WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The City Council has given its final approval for a traffic ticket program in Waterloo. The council voted 6-1 in favor at its meeting Monday. The ordinance creates new municipal fines that police officers can impose instead of issuing state traffic tickets. For example: A motorist now will be fined $75 for speeding at 11 mph over the limit. The citation won’t go onto the violator’s record and the fine will go to the city. A state ticket for the same offense would cost $222 in fines and court costs and be included on a person’s record.

Some residents had asked that the council votes be delayed so the Waterloo Human Rights Commission could review the proposal to ensure it wouldn’t encourage racial profiling. The council didn’t delay.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A Burlington man who used a claw hammer to beat another man to death has been given 50 years in prison. Des Moines County District Court records say Layton Tapscott was sentenced Friday. He’d pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder after prosecutors lowered the charge from first-degree murder. Prosecutors say he killed 32-year-old Julian Menke in Menke’s Burlington home in October 2016. Tapscott told a judge that he was angry at Menke because he thought Menke had made unwanted sexual advances to the mother of Tapscott’s child.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Officials in central Iowa are moving forward with a large mural that will transform gray grain silos into scenes featuring local people. The Messenger reports that the Fort Dodge City Council unanimously approved the first $130,000 payment for the project Monday. The project will be funded by grants and donations, not local property taxes.

Australian artist Guido van Helten will begin working on the mural in August or September. The Public Art Coalition selected van Helten’s design last year from a group of submissions. Carissa Harvey is the senior city planner. She says images of five local people will be painted on the silos. Harvey says it will take the artist about a month to complete the project.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Residents can return to their homes near a northeast Nebraska grain elevator that was heavily damaged by an explosion. Terminal Solutions, which is based in Radcliffe, Iowa, on Monday was able to tear down the top of the main tower, which officials say posed the danger of uncontrolled collapse. The remaining portion is considered safe for subsequent razing by a wrecking ball.

The blast on May 29 blew a gaping hole into the Andersen Farms elevator and injured a worker. Residents of 26 houses nearby were evacuated. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports five recent arrests. At around 2:26-a.m. Saturday, Deputies arrested 57-year old Andrew Dean Nelson, of Stuart, on two Felony Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or subsequent offense, charges, meth and marijuana related. Nelson’s arrest followed an incident that took place late Friday night, whereby Nelson allegedly took a wallet from a man at a bar in Stuart. The theft victim later got into a physical altercation with Nelson, who was charged in Guthrie County with Theft. Small bags of marijuana and meth was found on Nelson, in his pockets. Nelson was cited on the Theft charge and released to the Adair County Deputy for processing on the felony charges. His Cash or surety bond at the Adair County Jail was set at $5,000.

Friday evening, 35-year old Luke Allan Mullen, of Bedford, was arrested on a road near Orient, on warrants out for Violation of Probation on an original charge of Possession of an explosive or incendiary device out of Colorado, and Fugitive from Justice. He was being held without bond in the Adair County jail on the warrants. On June 6th, 35-year old Christopher James Kimmer, of Oskaloosa, was arrested at the Polk County Jail, on Adair County warrants for Harassment in the 1st degree, and Stalking. Kimmer was later released on a $4,000 cash or surety bond.

On June 5th, 26-year old Cody Leon Zimmerline, of Adair, was arrested in Adair on two warrants for Violation of Probation, along with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Resisting Arrest. Zimmerline was being held without bond on the warrants, and $300 bonds on the other charges. 24-year old Jeffrey Dewane Ott, of Orient, was arrested In Greenfield by Adair County Deputies June 3rd, for Driving While Barred. He was later released on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

On that same date, 43-year old Robert Wayne Long, of Greenfield, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding the air and blood of his female victim. He was also charged with Obstruction of Emergency Communications, by taking away her cell phone and throwing it across the house while she was trying to dial 911, and Harassment in the 1st degree for allegedly threatening to kill the woman and making it look like an accident. Long was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 45-year old Lynette Michelle Huber, of Lenox, was arrested Monday evening, on a Union County Warrant for possession of controlled substance – Methamphetamine. Huber was released from the Union County Jail on promise to appear.