CORALVILLE, Iowa — Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections report prison inmate, 39-year old Justin Lee Dewitt, of North Liberty, died Friday afternoon, at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center. The cause of his death is yet to be determined. An autopsy will be performed by the Johnson County Medical Examiner.

DeWitt was arrested on June 27, 2016, for allegedly attempting to hire a hit man to kill his former business associate, the associate’s wife and two children, then ages 2 and 4. He began serving a 35-year sentence for multiple counts of Attempted Murder and Solicitation to Commit Murder. His sentence began July 27, 2018.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa egg and poultry producers are on high alert as China reports an H-5-N-1 bird flu outbreak has occurred near the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Iowa Poultry Association C-E-O and executive director Kevin Stiles says avian influenza is always top of mind for Iowa producers. “I don’t think though that necessarily transmitting into the United States via human contact is the first concern,” Stiles says. “We’re mostly concerned just with migratory patterns that we see and what implications that might hold for us looking ahead.” Stiles says Iowa’s poultry producers are better prepared now than they were five years ago as biosecurity is much improved.

“We continue to work with our producers, with the larger egg and poultry community,” Stiles says, “to practice diligence in their biosecurity practices, to make sure they are always on high alert when it comes to any sort of disease threat, but in particular avian influenza.” Since the latest Chinese bird flu outbreak was the H-5-N-1 strain, Stiles says it’s more concerning than if it were another type. “That certainly raises it a little bit higher in our attention, certainly,” he says, “but we also know there are strains and outbreaks of avian influenza in various countries in Europe at the present time, so that also puts us on high alert.”

An outbreak of the similar H-5-N-2 strain of avian flu in 2015 caused more than one-billion dollars damage to Iowa poultry producers as millions of chickens and turkeys had to be destroyed.

(Radio Iowa) — The man accused of killing an Algona woman outside a bank in the Kossuth County town of LuVerne late last year changed his plea from not guilty to guilty during a hearing, Friday. Thirty-five-year-old Valentino Williams of Coralville, Iowa changed his plea during a hearing in Kossuth County District Court. Williams admitted in court to killing 43-year-old Jessica Weishaar outside the bank in LuVerne on the morning of December 4th, 2019. Williams was arrested following a traffic stop along Interstate 35 in rural Franklin County little more than an hour after the shooting. Law enforcement was able to track down Williams vehicle after he was recorded driving more than 80 miles-an-hour by a D-O-T Enforcement officer south of Belmond. As a part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the first-degree Robbery charges against Williams. Judge Nancy L. Whittenburg accepted the plea and handed out the mandatory sentence of life without parole.

Police in Red Oak report the arrest at around 6:25-p.m. Friday, of 42-year old Richard Allen Straw, from Red Oak. Straw was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended. His bond at the Montgomery County Jail was set at $566.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35-a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man has pleaded guilty to killing a homeless man last year with a stolen car. The Des Moines Register reports that 22-year-old Donterius Bomar pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery in the January 2019 death of 69-year-old Charles Childs. Police say Bomar was driving the stolen car when he hit Childs and kept going. Childs was found dead two days later inside a tent at a homeless camp. As part of his plea deal, Bomar could face up to 75 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for April 1.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price says an independent review will determine what went wrong in the state caucus process that led to a dayslong delay in reporting the results, inconsistencies in the numbers and no clear winner. Price said Friday that the independent forensic investigation will determine what went wrong. Almost nothing went right Monday, first when an app used to report the results failed and then when a massive backlog of phone reports and inquiries followed. Pete Buttigieg narrowly leads Bernie Sanders in Iowa’s released results, but The Associated Press has been unable to declare a winner based on the available information.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Will the Iowa caucuses ever wrap up? Now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee is calling for a “recanvass” of the results. Party leader Tom Perez tweeted Thursday that “enough is enough” after three days of technical issues and delays. Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are nearly tied for the lead after the delays. Both candidates have declared themselves victorious in Monday’s contest. The Associated Press said Thursday that it is unable to declare a winner in the contest. The Iowa Democratic Party suggested it may not comply with Perez’s request, issuing a statement that said it would conduct a recanvass if one was requested by one of the candidates.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democrats are recovering from a number of disappointments after Monday’s Iowa caucuses, though one has received less attention than the others. About 176,000 Iowans attended their precinct caucuses. That’s fewer than expected, and 62,000 less than the party’s high-water mark of 2008. The parade of candidates and marquee events that drew thousands of activists and a Democratic base seething to unseat President Donald Trump had given some party insiders the impression turnout could match or top 2008.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price says an independent review will determine what went wrong in the state caucus process that led to a dayslong delay in reporting the results, inconsistencies in the numbers and no clear winner. Price said Friday that the independent forensic investigation will determine what went wrong.

Almost nothing went right Monday, first when an app used to report the results failed and then when a massive backlog of phone reports and inquiries followed. Pete Buttigieg narrowly leads Bernie Sanders in Iowa’s released results, but The Associated Press has been unable to declare a winner based on the available information.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Pete Buttigieg says he raised $4 million since the Iowa caucuses, an impressive haul for a candidate looking to capitalize on his strong showing to continue building a national political brand. The campaign of the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced Friday that it had collected $4 million since Tuesday.

The results from Monday’s caucuses are too close for The Associated Press to call. In figures released by the state party, Buttigieg leads Bernie Sanders by 0.09 percentage points. Both have declared victory. Buttigieg’s fundraising numbers are another sign of strength for a candidate who was unknown in national politics a year ago.

(By BILL BARROW Associated Press) – Joe Biden is reorganizing his top presidential campaign leadership after a fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. He’s elevating Anita Dunn to a role that effectively puts her in charge of his third White House bid, just days before the New Hampshire primary.

Biden had spent months leading national polls of Democratic primary voters. But he’s faced persistent doubts about the quality of his campaign operation in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states in the presidential nominating process. And his campaign fundraising has lagged behind other leading contenders.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — President Donald Trump has tweeted reassurances to Iowa and New Hampshire that the two states will be first in the presidential primary schedule “as long as I am President.” He called it a “Great tradition!”

The Iowa Democratic Party has spent the week trying to verify results from Monday’s caucuses, adding fuel to complaints that the earliest voting states should be more representative of the U.S. demographically. Trump’s tweet today (Friday) will appeal to many voters in the two states leading up to the general election because they want to preserve their states’ special role in the presidential race.

“I agree — thank you, Mr. President!,” tweeted New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican. The head of New Hampshire’s Democratic Party, Ray Buckley, wouldn’t say Friday if he has confidence in Tom Perez’s leadership at the Democratic National Committee.
Perez has called for a recanvass of the Iowa caucuses and sought to shift blame onto the Iowa Democratic Party.

New Hampshire’s primary is next Tuesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Democratic Party has extended until Monday a deadline originally set for midday Friday for presidential candidates to request a review of the results of this week’s Iowa presidential caucuses. That’s in light of the reporting debacle that forced a days-long delay in final numbers from the contest and left inconsistencies in the final count. After a breakdown in tallying the results caucus night, it took until Thursday for the state party, which operates the series of roughly 1,700 local meetings statewide, to issue final numbers.