MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — Investigators say they still don’t know what happened to a 20-year-old Iowa college student who vanished nearly two weeks ago. At a news conference Tuesday, a lead investigator said dozens of local, state and federal agents are working to determine what happened to Mollie Tibbetts.

Kevin Winker, director of investigative operations with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, says they are working every lead and tip that comes in. He says investigators have drawn no conclusions about what happened, but that her disappearing on her own is “not consistent with her past.”

Friends say Tibbetts had been planning to travel to the Dominican Republic this week for a wedding. Blake Jack says his brother Dalton and Dalton’s longtime girlfriend, Tibbetts, were supposed to be there when he married his fiancee, Aimee Houghton. He says he joked with his brother that he should propose to Tibbetts during the trip. Blake Jack says the cancelled wedding plans are nothing compared to what the town is going through.

Tibbetts was last seen jogging on the evening of July 18 in Brooklyn, a small Iowa town where the University of Iowa student had been living this summer with the brothers.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A sport utility vehicle with no one inside has been pulled from a lake near the Omaha airport. An Omaha officer reported seeing tire tracks leading into Carter Lake around 4:35 a.m. Tuesday. An Omaha Fire Department boat equipped with sonar found the SUV in nearly 10 feet of water. Divers later hooked the SUV up to tow straps and a cable so a tow truck could pull it out.
Investigators are looking into whether the SUV had been stolen and then dumped in the lake near Eppley Airfield.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The interim leader of Briar Cliff University in Sioux City has been named the new president. The university trustees announced their choice of Rachelle Karstens on Tuesday. She’s been leading the campus since last summer, following the resignation of President Hamid Shirvani. He quit after 14 months on the job.

Karstens was among three finalists for the job and was named interim president in February after a person who was offered the job withdrew from consideration because of family obligations. Briar Cliff is a private, Franciscan, Roman Catholic university that has an enrollment of about 1,200 students.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa has launched a new program that offers temporary housing for students who have lease gaps. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the university’s lease-gap program provides students with rooms at a rate of $35 per night from July 20 to Aug. 4. Forty students are currently living at Burge Hall through the program.

Charles Tassell of the National Real Estate Investors Association says Iowa City’s gaps between leases ending this month and beginning Aug. 1 is common in college towns nationwide. Landlords use the time for maintenance repairs and to clean. Members of student government proposed the idea for temporary housing to the University Housing and Dining and Student Life in November. It’s based on a program that launched at Iowa State University last year.

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — Investigators are planning to give an update on the search for a missing 20-year-old Iowa college student who vanished nearly two weeks ago. A news conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office in Montezuma, a community between Des Moines and Iowa City. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has said that Mollie Tibbetts was last seen jogging in her nearby hometown of Brooklyn on the evening of July 18. Her family reported her missing the next day after she didn’t show up to work. Since then, local, state and federal investigators have tried to determine what happened.

Thousands of volunteers have aided in the search for Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who was home for the summer. Family members have said she was dog-sitting at a home where her longtime boyfriend, his brother and the brother’s fiancee live.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines officials say nearly 8,000 tickets have been issued to speeders in the first month of renewed operation of an Interstate 235 traffic camera. The Des Moines Register reports that the camera monitors eastbound lanes near Waveland Golf Course and was turned back on June 25. Citations hadn’t been issued since April 26 last year, upon an order from the Polk County District Court. Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Muscatine took action to keep the cameras operating after the Iowa Transportation Department ordered some speed cameras turned off, saying the cameras didn’t make interstates safer.

This past April 27, however, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the department didn’t have authority over speed cameras. The Des Moines Police Department had reported an increase in speeding after the ticketing halted.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A man who operated a western Iowa kennel and training facility where dog carcasses and dozens of malnourished dogs and puppies were found has pleaded not guilty. Pottawattamie County records say 35-year-old Dustin Young entered the written pleas Monday to four counts of serious misdemeanor animal neglect resulting in death. His trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 18. He also remains charged with 36 simple misdemeanor counts of animal neglect.

The dogs and carcasses were discovered in May at Young Gunz Kennel, about 2 miles southeast of Hancock. Officials said the inside of the business was covered in animal urine and feces, and there was no food or water for the dogs.