BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Siemens says it will be closing its Burlington plant in southeast Iowa by the end of the year. The Hawk Eye reports that the closing was announced Monday will cost about 125 people their jobs. The entire facility will be closed, including the operations of Dresser-Rand. The steam turbine manufacturer has operated in Burlington for nearly 150 years.

Siemens blamed the closing on the need to reduce costs in the face of “competitive pressures in the energy market.” Siemens’ wind turbine plant in Fort Madison will not be affected by cuts in Burlington.

SHENANDOAH, Iowa (AP) — A jury has convicted a Louisiana man whose pickup truck hit a bicyclist who was camping after a ride in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that 56-year-old Danny Cardin, of Homer, Louisiana, was found guilty of causing serious injury by vehicle but found not guilty of leaving the scene of a serious injury accident. His sentencing in the Fremont County Courthouse is scheduled for May 21.
An Iowa State Patrol report says James Foley, of Jacksonville, Florida, was sleeping in a tent at the 59er Motel & Campgrounds in Shenandoah on the night of July 17, 2016, when the pickup went off the driveway and struck the tent and him. Foley had been participating in the statewide biking event known as RAGBRAI.

Protests are planned in central-Iowa today (Tuesday) as Wells Fargo holds its annual meeting for shareholders. Maurice B.P.-Weeks of the “Action Center on Race and the Economy” says his groups and others have one goal in the protests. “Really to bring attention to and demands to the bank that is out of control with both their size, and their abuse with business practices,” he says. It is the first time the Wells Fargo Board will meet in Des Moines and the event comes on the heels of federal regulators hitting the bank with a one-billion-dollar fine for loan abuses. Wells Fargo has also been fined after workers created millions of fake accounts to gain incentives. B.P-Weeks says his group and others are protesting because of the impact on certain groups. “they are sort of America’s worst bank in many categories,” B.P.-Weeks says, “and many of those categories are targeting black and brown folk.”

B.P-Weeks says they have four demands. “Wells needs to get rid of their entire board of directors and the C-E-O Tim Sloan. They need to break up the bank. Wells needs to pay restitution to all of their various victims across all those different areas of their abusive business practices. And finally, to respect the workers’ right to organize without retaliation,” he says. B.P.-Weeks says they are hoping the company will hear their protest and make changes. “Right now we have a petition that’s going on-line that has at last check has well over 15-thousand signatures,” he says. “We are going to be at a later date delivering that to Wells Fargo. We certainly hope that the board and the C-E-O does respond.”

Wells Fargo has about 16-thousand employees across the state — with the bulk of them working in Des Moines and the surrounding metro area.

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police made a traffic stop Monday evening, and arrested the driver of the vehicle for OWI/1st offense. 22-year old Ryan Michael Chambers, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the 1800 block of Highway 48 at around 7:45-p.m. Chambers was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond. A passenger in the vehicle, 20-year old Chase Alan Rea, of Red Oak, was cited for Possession of Alcohol by a person under legal age.