CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Two people are in custody in a Cedar Rapids man’s death that authorities say was staged to look like a suicide. Police say 44-year-old Randal Joseph Campbell was found dead June 21, 2019, with an air rifle positioned on his lap and torso. Investigators determined the scene was staged to appear to be a suicide. Twenty-eight-year-old Joshua Conklin was charged with second-degree murder and obstructing justice in Campbell’s death.

He was transferred to the Linn County jail on Friday to face the charges. Campbell’s niece, Felisha Campbell, was dating Conklin at the time of his death. She is accused of conspiring with Conklin to obstruct the investigation.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Illinois was arrested Friday on an active Fremont County warrant connected to the death of a dog at a truck stop near Percival. The incident was caught on video Dec. 11th. 36-year-old Roi Washington, of Chicago, was arrested after Deputies were able to determine the dog’s owner, who reported the dog was taken from her residence without her consent by Washington.

Still frame image from surveillance video of suspect killing a dog and video taping the murder.

Washington is being held in Cook County, Illinois on a $2,000 cash/surety bond, awaiting extradition back to Iowa.

Linkenhoker

And, Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputies, Wednesday, arrested on man on an active Fremont County warrant. Authorities say 39-year-old Joseph Dale Linkenhoker, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault causing injury or mental illness, 1st offense, and Child Endangerment.

Linkenhoker was released after posting $2,000 cash/surety bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The top Democrat in the Iowa House asked that a Republican legislator be removed from committee assignments because of his claims about election fraud and what some saw as threatening language about guns. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard asked House Speaker Pat Grassley to remove Rep. Dean Fisher from committee assignments following comments he made on social media that blamed Democrats for the U.S. Capitol riot by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Fisher also made comments that referenced guns. Grassley accused Prichard of playing politics and trying to limit free speech.

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) — A north-central Iowa venue best known for hosting the last concert of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson before the trio died in a 1959 plane crash is now a National Historic Landmark. The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs announced in a release Friday that the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake had earned the designation from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

National Historic Landmarks are buildings, sites, districts, structures and objects that have been determined to be nationally significant in American history and culture. The ballroom’s nomination was officially approved on Jan. 13.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a 21-year-old woman who was found unconscious in the parking lot of a sorority house at Iowa State University. The Ames Police Department responded to a medical call at 9:49 a.m. Friday at the Delta Delta Delta Sorority after a caller reported finding the woman. The city said in a news release that she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman is a student at Iowa State. Her identity is being withheld pending notification of family. Police say there does not appear to be a threat to the community.

(Radio Iowa) – Legislative leaders from both parties say there’s no agreed-upon plan yet, but momentum is building for changes in Iowa’s bottle deposit law. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City says something needs to happen with the so-called “Bottle Bill.”

A 1979 state law established the nickel deposit on bottles and cans containing alcoholic and carbonated beverages. Retailers selling those beverages are to accept the empties and pay back the deposit fees. Grocers say the empties are unsanitary and shouldn’t be brought into their stores. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says the redemption system set up by the Bottle Bill is complicated, but that doesn’t mean legislators should shy away from trying to address concerns.

House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, says the Bottle Bill has worked as a litter reduction tool.

Grassley says he hears about the Bottle Bill from constituents and lobbyists “constantly,” but there are 100 different opinions on how to fix it. The three lawmakers made their comments on the “Iowa Press” program on Iowa P-B-S.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 26-year-old Des Moines father has been arrested and charged after investigators say he left his 4-month-old daughter with a serious head injury last year. Station WHO-TV reports that Zachary Wallace was arrested early Friday morning and booked into the Polk County Jail. He’s charged with child endangerment causing serious injury and neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.

Police say medics were called to Wallace’s home on Aug. 10 for an unresponsive infant. Doctors say the baby was exhibiting seizure-like symptoms and had suffered a brain bleed. Wallace told investigators she fell from a bed, but doctors say she would not have been able to inflect such a severe injury on herself.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines has announced its newest addition: a 6-foot, 125-pound giraffe. The zoo says in a news release that the male calf was born Monday to Skye, a 6-year-old giraffe that has lived at the zoo since 2015. The father is Jakobi, a 15-year–old giraffe that has sired several calves over the years. Beginning Jan. 28, the zoo will release several possible names and will ask the public to vote on their favorite.

Voting will be free, although people will be able make a donation in honor of the new calf. The Blumenthal indoor giraffe viewing area is currently closed to the public to allow mother and calf to bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The jackpot for the Mega Millions lottery game has grown to $1 billion ahead of Friday night’s drawing after more than four months without a winner. That record drought is thanks to bad luck, poor odds and reduced play partially blamed on the coronavirus pandemic. It’s only the third time a lottery jackpot has grown so large, but much has changed since the last time such a big prize was up for grabs in 2018.

And even as the huge Mega Millions prize and a $731.1 million Powerball jackpot won Wednesday by a single ticket sold in Maryland have juiced sales for the games, Maryland lottery director Gordon Medenica noted: “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop in Essex a little after 12-a.m., Thursday, resulted in an arrest. During the stop 21-year-old Quinn Robert Hall, of Red Oak, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense. Hall was transported to the Page County Sheriff’s Office for further testing, and booked into the Page County Jail on $1,000 bond, pending further court proceedings. Hall was also cited for Speeding.