SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A friend of a 19-year-old Sioux City resident accused of stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend and another man testified that the defendant said he wanted to talk to the girl about their breakup and that he needed closure. The defendant, Tran Walker, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He’s accused of killing 17-year-old Paiten Sullivan and 18-year-old Felipe Negron Jr. Police say Walker was in a car with the other two on Jan. 28 last year when he stabbed Sullivan and then Negron when he tried to intervene.

Walker’s friend Erin Brand said at the nonjury trial that began Thursday that Walker “was very hurt.” Sullivan’s stepmother, Stevie Sullivan, testified that Walker and Sullivan broke up because he didn’t want her to finish school.

A man from Nebraska died late Thursday night during a single-vehicle rollover accident south of Williams, in northern Iowa’s Hamilton County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 41-year old Justin Daniel Meyering, of Lincoln, NE., was eluding law enforcement during a pursuit while driving a 2003 Ford Mustang. The car – which was traveling at a high rate of speed -failed to negotiate a curve and rolled over. Meyering, who was wearing a seatbelt, died at the scene. The accident happened at around 11:30-p.m. at 220th Street and Vail Avenue.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law a bill that makes it a crime to claim a pet is a service animal if the animal owner doesn’t have a disability and hasn’t demonstrated a need for a service animal. The new law also requires landlords to allow individuals with a disability to have service animals but it also requires the person to provide proof they are disabled and need the animal. Denying a disabled person an animal is a simple misdemeanor but a person intentionally lying that their animal is a service animal when it isn’t also is a misdemeanor.

The bill also alleviates any liability for property owners for injury or damage caused by a service animal. It was supported by the groups representing grocers, restaurants, retailers and landlords. Disability Rights Iowa opposed it fearing store or restaurant employees may call the police on individuals with service animals but no visible disabilities such as those with post-traumatic stress disorder or diabetes.

An SUV rear-ended a semi tractor-trailer in Pottawattamie County, Thursday evening, resulting in an Audubon County woman being flown to a hospital in Omaha. The Iowa State Patrol reports Interstate 80 eastbound traffic was stop-and-go in a construction zone. A 2018 Volvo semi driven by 64-year old Lyle Hass, of Iowa City, was almost at a complete stop in the right lane near mile marker 41.8, when for reasons unknown, the semi was hit from behind by a 2017 Jeep Cherokee.

The SUV, driven by 48-year old Jolene Hasbrouck, of Audubon, went into the south ditch, following the collision. Hasbrouck was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Bergan-Mercy Hospital in Omaha. Authorities say she was wearing a seat belt.

The accident, which took place at around 6:30-p.m., remains under investigation.