DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa State Fair has stepped up security following the recent mass shootings in Ohio and Texas. Des Moines police spokesman Paul Parizek says there are more uniformed officers and plainclothes officers on the grounds. One hundred more security cameras have been installed and are being monitored while the fair is in operation. The fair opened Thursday and closes Aug. 18.

Doug Phillips commands the state fair police, and he told station KCCI that fairgoers may see officers in places they’ve not been stationed in the past. Parizek says security was a major concern before the recent shootings, given the big crowds and the number of presidential candidates who visit. But he says the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have raised security awareness.

Parizek says the fair is very safe, but you can never be too careful.

SUMNER, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say the pilot of a crop-dusting plane died Thursday when the aircraft crashed just short of a building in northeast Iowa’s Bremer County. The fiery crash occurred around 7:20-a.m. Thursday, a few yards north of Iowa Highway 93 in Sumner. Witnesses told authorities that a wheel came off the low-flying plane when it hit a power line, which knocked out electricity to part of Sumner. Officials say the wheel hit and shattered the glass front doors of a bank, but no other businesses were damaged. The plane then hit a tree and burst into flames. The pilot was identified as 56-year-old David Baker, who lived in Swedesburg.

The crash cause is being investigated.

A jury in Clarinda has returned a verdict of guilty, in the first-degree murder trial of 34-year old Toby Lee McCunn, of Red Oak. McCunn killed 33-year old Joshua Lyle Jordan April 22nd, in Shenandoah. According to reports, the jurors deliberated for about  2 1/2 hours Thursday, before announcing their verdict.

Over the three day trial, prosecutors called 15 witnesses to the stand. DCI Special Agent Phillip Kennedy testified that McCunn was obsessed over finding Jordan in the weeks leading up to the incident to recover some stolen property. The two men had previous encounters prior to the fatal shooting.

After the verdict was handed-down, McCunn was transported to the Page County Jail, where he was being held without bond. He faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole when McCunn is sentenced September 17th.

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified the woman whose body was found in the charred wreckage of her mobile home in central Iowa’s Story County. Authorities say 27-year-old Katelyne Pratt was alone in her home in Nevada when the fire started Tuesday. The home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Pratt’s body and that of a dog were found inside later.

Nearby homes suffered some heat damage, but no other injuries have been reported. Authorities are still trying to determine the cause of Pratt’s death.