CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — Police in an eastern Iowa city are investigating racist graffiti that was left on a bus belonging to a predominantly black church congregation. Senior Pastor Jerry Drake of Bethel AME Church in Clinton told the Clinton Herald that he found the graffiti April 27 on a door of the bus and on the seats inside. He says the discovery of what he called a hate crime has made the church members more cautious.

Clinton Police Capt. Steven Kopp told The Associated Press on Friday that the church building wasn’t the only structure in the area vandalized with racist language or neo-Nazi messages.
Kopp says there have been no arrests so far. He says officers interviewed one person who admitted several of the acts of vandalism, “but the church vandalism wasn’t one of them.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Supreme Court Justice Bruce Zager has announced his plans to retire later this year. Zager has served on the state’s high court since 2011, when he was appointed by then-Gov. Terry Branstad. Zager was one of three appointments made to fill vacancies created when three other justices were voted off the bench for their role in a unanimous 2009 decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa.

Today (Friday), Zager announced his plan to retire effective Sept. 3. Zager did not give a reason for stepping down in his written remarks announcing his retirement. Under Iowa law, the governor appoints justices to fill vacancies on the high court. The governor will choose from three nominees submitted by the State Judicial Nominating Commission.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Investigators have determined that kitchen rags self-ignited to start a fire that engulfed the Plaza Lanes bowling alley in Des Moines. The Des Moines Fire Department said in a news release Friday that more than two dozen people from various agencies were involved in the investigation, which concluded the Dec. 18 fire was accidental.

Fire experts say spontaneous combustion can occur when heat generated through rapid oxidation causes various materials to catch fire. A Consumer Product Safety Commission study found that oil residue as low as 3 percent in fabrics can lead to ignition.

Plans for a new alley complex include a larger arcade, laser tag and a sports restaurant and bar.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — A Clinton woman accused of shaking her infant daughter and tossing her into a bassinet has taken a plea deal. The Clinton Herald reports that a judge accepted 22-year-old Naelynn Trude’s plea of not guilty on Thursday. The charge of child endangerment resulting in injury had been reduced in return for Trude’s plea. Clinton County District Court records say prosecutors agreed to recommend a suspended sentence as part of the agreement, but the agreement is not binding on the judge. Trude’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 14.

Investigators say Trude acknowledged shaking the little girl in July and tossing her into the bassinet while she continued to cry. A doctor says the baby’s injuries included a skull fracture and retinal bleeding.

The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man who had sex with a woman after pretending to be someone else on Facebook. Michael Kelso-Christy created a fake Facebook profile in 2015 for a man who went to high school with a woman and began talking with the woman through the fake account. She eventually agreed that he would come to her house and have sex with her while she wore handcuffs and a blindfold. The woman later found out that Kelso-Christy was not the former classmate. Kelso-Christy was charged with first-degree burglary and third-degree sexual abuse, but was offered an agreement for a plea to second-degree burglary. Kelso-Christy sought to have the burglary charge dismissed — saying he had not entered the home to commit sexual abuse as the woman has agreed to have sex with him and his crime was fraud in hiding his real identity.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld Kelso-Christy’s conviction, saying he knew the woman had not consented to have sex with him. It says it has long been the law in Iowa that consent to sex with one man cannot imply consent to sex with another, so Kelso-Christy could not have believed the woman consented to a sexual encounter with him. And the court says having the woman wear a blindfold indicated Kelso-Christy anticipated the woman might try to flee if she discovered it was him and not the man she agreed to have sex with.

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop at around 2:40-a.m. Thursday in Treynor, resulted in the arrest of two men on drug charges. Deputy Zach Norman initiated the traffic stop on a Gray Ford Fusion in the area of Eyeberg St and Main St in Treynor, for a speed violation. A search of the vehicle resulted in the recovery of 11.4-grams of marijuana, a bong, grinder and vape device. Taken into custody for possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia, was the driver of the vehicle, 20-year old Noah Tyler Seyboth, of Council Bluffs, and his passenger, 18-year old Avery Lane Dozier, of Omaha. Seyboth was additionally charged with OWI/1st offense.

And, at around 2:10-a.m. today (Friday), 53-year old Terry Lee Shriver, of Carson, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, following an investigation into an unknown injury accident, in the area of 440th and Elmtree in Pottawattamie County.