Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Police in western Iowa say a fourth person has been charged in the robbery death of a Council Bluffs man. Council Bluffs police say in a news release that 25-year-old Ryan McDonald, of Glenwood, was arrested around 3:30 a.m. Friday on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder in the January death of 38-year-old Adam Angeroth. Police did not release any information explaining McDonald’s suspected role in the killing.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a 2017 law that removed bargaining rights for many state employees. In cases filed by the Iowa State Education Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the court ruled 4-3 on Friday that the law withstands constitutional challenges. Both decisions were written by Justice Thomas Waterman, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, who supported the new law.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock waited until May to declare his candidacy for president, but he’s wasting no time getting to the point. Bullock launched his first full day of campaigning Friday in Newton, Iowa, a town where union manufacturing jobs have vanished in the past 15 years. In doing so, he is underscoring his argument that his party can win in 2020 only if they show voters, especially in Middle America, that Democrats understand their economic concerns.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate remained at 2.4% in April for the 10th month in a row. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday the jobless rate held steady, where it has been since July 2018. Iowa has the nation’s third-lowest rate, behind Vermont and North Dakota, and tied with New Hampshire. The number of Iowa residents with jobs in April climbed by 4,600 to 1.67 million. The number of unemployed residents dropped to 40,400. Iowa’s figure compares to a national unemployment rate of 3.6% in April.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate remained at 2.4% in April for the 10th month in a row. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday the jobless rate held steady, where it has been since July 2018.

Iowa has the nation’s third-lowest rate, behind only Vermont and North Dakota, and tied with New Hampshire. The number of Iowa residents with jobs in April increased by 4,600 to 1.67 million. The number of unemployed residents dropped to 40,400.

Iowa’s figure compares to a national unemployment rate of 3.6% in April.

Red Oak Police have arrested 43-year old Jason Neal Beacham, of Red Oak, on a felony assault charge. Beacham was taken into custody at around 10:15-a.m. today (Friday), for Domestic Abuse Assault/3rd or Subsequent offense.

Since he had two prior convictions for Domestic Abuse Assault, the penalty was enhanced to a Class-D Felony. Beachum was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Police in western Iowa say a fourth person has been charged in the robbery death of a Council Bluffs man.

Ryan McDonald

Council Bluffs police say in a news release that 25-year-old Ryan McDonald, of Glenwood, was arrested around 3:30 a.m. Friday (Today) on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder in the January death of 38-year-old Adam Angeroth. Police did not release any information explaining McDonald’s suspected role in the killing.

Prosecutors have also charged three people from Omaha in the killing, including a 16-year-old boy charged as an adult with first-degree murder. Angeroth’s body was found in his apartment on Jan. 24. Police have still not release details of his death, including how he was killed.

(COUNCIL BLUFFS) – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 27-year old Kevon Andre Moss, who was convicted of Assault while Participating in a Felony in Pottawattamie County, failed to report back to the Council Bluffs Residential Correctional Facility as required this (Friday) morning.  Moss is a black male, height 5’8″, and weighs 188 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on April 16, 2019.

Kevon Moss

Persons with information on Moss’s whereabouts should contact local police. (You can see his picture in this same story on the News page at kjan.com.)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man accused of killing his cousin has been ruled mentally competent to stand trial. The Des Moines Register reports that 30-year-old Sean Foster pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of first-degree murder. Foster is accused of killing 50-year-old Albert Barron III in December. The two were roommates.

A court document says a judge previously ruled that Foster suffered from a mental disorder that prevented him from understanding the charges against him. The trial is scheduled to begin July 15.

The Glenwood Police Department reports 53-year old Leslie Hamilton, of Glenwood, was arrested Thursday, for Driving While Revoked. She has since posted bond and was released. And, 36-year old Jeremiah KIng, of Glenwood, was arrested Thursday for OWI/1st offense. He has also posted bond.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A teen searching for arrowheads in southern Iowa found something much bigger: the prehistoric jawbone of a mastodon. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the 30-inch bone belonged to a juvenile mastodon, an elephant-like animal believed to have roamed Iowa some 34,000 years ago. Officials with the University of Iowa Paleontology Repository, which now has possession of the bone found last week, say the mastodon might have stood around 7-feet tall.

The farmers who donated the jaw and related bones to the repository did so anonymously, saying they didn’t want to encourage people to trespass on their property looking for fossils.
There likely are more fossils on the land, as the owners found other mastodon remains there decades ago.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a state law passed in 2017 by a Republican-run legislature that removed bargaining rights for many state employees.
In cases filed by the Iowa State Education Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the court ruled 4-3 on Friday that the law withstands constitutional challenges. Both decisions were written by Justice Thomas Waterman, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad who supported the new law. Waterman found the law rational and that it should remain in effect.

Waterman was joined by another Branstad appointee and two justices recently named to the court by Gov. Kim Reynolds. They concluded the Legislature was rational in giving certain public safety employees the right to bargain over many more issues than those in unions in which fewer than one-third of members are public safety workers. The unions challenged the law, saying it violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution. The three dissenters say portions of the law are not rationally explainable.

Memorial Day and the traditional beginning of summer are quickly approaching.  Unfortunately, with the increase in summer traffic there will also be a rise in traffic crashes and fatalities. The Iowa Dept. of Public Safety reports last year, there were four traffic fatalities on Iowa roadways over the Memorial Day weekend; four deaths that may have been prevented.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2017 there were 10,076 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes nationwide.  A majority of those lives could have been saved if they had been wearing seat belts.  The national Click It or Ticket campaign will take place May 20 – June 2, 2019.  State and local law agencies across the state will be stepping up seat belt enforcement with the goal of protecting you and your family.

Seat Belt Myth Busters

Vehicle Type:  There seems to be a misconception among those who drive and ride in pickup trucks that their large vehicles will protect them better than other vehicles would in a crash.  Fifty-nine percent of pickup truck occupants who were killed in 2017 were not buckled compared to 42 percent of car occupants.*

Seating Position:  Too many people believe they are safe in the back seat unrestrained.  Forty-six percent of all front-seat passenger killed in 2017 crashes were unbelted but 56 percent of those killed in the back seat were unbelted.*

Rural versus Urban:  People who live in rural areas might believe that their chance of being in a crash is lower but in 2017 there were 12,786 passenger vehicle fatalities in rural locations compared to 10,316 fatalities in urban locations.  Of those fatalities, 49 percent of those killed in rural locations were not wearing their seat belts compared to 44 percent in urban locations.*
(*National data supplied by NHTSA)

The Iowa Department of Public Safety and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau want to remind all drivers of the importance of seat belt use.  Buckle up every trip, every time!