DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says it will not review evidence in the case of a man charged with killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in 2018. The lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera have argued that much of the evidence prosecutors plan to use at trial should be suppressed because his cooperation was coerced and he wasn’t initially read his legal rights.

The Des Moines Register reports that Justice Edward Mansfield denied the review Tuesday. A district court judge had ruled the evidence was admissible. Rivera’s lawyers appealed the decision, leading to a delay of Rivera’s first-degree murder trial.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is defending Iowa’s first in the nation caucus status as Democrats struggle to get results released. Reynolds, a Republican, says the state must fight to remain first after a mobile app created to compile and report caucus results malfunctioned and delayed the count. She says Iowa fights every year to stay first and political leaders must demonstrate that adequate measures have been taken to ensure accurate results.

She says the parties worked together after the 2012 caucuses when Republicans named Mitt Romney the winner only to find later that Rick Santorum had more votes.

(Radio Iowa) — The former University of Iowa professor who wrote a book titled “Why Iowa?” after the 2008 Caucuses sees irony in the title today. “Iowa has been challenged in its position for many, many election cycles, but we always had a pretty good response, I though, as to ‘Why Iowa?'” Not being able to get the results out in a timely fashion adds to the piling on and I think it makes things really difficult moving forward.”

David Redlawsk says fixing the smartphone reporting app’s glitches isn’t just important for getting results out today. “Buckle up for the state of Nevada. I understand they’re using the same app that seems to have failed here,” Redlawsk says. “I hope they’re going to go 24/7 on testing that thing.” Nevada’s Caucuses are scheduled for February 22nd. Redlawsk is now the dean of the University of Delaware’s political science department, but he’s been in Iowa since August, following the campaign and planning to update his book.

He’s heading back east now and unsure if that’s what he’ll do. “I need some time to figure out what’s next,” Redlawsk says. “I admit I have some concern that this research project itself just isn’t going to play out the way I had hoped, but I do think there’s something else there.”

Redlawsk recorded hours of interviews with Iowans as well as candidate events. He says exploring grassroots politics independently of what happened Caucus Night may become his focus.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowans who get a hankering for a midnight snack will soon have to head for a convenience store and not the nearest Hy-Vee. Starting next Monday, the West Des Moines-based grocery chain will stop keeping its stores open around the clock. Some stores, including in Atlantic, have already cut back on its hours of business.

Hy-Vee spokeswoman Tina Potthoff says few customers do their shopping between midnight and six A-M, so all current 24-hour stores will be scaling back their hours.

“We’re encouraging customers to check with their local Hy-Vee stores to get the exact times for their specific locations,” Potthoff says. “We have always had stores that were not 24 hours so this is just moving the rest of our stores to that scheduling model.” Some stores will close from 11 P-M to 6 A-M, for others, it may be midnight to 5 A-M. Despite the downsizing of store hours, Potthoff says there will be no downsizing of staff.

“We’ve been receiving some questions about whether or not people will be losing their jobs during this transition,” Potthoff says. “That is not the case. Everyone who works overnight hours, even though we’ll still need staffing overnight, those individuals that would typically be working or serving customers overnight will be moved to a busier shift during the day.” The chain has about 83-thousand employees and is Iowa’s largest grocer. Potthoff says plenty of other types of businesses are dumping ’round-the-clock hours.

“The trend is — really, we’re seeing many retailers not go 24-7,” Potthoff says. “There are others that are out there that are moving to more of the early morning to midday to nighttime feel for their customers and aren’t necessarily keeping their doors open for all hours of the day.” Hy-Vee has 265 stores. About half of them are in Iowa. The rest are in seven other Midwestern states.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Democratic Party says it plans to release at least 50% of results from the Iowa caucuses later Tuesday afternoon. Party chairman Troy Price tells presidential campaigns on a conference call that “we are going to release the majority of results that we have” by 4 p.m. Technical problems have delayed the release of results from Monday’s first-in-the-nation contest, leaving campaigns and the public in the dark. Price says the party is collecting paper records from more than 1,600 caucus sites. It was not clear when the final results would be available.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Two men have been arrested on suspicion of killing two brothers and a teenage friend at a southeast Des Moines duplex. Police said Tuesday that Emmanuel Totaye Jr. and Daishawn Gills are charged with murder and one of robbery. The three bodies were found at the duplex around 11:20 p.m. Thursday. Those killed were identified as 19-year-old Devonte and 16-year-old Malachi Swanks and a friend, 15-year-old Thayne Wright. All lived in Des Moines.

Four people, including a juvenile, were arrested over the past week, in Adair County. Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports that at around 2:30-a.m. Saturday, 43-year old Barry L. Montgomery, of Springfield, IL., was arrested by Police in Adair, for OWI/1st offense. His arrest followed a call from the Adair County Sheriff’s Office to an Adair Police Officer, with regard to a vehicle that had driven into the side of a shed, in Adair. Upon arrival, the Officer noticed a red truck in the alley touching the shed, which had sustained noticeable damage. A further investigation, including a Field Sobriety test, determined Montgomery was under the influence. In addition to the OWI charge, he was cited for two traffic violations. He was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

A juvenile was arrested last week as well, but no information was released, because of their age. On Jan. 28th, 30-year old Joseph Dean White, of Adair, an inmate at the Adair County Jail, was charged with Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order, after he allegedly attempted to twice make contact with the protected female party via text message, while in the jail. White allegedly used another inmate’s cell phone. Records at the Sheriff’s Office show White has also attempted to call the woman’s number 183 times from Jan. 22nd to the 27th. During some of the calls, White asked the woman to set-up an account with a telephone service the Adair County Jail uses, for inmates. White remains in the Adair County Jail without bond, until he makes his initial court appearance.

And, on Jan. 26th, an Iowa State Patrol Trooper arrested 29-year old Enisa Dubo, of Grimes, on an Adair County warrant for Failure to Appear at an arraignment hearing in November, on an original charge of OWI/1st offense. She was released later that same day on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Police say robbers roughed up an employee before setting fire to a Waterloo bowling alley. Firefighters dispatched to Maple Lanes early Tuesday found flames in the front part of the building and smoke damage throughout, but it didn’t appear the lanes were burned. Police say three robbers entered the building around 3:15 a.m. They shoved and kicked the employee and made him stay on the floor. The worker smelled smoke after about an hour and could feel heat, so he fled and ran about a block to Fire Station No. 4. Police found items from Maple Lanes scattered around the neighborhood.