iowa Equestrian Center.

WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) — A Minneapolis man has been imprisoned for roaming a dorm at a northeast Iowa college and touching sleeping students. Bremer County District Court records say 23-year-old Bryan Malone was sentenced Monday to more than 14 years. He’d pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and other crimes. He’s also been ordered to register as a sex offender.

Investigators say Malone used his Wartburg College identification card to enter the Wartburg dorm early on Feb. 4 last year. He went into the rooms of three female students and groped them as they slept. Authorities say Malone also entered the room of a student who was gone and stole $300.

After learning about the incidents, the college installed security cameras in several new spots in addition to 30 already situated around campus. Other security measures were taken as well.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate remained stuck at 2.4% in May, just where it’s been for nearly a year. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that the rate hasn’t budged since July 2018. Iowa’s rate is tied with New Hampshire for the third lowest in the U.S., behind Vermont and North Dakota.

The total number of Iowa residents with jobs in May rose by 3,200 from April. The number of unemployed residents also edged up by 400 people. Iowa’s rate compares to a national unemployment rate of 3.6% in May.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a local woman and two juveniles are facing drug charges following a traffic stop Thursday afternoon southwest of Atlantic, on Highway 6 at Memphis Avenue. Authorities say 18-year old Erin Mack, of Atlantic, and the two 16-year old males face felony charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – with Intent to Deliver and Failure to affix a Drug Tax Stamp.

Erin Mack, of Atlantic

Deputies stopped Mack for speeding and illegal passing of a tractor in a No Passing Zone, at around 5:34-p.m. During the stop Officer’s noticed the smell of Marijuana coming from the vehicle. A witness  told Deputies they saw a bag being thrown from the vehicle prior to the stop. Deputies recovered the bag, which contained 112 grams of Marijuana. Mack was transported to the Cass County Jail and held on $50,000 bond. The two male juvenile passengers were transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs.

(Radio Iowa) — Spring was no lamb, and summer was coming into Iowa this (Friday) morning like an angry, wet lion. Wide sections of the state were peppered with powerful thunderstorms, strong winds and hail, while a Flash Flood Warning was issued for several west-central Iowa counties. Meteorologist Frank Boksa, at the National Weather Service, says some areas got four inches of rain this morning with more on the way. “Each of these storms is capable of producing a quick half-inch or so of rain and the stronger storms will be producing heavier rainfall,” Boksa says. “The ground is already saturated. We’ve had a couple inches of rain already. With additional storms, we’re expecting ponding of water.”

Urban areas may see street flooding while some rural areas of Iowa have already endured months of high water across tens of thousands of acres of farmland. The ground is pretty saturated and it can’t hold as much water, so once the rain falls, the ground quickly takes what it can and the rest is all going to be runoff, and if you get repeated rounds of this, the runoff is just going to increase,” Boksa says. “Concrete isn’t going to absorb it so it’s going to run somewhere.”

Perfectly on cue, warmer weather is moving into the state on this first day of summer and it’s raising the potential for several weather this afternoon and tonight. “We’re going to get more warm air and more moisture coming in and the potential will be for larger hail, up to golfball-sized, and damaging winds,” Boksa says. “If we should get a line of thunderstorms, there might be the potential for a tornado or two.”

Foul weather will likely last much of the weekend and into Sunday night, he predicts, with clearing, more seasonal weather on Monday.