DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a popular Des Moines bowling alley that burned to the ground nearly two years ago says he will not rebuild the venue. Randy Thompson, the owner of Plaza Lanes, tells television station KCCI that the land is now up for sale. He says he made that decision after an insurance settlement from the fire failed to cover the cost to rebuild.

The building burned down in December 2017. Investigators determined that kitchen rags self-ignited to start the fire. Spontaneous combustion can occur when heat generated through rapid oxidation causes various materials to catch fire.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Arizona insurance agent has lost his Iowa insurance license and is barred for reapplying for 10 years after the Iowa Insurance Division found he fleeced elderly Iowa residents. The division said in a news release Friday that Mark Diamond, of Scottsdale, Arizona, routinely offered free meal seminars to gain the trust of attendees, most of whom were 80 or older. He then used high-pressure tactics to sell them fixed annuities they did not need.

The division says Diamond violated Iowa law, including by using unfair and deceptive practices, by providing misleading and false information and by failing to report his insurance license was suspended or revoked in other states. Besides his Iowa license suspension, Diamond was ordered to pay nearly $68,000 in civil penalties, restitution and investigative costs.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A former Davenport in-home daycare provider have been given a suspended 25-year prison sentence and placed on four years’ probation for a 2017 incident that left an infant in her care seriously injured.

The Quad-City Times reports that 46-year-old Amy Ellen Smith received the sentence Friday after a judge rejected her requests for a deferred judgment, which could have seen the felony expunged from her record.
Smith will not have to serve the prison sentence if she successfully completes her probation.

Smith pleaded guilty in August to neglect of a dependent person and child endangerment with injury.
Police were called April 27, 2017, for a report of child abuse involving a baby boy who had suffered broken bones while in Smith’s care. Police later learned a baby girl had been injured in Smith’s care in November 2015.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have made arrests in an attack earlier this month on a man and his girlfriend inside the skywalk in downtown Des Moines. Police say 18-year-old Jeffrey Lionel Smith Jr., of Des Moines, was charged Friday with assault in connection with the investigation. A 13-year-old boy also was arrested and referred to juvenile courts for an assault charge. The Associated Press doesn’t typically name juveniles charged with crimes.

Police say a 21-year-old man and his girlfriend were attacked Oct. 12 by 20 to 30 teens or young men in the skywalk near the Wellmark YMCA. The man was later hospitalized for treatment after being kicked and punched. The woman also was punched.

The incident led Des Moines police to announce a plan to beef up security in the skywalk system.