CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Funeral arrangements have been set for a University of Iowa student who died this week in sub-zero temperatures that swept the Midwest. Television station KCRG reports that the funeral service for 18-year-old Gerald Belz will be held Monday morning at St. Jude Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids. Burial will be at St. Joseph Cemetery.

Officials believe Belz’s death was weather-related. His body was found just before 3 a.m. Wednesday behind an academic hall on the Iowa City campus. The temperature at the time was more than negative 20 degrees.

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — A new trial date has been set for a former farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and stabbing death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that a judge on Friday set trial for 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera on Sept. 3 in the Poweshiek County courthouse in Montezuma. Trial had been set for April 16. Defense attorneys said they needed more time to go through a massive investigation file from prosecutors.

Rivera is charged in the killing of Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who disappeared while out for a run July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa. Investigators recovered her body a month later in a cornfield. A medical examiner has said Tibbetts was stabbed to death.

Rivera is a Mexican national who has been accused of being in the country illegally. He worked at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts disappeared.

WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) today (Saturday) announced she will hold a town hall meeting February 9th in Audubon County, as part of her 99 County Tour for 2019. Senator Ernst says she looks forward to hearing from constituents in the area about the issues most important to them.

The town hall meeting is open to the public. It takes place 9-a.m. Feb. 9th in the Audubon Middle School/High School Auditorium.

w/ Chris Parks

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Creston man on Friday afternoon. At 2:00pm Deputies conducted a traffic stop on Highway 148 Mile-Marker 32. After investigation they arrested 21-year-old Luke Robert Stougard of Creston on charges of Possession with Intent to Deliver Marijuana 2nd Offense, Possession of Parphernalia, and Failure to Provide Security-No Insurance. He was taken to the Adams County Jail and held on $5,900 cash bond.