Two juvenile females were arrested Friday in Red Oak, after allegedly taking about eight-dollars worth of merchandise from the Red Oak Family Dollar Store. Red Oak Police say the 12- and 13-year girls were transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and later released to the custody of their parents.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A vote to fill a vacant Iowa House of Representatives seat for northwest Ames has been set for later this summer. Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday announced the special election will be held Aug. 6 to replace former state Rep. Lisa Heddens.

Heddens, a nine-term Democrat, resigned from her seat earlier this week to serve on the Story County Board of Supervisors, leaving the House District 46 seat open.

The Des Moines Register reports that county parties will hold nominating conventions in the coming weeks to name their candidates for the office. Third-party or unaffiliated candidates can petition onto the ballot. The filing period closes July 12.

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) — A state workers union is criticizing what it says is the state’s lack of response to attacks on at least four employees at the state psychiatric care facility in eastern Iowa.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says assaults over the past two weeks at the Independence Mental Health Institute include a nurse punched in the nose and three residential treatment workers who suffered head or neck injuries.

Union President Danny Homan said in a Wednesday news release that “a safety crisis taking place for the employees, and the state of Iowa is showing no urgency to address it.”

Iowa Human Services Department Matt Highland says workplace injuries at the institute are down from last year and says treatment provided to aggressive patients is often reviewed to help reduce violent incidents.

It’s the same facility from which nurse Tina Suckow was fired days after her federally entitled medical leave expired. Her request for time off without pay was denied. A patient beat Suckow with his fists last October.

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.