Three Republican members of Iowa’s congressional delegation were sworn in for their first terms on Sunday…72 hours later, they were sheltering in place after a crowd swarmed the U.S. Capitol building. Second District Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks spoke to news reporters only an hour after being driven from the House chamber. The congresswoman earlier said she would vote to certify the electoral college results.
Iowa has officially surpassed 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths. State health officials reported 61 additional deaths yesterday, pushing the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 4,060. Iowa had the 16th highest per capita coronavirus death rate, at nearly 127 deaths per 100,000 people, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, officials in Polk County, home to Des Moines, released a tentative timeline this week warning that the general public likely won’t be able to get vaccinated until the middle to later part of this calendar year.
Marion officials are set to approve a plan to repair the city’s historic train depot that was heavily damaged in last summer’s derecho. The City Council received a motion Tuesday night from the city’s Parks and Recreation department to approve a contract for the repairs. The council is expected to approve the contract at today’s formal session. The depot was built in 1892 and moved to City Square Park in 1990. The structure’s northside roof was smashed by a fallen tree during the derecho, which brought winds of 140 mph to eastern Iowa and damaged many buildings and trees in the region.
A Northwood, Iowa, woman who defrauded charities by pretending to have cancer was spared from prison this week, instead receiving a suspended sentence of up to 25 years. 44-year-old Jennifer Hope Mikesell was also ordered to pay restitution and continue to seek treatment from a mental health professional. She entered a plea of guilty in November to a felony charge of ongoing criminal conduct. Mikesell was arrested in December 2019 after being accused of pretending to have cancer and reaching out to local charities and individuals for donations of money, goods and services.
A 19-year-old Sioux City man has been charged in connection with a shooting that killed one woman and injured three other people at a New Year’s party there. Christopher Morales was charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon and going armed with intent. Police say Morales forced a person to go into the home where the party was being held. He and others then fired several shots into the house. Eighteen-year-old Mia Kristis was killed and three juveniles were wounded. Police say Morales could face additional charges after forensic examinations are concluded on evidence found at the scene.
A man convicted in the hit-and-run death of a 71-year-old woman in Des Moines last year has been sentenced to five years in prison. 42-year-old Isaias Flores Morales was sentenced last week after admitting guilt in November to leaving the scene of a fatal accident and fleeing to avoid prosecution. He was arrested in Illinois weeks after the death of Stephanie Markert, who died a week after being hit on Jan. 30, 2020, near the Drake University campus. Markert was the house mother for Delta Gamma sorority at Drake at the time of her death.
