CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man has pleaded not guilty to killing an Iowa high school student in 1979. Records say 65-year-old Jerry Burns filed a written plea Friday in Linn County District Court. The charge: first-degree murder. His trial starting date has not been set. He remains in custody, pending $5 million bail.

Police arrested the Manchester business owner on Dec. 19 , 39 years to the day after 18-year-old Michelle Martinko was killed. Her body was found the next day inside her family’s car at a Cedar Rapids mall. She had been stabbed in the face and chest.

Police say investigators matched a blood sample from the crime scene with a sample taken from Burns.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The Council Bluffs City Council has approved a resolution adopting the plan for an indoor turf facility for soccer and other sports. The Daily Nonpareil reports that the council unanimously approved the Iowa West Sports Plex plan on Monday. The facility will be built just northwest of the Mid-America Center. The Iowa West Foundation and other grant sources will provide funding for the $7 million project . The facility will be operated and managed by the Council Bluffs Soccer Club. The fields will be used for a variety of sports, including youth baseball, softball, soccer and flag football.

(Radio Iowa) — We’re only a little over a month into winter and gasoline prices in Iowa are starting to gradually climb again. Nick Jarmusz, a spokesman for Triple-A-Iowa, says it’s elementary economics — as supplies start to be squeezed and demand begins to rise, prices will go up. “We’re beginning to see the very earliest impact of the agreement that was made last year by OPEC and Russia to slow down production which is just now beginning to tighten up the global supply a little bit,” Jarmusz says.

A few weeks ago, some Iowa gas stations were offering self-serve unleaded at prices in the one-90s, but most are now over the two-dollar mark. “More people, even in the depths of the winter here, are driving because more people are employed and the economy is doing better,” Jarmusz says. “The supply and demand balance is shifting a bit back more towards higher gas prices.” Recent political upheavals in the South American country of Venezuela may also be a factor in the gas prices in Iowa. “There’s been some talk about a possible boycott of Venezuelan oil until the situation there fully transitions with the regime, but none of that has taken place yet,” he says.

Gas prices in Iowa are averaging $2.07 a gallon statewide, which is about 20-cents below the national average and 50-cents lower than the state average a year ago. Iowa’s most expensive gas is in Dubuque, at $2.18 a gallon while the cheapest gas is in Sioux City, at $1.98.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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(Radio Iowa) — An organization representing Iowa’s largest businesses plans to conduct new research to find ways to “attract diverse populations” to the state. The Iowa Business Council warns a lack skilled workers and slow population growth are major threats to Iowa’s future. Mary Andringa, chairwoman of the board at Vermeer in Pella, is the Iowa Business Council’s chair. “The state is not keeping up with the talent demand of today,” Andringa says, “and not also properly preparing the workforce needs for the future in the state of Iowa.”

Terry Handley, C-E-O of Casey’s General Stores, is the Iowa Business Council’s vice chair. “We have phenomenal career opportunities in communities across Iowa and our state offers excellent quality of life,” Handley said. “Nevertheless, we struggle to attract people to our towns and we don’t see the gains in population needed to support Iowa business.”

Iowa Business Council leaders held a news conference at the statehouse Monday. to release what it calls the competitive dashboard signals in Iowa’s economy. It shows that in 2018 the productivity of Iowa’s businesses grew, as did the average household income of Iowans. But Andringa says the percentage of Iowans who have a college degree or some kind of training beyond high school was still “outpaced” by other states. She says Iowa businesses need more workers “from other states or other countries.” “We just need to tell our stories to elected officials at the federal level, at the state level and what the needs are,” Andringa says, “because I think most of our elected officials are willing to listen and incorporate that into their thinking.”

Handley says the U.S. immigration system needs to be modernized and provide certainty to businesses, workers and their families. “Employers’ ability to recruit and retain talent from other countries is a key factor for both business and population growth,” he said. “…We feel it is absolutely critical for the business community to help our elected officials to understand Iowa business needs for workers in order to grow our economy and one way to meet this need is to thoughtfully bringing people into this country and into this state.”

