LEON, Iowa (AP) — Police in the southern Iowa city of Leon are investigating what authorities are calling a suspicious death. Leon police, with help from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, responded to a home Sunday morning after two people found a man’s body. The body was identified Monday as 53-year-old Steven Dabb, of Leon. The body was in a home where Dabb lived that had recently been destroyed by fire.

Police say the Office of the State Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy, which didn’t find “major trauma” to the body. Toxicology tests that could indicate the cause of death could take six to eight weeks. Decatur County Attorney Lisa Jeanes says there is no indication the public is at danger.

Leon is a city of 2,000 people, about 60 miles south of Des Moines.

The Iowa Department of Transportation reports road construction crews will open the new Interstate 29/80 ramp east of the Missouri River in Council Bluffs overnight tonight (Monday).

Traffic impact:

Beginning at 9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, construction crews will shift traffic on westbound I-80/eastbound I-29 northbound between 24th Street and the Missouri River bridge, weather permitting. The two left lanes of westbound I-80 and the 24th Street on-ramp to westbound I-80 will be closed. Westbound I-80 traffic will be detoured from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. while crews complete final signing and painting.
Northbound I-29 northbound will remain open during the traffic shift, however, traffic will be restricted to one lane. All impacted lanes and ramps will be opened by 5 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15.

Following the traffic shift, westbound I-80/northbound I-29 traffic will use the new ramp to northbound I-29 just west of the exiting ramp.

The new ramp will result in improved safety for all motorists because eastbound I-80 to northbound I-29 traffic merging with northbound I-29 northbound traffic will now enter from the right side. Motorists are urged to use caution while becoming accustomed to shifting onto these new lanes.

Iowa DOT is working hard to keep the public informed of construction impacts and will actively seek opportunities to update the public regarding the project. Sign up to receive traffic alerts for the interstate routes that you use via Iowa DOT’s 511 Traveler Information site.

Iowa DOT is in the process of reconstructing I-29, I-80, and I-480 in the Council Bluffs metropolitan area as part of the Council Bluffs Interstate Improvement Program. This comprehensive interstate redesign, which will be delivered over the next eight to 10 years, will modernize the highway system and improve mobility and safety of approximately 18 miles of interstate.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City manufacturing company is planning a $1.2 million expansion project. The Sioux City Journal reports Rocklin Manufacturing plans to apply for state tax incentives to help pay for the project. The city council plans to vote Monday (today) on whether to support Rocklin’s application for state aid.

Rocklin says it wants $176,648 in withholding tax credits and $41,070 in investment tax credits and $48,996 in sales tax refunds. The company that makes tools for manufacturing has three buildings on its campus, but two of which need renovations before they can be used.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University President Steven Leath damaged a private plane in a hard landing in 2014, 11 months before he banged up a university aircraft in remarkably similar fashion. Documents obtained by The Associated Press under the open records law show that Leath was flying in gusty conditions on Aug. 11, 2014, and “landed hard” in a crosswind, causing propeller damage. A university spokeswoman declined to say where the incident occurred or whose plane Leath was flying.

Two months later, Leath was cleared to fly the university’s $498,000 Cirrus SR22 single-engine plane. Leath damaged that plane in a hard landing in July 2015 in Bloomington, Illinois, while he and his wife were flying home from a North Carolina vacation. He has also blamed that incident on windy conditions.

The commander on some of the crew of the U-S-S Sioux City visited the ship’s namesake city this past weekend as part of Veterans Day activities. The U-S-S Sioux City is one of the new Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) designed to be used closer to the shoreline for things like mine detection, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare. Commander Shockey Snyder talked at the Siouxland Chamber luncheon about other uses for the ship.

U.S.S. Sioux City side launch after christening Jan. 30th, 2016.

He says it might also be used for humanitarian missions, search and rescue, counter narcotics in the Caribbean and support to special operations. Snyder says the ship will be commissioned at a yet to be determined location in the fall of 2017. He says this time the Navy will have to break from the tradition of where it hosts the commissioning.

“Starting with the U-S-S Yorktown…if it’s possible to go to the namesake city, that’s where we like to commission the ships. I am sorry we can’t bring the ship here,” Snyder said, “we can’t get up the river.”

The ship is currently undergoing systems testing. A spokesman for the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce says a local committee is being formed to help plan the event.

(Radio Iowa)