ELDORA, Iowa (AP) — Video taken on the cellphone of a woman accused of abusing her  boyfriend’s young son shows the boy screaming in agony that he needed to use the bathroom.
The Courier reports that prosecutors showed the cellphone video of the 8-year-old boy Friday during the kidnapping trial of 40-year-old Traci Tyler. In the footage, the child is seen dressed in pajamas in a dining room as he screams and holds his groin before wetting himself minutes later.

Tyler and her boyfriend, 30-year-old Alex Shadlow, are each charged with kidnapping. They are being tried separately. The couple is accused of locking the boy in the basement for at least nine hours a day during the summer of 2017. Investigators say the boy was forced to sleep on the concrete and use a tin cup as a toilet. The couple argued that’s because they had trouble with him urinating in the house.

Testimony in Tyler’s trial is set to resume Tuesday.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department report officers were dispatched at around 1:15-p.m. Saturday, to 1100 South Shore Drive to the Missouri River boat ramp, where a vehicle was found partially submerged in the river.

They located a 4-door vehicle in the water, stuck by the ice and snow. Council Bluffs Fire Department personnel were able to check inside and found it unoccupied. Arrow Towing successfully pulled the vehicle out of the water after about 3 hours.

The vehicle, a silver Dodge Intrepid, was determined to have been stolen out of Fremont, Nebraska. Authorities said they do not know why the vehicle was in the lake nor is there any suspect/driver information at this time.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker says having been a big city mayor distinguishes him from his rivals for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Asked during a campaign stop in Marshalltown what separates him from fellow Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, he said it’s that he’s “run something.”

Booker was mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013 before being elected to the U.S. Senate. He says the experience running a troubled urban center during a financial crisis would help him as president.

Harris, a senator from California, was attorney general of her state for eight years before her 2016 election to the Senate. Warren, a Massachusetts senator, was a law school professor and a leading advocate for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before entering the Senate.

ASBURY, Iowa (AP) — Hundreds of water-soaked library books in eastern Iowa are in a deep-freeze while officials figure out how to save the publications. The Telegraph-Herald reports the books were damaged Feb. 1 when a pipe burst in the Dubuque County Library’s branch in Asbury. Officials estimate about 10 percent of the branch’s 18,000 books became soaked.

When books get wet, they must be frozen within hours to prevent the growth of mold. The books were first moved to a refrigerated semi-trailer provided by Hy-Vee, which could accommodate the books for a few days. About 50 volunteers then carried the books to another trailer provided by Hirschbach Motor Lines, a Dubuque-based transportation company.

“I am ecstatic that they stepped up to help,” Library district Director Michael Wright said. “It didn’t surprise me that much. I know we live in a terrific community where people want to help.” Wright said some of the books will be dried with fans, some might go to a specialized freeze dryer and some will be thrown away.

Crews were making repairs at the library, and Wright said it probably will remain closed through February and maybe longer. Kyle Alexander, operations manager at Hirschbach, said it took some work to make the trailer available, but he’s happy the company could help.

“Whenever you lose an asset, there are some adjustments you have to make,” he said. “But this was a high priority. It was very important for us.”

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Two men have been arrested after being accused of leading police in northern Iowa on a chase reaching speeds of more than 100 mph in near-blizzard conditions. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports the chase happened Thursday night after a Cerro Gordo County sheriff’s deputy tried to stop a car reported as stolen.

Officials say the car fled through the town of Clear Lake as high winds whipped up fallen snow and caused blizzard-like conditions. Poor road conditions caused the driver to crash west of Clear Lake.
Police say 31-year-old Jared Scott Schneckloth, of Clear Lake, was charged with felony car theft, driving under suspension, speeding 100 mph in a 45 mph zone and several other counts.

Twenty-six-year-old passenger Dylan Patrick Dimig, of Schleswig, was charged with misdemeanor interference with official acts.