DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Des Moines resident has been convicted of assault. The Des Moines Register reports that 32-year-old Cornelius Davis was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of assault causing injury. He’d been charged with robbery, willful injury and first-degree murder in the slaying of 42-year-old Thurmon Cole. He’d been killed Oct. 4 on Des Moines’ north side.

A defense attorney says Davis was attacked by Cole when Davis went to Cole’s apartment to sell him marijuana. Police had said Davis went there to rob Cole, thinking Cole had money and drugs. Cole’s girlfriend was injured during the incident.

West Central Valley School District Superintendent Lance Ridgely reports the West Central Valley School Board held a special meeting Wednesday night to address the issue of weather-related delays & cancellations for the 2018-19 school year. Ridgely says “Due to the number of weather-related school closings/delays/early releases we need to make up some of the time that we’ve lost. Our total lost time at this point is 55 hours (7 full days and some late starts and early dismissals).”

To compensate for the lost time, he says the Board approved the following adjustments to the 18-19 calendar.

1. Students will attend school 4/19, 5/28, 5/29. These will be full days of school and recover 19.5 instructional hours

2. The last day of school for students will be 5/30. This will be a 1:30 dismissal and bring the total instructional hours recovered to 24.

3. Students will attend 4/3, 4/17 & 5/8 as full days of school. This brings our total instructional hours recovered to 33.

4. Any further weather cancellations (full days) will be added to the end of the school year.

The remainder of the hours missed are accounted for through time spent during Parent Teacher conferences last fall and this spring.

(Radio Iowa) — The boys’ state basketball tournament isn’t the only state tournament that will hold its championship rounds in Des Moines this weekend. Some 19-hundred Iowa students from grades four through 12 will compete in the Iowa State Archery Tournament. Donise Petersen, the archery coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the sport is seeing healthy growth. “We have 300 schools that are actually shooting archery during the school day with physical education, most of those classes are going on,” Petersen says, “and then we have about 100 schools that are shooting actively within the competition program.”

The tournament features a full field of 88 teams shooting for nearly 17-thousand dollars in scholarships and other prizes, as well as a chance to go to the national competition this spring. Peterson says the local-level competitions got underway a few months ago. “Throughout the state of Iowa, schools started competing the first weekend in December all the way through the end of February,” Petersen says. “They have face-to-face archery tournaments and those schools that are the highest-scoring schools within their divisions — we have elementary, middle school and high school divisions — get to attend the state tournament.”

During this weekend’s state tournament, there’s a two-day bullseye competition in addition to a one-day 3-D competition using animal silhouettes. “The targets range between ten and 15 meters,” Petersen says. “There are targets such as a turkey, a deer, a bear, an antelope, a ram and a coyote. They’ll shoot those targets and depending on where their arrow hits within the target is the score that they receive.”

Unlike many other sports, Petersen says archery levels the playing field, “allowing students of all sizes and abilities to participate and excel.” The state archery tournament will be held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds both Saturday and Sunday.

The Atlantic High School team qualified both a bullseye and 3D team. The Atlantic Middle School team qualified for Bullseye.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following a collision 2-p.m. Thursday, at the intersection of 203rd Street and J Avenue. Vehicles driven by 19-year old Cameron J. Pryor, of Red Oak, and 28-year old Tiffany J. Medenwaldt, of rural Red Oak, collided in-part due to icy road conditions. Authorities say Pryor was traveling south on J Avenue in a pickup truck and approaching the railroad tunnel, when he saw Medenwaldt’s SUV traveling northbound and entering the tunnel.

Pryor tried to stop, but the snow- and ice-covered road conditions prevented him from doing so. The 2007 Dodge Ram pickup he was driving slid and struck the 2015 Ford Escape on the left front side, causing sideswipe damage to the SUV. Authorities noted that the speed limit for the roadway changed from 55-to 35 mph on the south side of the tunnel, and there are no stop signs or control signs on either side, for tunnel traffic.

No citations were issued. Damage from the collision amounted to $10,500.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — The Webster County attorney has cleared two officers who killed a man during an exchange of gunfire. Forty-five-year-old Matthew Hurley, of Wall Lake, died Dec. 31 after engaging in a gunfight while driving away from officers who had been called to a disturbance just outside Fort Dodge. Hurley’s vehicle eventually stopped in a field, and he was found dead inside.

The review released Thursday says each officer was “justified in the use of reasonable force, including deadly force, in that each reasonably believed that such force was necessary to defend himself or another from an actual or imminent use of unlawful force by Matthew Thomas Hurley.”

A traffic stop in Adams County Wednesday night resulted in the arrest on warrants of a Missouri man. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies stopped a vehicle at around 10:37-p.m. near the intersection of Highway 34 and Sycamore Avenue. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the driver of the vehicle, Aaron Roberts of Sedalia, Missouri, had active warrants for his arrest through Kansas.

Roberts was taken into custody and held in the Adams County Jail on $50,000 Cash Only Bond awaiting extradition to Kansas.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders is reasserting himself as the original champion of a progressive agenda many of his fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have adopted. At a rally in Iowa, the Vermont senator jabbed at some of his rivals, saying, “Shock of all shocks, those very same ideas are now supported by candidates _ Democratic candidates _ for president.” That shows how the landscape has shifted since 2016, when Sanders was the lone supporter for such policies as “Medicare-for-all.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Senate committee has narrowly passed a death penalty bill making it eligible for debate this year, the first time since the mid-1990s the issue will make it that far if leaders call it up for debate. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill out on an 8-7 vote Thursday. Two Republicans joined the committee’s five Democrats to oppose the bill.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A review by The Associated Press shows that convicted felons who violate Iowa’s strict ban on voting face severe legal consequences, even when it’s unclear whether they knowingly broke the law. The review found that felons can be arrested, jailed, ordered to pay fines and even imprisoned after trying to cast ballots. In all, 10 have been charged with felony election misconduct for voting since 2017

Police in Council Bluffs report an arrest was made Thursday in connection with a domestic incident that resulted in injuries. Officers responded at around 1:52-p.m. to   a cutting call at the 300 block of Platner Street. When an officer arrived, he located a female outside, who had several lacerations on her upper torso and throat.

The woman, 58-year old Lisa Dietz, of Council Bluffs, advised officers that she was assaulted by her adult son, 24-year old Dylan Goodman, who resides with her in her home. Dietz was transported to UNMC for medical assistance by ambulance, her injuries were said to be non-life threatening.

Dylan Goodman

Goodman was located at his residence. After a brief standoff occurred, Goodman was taken into custody without incident. He was placed under arrest for Attempted Murder, Willful Injury Serious and Aggravated Domestic Abuse with use of a Weapon.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Senate committee has narrowly passed a death penalty bill making it eligible for debate this year, the first time since the mid-1990s the issue will make it that far if it’s debated.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill out on an 8-7 vote Thursday. Two Republicans joined the committee’s five Democrats to oppose the bill including Sen. Kevin Kinney, a former sheriff’s deputy who investigated the death of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage. She was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender near Iowa City in 2005. Kinney says he’s come to realize life in prison is more severe than the death penalty.

A similar bill last year failed to get through the committee process. Its chances of survival remain uncertain. The most recent full debate was in March 1995 when the Senate rejected a bill the Iowa House had approved just days before.

The bill would make it a capital offense to kidnap, rape and murder a minor, crimes Republican Sen. Jason Schultz says are so heinous they justify death.
Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965.