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More details released on Des Moines Police shooting

April 30, 2007 By

A Des Moines police officer could be on leave up to two months while Internal Affairs and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation look at a fatal shooting. Police Lieutenant Todd Dykstra says 35-year-old David Stehl broke into a house early Sunday and was smashing windows when police were called.

Officer Ben Ihde was one of the officers who responded as Stehl rampaged through the house. Dykstra says Officer Ihde sprayed Stehl with pepper spray but it had no effect. Stehl then broke a window and picked up two shards of glass. He approached the officers, threatening them with the shards of glass, and they retreated, ordering him to put down the broken window glass.

Backed to the far wall, he says Officer Ihde fired and hit the man twice, killing him on the spot. Stehl had a personal relationship with one of the residents there, Dykstra says. The residents told investigators that relationship had ended, and that they feared violence from Stehl, who reportedly had attempted suicide several times.

Officer Ihde has been on the Des Moines police force for three years. The last fatal shooting by Des Moines police was in June of 2005.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Luther and Wartburg hope to finally play

April 30, 2007 By

Luther and Wartburg will finally play their Iowa Conference baseball series that may determine the regular season champion. The teams were to have played a twinbill last week but it was rained out twice.

Luther coach Brian Gillogly says they’re anxious to get the series going, but says they can’t do anything about the weather.

He says the next two days will go a long way toward determining the champ. Gillogly says it’s something you can use in recruitment, and they try to be in a position every year to win a conference championship.

Wartburg has won ten straight league titles and is 16-2. Luther is 15-2 and Gillogly says winning the regular season would be a boost as the conference tournament approaches.

Gillogly says the momentum of winning the regular season is important as you have a short season that starts right away. He says you get a bye if you finish in the top two spots, which he says is an advantage in the tournament. 

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Human skull found in Fremont County

April 30, 2007 By

Authorities in southwest Iowa’s Fremont County are investigating the discovery of a human skull, Friday. Sheriff Steve MacDonald says the find was made by two girls who were mushroom hunting in Waubonsie Park, just off of Highway Two.

He says two young girls from Hamburg were upset, but were savvy enough to mark the spot and ran back to call police. The skull was originally taken to the State Pathologist’s lab in Ankeny, but has since been sent to a lab that specializes in determining the age, gender and race of human remains. MacDonald says other bones were located as well, but they don’t know if they are human or animal. He says it’s possible additional remains will surface as time passes.

He says the skull was discovered in a creek, so water could have carried it from a hillside gravesite or embankment. He says there are a lot of scenarios, but their biggest concern is whether they’re dealing with a crime scene or not. The Sheriff says their preliminary investigation indicates no evidence of foul play. Mac-Donald says while it’s still too early to speculate, the remains could belong to a man who’s been missing for many years.

MacDonald says he has a man who has been missing since the late 1960′s and he liked to close that case. He says the location where the skull was found is so remote, it could take a considerable amount of time, manpower and financial resources to begin a search for additional remains.  

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Victims in Bayard shooting identified

April 30, 2007 By

Authorities have now identified two people killed in Bayard Sunday. According to Guthrie County Sheriff Roger Baird, 42-year old Johnny Lee Johnson, of rural Coon Rapids turned himself in and was arrested just before 11:30 p.m. Sunday. Johnson admitted to shooting his wife, 37-year old Kimberly Anne Johnson, and 38-year old Gregory Alan White.

The shootings occurred at Johnson’s apartment a few hours prior to the arrest. Johnny Johnson has been charged with two-counts of murder in the First-degree. The incident remains under investigation by the Iowa DCI and Guthrie County sheriff’s Department.

Audio: Ric Hanson report. :32 MP3

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Suporters says union bill would help more Iowans gain health insurance

April 30, 2007 By

Backers of legislation they say would make it easier to form labor unions have issued a report that says the federal measure would help over 40,000 Iowans get health insurance. Representatives of the Institute for America’s Future say "The Employee Free Choice Act " provides penalties for businesses that try to block the formation of unions. Michael Crawford of the Child and Family Policy Center in Iowa, says the act would have the biggest impact on low-income workers.

Crawford says the largest monthly expense for many of these families is health insurance coverage. He says that’s becoming more true as more employers chose not to pay health insurance for employees, or require employees to pay for their own coverage. Crawford says currently one in every five jobs in Iowa and the U.S. are a low-income jobs paying below the poverty level. Crawford says increasing union membership and health coverage would also benefit kids.

Crawford says Iowa does provide health insurance coverage for children up to 200-percent of the poverty level, but the level of coverage is lower for adults. He says research shows children are more likely to be covered by health insurance if their parents are covered. Crawford says this legislation would make a big dent in the number of uninsured Iowans.

Crawford says the uninsured rate in Iowa is now about nine-percent, and he says the 40-thousand people who would pick up insurance under The Employee Free Choice Act would help lower the uninsured rate to about seven percent. Dan Holub, the director of the Iowa Labor Center, says it’s estimated the act would also allow nearly 36,000 Iowans to gain a pension plan.

Holub says only 14-percent of non-union workers have a guaranteed pension savings plan, while 68-percent of union workers do. Holub says only half of all workers have a 401-k savings plan. Holub says this will lead to a massive number of elderly poor that families and communities will have to care for as these employees reach retirement age. Holub says this legislation would take a big step toward improving the retirement years of workers.

Holub says, "Restoring workers’ freedom to form a union, I think is the most effective solution to the pension crisis our country faces today, with a greater number of workers able to organize and bargain for pensions, 36,000 more in Iowa alone, it would help raise living standards for all workers." Holub says the retail industry has one of the best potentials for forming new unions. Crawford says the service industry would also likely benefit.

Crawford says he’s seen data that the largest increase in jobs in the midwest has been in the leisure and hospitality, food service industries. Crawford says those industries traditionally haven’t been unionized. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin joined the teleconference today in support of the measure. The act has already passed the U.S. House and is expected to come up in the Senate later this year.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , ,

Students compete in National History Day contest

April 30, 2007 By

Today’s the first of two days of competition in the state level finals of the National History Day contest. Jeff Morgan, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, says hundreds of Iowa middle and high schoolers are at the State Historical Building in Des Moines to take part in the education-enrichment program.

Morgan says, "Five-hundred-50 students from all over the state are here today and next Monday competing for a trip to the national competition at the University of Maryland where college scholarships and prizes will be awarded." These are the winners from among some 3,500 Iowa students in the various district-level competitions. It’s not a "Jeopardy!"-style competition where kids are asked questions about history.

Instead, Morgan says they do research about historical issues, ideas, people and events — whatever sparks their interest. Morgan says: "They spend the school year working individually or in groups of two-to-five in a number of categories, papers, websites, group exhibits, documentaries, and all kinds of other things including performances, for this year’s theme which is ‘Triumph and Tragedy in History.’" The 50-to-60 winners from Iowa who go on to nationals in June will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Stephen Frese, of Marshalltown, who won a $100,000, four-year scholarship at last year’s national contest. 

Filed Under: Education

Ottumwa police trying to identify skeleton found Saturday

April 30, 2007 By

A body was found over the weekend in southeast Iowa but it’s unclear yet if foul play is involved. Ottumwa police and state officials continue to work to identify the skeletal remains found Saturday morning in a wooded area on the city’s east side.

The remains were reportedly found by a teenager who was looking for mushrooms. The remains were sent to the state medical examiner where an initial autopsy has been performed. Ottumwa police released a statement Sunday saying the remains had been in the wooded area for some time.  

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
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