The Iowa Business Council’s dashboard rated the ethnic diversity of Iowa’s population as “poor.”

(Updated 7:20-a.m.) DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Dangerously low temperatures and wind chills have prompted several Iowa universities to call off classes. The National Weather Service’s wind chill warning says wind chills as low as minus 50 degrees could occur Wednesday in much of Iowa.
Officials for Iowa State University say all classes have been canceled and university offices closed all day Tuesday and Wednesday and through noon Thursday. The University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa say classes will be canceled starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Classes are scheduled to start again noon Thursday.
Drake University says classes will be canceled after 5 p.m. Tuesday and all day Wednesday.
Iowa State says basketball games at Hilton Coliseum on Tuesday and Wednesday would be played as scheduled. The Drake men’s basketball game against Illinois State also will be played Wednesday night.

(Radio Iowa) — The National Weather Service has been warning Iowans of “life-threatening” wind chills blowing across the state this week. The worst conditions are expected late tonight (Tuesday) into Wednesday with wind chills of 40-to-50 below zero. Lorrie Mortensen, with Floyd Valley Healthcare in Le Mars, says frost bite can happen very quickly when skin is exposed to this kind of cold. “It can just be a matter of minutes, particularly if you’re not taking the right kind of precautions and bundling-up appropriately for it,” Mortensen said. “It does not take long at all.”

The first symptoms of frost bit involve a “prickly” feeling, followed by numbness. “From there, you’re going to start seeing redness. It’s your body trying to react and get circulation going,” Mortensen said. “From there, it almost turns into that white color. When it starts to look that kind of pale white, you know you’re starting to get into some danger zones.”

Forecasters predict this will be Iowa’s coldest snap in more than 20 years. In addition to protecting yourself from this extreme cold, Mortensen says pets should remain indoors.

Police in Red Oak cited a juvenile into court Monday night, for Operating (a vehicle) without Owners Consent. Officers were flagged-down by a motorist at around 8:40-p.m., after witness said they believed a tired or intoxicated driver had just pulled into the Cubby’s parking lot, where officers were already on scene. Police saw the vehicle pull in and made contact with the male juvenile, who was not old enough to drive. Officers escorted the boy back to his residence, where his mother told Police her son had no right or privilege to take the vehicle. The boy was cited for the aggravated misdemeanor and then released to his parents.

Red Oak Police report also, 48-year old Shelby Joann Olivares was arrested at around 10:17-p.m. Monday, for Public Intoxication, 3rd or subsequent offense. Olivares was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where her bond was set at $2,000. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted Red Oak Police in handling the incident.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris defended positions she took as California’s attorney general that are unpopular with some Democrats, saying they reflected her duty as the state’s top law enforcement officer.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., center, speaks to reporters at Drake University, Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. Harris formally announced on Sunday that she was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

During a CNN town hall-style event Monday night at Drake University, Harris was asked about prosecuting death penalty cases as well as legislation in California to require her office to investigate all police-related fatal shootings. Harris, who was attorney general from 2011 until she took office as a U.S. senator in 2017, said she enforced the death penalty despite opposing it.

“It’s a flawed system. It is applied unequally based on race and based on income,” she said in answering student Riley Fink’s question in the school’s Sheslow Auditorium in Des Moines. Harris said she chose not to take a public position on the fatal shootings legislation in 2015 because her office would write the law and enforce it. She did say at the time, however, that she did not support the notion of superseding local prosecutors.

Fatal shootings by police of unarmed black men have become a rallying point among a swath of Democratic-leaning voters. Harris has faced scrutiny of her background as a prosecutor early in the 2020 presidential discussion. The town hall Monday night was her first public event in Iowa — the state will host the first presidential caucuses of the primary season — since she declared her candidacy.

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who have taken steps toward presidential bids of their own, also have been confronted with questions about potential liabilities during appearances in Iowa this month.